28.10.11

Françoise Nielly x IRMDESIGN - Paris

The recent Françoise Nielly x IRMDESIGN collaboration opened at la Galerie Menouar in Paris to a well dressed crowd greeted with champagne and canapés.

The collection was based on the literal interpretation of Françoise Neilly’s bright canvas paintings into a series of dresses by Marion Lalanne and Pierre Hermet, the up and coming duo behind IRMDESIGN.

The exhibition also featured IRMDESIGN’s own rope accessories and some of Nielly’s framed paintings, as opposed to the ones used to make the collection.

Check out more of Francoise Nielly’s work at la Galerie Menouar, 75003 Paris, between 27th November and 10 January, visit www.irmdesign.fr for the full collection.

Words: Frederic Bourgoin

Images:  Frederic Bourgoin, Coutesy of IRMDESIGN

01.07.11

Thomas Sabo AW11 - Press Day

Thomas Sabo has gone Oriental with the fine jewellery collection for AW11, taking inspiration from all the traditional Asian symbols: from pandas and dragons, to fans and lanterns.   Sparkling zirconia gems adorned stirling silver pieces, which were decorated with shining red and black enamel, giving the collection the allure of an Oriental night. 

Necklaces with bejewelled lantern pendants and rings with a subtle colour reference to the Oriental theme were more sophisticated, while the panda charms were reminiscent of the Japanese Harajuku girls’ style: fun, cute and appealing to a younger market.

As I wandered round Bam Bou, (delicately) munching on the pan-Asian canapés, I was pleased to see that Thomas Sabo had decided to include a sub-collection of jewellery for those who prefer a more timeless look.  This “Classic Collection” was inspired by the opulent 1930s, using silver, deep purple and black as its palette.  A stand-out piece was the silver feather pendant, which was feminine without being too delicate, and classic without being old-fashioned.  There was also a matching ring and earrings, which I would happily make my own!

Words & Images : Imogen Webb

30.06.11

Paris Fashion Week Men SS12 - Qasimi

One of the most surprising shows during Paris Fashion Week, Emirati designer Khalid Qasimi presents an aggressive, extravagant and contemporary SS12 ready-to-wear collection.

Covered faces, military uniform-wear and what looks like parachute fabric are accompanied by 17th century Baroque prints, a particularly flamboyant camouflage, and bright orange florals.

The whole collection comes together as a kind of ‘modern-city warrior’, with the sombre, military inspired colour scheme interrupted by highlights of bright orange. It also seems to carry some strong Middle Eastern influences; a lot of uniform black, covered faces and what looks like veil embroidery. Nonetheless, the masks don’t seem to be referencing Middle Eastern ‘niqabs’, but are instead reminiscent of the images of Middle Eastern protesters and soldiers with cloths tied around their faces that have saturated the news over the past few months.

In this way the collection seems to suggest rebellion, aggression, and war. Yet all the dark undertones and black colour schemes are contrasted by baroque prints on silk shirts and shiny white suits, creating an interesting relationship between the aristocracy associated with Baroque and the aggression and violence associated with urban warfare.

Words: Frederic Bourgoin, Paris Correspondent

Images: Courtesy of Relative MO, Paris

30.06.11

Paris Fashion Week Men SS12 - Boris Bidjan Saberi

German-Iranian designer Boris Bidjan Saberi presents his latest collection comprised entirely of neutral tones; beige, grey and black. The clothes champion a kind of deconstructed simplicity, or rather sophisticated primacy; something reminiscent of a scene from a post-apocalyptic film.

The SS12 ready-to-wear collection show began with pitch black silence, quickly shattered by models marching to the what sounded like war drums. Long tunics, robes and hoods formed the body of the collection, accompanied by a combination of tight fitting leg wraps and oversize trousers, always adhering to a strict palette of neutral tones.

The collection showed off some strong oriental influences, whilst staying true to Saberi’s unique blend of ‘gothic-industrial’ & ‘ninja-glam’. Even more unique, however was the model’s hair styling, quite a remarkable feat in itself; each model seemed to have had their hair replaced by some sort of alien-esque cling film-skin, making it hard to tell where skin or hair began and plastic ended.

The simplicity of both the show and collection was also remarkable, creating an interesting relationship between something very primitive, and at the same time very sophisticated; a kind of understated violence. The collection mixed post-gothic, industrial, oriental and military references to create a dark, refreshing and sophisticated collection.

Words: Frederic Bourgoin, Paris Correspondent

Images: Courtesy of Relative MO, Paris

12.05.11

Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival – 2011

Last week was held the 26th edition of the Hyères International Fashion and Photography Festival (29th April- 2nd May). As in previous years since its creation by Jean-Pierre Blanc, the villa Noailles is the Mediterranean shell where artists, designers, photographers, journalists and other curious creatives gather to discover tomorrow’s promising talents in Fashion and Photography.

A certain laid-back and nostalgic feel reigns in the modern villa, with its shaded pink facades and ascetic cubist lines, that echoe the intriguing life of its owners, Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. As active patrons and art commissioners, they played an active role in supporting avant-garde artists from the 1920s to the late 1960s. Picasso, Dali, Cocteau, César, Giacometti and the like were part of their large pioneering, intellectual and artistic circle of friends and acquaintances.

Today, the villa Noailles hosts Fashion, Photography, Design and Architecture festivals with the continuous purpose of supporting up-and-comers. Fashion designers Gaspard Yurkievich, Viktor & Rolf, Christian Wijnants, Felipe Oliveira Baptista and Charles Anastase distinguished themselves at Hyères.

The involvement of prestigious jury members participated in building up the recognition of the festival around the world. In the past, Azzedine Alaïa, John Galliano, Martin Margiela, Ann Demeulemeester, Helmut Lang, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Riccardo Tisci, Dries Van Noten and Christian Lacroix were part of the Hyères jury.

Following the tradition of getting “la crème de la crème”, this year’s jury consisted of:

Raf Simons, designer, Antwerp - President of the Jury

Tim Blanks, journalist, Style.com, London

Floriane de Saint Pierre, CEO Floriane de Saint Pierre & Associés, Paris

Michel Gaubert, musician, sound designer, Paris

Lazaro Hernandez & Jack McCollough, designers, Proenza Schouler, New York

Cathy Horyn, journalist, The New York Times, New York

Christopher Kane, designer London

Carla Sozzani, founder of Corso Como, Milan

And the 10 shortlisted fashion designers were:

Juliette alleaume and Marie Vial, France, Womenswear collection

Mads Dinesen, Denmark, Menswear collection

Michael Kampe, Germany, Menswear collection

Maryam Kordbacheh, The Netherlands, Womenswear collection

Oriane Leclercq, Belgium, Womenswear collection

Janosch Mallwitz, Germany, Menswear collection

Emilie Meldem, Switzerland, Womenswear collection

Céline Méteil, France, Womenswear collection

Oda Pausma, The Netherlands, Womenswear collection

Léa Peckre, France, Womenswear collection

The designers were exhibiting their collections in the back gardens of the villa, where they could chat with the visitors and discuss their work, inspirations and plans for the future. It served as a great opportunity for guests to take the time to appreciate the collections’ pieces remote from the catwalks.

On the Sunday night, Léa Peckre was awarded the Hyères 2011 prize; Emilie Meldem received the Special Jury Prize and Céline Méteil won the “Prix du Public” as well as the Première Vision Prize.

Léa Peckre – Winner of the Hyères 2011 prize

Léa Peckre drew her inspiration from cemeteries for her collection “Cemeteries Are Fields of Flowers”. Neither macabre nor gothic connotations prevailed in her work which was “polished in its execution, and intriguing in its fabrication” as Tim Blanks described it. On the contrary, she was interested in cemeteries for the special energies that emanate from these scenes and the isolation from technology.

As she explained, she extracted elements and graphic details that could be found there such as vines, gravestones, mausoleums, eccentric architectural pieces, wrought iron and wood. This led her to dig deeper into the realization of the materials and to develop her own kind of sequins. Seven types of sequins were created to illustrate seven different wood species and to achieve this, she spent a month in India working 24/7 with embroiderers.

Fascinated by the reflection and refraction of light, Léa Peckre combined opaque, see through and reflective materials in order to magnify the skin and allow the body to be perceived. And this contrasts with the architectural silhouettes consisting of stiff curves and lines.

Moved by Bill Viola’s powerful video/sound installations, she wanted her show to be an experience that goes beyond the garments. “Godspeed You Black Emperor!” as her show music. Very emotional!

Céline Méteil – Winner of the Public and Première Vision Prizes

Céline Méteil created a collection of airy and structured origami-dresses made from jaconas. This stiff and transparent cotton plain weave is ordinarily employed to create a three-dimensional muslin prototype of a garment. Her highly architectural clothing entertains a dialogue with the body, building on layers of transparency and lace, shaped in subtle balance with fluid knits.

Baptized “Plié‐Backstage”, the collection is mainly inspired by fitting sessions when prototypes are presented. It is a special moment when the attention is only focused on the garment. “It is pure, without any twirls. And going back to the use of this raw material doesn’t allow any mistake which challenged my creative thinking” she told us.

For the first time this year, Première Vision, the World’s Premier Fabric Show, has partnered with the Hyères Festival and sponsored one of its prizes but went beyond the awarding of the prize money. “As an incubator of encounters, we are keen to support the young designers by sharing our knowledge, contacts and passion for textiles” Pascaline Wilhelm, Director of the Première Vision Fashion Team says.

Well ahead of the Prize itself, the 10 finalists were welcomed at the show to meet with exhibiting weavers, professionals in the accessory, textile design and other sectors who signed up for providing the contestants with materials. Céline Méteil, the winner of the Première Vision Prize will see her whole collection exhibited during the shows in New York and Paris alongside some pieces of the other contestants’ collections.

Pascaline insists that “the harmony between the idea and the materials is instrumental and Hyères puts the spotlight on it once again making us want to go further and help young creative energies to better develop”.

To conclude the Hyères chapter, I had the pleasure of interviewing Jean-Pierre Blanc, founder of the Festival, a few minutes after the show officially closed and whilst people started dismantling the installations.

What is the story of the festival?

The festival aims at accompanying the career debut of promising young talents in the best way possible. We provide them with a unique platform to present their realizations to a panel of International actors. It all started in 1986 and we were lucky enough to count Françoise Chassagnac on board. She founded the very high-end Victoire boutiques in Paris. After she returned to Paris and started promoting the festival, things quickly speeded up. Many big names joined the movement and supported us which makes this a very human adventure! And we are trying to keep this human scale for the visitors as well as for the designers.

How do you manage to mix such professionalism, proximity and fun at the festival?

Our goal is to meet the people, discover quality works and share these with the professionals to help the new talents to thrive. There is no hidden communication purposes and I am sure both designers and visitors know that which makes the whole experience special and beneficial to everybody. On top of that, our sponsors trust us and respect the spirit of the festival. We have a clear idea of what we want to preserve. So, with a solid direction, we will not lose the soul of the festival.

How old were you when you started the festival?

I was 20 years old and the festival was my final year project at university…

What is your goal for the festival?

We believe in the festival as a necessary talent incubator and our role today is to make this a sustainable institution that will survive all of us.

What’s next?

On the same principle, the 6th edition of the Design Parade will take place at the villa in July and will reward the best young talents in design. Throughout the year, festivals and exhibitions in Architecture, Music and Cinema are held here, too.

The villa Noailles is more than ever a unique rendez-vous for emerging talents in various fields, following the tradition initiated by its owners, Charles and Marie-Laure de Noailles. A fantastic heritage!

Discover Hyères 2011 Live by The Stimuleye

Words & Images : Romain Casella

19.02.11

Première Vision – Spring Summer 2012

Paris, 08-10 February 2011 - Première Vision, the world’s biggest fabric trade show, attracted about 56,000 fashion professionals from over 100 countries.  This marks a substantial increase in visitors in comparison to February 2010 that was accompanied by an overall positive business climate according to the organizers. These are encouraging results that contrast concerns about the rising prices of raw materials and supplies. Philippe Pasquet, CEO of Première Vision SA, suggested that this increase might impact the price of garments, cause structural changes in the industry and push weavers to find new alternative fabrics.

Mr Pasquet also reaffirmed Première Vision’s support of the young creative generation, highlighting its partnership with the prestigious Hyères International Festival of Fashion and Photography, whose jury this year will be presided over by Raf Simons.

Première Vision Fashion Team held its first ever trend seminar entitled Trend Vision where they presented their Spring Summer 12 Forecast. “A season of vast ambition to see far and wide” where animal and ethnic motifs, innovative and light materials as well as paradoxical and surprising compositions could be noticed amongst other key trend directions.

Pascaline Wilhelm, Director of the Première Vision Fashion Team, gave me some of her time to explain how they partner globally with independent experts from a variety of creative fields in order to produce their colour and fabric forecasts. 

Can you tell us more about how the Première Vision Fashion Team works?
There’s a full-time in-house team that works in partnership with independent professionals gathered as a group called Concertation International. In every country where Première Vision takes place, meetings are organized about 18-20 months ahead of the shop windows with local experts from different areas that influence fashion, such as stylists, weavers, designers, architects, trend analysts, and so on.

How are the members of Concertation International selected? And how do you work together?
The selection varies from one country to another since trends emerge and flourish differently. In France, for instance, trend analysts are more prominent than in countries like Brazil where other creative perspectives are more relevant to our research.

Every country has a representative who comes and shares their colour and materials directions as well as their general points of view, knowledge and doubts with the other members for about 2 days. The Fashion Team then gathers the information, synthesizes it and gives the weavers an exclusive preview of the forecast report.

How long in advance?
4 months before the show. For instance, Spring/Summer12 Colours and Materials Forecast were transmitted to the exhibiting weavers in October 2010.

What happens next?
Fashion information constantly evolves and that is why we keep a close relationship with the exhibitors to share and stay in line with the reality of fashion. Since Première Vision is a corner stone in the global fashion timeline and has an important influence on the fashion landscape, we hold a very privileged position of observer, partner and consultant.

Première Vision has satellite shows all around the world. In terms of local trends, how does it work then?
Main seasonal themes are used all over the world but adapted locally because trends can’t be replicated the exact same way in every country. We don’t want the whole world to wear the same things. We have to respect cultural diversities. Our role is to study the details and generate inspiration according to each local market.

Words: Romain Casella, Menswear Editor

Images: Première Vision SA

21.01.11

Welcome to Pitti City!

Last week, the magnificent city of Florence welcomed within the ancient premises of Fortezza da Basso, the 79^th edition of Pitti Uomo, the biannual men’s trade show that has become the international reference in contemporary menswear. A great opportunity for the exhibiting 1,010 brands to show their latest creations for next winter to about 30,000 buyers, journalists and trend searchers coming from all around the world to stock up our favorite department stores and boutiques.

Sketchbook was there to observe the joyful and inspirational crowd of fashionistas out and about the city of the Arts and to get a better feel for what to expect in the FW11 men’s collections.

Across the corridors and gardens of the “Fortezza”, some familiar faces appeared to remind us that we were not here to enjoy the Italian “dolce farniente” but to do real business; amongst which were Scott Schuman (The Sartorialist ), Suzy Menkes (International Herald Tribune), Imran Amed (Business of Fashion) and even Nick Wooster (Men’s Fashion Director at Bergdorf Goodman/Neiman Marcus).

On the street, it was about combining dapper elements of the men’s wardrobe with utilitarian details to create a balance between a formal but ”negligee” attitude.

Next fall, one thing is sure, men will be kept warm to fight the extreme. Knitwear with shearling finishes, mix of twill textiles and tweeds as well as heavy fabrics inspired by vintage outdoor activities will be the components of an upper casual look for Fall Winter ‘11.

Haversack brings back the uniforms of our great grand fathers with exaggerated cuts, details and colours to achieve some interesting alchemy between past and contemporary silhouettes.

Other Japanese brands such as M’s Braque or dix cinq six played instead with more cultural influences like the use of high tech fabrics and loud detailing for instance. 

Some pop, candy-like booths and a Human Juke Box aka “Il Juke Box Vivente”.

To finish on a note of “rare fashion emotion” as Suzy Menkes described, I attended Gareth Pugh’s Projection created in collaboration with Ruth Hogben.

The presentation of his new collection was projected on the ceiling of Orsanmichele, a 14^th century church where a dramatic and mystical tension was recreated by combining religious symbols, electronic violin melodies, warm and cold lightings.

Click below to access the complete film

http://showstudio.com/project/gareth_pugh_pitti_immagine_79_2011

Words: Romain Casella, Menswear Editor

Images: Romain Casella, Menswear Editor

13.12.10

Courtney Blackman from Forward PR and FBC makes her Christmas wishlist!

Courtney Blackman is a well-rounded fashion business woman and although we may be worlds apart (in terms of height she’s tiny and I’m a giant) she welcomes everyone with a kindness that makes you feel great!

Courtney shot by Sandra Waibi for Street Chic for Vogue UK. I do love me that bag!

As Founder & MD of Forward PR, Co-Founder & Co-Chair of the amazing Fashion Business Club and Board Member of the Ethical Fashion Forum she’s a very busy woman! Talking on panels up and down the country, organising amazing talks at the FBC, looking after clients and meeting influential business people she has her work cut out! We hope she has a great Christmas and New Year period and takes some time to rest. I’d like to thank her for her time.

Courtney Blackman:

“So, I came to a point in life several Christmases ago where I realised I don’t need anything and the things that I want can be a little trivial when comparing them to the needs of other people in other places on the planet. So, I started a family tradition and instead of giving gifts, we donate what money we would spend on gifts to unique sponsorships or charity. Last year my sister gave my partner and me a gift of sponsorship, whereby we’re sponsoring a goat that will supply milk to a family for a year. Lovely! I think that’s what Christmas is all about.

But for holiday fun, here we go:

1. A pet sloth – the three-toed kind. I’ve never been a fan of conventional pets, like a dog. I find dogs way too hyper and needy. If I’m going to have a pet, it has to be super-lethargic and you can’t get anymore lethargic than a sloth. They hardly move they’re so slow and they have cute faces.

2. An unlimited lifetime supply of vanilla macaroons from Ladurée. They are the most wonderful little morsels of deliciousness ever invented.

3. A live-in chef. I would rather enjoy someone to be on hand 24/7 to cook for me. I like cooking, but sometimes I just don’t have time, so would love to outsource it to a professional and have all my meals and snacks just ready for me when I need them.

4. Easy space travel. It would be thrilling to see the rings of Saturn in person.

5. Teleportation would be handy as well. It would be nice to see my family on a whim since they live in America and Mexico. Teleportation would make the travelling so much quicker and easier.

6. It would be so lovely if fundamentalists of every religion chilled out a bit. We all know people have beliefs and they differ. No need to get so angry and blow people, planes, buildings and art up. Lets move on.

7. A Rick Owens jacket. They are so perfectly beautiful.”

Hopefully she gets what she wants for Christmas this year! But we’re really hoping she gets the charitable option instead of the gifts, being able to think of others during this time is important too and there are many people going without this Christmas so spare them a thought! A little goes a long way!

Cleide and Sketchbook Magazine wish Courtney and her lovely team a Happy Christmas and Joyous New Year! Hope 2011 is all you wish for and more!

Fashion Business Club.

Forward PR

WORDS BY: Cleide Carina, originally commissioned for Style Forensics blog.

Credits:

Image of sloth from National Geographic site.

Image of Harrods Laduree from The Heart of Fashion.

Image of Saturn from NASA.

Rick Owens.

Vogue UK.

25.10.10

Iman Pasha: Fashion’s Super-Woman

How Iman Pasha manages her time to do what she does bewilders me. The endless list of collaborations, designers, events and shopping that she invests her time in somehow questions the boundaries of time and space and human achievement. When we met for lunch at 202 in Notting Hill I attempted to find out how she has become fashion’s super-woman.

“I am three things” Iman tells me, “I am an editorial stylist, a personal shopper and a fashion writer.”

Iman Pasha is not three things, she is neither four, five or any number that consists of less than three digits. “I’m a contributing editor at Niche magazine, where I compile the shopping pages and write articles on fashion and style”, “I’m the senior fashion columnist for the Express Tribune, which was launched by the Herald Tribune”, “and I’m a fashion consultant” she continues.

It doesn’t end there. Last month Iman organized and hosted a charitable shopping event with the notable fashion boutique Matches in aid of the Pakistan flood disaster. Next month she will be hosting the first ever ‘trunk show’ with London-based designer Erdem Moralioglu and luxury accessories brand, Zagliani. Soon after that she will be launching a Matches pop-up store in the Middle-East, which she describes as a “huge” project, and in the mean time she will grace the covers of a stack of Pakistani society magazines, attend a ball with designer Mary Katrantzou, cover the international fashion weeks and once she has time to breath she will be hosting another trunk show with the legendary designer Diane Von Furstenburg. 

Fashion has been imminent in Iman’s life from a tender age. Born in Boston and raised in Islamabad, Pakistan, Iman attended a prestigious international school, largely attended by Americans (thus the accent she carries) and at 17 she moved to London to complete her A-levels, going on to study philosophy at King’s College. It was when she moved to London that her colourful journey in fashion began. “I worked for big glossies like Tatler and Vogue” she explains, “I also worked for in the press department for Brown’s and Liberty of London”, “I basically did the whole circuit of fashion.” “Growing up in Pakistan gave me this love for colour and texture” she tells me, “I love fine jewellery and I never wear all black.”

It was only until Iman took a break from the whirlwind that is the fashion world that she realised that working for herself was where her passion rested, and with the encouragement of her friends she pushed the button and launched her namesake brand, ‘Iman Pasha’ which offers her numerous her services to a bespoke level. “I wanted to do so many things at once and I looked around and no one was doing that”, ‘”no one was writing and styling and personal shopping, so I told to myself that that is what I needed to do and so I did it.”

Iman launched ‘Iman Pasha’, the brand which offers her services, in May this year within an hour of launching her website she received her first “client”. Despite her large success within months of launching, her aspirations lie unfulfilled, “I want to become a commodity within myself” she admits, “That’s why I really admire people like Olivia Palermo and Rachel Zoe, because they’ve marketed themselves and have become their own brand.” Iman works through weekends and hasn’t had a holiday since she started, unsurprisingly her workdays are never each the same, “Some days I’m running around with clients, other days I’m writing my column, next it’s meeting with PRs and designers and in the evenings I’m usually at an event or party.”

The sheer size, and value, of Iman’s love-affair with fashion and clothes is inconceivable, each of the precious items in her wardrobe are carefully wrapped and preserved and her accessories, which include a collection of 17 Chanel bags, 2 Hermes Birkins and endless rows of red-soled Louboutins, are lined neatly like an exhibition of fine luxury goods. Iman’s image and style is the reason why she received her first client within an hour of launching her service and the reason she is an object of obsession on the Pakistani social scene. After hours of talking to Iman I learn a great deal about her and her work, however it is still inconceivable for me to understand how she manages finds the time to do it.

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Check out the fourth issue of Sketchbook Magazine for the full interview with Iman Pasha and her editorial spread, photographed by Nedim Nazerali. The issue will be available to buy online in mid-2011. 

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www.imanpasha.com

www.nedimnazerali.com

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WORDS AND INTERVIEW: Osman Ahmed

IMAGES: Nedim Nazerali