London Fashion Week... Christopher Kane

I always tend to like Christopher Kane's collections, finding them feminine but with a hard edge to them too. With this collection I found myself in two minds about how I feel. I am still quite unsure whether I like it or not. As I went through the collection it started off with all white ensembles and personally I find that very hard to relate to. I love colour and print and I just feel like I have nothing to describe when everything is one block white colour.  However as I went through the images things started to change. Christopher Kane had used Mary Shelley's book 'Frankenstein' as inspiration, nuts and bolts and all. The garments started to have more colour, pastels which is a trend this season. Also folds and pleats held together by 'bolts' in the shape of bows. Then the bow motif took off as the main image but not always as a print. He used the bows in transparent fabrics cut out and made to look like they are all looping together. Then he moved the collection on to have delicate fabrics with appliqued lace, hanging chandeliers and tape. You would not think them three things would go together, two being delicate and feminine and the other being, well, tape. Having the soft floaty fabrics and lace with the tape makes a strong contrast and I almost get the impression that the tape is kind of the image holding everything together of something that is suppose to be beautiful like Frankenstein's monster but really he is falling apart.

I love collections that have a deep meaning behind them, whether that was the designers intentions or whether I am just connecting the two things together. I think after writing about it I have decided I do like the collection but only because of the back story. If it was just based on what I was seeing without knowing the inspiration I don't think I would have be that inspired by it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

London Fashion Week... Holly Fulton

So London Fashion has come and gone already! This year is going so quickly! I'm still looking through designers for inspiration, finding some lovely things that gets the creative mind flowing. I like to look for inspiration for things I might not necessarily be needing straight away for a project I am on at the moment but so I can use them in the future and know I have them stored in the back of my mind. This is one of those, it's not a collection I am going to use for my current project but it is too nice not to mention. Holly Fulton's S/S13 collection is inspired by the theme of going on holiday to Mexico with the 50s/60s in mind. The colours are very sweet of the pastel kind such as sugar blue, pink, orange with the bolder colours such as navy, red, cobalt and black. Prints consist of naked elegant ladies, geometric shapes and roses which have been layered over the top of each other.

I like how she has used the same shapes of the prints such as the women but repeated them in different sizes, for example, the first dress there is two ladies lined up either side of the design and then she has used the ladies in a printed motif of tiny ladies all over some cropped trousers. I also like the layered up technique she has used, having a print in the background such as bold stripes and then placing the motifs such as roses and other shapes over the top to add depth. I also like her appliqued PVC jackets although I don't know how they would fare in the spring summer seasons! I like how she has used applique to add another layer to her prints by adding some texture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Inspiration... Embroidery & Paper Maria Aparicio Puentes

I have found another artist who uses embroidery on top of photography as a form as adding colour, pattern and texture. Her name is Maria Aparicio Puentes. Like my previous artist who uses embroidery on top of paper she adds colour and pattern to the black and white images to add movement and texture and also to add detail. She adds patterns to models clothing in simple geometric patterns.

I like her work because it is simple but yet effective, it shows what pattern should be in the photograph instead of what we would see if we were looking at a black and white picture. It shows the details of what could be on the clothing and brings the images in the pictures to life by adding colour, pattern and details.

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

London Fashion Week... Giles

Giles...

This collection by Giles Deacon uses the inspiration of smashed glass as inspiration, whether it be laser cut into leather, a digital print on silk or encrusted with beads and jewels to create the shape.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This collection in my mind has a very romantic and fairytale theme. The use of the smashed glass as an image has a dark angry side to it but I feel like it has been softened with the fabrics and prints to make it more delicate. The glass image can also look sometimes like a spiderweb and also creates the look of lace. I love the way they have used the negative and the positive image of the smashed glass like with the laser cut leather and the image cut into lace like on the last picture where it has been over laid on top of netting. They have also used other images such as horses and feathers which add to the softness and the romantic side of the collection which also contrasts with the harshness of the smashed glass.

There's not many colours used in this collection, mainly white and black with a nude colour here or there, but I love how they have used bright pink lipstick to shine out on the models faces and glow through the head wear pieces created by Stephen Jones. I also like the soft shimmering colours they have used on some garments such as the metallic colours on the digital printed smashed glass with the pink being mixed in and the soft delicate blue colour which all adds femininity to the collection.



Inspiration... Embroidery

Embroidery...

I like looking for research and feeling inspired when I find something truly amazing. However there are sometimes (a lot of the time) when I look at someone's work and think 'I could never do that!' I just don't have the patience, skill or mental ability to even consider some of the embroidery work I have been seeing lately. I want to stop thinking like this and give things a go whilst I am in my final year of university. After all, this is the year where I can do anything I want in my work until I have to go out into the real world of employment.

Here is a designer called Lorena Maranon who creates embroidered jewellery and accessories. I really like her designs as they have such lovely colours and geometric shapes taken inspiration from kaleidoscopes. The use of colour and shades of colours help make the designs look 3D like with the chevron shapes on the jewellery. I really like the embroidered collar, I like how the bright colours shine out against the white background and it's a big trend at the moment to have fancy collars. A simple way to jazz up a outfit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



London Fashion Week... Mulberry

Mulberry...

I always like Mulberry's collections and have used them as inspiration in most of my projects and this collection is no exception. I love the colours in the collection, the use of print and embellishment.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The collection has been based on the English country garden with the summer colours of ice cream like apricot, spearmint and pink with the casual more grown up colours of camel and navy. Garment shapes consist of the 70s maxi dress, belted jumpers, with looser shapes such as capes, wide cut trousers and straight jackets.

What I like about this collection is that the print and embroidery has carried on up on to the knit and that the prints are really detailed. Like an overgrown country garden. As I said before I really love the colour palette of this collection, I'm a sucker for a camel coloured coat and I love the mixture between the soft floaty silky/lacy dresses with the heavy over sized coats and biker jackets. If the collection didn't consist of some pastels I would be more inclined to say this collection looks more of a pre Autumn Winter collection with the metallic shades mixed in with the camel and navy. However I feel like it is a collection designed for cool spring time (especially in the UK) where the weather is unpredictable and you would still need your knitwear and coats but still feel 'springey' in the light, floaty trousers and dresses.  

 

(all pictures sourced from style.com)