FW #1: Calvin Klein

FW #1: Calvin Klein

Unknown   08.34   Comment  

Let's start my Fashion Week chapter with one of my favorite shows in New York:

Calvin Klein

His 10th anniversary at the helm of Calvin Klein gave Francisco Costa the oppotunity to explore and experiment. In his new collection he seem to deconstruct everything he's done and then put it back together again. 

Costa found inspiration in Peter Bialobrzeski's photographs of the slums in Manila. The shacks are made from any available material. The mix of different fabrics, as seen on the cottages, was clearly visible. This season he found beauty in the unfinished and improvised. I think it's a beautiful turnaround of all his work for the label we've seen in the past.

The base of the collection are simple shapes, like the men's t-shirt and XL tank tops. But then explored in many diffrent places. "We create this technique to fray the fabric." Almost all the fabrics in the collection were handwoven. 

"We live in a multicultural world, you can't ignore that. I hope you see this diversity in the collection." I did. Not only in the choice of fabrics and colors, but the diversity was also seen on the catwalk (thumbs up, Francisco!).

Aura

Aura

Unknown   08.22   Comment  

Women all across the country of Sweden are protesting against islamophobia by wearing hijabs. The campaign is to show support with a muslim woman, six months pregnant, who was attacked in a Stockholm suburb for wearing one. Actually racism in Sweden isn't something of the past few years. In fact the number of Islamophobic incidents in Sweden is on the rise. All this came to me as a surprise. I always thought of Sweden as a warm, tolerant country. 

In the country where I live, The Netherlands, there was a similar action in 2010 of non-religious women who set up a headscarf in solidarity. The reason for this was Geert Wilders (a well known Dutch politician, unfortunately), who in pre-election suggested a 'kopvoddentaks' to enter, or a penalty for women who wear headscarves.

I think that the idea of Wilders is ridiculous. In most cases women decide for themselves whether or not they want to wear a headscarf. Most muslim women in the European countries are more independent and western than they were years ago. Also I think it's absurd to punish one on the basis of religion, culture, orgin or color (like most of us, I hope). 

The burqa I find more complicated. It's non-revealing and the woman can't be viewed. Furthermore it is often a sign of women's oppression. (I do not tell that this applies to ALL women who wear a burqa, let that be clear!)

Lady Gaga is playing on dangerous ground with the song Aura of her new, highly anticipated album ARTPOP.  In the song Gaga refers to the burqa as a metaphor for hiding her true self from the public eye. 

I can live with the lyrics I'm not a wandering slave, I'm a woman of choice. But later in the song she lost me when she sings Do you wanna see me naked, lover? Do you wanna peak underneath the cover? In my opinion she suggests that the burqa is a subject of sexual gratification. Also I get the impression that Gaga sees the burqa as some sort of fashion statement instead of a garment with cultural and religious significance. But in the end Gaga is all about controversy. That explains a lot.

This Must Be The Only Fantasy

This Must Be The Only Fantasy

Unknown   08.25   Comment  

This Must Be The Only Fantasy

tells the story about a heroine in the suburbs of Los Angeles. When she goes outside she confronts an evil force. Everything she experiences in channeled through her own reality, it balances between real life and fantasy. During her journey she runs for the dark knight, rides a unicorn and fights with a light saber. In these struggles she gets help of a fairy. The movie is about temptations and dealing with them.
Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte wanted to tell a story about a hero. 'You live your life in every day but in the other world in your mind you get to live up.' At the end the girl takes the crown. After all everyone's a hero!

The movie responds on things that are very on point. Of course that the digital world is taking over the real world. Todd Cole, the director, says about this topic: 'The idea now that you can make something and that you can distribute it on the internet and that a lot of people will see it online is amazing.'
Magical realism and 1980s video games come together in the stylistic visuals by VFX studio a52. They brought a little magic in the visual effects. Other work of the studio is based on making something for the real, invisible almost. 'With the idea of magical realism we were able to kind of bring more showy effects.' The movie's lead role is played by, quite unknown, 18 year old LA girl and Hedi Slimane muse Sidney Williams. Supermodel Guinevere van Seenus plays a glitchy projection of a fairy.
Also there's an hommage to the king of the world, yes, Elijah Wood a.k.a. Frodo in Lord of the Rings.
All this amazingness is topped of with a soundtrack created by dream pop duo Beach House. 

It's the third movie by the Mulleavy sisters in collaboration with Todd Cole. 'I never think of these films as fashion films', Cole said, 'I think of Kate and Laura's clothes as more of a starting point, and then I create a world for them to exist in.' Rodarte did a collection inspired by medieval role-playing games. The clothes are about playing with different textures, colors and movement. The sisters must have been influenced by their costume designing for opera. It all breathes fantasy, Game of Thrones and a little bit of King Arthur.
'There's an interesting thing about being based in classic ideas of silhouettes, but then playing with them and reinventing them and make people imagine something different.'