Showing posts with label Menswear. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Menswear. Show all posts

Monday, 9 January 2017

LCM - Highlights

LCM, London Collections Men, is probably the best place to show for any menswear designer, because of the freedom of creativity that can only be found in London.  I still really love menswear and seeing how designers are developing menswear, it's no more basic jeans and t-shirt for men.  It's exciting to see the creativity, here are some of my highlights from LCM AW17!  Wishing I was there!

Menswear trends already coming through.

Don't be afraid of colour!


Christopher Shannon


Katie Eary


Sibling


Topman


Back to Black


Berthold


KTZ


Matthew Miller


Fur/Shearling


Astrid Andersen


Miharayasuhiro


YMC




Tuesday, 28 June 2016

London Collections Men SS17 - Day 3

Day 3 of LCM was all about working backstage. Through the London College of Style I had the opportunity to dress at 2 shows, Belstaff and KTZ, both I have dressed at before so I knew what to expect. I decided that this was the last time, unless paid, that I was going to help dress backstage. After hearing from people already established as stylists, I should be going to shows and not dressing them, plus going to shows and reporting back is much more fun than dressing.

Belstaff was a presentation and bright and early for a Sunday I was there at 8:30. First we were assigned a model and briefed on our looks. My look was pretty easy and since this was a presentation the model would have plenty of time to get ready and there would be no quick change. The look was basically leather pants and a t-shirt. The shoes were a bit more challenging. They needed to be laced in a specific way and able for the pants to be tucked into them when fastened. After hair and makeup my model needed a quick bathroom and food break, afterall he was going to be standing for the next 2 hours. When he returned he got dressed. There was a run through to decide on placing of the models and then a briefing by the designers/creative director. And it was ready to begin, piece of cake!

The inspiration for the SS17 collection was Steve McQueen in the 1970s. There is a definite western vibe as well as a racing vibe. I really like the leather trousers tucked into thick socks, it feels very rustic to me. I totally see this guy in the dessert with his white, worn, t-shirt and neck scarf. He has a bit of scruf (what you get when you haven’t shaved for a few days) and his hair is unruly from the motorcycle helmut, because afterall the Belstaff guy definitely rides a motorcycle. Racing stripes on the jackets and leather jumpsuits is a nob to the racing industry, which was pulled from the McQueen film This is the first time that Belstaff has combined menswear and womenswear into one show. I’m not so crazy about the ladieswear. I don’t love the racing stripes on the short leather jackets,

Here are some photos I took from the presentation. As you can see the set was amazing! The space was actually just a convention building, but Belstaff really transformed it. Belstaff always does a great job with transporting you to a place and time with how they present their collections. There was also a man outside on a motorcycle doing tricks wearing Belstaff, it just really set the mood as you entered the venue.











You can view the whole collection here

Next up was KTZ! I was really looking forward to this show, it is generally one of the more over the top shows as oppose to ready to wear in regards to the clothes and I was exciting to see what they had put together, what the theme would be, would there be lots of womenswear mixed in? Okay so the Belstaff presentation ended around 1:45 and we were meant to be at KTZ for 2:00, but they knew we were going to be a bit late, there were about 9 of us from LCS that were dressing at both shows so we all went over together. After rushing to get there, we arrived around 2:15. When we arrived, and I’m going to be quite candied with my experience dressing this show, no one knew what was going on, or maybe they did, but they didn’t tell us. We were told to put our belongs, including our mobile phones, in a separate room, the room was towards the back and it was literally a small room with everyone's bags thrown in, no security, nothing. We were not allowed to take pictures as they were afraid that the collection would leak before the show, which I totally get, but I also heard that if they saw you with your mobile phone even out, regardless of what you were doing on it, then you would have to leave. I took my phone with me, along with my license and cards. After we had put everything away, we came back to the dressing area and were just standing around waiting to be told what to do. We were told that we were in the way a few times and not very nicely, and then we were asked to move to another area, which we all did. After sitting in this other area for 15 minutes we were asked to go and sit outside. On this particular day in London it had been down pour raining speratically and was quite cold for June. So I was not too excited about having to sit outside, there was also a bit of hesitation when asked if we could get our coats from the other room where they asked us to put them, with a response of ‘really, is it so cold outside’. It was now around 3:45 and we were meant to have the models dressed and ready for a dress rehearsal at 4:00, the show would start at 5:00. After sitting outside for about a half hour, we were told to come back in and we were told to take a look from the rail and line up according to the number of that look and then, in order, find a spot in the room to get the model ready. There were 3 people per model, which is insane, 1 person is generally enough, 2 people, maybe, if the look complicated, but 3 people? It was too crowded, and then that makes it difficult to get dressed and for any changes. They did end up doing a run through, but it was right before the show and then the show started late, I think around 5:15.

The outfit my model wore was basically track pants and sweatshirt. There was a lot of silhouette details that you can’t really see with just looking at the clothes, so it is nice to be able to really look at the clothes and see the movement. KTZ definitely pays attention the details. Which is one of the reason that I love dressing their shows. But for SS17 I was not super impressed, I don’t particularly like the logo printed stuff. I loved the sheer constilation pieces, they were amazing, and I thought the structure of the outwear was really nice, but the rest was just okay. I would never dress a KTZ show again. The production team was rude and disorganized, we are free, skilled labour and there was no thank you at the end of the show, no appreciation. We were not allowed to eat the food that they provided, or allowed to have bottled water in the dressing space. It was just not pleasant and I gained nothing from the experience. It's really unfortunate because the clothes are beautiful.

I don't have any photos to show you because we were not allowed to take photos, below though I have put some of my favourite looks. To view more images from the collection you can go here.




Wednesday, 15 June 2016

Trend Tuesday - Menswear - PJs as daywear

I know Trend Tuesday is a day late!
Pajamas have become a huge trend for women, I'm not talking thermal underwear and baggy logo
t-shirts, but the pajama sets in silk and fun prints or classic stripes worn together or as separates.  Well the trend has trickled over into menswear and this past weekend at the menswear shows I definitely saw this trend.
The easiest way to incorporate this trend into your wardrobe is to start with the shirt.  Short sleeve or long sleeve look for the piping and a straight cut to the shirt.  My recommendation is to pair the shirt with a pair of loose fitting trousers, or cropped trousers.  Don't be afraid to mix and match prints for top and bottom, as long as there is a common colour.

Top finds for Pajama shirts







Dolce & Gabbana | £675

Marvy Jamoke | £150



Marc Jacobs | £355


Ami | £185


Zara | £29.99





Monday, 13 June 2016

London Collection Mens SS17 - Day 1

This week the blog is going to be all about menswear!  I actually really like menswear and the more I read menswear magazines, put together menswear themed moodboards and shoots, and see menswear shows I grow to love it more.  I have actually been invited to quite a few shows for LCM SS17 so Im excited to share with you trends I see emerging and designers that you may not have heard of.

First for day 1 I attended the Barbour presentation located at the Royal Institute of British Architects.  I had never been to this space before, but it is quite amazing.  The presentation was held in room with tons of floor to ceiling windows and a large outdoor space.  The weather was quite good, so it was nice to have the outside space.  And the crowd was quite trendy, with a few reality TV celebrities, JP from Made in Chelsea, bloggers, and then you had the fish loving, khaki wearing set. I never felt  Barbour as a brand was ever super exciting, it's composed of mostly basics, outdoor feeling, great coats.  But this season they really stepped it up offering great accessories, hats, comfy socks, boots, and bags.  I definitely felt a festival theme going on, for spring festival wear was really big for women and I think that is seeping over into menswear as I have actually seen it come through from a few other designers.  They had some great distressed jackets that will be exclusively at Selfridges, a collaboration that I don't think they have had in the past. 

Check out the full collection at deFUZE Magazine here .  Here are some photos that I took during the presentation.






Next was a presentation by Phoebe English.  I had known her to design womenswear but not menswear, and I had actually heard a lot of buzz around her SS17 menswear collection, so I was really excited for this presentation.  Per the press release that the PR puts together for each designer's collection, the focus for this collection was around fabric, form, and silhouette.  All the garments were made of natural fibers and were all made in the UK.  From this collection I loved the shape and the fit of the clothing, I particularly liked the way the backpack was constructed and laid on the back of the model.  It was a modern take on an old style, using really young models and hand sewing, which is such an "old" thing to do, no one was hand sews like this.  I could see these boys by cliffs, running on the seashore in Scotland.  There was no fuss with the clothing, but really great details in the form of ties, pockets, and closures.

Check out the full collection at deFUZE Magazine here.  Here are some photos that I took during the presentation.










Sunday, 17 January 2016

AW16 London Collections Men - Day 1

I know this is a blog for women!  but I had the best time at London Collections Men last weekend and I need to tell you about!

Another week, another fashion show!  The life of a stylist and I love it!  Can you believe that we are already talking about AW16?  This past weekend was London Collections Men, basically menswear gets to shine!  Prior to styling I never really looked at menswear or paid much attention to it, but after the energy of this past weekend I definitely would love to gain experience working with menswear.  The menswear shows are a bit different than the womenswear.  The catwalks seem smaller, attendees are a bit more casual, and make models seem to be way more relaxed and goofy, just having a good time!

First up for the day was figuring out which shows I was going to go to, with a little help from the amazing team at Streets Magazine I managed to get tickets to Alex Mullins and Maharishi, 2 designers I had never heard of before.  There was an opportunity to see more shows, but I was also dressing backstage for 3 shows, so there was just no time.

Alex Mullins was a presentation on Friday and Maharishi was a runway show on Saturday.  I decided to also go to a presentation from Universal Works, a great menswear line with a bit of a workwear, casual feeling.  The venue was circus themed with drinks and popcorn and models holding props of cotton candy and mallets.  It was interesting vibe, models were along each wall with people walking down the centre.  People were really just standing around and chatting.  I loved the jackets and the knit caps, trousers are loose, and I love the canvas shoes.

Universal Works  
Below are some images I took at the presentation






After the Universal Works presentation I headed over to The Victoria House to attend another presentation, Alex Mullins.  Once inside The Victoria House there was a showcase of many different emerging designer, after a walk around and a stop at the complimentary bar complete with free GQ magazines, I headed into the Alex Mullins presentation.  

Below are some images I took at the presentation.