Bianca Saunders RTW Fall 2020

Bianca Saunders re-created dancehall parties for her presentation and focused on movement and contrast for her new collection. The space was sectioned off into curtained partitions where models grooved to dancehall music. “I wanted to create a peep show idea of the dancehall scene, because dance can be quite sexual and when you’re at a club, despite being surrounded by people, you’re very much in your own moment,” she mused.

Despite their tailored construction, the clothes were designed to dance in. Saunders curved seams, twisted fabrics and moved shoulder seams closer to the neck so that it would shift. Long overcoats had double hems that moved easily over long and loose shirts. A bleached and fluid denim ensemble stole the show.

By altering its construction, Saunders breathed new life into these men’s wear staples.

Source: WWD

FASHIONADO

Alyx Spring 2020 Men's and Women's Collection

Matthew Williams of 1017 Alyx 9SM (his brand’s full name) didn’t seem to attach much meaning to his venue—a stunning, modernized bank building—yet two words projected loud and clear: big and business. This is what Alyx is fast becoming and what the combined men’s and women’s collections encapsulated with their assertive silhouettes and high-fashion positioning.

As the penultimate show of a strong week, Alyx was something to behold, arousing the glory days of Thierry Mugler in the 1980s while attracting the next-generation crowd that has brought incontrovertible energy back to Paris. For now, at least, Williams is committing to a more formal form of urban than his peers. For him, tailoring is not just an outward statement, but an inward reflection of mastery. “Tailoring is a really difficult thing to do as a young brand,” he said. “Some of the construction we’re attempting to do is trying to find our own language. I think it’s a nice challenge to define what that is for us.”

Arguably, his challenge is how to achieve that difference without appearing over-designed. From past visits with him, before he switched to a show format, he revealed his process as methodical, almost obsessional for the way he will privilege one detail over another. Chances are, he vetoed at least a dozen chains before landing on the one that repeats as a parabolic flourish on several of these looks. Other details—elongating panels, zippered knees, hammered hardware, sculpted heels—were fine-tuned in order to be fully integrated, not gratuitous. Elsewhere, outdoorsy pieces that harked back to earlier collections blended in while the draped dresses towards the end remained slightly unresolved.

But that’s just surface stuff; anyone who read the accompanying notes would have learned about the metal hardware sourced from a sustainable factory, the near-waterless leather-dyeing process, the three-dimensional printed seams and myriad more examples of innovation adding functional and psychological value to the clothes. Or, as stated in this succinct yet thorough document, “We engage with systems, scales, and soul.”

Williams, for his part, also suggested the designs gain dimension from those wearing them. “Our casting is a real mixture of models and friends and family—those people’s energy really brings out the clothes.” See Model 54, aka his wife Jennifer, who wore a croc-embossed jacket (the treatment of the season) and a corresponding translucent skirt. Enough of the guests knew her that cheers echoed through the space as though she were an international celebrity. It was a telling moment. Alyx, now acting all grown up, remains as independent and in-the-know as always.

Source: VOGUE RUNWAY

FASHIONADO

Dior SS20 Is Exquisitely Clean Tailoring and Collaborative RIMOWA Cases

Dior‘s impressive ascension under Kim Jones’s direction continues with the luxury house’s Spring/Summer 2020 collection. Rife with collaborations that notably include artist Daniel Arsham and RIMOWA, the menswear offering is stunningly clean, blending streetwear-friendly branding with mature tailored garments.

Like the Hajime Sorayama-centric Pre-Fall 2019 offering, this collection emphasizes clean lines and a timeless color palette to emphasize the covetable accessories, Matthew M. Williams-designed hardware and Arsham-inspired wares. The latter comes by way of unfettered trench coats and pale slacks, a nod to the artist’s personal uniform, while Arsham’s Future Relic series inspires the collection’s desaturated, earthy palette and a faux-cracked T-shirt.

Elongated belts, boxy work shirts and Oblique logo undershirts crop up in the collection, bolstering the louche suiting with youthful appeal. Elsewhere, safari caps and wide scarves shield the wearer from the sun, while skin-tight knitwear and sheer short-sleeved shirts lend primary color pops to the proceedings. Illustrative floral separates, buttery leather jackets and draping scarf-like attachments reinforce the sumptuousness attitude that Dior trades on.

Luxe textiles inform the offering’s crocodile leather jumpsuits and flowing silk shirts, while double-breasted jackets and carrot-cut trousers grant the range an effortlessly sophisticated attitude. Like the relaxed suiting, a faded newspaper print calls to the brand’s heritage, finding its way onto shirts, socks, B23 sneakers and a series of collaborative RIMOWA bags, the first union between the luggage label and Dior. To further distinguish the cases, each boasts a bespoking anodizing process that sees vibrant pigments blended directly in the aluminum shell; this embeds unique, vibrant colors into each item, permanently.

The fellow LVMH-controlled brand contributes a variety of thematic shoulderbags, clutches and full-sized luggage, a natural marriage of each labels’ sleek aesthetics. Yoon‘s head-turning jewelry continues to evolve each season, with chunky “DIOR” rings, necklaces and earrings all offered in a wide array of colors and makeups. Glossy eyewear, wallets and backpacks round out the expansive accessories offering, along with an Arsham-approved deconstructed cap, several new iterations of Dior’s Saddle bag and a wide array of running shoes and boots.

Source: HYPEBEAST

FASHIONADO

Off-White Spring 2020 Menswear

The opening look and most of the closing, women’s included, at this Off-White show were made in collaboration with the New York artist Futura—aka Lenny McGurr. His vivid spray strokes and sleekly alien Pointman figure were incorporated as print or jacquard into suiting, soft trenches, cycling vests, denim, a blanket, and evening dresses. As Virgil Abloh sketched it in his long sentences backstage: “In his lifetime, and in the culture that we come from, which is a segment of hip-hop and graffiti, [his work] started out being seen as a form of vandalism, not art. . . . But as well as painting on the side of subway trains, he was part of the scene and showed with Basquiat and Keith Haring. . . . . He was on what was once thought of as the fringe. . . . but now, through time, we can see that the beauty of Basquiat is also the beauty of Lenny, Futura.”

That transition from the counterculture—the fringe—to become both the subject of establishment acclaim and an agent of change within the establishment mirrors Abloh’s own path: In the 10 years since he was photographed by Tommy Ton with Kanye West and crew outside Comme des Garçons, Abloh has completed the full loop. But reflecting on the longer span of Futura’s journey—combined with his own recent project curating his past body of work for the “Figures of Speech” exhibition in Chicago—has made Abloh consider a bigger picture. “When I make things, I look at it on a scale of 30 years. What gives the esteem and the energy . . . I know the work has to mean something now, but I’m also thinking about what it means when you zoom out.”

There was certainly a sense of space in time in some of this collection. Its span of reference was broad but as legibly interconnected as the branding on the new Nike Dunk, codesigned with Futura, that made its debut on Abloh’s carnation-field runway. The chain-link fence pattern on bags, jackets, and a semitransparent poncho played nicely against the densely hand-knit sweaters that bore patches declaring membership in the “Off-White climbing club.”

Climbing was not only this collection’s second big theme—reflected in the drawstrings worked into suiting, the technical luggage, and the nylon patched knit faux fleeces—but it was also part of the broader metaphor at play. A sky blue suede trench with detachable front pockets, a double-layered floral-print down jacket and shorts, a chain-link knit off-white shirt and shorts, plus the recut denim template workwear in washed and treated technical fabrics were all highly polished and finished pieces. Conversely, the tie-dyed cargo pants (sometimes crystal set) and denim, the bandana-patched T-shirts, those dense knit sweaters, and bleached flannel shirting were all designed to appear roughened and weathered.

In a piece of tape played before the show, Bjork spoke about the “spaced-outness” of perspective, nurtured through the landscape of Iceland, that helped her learn songwriting. Abloh seems to be in search of a similar panoramic point of view—an apex position—and the topography of the clothes he is producing as he makes that ascent is benefiting from it.

Source: VOGUE

FASHIONADO

Ka Wa Key Spring/Summer 2020 Collection

KA WA KEY presented SS20 collection titled "What happens in grandpa's closet stays in grandpa's closet" at the NYMD during NYFW: Men's. The collection is inspired and is interpretation of old sailor wear and clothes our grand parents would have worn when they were young.

The collection is a story of "my" grandpa who sailed the seas and experienced the world with all of his senses. This is his secrets and his future, past and present.  This is grandpa's closet.

For this romantic and artisanal collection, KA WA KEY used their signature treatments: devore for distressed sheer effect, original dreamy watercolor handprinted prints and knitted fabrics. Collection is defined by sheer, floaty and layered constructions and pastel colors.

"Wind blowing in my face, sun rays warming up my body. I hear the call of youth. I can taste it.  I am floating, the waves take me away, back to my memories."

FASHIONADO