2018年04月25日
Assouline Reprint Offers Intimate
Two years ahead of establishing his publishing company, Prosper Assouline documented Azzedine Alaïa’s summer 1992 collection with a book of his own photographs. Now, 25 years after its initial release, “Alaïa Livre De Collection: The Secret Alchemy of a Fashion Show” is getting a second act on May 1 with a special reprint celebrating the late couturier’s work.
“I did this book as a love affair,” explains Assouline, whose publishing house has showcased the work of other fashion brands, including Dior and Vionnet. “It has nothing to do with books or publishing, but Azzedine was a very close friend.”
Admittedly “not a photographer at all,” the French publisher spent nearly two weeks that year shadowing Alaïa and documenting his creative journey within his 60,000-square-foot studio and headquarters in Paris’ Marais district. Comparing Alaïa’s process to that of a sculptor, Assouline’s photographs not only display the designer’s creative and technical process, but illustrate how each collection was shaped by the beauty surrounding him.
“For him, life was beautiful every day,” Assouline says of the designer, who died of heart failure last year at age 77. “I wanted to show the detail of the clothes and also the correlation between the [19th-century] architecture of his building and his collection and his work ethic.”
Dedicated to his craft, Alaïa would often return to his studio following dinner to work through the night, spending “hours on a small detail,” says Assouline. “I am 60 years old and I’ve never seen somebody so talented who worked so much.”
As Assouline’s publishing empire grew to include nearly 2,000 titles, “Livre de Collection” was filed to the publisher’s archives for a quarter century until Italian gallerist Carla Sozzani urged Assouline to reprint the book as the catalogue for a retrospective of their friend’s work, opening next month at the Design Museum in London.
“I never forgot this book,” continues Assouline, who recalled the many intimate moments he captured during the frenetic days — and moments — leading up to Alaïa’s 1992 runway show. Shots include models Helena Christensen, Naomi Campbell, Tyra Banks and Christy Turlington Burns being outfitted in the Tunisian-born designer’s collection.
One of Assouline’s favorite images from the 200-page book shows Alaïa seated on the floor alongside longtime Chanel shoe designer Raymond Massaro, with whom Alaïa was collaborating for the footwear of his collection. “They were inspecting the shoes and discussing the design, yes, but they both loved the workmanship.”
Describing the book’s pictorial journey as “like a movie,” Assouline hopes to once again celebrate Alaïa in a way the designer would not have during his own lifetime. “For him it was always about being chic, sexy and proud [when wearing his clothes]. He believed in people and was the first designer I knew who was so in love with [all types of] design. It’s unbelievable how much I learned from him — it’s bizarre that we’re re-releasing this after 25 years, but it’s wonderful.”Read more at:QueenieAu | bridesmaid dresses australia
2018年04月16日
Lahum is Abu Dhabi's newest thrift
The idea had been at the back of Ameera Amir’s mind for some time: to open a thrift shop and use its proceeds to fund scholarships for children from lower-income families.
It picked up momentum, however, during early discussions about the Year of Zayed. This is apt, given the Founding Father’s commitment to principles such as education and sustainability, and respect for all mankind – values that Amir has also dedicated her working life to. Nonetheless, when she soft-launched Lahum at Abu Dhabi’s Masdar Park in January, Amir wasn’t sure whether one key part of her plan would work.
“I didn’t think really anyone would buy, because it’s a new concept,” she says. “People are used to donating clothes and those clothes going to people in need, but the concept of reselling in a thrift store?”
In the first of a series of happy surprises for Lahum, which means “for them” and refers to children, Abu Dhabi’s community has been buying away. This includes an Alexander McQueen wedding dress, sold for Dh200 to a woman who claimed she was acquiring it for a friend. When she returned to re-donate the dress, she confessed it was for her own wedding. Another woman, a lawyer, picked up several abayas to wear on a business trip to Saudi Arabia, says Amir. “She said: ‘You know, I’d hate for me as a mother not to have enough funds for my child to go to school, so I’m more than happy to support this,’” recalls Amir.
That was another adjustment Amir had to make to her expectations for the concept: she initially imagined that Lahum would appeal to and should target lower-income members of the community. “I realised that no, people are passionate about the cause.”
Amir dreams of going on to establish Lahum stores across the UAE, and hopes to create the kind of brand recognition enjoyed by similar concepts in other countries, such as Canada’s Value Village, but with a more far-reaching impact on the community.
She pays the administration costs and salaries of her two full-time employees herself, so all funds can go towards the scholarships, and she has partnered with the Abu Dhabi Education Council in low-income communities to identify children in need. In the three months since Lahum launched – the official opening is this week – the shop has already raised enough to cover at least three scholarships.
Amir’s passion for education also reflects her own feelings about Sheikh Zayed, who paid families in a newly formed UAE to send their children to school. “I made it a point to get the highest level of education myself,” she says.
“I wanted to learn so I could always do things better.” With a master’s in international affairs and sustainable economic development from Columbia University in New York, she runs her father’s business conglomerate in the private sector, holds advisory roles in the Abu Dhabi government, sits on several boards and runs a number of private businesses. Lahum’s model also reflects Amir’s passion for social enterprise over charity. One of her other initiatives, Weyakum, helps young people in the UAE realise their educational and professional aspirations. It has been recognised with an Impact of Youth Development award.
And then there is the dedication to sustainability, which is seen in every aspect of Lahum. Located in four shipping containers designed to look like an open cardboard box, it is decorated inside with recycled tyres, upcycled oil barrels, a giant sign made from old Spinney’s cartons and trendy-looking price tags fashioned from cereal boxes.Read more at:QueenieAu | formal wear brisbane
2018年04月11日
Spectrum 2018 benefits all CSU Students
Hey Rammies! If you were at the CSU Fashion Show, Spectrum 2018 on Friday night, then you got to see the future of the fashion industry! From recycled military parachutes to evening gowns, this show had it all. The spotlights were pointed straight at the four designers who won awards for their designs, but every collection was jaw-dropping! If you haven’t heard already, you should know to keep an eye on the fab-four designers of the night! Sara Begley won Best Construction, Lauren Bruce-Lund won Most Marketable, Erica Quinones won Most Innovative, and Nicole Pink won Outstanding Designer!
If you’re a common S.O. reader, then you know that the Fashion Show requires tireless effort to create. SO, what are the benefits of the Fashion Show other than a fabulous night of fashion?
All of the students involved in the Design and Merchandising Department get a first-hand real-life experience of what it’s like to design a collection, and produce a fashion show. All hands are on deck for this event, everyone, no matter their focus of study in the Department gains valuable experience from this show. The year of planning and organizing begins almost immediately after the previous show ends. A specific class within the department decides the theme and name for upcoming season’s show.
Each subsequent decision for the show includes heavy research from none other than the forecasting-google of fashion, WGSN. If you think a textbook is expensive, think again. A single subscription to WGSN for businesses in the industry costs over $30,000. Colorado State University has an educational subscription through the library proxy server. The cost to the university is over $7000, half is paid by the library the other half by income and fundraising from the CSU Fashion Show.
Now prepare to have your mind blown… the proceeds from the Fashion Show each year benefit every single student at CSU. How? They enable every student to have a subscription to WGSN at no cost to them. Business student? Use WGSN. Engineer? Physicist? You could probably use WGSN. It’s okay; I was a Physics major during my first year at CSU. Word around the block in Physics is that some people want to wear capes when doing research. WGSN has you covered. Health and Exercise Science? You could come up with a new style of sneaker that’s fashionable and supports everyone! Every major can benefit from this site. Open your mind to a little creativity! If you’re a Design and Merchandising major, this website is in your saved tabs on your laptop. WGSN is the primary source of research for forecasting what styles to look out for and gain inspiration from for the following fashion season and more importantly the next CSU Fashion Show. It is also probably the reason you got that new shirt that you’re obsessed with. Made.com, Fila, L’Oréal, and other large corporations benefit from using WGSN, and you can too! Give the website a browse with us while we eagerly await the next Fashion Show! For students to access WGSN, go through the colostate.edu to Libraries and to the A-Z database. Choose W and find WGSN. You will need to create a user account with your rams.colostate.edu email address and verify your name and account information. Then get ready to browse the global trends for three to four years in the future.
We spoke with Carol Engel-Enright, a professor in the Department of Design and Merchandising at CSU, about her reflection on this year’s show. The CSU Fashion Show Spectrum 2018 had 24 collections, the Design program selects only 25 students every year to enter the program through a portfolio process. Carol emphasized that “Each year is bigger and better than the last! All of the students involved in the show push themselves hard to make every show better than the last.” The professor described Spectrum 2018 as “spectacular!”, and is very excited for what’s ahead.Read more at:cheap bridesmaid dresses | bridesmaid dresses
2018年04月04日
Activist reveals an inspiring life in fashion
An image of Christ crucified struck the teenage Vivienne Westwood with the force of a revelation. As the fashion designer and activist recalls in a new documentary about her life: “It made me aware of suffering and that I’d been lied to, it wasn’t all nice. I needed to find my own way and trust myself.”
This awareness has continued through Westwood’s life. She became a forceful advocate for Greenpeace, speaking at rallies and protesting against fracking. For Westwood, 76, the environment is a critical issue. She transformed the catwalk into a protest with her spring-summer 2016 show for London Fashion Week and drove a tank to then prime minister David Cameron’s house to nail home the point.
“She wants to talk about her activism, not about herself,” says Lorna Tucker, director of Westwood: Punk, Icon, Activist, one of the centrepieces of this year’s Sydney Film Festival. “If Viv was to edit a film about herself it would be very different and I wanted to take a step back and make a film about her that really inspired people to understand Viv and where her activism comes from.”
After making a fashion film for Vivienne Westwood’s Climate Revolution in 2013 (Red Shoes, starring Lily Cole) and collaborating on a series of short films, Tucker suggested the idea of a feature documentary.
“The biggest compliment I had was from her colleagues and close friends who said this was the most authentic portrait they’ve ever seen,” Tucker says.
“Viv will probably hate it because that’s the way she is, a perfectionist about everything, always striving to make things better. She’s an amazing icon and she gives a shit. On the outside, people just see her talking about stuff and probably think, ‘Oh there’s another celebrity actress on the bandwagon.’ I wanted to show she is really fighting hard to make it happen. She finds out about something and she asks, ‘How can I fix it?’”
Tucker was speaking backstage at the Marc Theatre in Park City, Utah, earlier this year, after her film’s premiere before a responsive, sometimes emotional, audience at the Sundance Film Festival. As we talked, theatre staff approached Tucker to thank her for her “inspiring” film.
As well as Westwood’s activism, the film gives insights about a fascinating figure in the fashion world. She began making garments from age 11 and, in her teens, left her native Cheshire for London. She met Malcolm McLaren, who found shop space in which to sell records while Westwood made and sold her clothes. The shop’s ever-changing punk themes, culminating in the World’s End store, were a precursor to Westwood creating for seasonal fashion shows.
On screen the designer is palpably bored with talking about the Sex Pistols. She also grew bored of their manager McLaren. “He kept on doing the same thing,” she says. “He should have changed to do something else by now.”
Meanwhile, Westwood found that punk anarchy could only go so far, saying, “We weren’t attacking the system at all, we were part of the distraction.”
The success of her collections, notably the pirate-inspired designs and the colour, pattern and energy that Westwood injected as a riposte to punk, brought her wide attention.
She set her sights on an international market.
In Italy she came close to securing a major partnership but, in a spectacular display of sour grapes, McLaren sabotaged the deal. Back in Britain, and on social security, Westwood got out her old sewing machine and renewed a lease on the World’s End store.
“She doesn’t even complain about it, which is why I bring in her family and friends at that point in the film to explain what happened and how bad it was,” Tucker says.
“She doesn’t dwell on it but it could have destroyed her. The audience needs to see that, because what she did can inspire people.”
A major figure in Westwood’s life is her husband and design collaborator Andreas Kronthaler, who she met in Austria and with whom she has collaborated since. A former Olympic sports shooter and 10 years Westwood’s junior, Kronthaler says he is “besotted” and that his wife embodies everything he loves. There is a wonderful photo montage where we see the pair wearing matching dresses and outrageous designs.
There is a comment in the film that they work on the body like old-style couturiers. “I was incredibly lucky to observe them working together,” Tucker says.
“What I really admire is just how much they care about women’s bodies and how they accentuate, make women powerful whatever their figures. It was like watching magic happen.”
Despite Westwood’s talent, it took a long time for her to be acknowledged by her peers. Commentators in the film say she was initially considered a joke but eventually, because of pressure from critics, she could no longer be ignored and was awarded designer of the year in 1990 and 1991.
In March 2016, Westwood changed the name of her Gold Label collection to Andreas Kronthaler for Vivienne Westwood, while she continues to design the Vivienne Westwood men’s and women’s collections. Many fashion houses are owned by corporations, but Westwood still owns and controls the company she founded.
Dressed in vivid coats, scarfs, boots and fishnets, cycling through London streets to her design studio or riding a tank to confront the prime minister about the environment, Westwood embodies her own fashion talk. “You’ve got to cut a figure,” she says of her clothes. “You’ve got to be prepared for action and engagement.”
To quote former Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, who appears in the film, “She’s a punk rocker. She’s the only punk rocker.”
“Vivienne really inspired me because she came from nothing really,” Tucker explains. “She says, ‘Just don’t give up. Come on, Lorna, this is what you want to do, it’s going to be tough, but just do it and stop moaning.’ Before this project I’d worked with her briefly when I was coming out of a divorce and with a child. I wasn’t very aware of what was going on in the world, the environment, human rights, I just didn’t have any knowledge of that. Viv literally gave me a crash course that blew my mind.
“It made me want to do something, so I praise her as that turning point in my life.”
Asked if anything surprised her while she was making the documentary, Tucker says: “I was surprised at how much she works and where she gets her energy from. At her age she is looking incredible, she doesn’t believe in plastic surgery. She suffers no fools, and she really is driven to make a difference in the world and dedicated to making change.”Read more at:sydney formal dress shops | blue bridesmaid dresses
