chevron: zig-zag/diagonal stripes and colorblocking
One sleeve fo a bare shoulder;
Two Sleeves,
to bare nothing of the body shape:
(all images via vogue.com)
Mimi’s Brainbreaker Week; Which fashion house presented the most noteworthy fringes on the runway for the Fall of 2015?
Let’s make that choice!
Difficult, but we say Nina Ricci! Which one is your favorite?
More Fringes; read more on that in our runway report for Spring 2015; Native American Girls
By filtering out shows that were held on a traditional catwalk, we could divide the venues in two categories; House and Garden and Entertainment
Category; House and Garden
At Valentino they named the collection “Mirabilia Romae” which means “The Marvels of Rome” and that’s where they also took the audience: Showing outside at the flagship store at Piazza Mignanelli in Rome. (after giving a fashion-exhibition tour situated in 3 of the most stunning buildings of Rome) Also held in Rome, at the Galleria Borghese: The lavish opening event of the Azzedine Alaïa Couture/Sculpture exhibition. Dolce and Gabanna treated their guests to a “Mid Summer’s Night” themed weekend in Portofino, they own a couple of properties there, which they used for presenting Fine Jewelry, Alta Moda, and Alta Sartoria collections. Also dinner and a party (with Kylie Minogue performing) were scheduled for this weekend. (be sure to read all about that here on vogue.com) At Christian Dior they just built a complete venue/installation/building with special light effects at the garden of the Rodin museum in Paris “The Garden of Delight”
Schiapparelli showed at the Place Vendôme salon with a make believe “Theatre d’Elsa” as backdrop. Fendi actually showed in a Théâtre (de Champs-Élysees) with a surrealist backdrop of Giorgio de Chirico’s Piazza d’Italia. RVDK presented in an empty, typical Parisian, apartment in the sixth arrondissement (that’s what starting fashion houses mostly do in Paris during the Couture Shows)
Category; Entertainment
Chanel faked a Casino, built in the Grand Palais, with actual gamblers (a.o. celebrities, actress Kirsten Stewart)as backdrop for the show. Viktor & Rolf gave a performance dressing and undressing models and then putting the dresses on the walls of he Palais de Tokyo museum. Charlie Le Mindu made use of the props at the Le Crazy Horse de Paris for his couture show.
Credits;
Schiapparelli/Atelier Versace/Charlie le Mindu (images via http://nowfashion.com/categories/reviewing http://www.vogue.com/tag/season/fall-2015-couture/)
Fendi (images via http://www.vogue.com/slideshow/13280328/fendi-fall-2015-couture-backstage/#1)
Valentino (images via http://www.style.com/fashion-shows/fall-2015-couture/valentino / http://www.vogue.it/en/shows/oddities/2015/07/valentino-mirabilia-romae#ad-image
RVDK (image via http://www.percevalties.com/2015/07/ronald-van-der-kemp-fall-winter-2015.html)
Azzedine Alaïa (image via http://www.vogue.it/en/shows/fashion-events/2015/07/azzedine-alaia-couture-sculpture#ad-image)
Chanel (images vis http://wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-features/chanel-runway-set-karl-lagerfeld-casino-2015-10177366/)
Cher, the ageless singer/actress/icon, is the new model for the Marc Jacobs Fall/Winter 2015 campaign. How lovely she sits there in the red, almost like a porcelain Victorian doll, posing for photographer David Sims. The picture above is taken from @themarcjacobs instagram, posted 3 days ago. Yes, we know it’s not breaking news anymore….
Fall 2015 Prêt-à-Porter: SideShow
A sideshow is an extra, secondary production associated with a circus. We, at Mimi Berlin, are big fans of these acts. In fact we tributed a complete series of Statuettes to the genre, which was very popular in the beginning of the 19th century. Acts such as for instance the Sutherland Sisters and the Hilton Sisters didn’t necessarily have a world shocking skill, no, their main asset was the out-of-the-ordinary appearance they were born with. People just liked looking at them for entertainment. Maybe the same goes for fashion shows nowadays.
The Givenchy Fall/Winter 2015 show was obviously inspired by the sideshow and it’s stars; the setting had the poor man’s atmosphere; with all different ‘shabby” wooden stools and chairs, with colorful plateau’s for the models to take a moment in the spotlight, just like in the circus. Not so shabby were the clothes; beautifully embellished styles were inspired by the circus in the twenties as well; velvet, bias cut, stripes, corsets, ruffles and marabou feathered capes, you name it. A total abundance of real glamour. But Make-up and hair were the most obvious “vaudeville/sideshow/circus” styling devices; Lots of fabulous piercings, which also created optical moustaches and tears. More than one set of earrings in one ear, hair in slick twenties style also with a “moustache” fringe. to cut it short; over the top top top!
Also the collection by the house of Alexander McQueen was inspired by the sideshow stars. Less glamorous were the Ladies with updo’s and painted lips. Like the original sideshow acts, they were made to look a bit rundown, twenties vaudeville style, but wearing stunningly “frumpled” lace dresses…
At Maison Margiela, designed by John Galliano, the models (not all but some, like we picked out from the style.com runway looks) actually were the sideshow, we like the fact that Mr Galliano shows us that a sideshow still exists. (all images via style.com)