Blog Archives
ricardo tisci’s return to reality \/\/ givenchy fall/winter 09
The Avant Guardian, like most women, is a fickle beast. Last week I hated Ricardo Tisci for ripping off my favorite dark mastermind, Tom Binns. This week I don’t care who he rips off, as long as he keeps doing what he’s doing. The Givenchy Fall ad campaign was just released, and it made me realize that I had completely overlooked the line. And I don’t just mean this season, either, I think I’ve been ignoring Givenchy for a good long time. Well, Mr. Tisci, if you’re reading this, please accept my deepest apologies. When I saw this photo I let out a stream of curse words so intense they probably insulted people in all five buroughs. But, for fuck’s sake, are you kidding me with the bleached eyebrows and Spock hair? Way to make it hurt so good, Givenchy. Then I went back and looked at every single piece from the runway show and felt complete shock and awe. Fuck all the haters who say the collection sucks, and “is better suited to Gareth Pugh’s collection”? (Why is that a bad thing, anyways?) This collection is back in black and dead sexy, and, oh my fucking god, is that [...]
totempyrean \/\/ jean-pierre braganza
Last week wunderkind and Lagerfeld protogé Jean-Pierre Braganza unveiled his A/W 09 collection, entitled ” Totempyrean” at Milan’s Fashion Week. Braganza, a Brit-born Canadian, used to show in London, but switched over to Milan recently. The collection, Braganza told Coutorture, was inspired by Native American imagery and futuristic, sculptural tailoring. The hard-edges of the collection were softened by prints that came from digitally manipulated x-rays. For me, Braganza combines the best of Balenciaga (silhouettes), the sleek lines of McQueen, the rockstar attitude of Rick Owens, and mixes it all together with a whisk of origami-perfect pleating. Not that Braganza isn’t entirely original, he is. I wouldn’t call his look fresh or anything else that sounds like lemonade, but there is something new in his aesthetic. While I can find elements of many lines in his work, it points only towards the future. Braganza’s minimal use of color is spectacular. I love the combinations of black and purple, and the space age blues. Arctic fox rubs up against merino in a symphony of textures. You can almost hear the heart beating behind this collection, it’s all raging guitar solos and drum machine whirs and hisses. In fact, it sounds a little [...]
neon, rhinestones, and rip offs \/\/ riccardo tisci for givenchy
Givenchy recently debuted their Fall 2009 “fashion” accessories line by Riccardo Tisci. For anyone confused about how this line differs from their ordinary accessories line, “fashion” means cheaper, as in lower quality and (supposedly) higher accessibility. Apparently it also means ripping off hot new designers. The neon jewelry from the collection looks extraordinarily similar to the designs of Avant Guardian favorite, Tom Binns. Minus the off-kilter, dirty glam touches. This comes months after TopShop sold out of their neon rhinestone necklaces, which retailed for under $70. All of the accessories in the Givenchy line will be under $500, which makes them only slightly cheaper than the original pieces by Binns, and sometimes not, depending on the piece. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to buy a designer imposter, I want it to be significantly less expensive than the original, not a hundred bucks cheaper. There’s something terribly devious to me about a high end designer ripping off a hot new designer. Retailers like TopShop and H&M bring high design to the masses, at prices that anyone can afford. But it seems to me like Givenchy is just plain stealing, and that’s not cool. Photo Credit: Coutorture
daily routines \/\/ or, how to live
okay, well forgive my recent absence, cherished purveyors of the avant garde, but i have been waist high in you know what. well, even if you don’t know, just forgive me. i’ve always felt like i could become the person i want to be by mimicking the habits of those i admire. sometimes, though, the lifestyles of the talented and genius aren’t that easy to peek into. i’m not talking about knowing what britney eats for breakfast. i want to know how people like haruki murakami organize their lives. and i found out at daily routines, a blog that is literally just a list of the daily habits of famous artists. like the singular simone de beauvoir. here’s an exerpt of ms. beauvoir’s daily routine: INTERVIEWER People say that you have great self-discipline and that you never let a day go by without working. At what time do you start? DE BEAUVOIR I’m always in a hurry to get going, though in general I dislike starting the day. I first have tea and then, at about ten o’clock, I get under way and work until one. Then I see my friends and after that, at five o’clock, I go back [...]
re-inventing alexander mcqueen \/\/ a/w 09
What happens when Amanda Lepore, MC Escher, and the ghost of McQueen season’s past collide on the runway? Duh, magic. Absolute and total magic. It looks like a car crash gone terribly terribly right, and I can’t get enough of it. Okay, so I’m actually pretty sure that Ms. Lepore herself was not in attendance at the show, but her lips are everywhere, on every model, black and bold, and cartoon hot. MC Escher printed fabrics and the ubiquitous houdstooth abound. Silhouettes so ruffled and flounced and corseted they could only be McQueen. The theme of McQueen’s A/W 09 collection is reinvention, and while I think of him as a designer who is constantly revising and reprising his own work diligently, the idea of renewal was definitely underscored here. Models paraded against backdrop of destroyed car parts with spraypainted soda cans in their hair. It wasn’t just Mr. McQueen’s ideas that were being recycled and reused, it was everything. [nggallery id=13] Photo Credits: fashionologie
faster faster \/\/ mark fast a/w 09
Mark Fast is a young upstart knitwear designer from Canada who is fast making a name for himself in the international fashion community. He grew up in some secluded forest fairytaleland outside of Winnipeg. The solemn quietude of his childhood pressed tightly against his growing genius, and he eventually found his way to London, where he studied at Central Saint Martins. Before setting out on his own, Mark did three seasons of knitwear for Bora Aksu. Fast knits all of his pieces himself on a domestic knitting machine. His innovative techniques, such as blending lycra with natural fibers, like angora and wool, or soft, sculptable fabrics, like viscose, result in pieces that are texturally complex, and that adhere to the body in extraordinary ways. Fast is all about creating pieces that transcend the trends. “I believe there is a growing interest in craftsmanship in fashion these days,” he says, “as opposed to quick fix disposable pieces. I am focusing on timeless classics.” I, for one, hope to Christ that this is what timeless classics look like in knitwear from now on. Fast’s designs combine a comprehensive historical perspective with his modern sensibility. The end product is a line of super [...]
by popular demand \/ gareth pugh for men
So, I neglected to mention that Gareth Pugh also released his first-ever menswear collection for A/W 09, and it is every bit as swoonworthy as the women’s collection. With baited breath, I wait for a world in which all men dress like this. This leather jacket on the right is so effing hot, it’s black, metallic, quilted, and delicious. I’m totally nuts for the boots with that jacket, as well. To the knee, leather with studded straps? Yes, please. Are you shitting me with this jacket collection. I want every single one of these. I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing a lot more of this structured, belted vibe in leathers starting now. Check a video of the runway show from The New York Times. Photo Credits: Raras Coincidencias Neoyorquinas
oh my goth \/\/ rick owens f/w 09
Remember in 1992 when Marc Jacobs sent all those ripped apart, layered looks down the Perry Ellis runway? The ones that simultaneously spawned nearly a generation of plaid-clad youth and also got MJ fired? Well, back in those days my all black, leather and lace aesthetic was deeply influenced by that grunge runway, and I have recently developed a deep nostalgia for those goth days. Nothing has hit a nerve more deeply than the Rick Owens F/W 09 line. Whatever I actually looked like in my youth, this is what I was going for. I love the funnel neck leather jacket atop the black satin minidress atop the white cotton minidress atop the ribbed grey leggings with the always exquisite Rick Owens boots. I also love the sparse pale grey and black color palette that dominated his runway. It is my deepest wish that this is the runway that spawns a generation of admirers and teenage copycats. I mean, seriously, what would be cooler than a high school full of kids that look like this? Photo Credits: fashionologie
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