Out with soft-spoken femininity and in with loud rock and roll clothes was the defiant message of Danish-born, London-based designer Jens Laugesen‘s spring 2004 collection.
- ALL Fashion Features /
Every fashion-conscious woman is on the hunt for the next luxury good, and lingerie is definitely redefining itself in that same category. As lingerie charges forward as a market to be reckoned with, more and more customhouses are looking to leverage their expert knowledge into a mass-market phenomenon.
Dubai has long been a stopover for untaxed jewelry purchases, but the United Arab Emirates capital city isn’t exactly known as a fashion-forward shopping destination. Sauce*, a lifestyle shopping haven set to open next month in The Village Mall on Jumeirah Beach Road is aiming to change the reputation of this Middle Eastern city of more than 400 nightclubs.
To endure those chilly nights ahead, JC Report has compiled a selection of
indispensable classics, as well as to-be-released reading list to
keep fashionable bookworms cozy. The book that has created the most
controversy this month is indisputably The Beautiful Boy by Germaine
Greer. Causing a stir is the author’s claim that men and boys have always
been the world’s ultimate pinups. Greer supports her theory by presenting
works that celebrate male beauty, through the heady mix of the history of
art, literature, and photography. No stranger to all of these disciplines
Yoga is so essential that we’re beyond ooohing and ahhing when we learn
that your friend is also dog posing three days a week. Of course it
changed your life. Going to the gym, however, doesn’t always garner such a
ringing endorsement. 50 Cent says he got his sexy, chiseled body by doing
push-ups and sit-ups at the gym. From body resistance alone? We didn’t
believe him until recently experiencing LeanMAXX, certified fitness guru
Michael Shaw’s 30-minute workout program at New York Personal Training
Inc, the new fitness destination for models, actors, New York nightlife
shutterbugs and a few whose fifteen minutes of fame are just about up. The
gym, on Fifth Ave and 20th Street may have some star gazing and fashionable
appeal (After all, that’s our angle here at JC Report), but it’s the
Shoe brands are rubbernecking to develop a shorthand men’s shoe as an
everyday alternative to the dress shoe. Prada Sport made many an inroad
to this genre, introducing men to the fine art of blending a molded rubber
sole that could withstand city streets with ease with leather and design
details that mirrored the feeling of transport that very sole represented.
Camper has built a brand and a chain of stores on this very concept.
Hogan’s profile was raised a couple years back with a hybrid shoe
promoting low-key Italian luxury. And Patrick Cox before them, with his
Amidst the new sexiness that swept the spring collections (chilled lifestyle luxury at Gucci,
fluid chiffon dresses
just about everywhere, ’50s A-line skirts and a generally loosened, body-skimming silhouette), designers showed clothes coming off the body to define a freshly feminine, deconstructed sex appeal. How else are we to sum up jersey dresses with
Paris is the stage for fashion’s showmen to put on grand productions that toe the line between theatre and high fashion. Viktor & Rolf, Alexander McQueen, and John Galliano duked it out for the theatricality awards all delivering noteworthy performances.
A cacophony of more prints (to pop that kernel that started heating up in London and carried on in Milan at Versace, Alessandro Dell Aqua, Pucci, and Gianfranco Ferre), thematic pinup vixens (D&G, D Squared, Iceberg), and imaginative knits (Leflesh, Giulia Persanti,
What’s been coming between the boys and their laminated Dior jeans these days hasn’t been the usual brand of suspects. Grigioperla, La Perla’s collection of men’s underwear is raising the fit and comfort stakes and winning a stealth following among travelers to Italy (where the brand is widely distributed) in the meantime. The label, best known for its line of ultraluxe underthings for women, is stirring up the male market by offering a spectrum of products including underwear, nightwear, beachwear, and loungewear. Notoriously luxurious, the men’s collection continues La Perla’s tradition of using the finest silken cottons, sometimes infused with lycra to preciously hug beneath. The cost of encasing the family jewels in such gossamer decadence isn’t cheap.
Two key American hat labels are the cover-up choices for a slew of celebrities and fashionistas, with designs ranging from the high brow to High Street. Trained by Cal Arts in the psychoanalysis of fashion, David Mason is turning the world of hatmaking on your head. Jaunty fedoras, playful caps, stripes on pink bowler caps, and red fur felt newsboys are the hallmark of a collection that’s been seen everywhere from Sex and the City to the pages of Visonaire and Italian Vogue. “Hats are the element that completely make the outfit, the cherry on top so to speak. Without the proper accessories, a garment is nothing more then draped fabric,” states the designer.
There’s something spooky in the air. Halloween might almost be upon us, but the current horror wave in fashion has nothing to do with seasonal commercial festivities. Ghosts, skulls, and vampires are hot, or shall we say spine-shiveringly cold, on the agenda right now. Browsing through the tradeshow To Be Confirmed in London last month must have been a real shocker for the fainthearted. Where one least expected, demons and other creepy characters played peek-a-boo; Tiger of Sweden gave flimsy chiffon baby-doll dresses (yet another printed chiffon example) an evil twist by decorating them with little skulls. Diesel contributed to the story with rugby-clad, cadaverous zombies.
London Fashion Week‘s very well organized shows for spring were threaded with a significant trend that effortlessly mixed that much desired hard/soft aesthetic. Original and challenging prints on silk and chiffon etched themselves across the majority of presentations, setting a singular yet commercial tone to London this season. House of Jazz played with pastels and black multi-size circles rolling down swingy separates and sweeping holiday night dresses. Jenny Packman worked bold stripes and circles onto asymetrical caftans.
As any member of the fab five will tell you, spiffing up your look is not only a great way to feel good about yourself, it is also increasingly necessary in this day and age of pan-global image one-upmanship. Enter the latest trend in customized shoes for men. Manhattan-based, Ron Donovan delivers hexagonal wingtips made-to-order, for the same price as an off-the-shelf John Lobb. He’ll even help you host a shoe party at your house to get all your friends in on the game as well.
The gay vote is critical for the rise of any fashion trend. So tastemakers ought to take notice when an image transformation occurs inside the gay scene. The buffed mono-aesthetic body consciousness trumpeted by homosexuals in the last decade is showing a reversal to pre-eighties, un-worked out, fuller physiques with hair everywhere.
An “it” bag is any season’s must-purchase accessory. The creative frenzy clutching this accessories category is currently so hot that women endure lengthy waiting lists to swing the flashest Horsebit or patent shoulder bag. Dead center of the handbag whirlwind is London-based designer Stuart Vevers, who has dressed women’s shoulders on behalf of major brands including Calvin Klein, Bottega Veneta, and Givenchy and has just established a 12 piece ready-to-wear Vevers line, reminiscent of ’80s Versace and Gucci. This means over-the-top designs, “pop inspired, not at all subtle but glaringly obvious, fun and ridiculous in some cases,” says the designer. For spring, look out for Vevers’ “boom bag,” a tote that comes in the form of an elegant ghetto blaster.
Of all the attempts to create limited edition wearable art, few collaborators have found success on the level of the multidisciplinary artist collective Faile. A trio of creators from around the globe, Faile produces books, fine art, prints, exhibitions, street art, and one off fashion projects.
The designers behind Nice Collective, Joe Haller and Ian Hannula, continue to rock the music industry with their killer streetwear. Jamming since the mid-’90s techno and dance era, Nice Collective continue their musical association by collaborating with legendary rock stars on concert tees, music videos, and their own signature collections. This summer Nice Collective‘s unique graphic prints turned up on Rolling Stones’ concert tees for their Forty Licks tour in Europe. The t-shirt designs are inventively screened with each city’s name and the Stones’ old album covers.
It’s said that there’s a magnetic connection between chicks and chocolate. French jeweler Boucheron agrees, and has come up with a new line of ready-to-wear jewelry, “L’eau a la Bouche,” to entice those chocaholics out there while simultaneously paying homage to that most cherished confectionary. “L’eau a la Bouche” includes a selection as diverse as the contents of a Godiva praline box, and the choosing process will require just as much concentration and contemplation — unless you’re planning to grab the entire assortment all at once.
