From Milan Fashion Week Men, luxury fashion brand Brett Johnson showed off a new collection with a new slant on details using lavish materials.
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Brett Johnson’s New Look
Tag: fashion designer news
A snippet from the Before Tacky podcast with filmmaker Kevin Macdonald about fashion designer John Galliano. Rumours have hit the fashion gossip circuit the once former creative head of Dior is set for a return to the famed house. Click below to understand why we think this story feels a bit false.
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Fashion’s TOPSY TURVY
As the fashion world moves along its topsy turvy twists and turns, the latest news makes a person’s head shake.
MET GALA
The MET Gala is coming up. The New York City Soiree is the Red-Carpet event for the rich and famous. Anne Wintour’s grand showcase is where fashion labels pay a celebrity to show up looking gorgeous. The proceeds from this “charity” go to the Metropolitan Museum. The irony, Vogue, along with parent company Conde Nast is planning to lay-off 100 workers. As the magazine struggles for footing, the fashion powerbrokers are having a ball while saying” No money to pay the workers”. The term “Out of Touch” comes to mind.
Conde Nast staff is taking this laying down. The soon to be ex-employees are planning an action. Workers are planning an action to circulate flyers near the venue with the slogan “Anna wears Prada/Workers get nada.” NewsGuild of New York announced the intention is to bring attention to the ongoing negotiations. While the Queen of Fashion is toasting many of her subject writers may need to open GoFundMe accounts to pay rent.
Reality
In the “Was it ever real” category, luxury online shopping has imploded. Until recently, once the darling of investors, the so called “savior the fashion world” is going out of style faster than bell bottoms. E-commerce sites hit valuations of $25 billions and higher, those days are gone. Matchesfashion went belly up with a heavy debt load owing 200 vendors, including luxe labels Victoria Beckham, Gucci, Max Mara and YSL. Administrators are selling office furniture. Customers will not get refunds or have orders finished.
Farfetch, the Paris base digital shopping giant has fallen on hard times as consumers cut back on high-end spending.
While attending fashion events in January and February buyers from these platforms were going around trying to convince brands all was good, no need to worry. Please keep doing business with us. How did they do this with a straight face?
It is only April.
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Pilati Talks
“WORK IS NOT WORK IF YOU LIKE IT“, PILATI
Fashion designer Stefano Pilati gave a talk during Milan Fashion Week at Istituto Marangoni on his career and the state of fashion. The Italian born former head of YSL spoke about practicing patience for young designers, not thinking success will come immediately, but taking time to build a career. The current mass production of luxury goods sold over the world makes once sought after goods less desirable, said the one time Miu Miu designer.
Currently based in Berlin, Mr. Pilati spoke about his new Random Identities brand and the trends in the fashion arena during the one hour discussion.
Jean Paul Gaultier again arrives in Berlin to creatively head Falling In Love musical show at Friedrichstadt-Palast Berlin.
Here is a sneak peek from the show.
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Green Fashion Credentials
Brands are brandishing green credentials for the sake of being caring, or at least on the surface. Green is the new Black Dress in fashion. Suddenly, designers and labels have become Earth Conscious. Walk down any main street or shopping mall, retailers are bragging about sustainable clothing lines.
During the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, Fashion Reimagined unspooled at the New York cinema gathering.
Becky Hunter’s documentary follows rural born designer Amy Powney’s quest searching for sustainable materials. The London based fashioner practices what she preaches, all the more remarkable because in the times of long, at times untraceable, long supply chains.
“Passion is the bridge that takes you from pain to change”. Frida Kahlo. How does an independent label afford costs associated sustainability? As the story unfolds, compromising seems to be the easiest solution. Amy and her Mother of Pearl fashion label team go from supplier to supplier with with hens teeth questions and requests for green goods. The quest leads to a South American supplier for wool. The viewer has to give the fashion designer a high mark for effort.
Hunter and Powney are on a stretch of terrain going from compelling to bordering on molly coddled righteousness for a moral cause. A wool sweater from Mother of Pearl retails for $500, not exactly affordable for many consumers.
Is Fashion Reimagined a soft commentary on disposable culture? No. More, a personal story about trying to be true to ones beliefs in the face of globalization and harmful production practices. Given the headlines about disposable fast fashion, cheering a dedicated fashion designer searching for an ethical way to produce clothes may not be a bad thing. Meanwhile, go online to buy a Mother of Pearl sweater on sale.
Screened online at 2022 Tribeca Film Festival
Running Time 92 minutes
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Recaps on Before Tacky
Before Tacky podcast is looking over the the latest designs from the fashion capitals. Stay tuned for the recaps.
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Yong Talks Fashion
In a conversation with Korean Fashion Designer Ko Tae Yong we speak about his influence and inspiration about fashion. Stay Tuned for the full interview.
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Gender Spin at Apocrypha
While going over looks from Tokyo Fashion Week I came across Fashion Designer Apocrypha. The color combinations and lace materials grabbed my attention. I sent him an email. Happily, Creative Head Reiji Harimoto responded to grant Black and Paper an interview.
What does the white represent in the collection?
It has several meanings. First, the white must be a standard color in the style of the historical background, imagined the situation in Europe during the regent era. Second, this collection is inspired by Charles Baudelaire’s collection of poems. It only has the information of black ink visually dropped on white paper. However, there are an infinite number of colors that can be imagined from that information. Black ink on paper is generally colored by subtractive mixing, but by reading this as letters, one can imagine a scene that is colored by additive mixing from a dark state with nothing in the head. In this collection, white is the imagination of color, which is the basis of subtractive mixing. His poems are colored based on the experience of the reader, who must have fallen in love once.
DANDY
Lace is more of a feminine material but you have incorporated the material in the menswear looks, why?
I think Baudelaire’s poetry is an objective and abstract depiction of Baudelaire’s own life, which always depends on women. I also wanted to express such a view of the world. It may be “feminine” by being worn by women. However, when men wear it, it has some kind of matured ”masculinity”. Maybe I wanted to get rid of the peculiarity. Also, during the time of George Brian Brummell’s life, which is the origin of “Dandy”, the way of life of Baudelaire, mechanical lace knitting machines were born in England. It is a technology that has survived the Luddite movement and continues to evolve to the present day. Isn’t that too wasteful to categorize by gender?
DANDY Lace is more of a feminine material but you have incorporated the material in the menswear looks, why?I think Baudelaire’s poetry is an objective and abstract depiction of Baudelaire’s own life, which always depends on women. I also wanted to express such a view of the world. It may be “feminine” by being worn by women. However, when men wear it, it has some kind of matured ”masculinity”. Maybe I wanted to get rid of the peculiarity. Also, during the time of George Brian Brummell’s life, which is the origin of “Dandy”, the way of life of Baudelaire, mechanical lace knitting machines were born in England. It is a technology that has survived the Luddite movement and continues to evolve to the present day. Isn’t that too wasteful to categorize by gender?
Gothic Chic
What is the Gothic link to the Spring 21 designs?
The answer depends on what you mean by “Gothic” in the question. If I dare to answer in the first place, if you see this collection and feel the Gothic element, it is a scene that you can see from the background of the times, as answered in the first question. If so, I think I have succeeded in expressing my most important “collection should be a literary art drawn with clothes”.
Are you making a gender statement about modern fashion?
In Japan, it seems that gender controversy is often going in the wrong direction. For example, regarding feminism, misandry ideas are strongly felt, and relatively aggressive claims are becoming mainstream in SNS and social media. Many are neither calm nor academic. I don’t think it is desirable to have a conflict with a principle. Also, there are many women with strong social status around me in the fashion industry. When I listen to their opinions, I think that the stronger those claims are, the more isolated they are, and the more the conflict of principles is just creating a groove. I think the same can be said from liberalism and other ideas. That’s why I wanted to create a categorized creation.
Oversized
Where would a guy wear your pieces?
The image of a man I imagine exists in a twilight space between morning and night at dawn, between daily and extraordinary. It’s just an imagination, and in reality, I’d like you to put it into your own identity and wear it as your own in every scene of everyday life. Because the person who wears it in every scene is the main character. If you’re in Hollywood and your main character is a profession, maybe it’s only when you’re on the red carpet.
I noticed the A/W collection was oversized with layers combined with streetwear style, what influenced this?
Reproduced relatively faithfully to the historical background. I create all the patterns myself, so every season there is a theme in pattern making as well as design. In the theme of the collection, we analyze the social situation and trends of the historical background and calculate back from the one at that time to create a pattern. You cannot create an atmosphere that feels “somehow” just by adding details to the existing body. This is also the theme of life, which is always in conflict between commercial design and authorship.
Stay Tuned for Before Tacky Podcast. Interviews with Fashion Professionals.
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A New Look From a 20th Century Form
A Black and Paper exclusive interview with Korean Fashion Designer Avizmo Jo, creative head of De_caffeine homme. What attracted me to his brand were his outerwear pieces. I wanted to ask what inspires his designs and collections.
The looks for the Fall Outerwear, three buttons and lapel, where did you develop this idea?
Planning and inspiration for this season’s collection was the fabric flow that occurred
when the general form of clothing was raised tightly.
By organizing the form that was created so that there was no inconvenience to the human body once again, we confirmed that the interesting form appeared again and used it
as a detail of the collection.
In the main look jacket and coat, the center of the clothes is connected with a long zipper
so that it is locked to the bottom of just below the neck.
Buttons were used only as decorative elements to create objects that made the design more prominent.
Your SS21 menswear tops are not conventional, is there a statement behind this?
SS21 is a new reinterpretation of traditional Taylor jackets and shirt designs, which I think are also traditional in another sence.
Like our design philosophy, we acknowledged the beauty of traditional forms, changed it anew, and emphasized it again in a sharp and modern style.
Why did you design the SS 21 collection with symmetries in mind?
The reason why I chose asymmetry is because I think it’s interesting to see what happens when you wear disproportionately to the human body, with the weight of the fabric on both side and shoulder widths different.
The asymmetric collar of the shirt is also the same image.
See The Collection Here
Do you think men should take more chances with their style choices?
Yes. I think there should be no restrictions on men’s fashion. There will be a style that we can suggest for each individual’s individuality.
The 20th century art movement Dadaism, in the 21st century, what does this mean to you in terms of fashion?
The Neodadaism I seek is closest to the explanation that otally disconnect what was once a form of social role from its original location and at the same time, it is trying to confuse the value it has and then bring it into
the new value system.’
I think that recognizing, understanding and reusing existing roles here has a positive effect. Adding my design to a design with traditional values is creating new values and giving a new role.
Stay tuned for more interviews with global fashion designers on our web chat show “Before Tacky”.