fashion-designers

Junya Watanabe

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:21:21 +0100

Junya Watanabe

Best known for his approach of drapery and fabric manipulation, Junya Watanabe has a unique essence as a designer where his abilities towards reshaping fabric appear endless. From launching his own label in 1994, Watanabe has been associated with various signature looks. Denim, drapery, deconstruction, “Techno Couture” and juxtaposition are some of the continuous participants in his Avant Garde collections, where he will transform and create innovative and original garments with the use of these techniques. For instance not many designers would think of constructing a delicately cut tracksuit or a tweed down suit. Also his ability to deconstruct a historic evening gown into what looks like a PVC sleeping bag - Fall 2009 - is startling. Global franchise, Levi Strauss and Co has had an ongoing collaboration with Watanabe. This has aided Watanabe’s career as Levi’s could most probably be, the most well known company in fashion. “Techno Couture”, Watanabe’s Fall 2000 collection, was surprisingly overlooked by the press and has been a shadow against his more recent work. Watanabe has evolved a vast amount since 2000, and has moved away from your everyday designer to becoming one of the most recognisable Avant Garde designers of today.

Christian Dior

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:22:42 +0100

Christian Dior was a French designer whose legacy lasted for over 60 years and is still continuing and growing now. He founded his own fashion house in 1946 after joining the fashion house of Lucien Lelong as a primary designer. In 1950 the company began licensing Dior’s name and two years later opened a boutique in London. In 1957 Christian Dior past away with a heart attack. This left the company to find a new lead for the fashion house. They approached Yves Saint Laurent who then came to become the lead designer for only 4 years. Marc Bohan, an already employee within Dior then snatched up the offer and continued the name until 1989. This was longer than Christian himself. Dior was taken on in the late 1970’s by Arnualt after running into financial difficulty with profits shrinking. Arnault employed an Italian designer named Gianfranco Ferre to succeed Marc Bohan as artistic director. However in 1996 his rein was over and UK designer, John Galliano stepped up to replace him. Galliano is the present Christian Dior head of house.

Dior first launch onto the catwalk was in 1947. It was called Carolle meaning circlet of flower petals. The line was phrased by editor-in-chief of Harpers bazaar as New Look. His designs were more voluptuous rather than boxy, fabric conversing shapes for the ration fabrics war. He was master at creating shapes and silhouttes. The line had bustier style bodices, hip padding, wasp-waisted corsets and petticoats that made his dresses flare out from the waist. He gave more curves to the silhouette.

Currently Dior Spring/Summer 2010 line still shows these legendary styles. There are Corsets with lace, extravagant flowing gowns, flare in his collection of mini skirts using only the finest silks and tulle. You see a more modern look however, where Dior has created a ‘new look’ of high strap open toe stilettos with satin and tulle socks underneath. This would at first be seen as school like type however it is portrayed as sexy and chic. The embroidery and embossing in velvet Coats very detailed and reflected well on the season. Beautiful and outstanding magenta, purple and black gowns were the centre of the spring/summer 2010 collection showing that all important volume that sparked off Christian Dior’s career to start with.

Christian Dior’s designs have been at the front of fashion for over half a century and will continue to influence new designers for many years to come.

Alexander Mcqueen R.I.P

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:23:44 +0100

Alexander McQueen was born on March 1969 in the east end of London and died of suicide in February 2010. In 1994 he got a job at London’s most prestigious fashion school, Central Saint Martins working as a pattern cutter tutor. Due to his outstanding portfolio he was persuaded by the head of the master’s course to enrol as a student. He then went on to receive a master’s degree in fashion design. In 1996 McQueen became head designer for Givenchy, succeeding John Galliano. He stayed with Givenchy until 2001, when the contract he said was constraining his creativity. Alexander won the British Designer of the Year four times during 1996 and 2003. He has boutiques in New York, London, Los Angeles, Milan and Las Vegas. His early runway collections developed his reputation for controversy and shock tactics. For example a collection he entitled ‘highland rape’. McQueen is also known for his lavish, unconventional runway shows, such as a recreation of a shipwreck for his spring summer 2003 collection, spring summer 2005’s Human Chess Game and his fall 2006 line, widows of Culloden, which featured a life-sized hologram of supermodel Kate Moss, dressed in yards of rippling fabric.

His spring summer 2010 collection was surprising and overwhelming. There was sparkling illuminated runway in which two sinister, robotic movie cameras on gigantic black booms ran back and forth, while a screen played knight’s video of Raquel Zimmermann, lying on sand, naked, with snakes writhing across her body. Then the models came out. There were short, reptile-patterned, digitally printed dresses, nipped waists and belled skirts. Colours- green and brown at first then moved onto blue and aqua. There were trousers whose bulbons flanks mimicked the skin of sharks and dolphins. Each dress was a work of computer generated art crossbred with Alexander’s couture based signature cut.
Alexander McQueen has set a standard where he has moved fashion into the future, into a new age and he will always be remembered for this and so many other collections.

Christian Lacriox

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:24:21 +0100

Lacriox was born in southern France. At a young age he began sketching historical costumes and fashions. Around 1974, he met Jean-Jacques Picart. Picart was press attached for several haute couture houses and provided aid in gaining Christian a job working at Hermes in 1978, where he worked on colour schemes and execution of designs, and then Guy Paulin in 1980. After graduating from the Ecole du Louvre, he started working at Jean Patou, where he worked until 1987. With help from Jean-Jacques Picart, Lacriox managed to put out seaason after season of popular clothing. Bright colours, luxuriance, and perfection made Picart and Lacriox popular designers of the CFDA for foreign designer of the year 1987. He then opened his own couture house. He began putting out ready-to-wear in 1988 drawing inspiration from diverse cultures. Critics commented that he did not seem to understand the type of clothing the working woman needed. He then launched jewellery, handbags, shoes, glasses, scarves and ties (along with ready-to-wear). In the same year he opened boutiques within Paris, Arles, Toulouse, London, Geneva and Japan. With his background in historical costume and clothing he soon made the headlines with his opulent, fantasy creations including the short puffball skirt (le pouf), rose prints and low necklines. He quoted widly from other styles-from fashion history (the corset and the crinoline), from folklore, and from many parts of the world-and he mixed his quotations in a topsy-turvy manner.
Christians A/W 2009 Haute Couture was privately financed by Lacriox and each model was paid $50. "I didn't want to cry," said Lacriox "I want to continue, maybe in a different way, with a small atelier. What I really care about are the women who do this work" Lacriox said about this collection.

Co Co Chanel

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:25:06 +0100

Gabrielle Bonheur Chanel was born in France 1883. She was put into an orphanage at the age of 9 with her older sister. Gabrielle got the name CoCo when she would sing a song called CoCo in a saloon to a bunch of rich and inconsiderate men. She had another job to earn her poor income. She would do clothing alterations and repairs for the wealthy. This is how she first noticed her talent. CoCo headed to the fashion capital of the world Paris to improve and change her life. She started by designing and making hats for the socialites which then lead to her name becoming well known. This finally took her to her first collection.
cChanel had a modernist philosophy, menswear-inspired fashions, and pursuit of expensive simplicity. This made her an important figure in the 20th century fashion. She changed the way woman were slaves to the bone crushing corsets, feathered hats and over the top detailing. She introduced simplicitiy and loose garments. The luxury was still persistant, however woman became able to walk in their clothes without struggle! Now the revolutions continue, as in 2010 models for Chanel displayed a grey stripe in their hair and this has now becom a craze with celebrities and the general public. CoCo's designs have always being chic and simplictic, however the amazing attention to detailwith beading, embroidery, textures and fabric have always given Chanel that edge in design. Chanel head of house is currently positioned by Karl Lagerfeld who is doing a wonderful job of carrying on the success.
Chanel is the most influential designer I have came across. Every design has so much inspiration and her life and journey is also influential as she had a lot of determination to make something of herself and I feel this is a perfect reason to look up to someone.

Basso and Brooke

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:27:35 +0100

Christopher Brooke, an English Illustrator and Bruno Basso, a Brazilian designer are the masterminds behind their artistic, extreme and creative designs. They are the well deserved winners of the 2007 Fashion Fringe Award. Basso and Brooke won £100,000 worth of support, a manufacturing deal with AEFFE, free-marketing, PR, a studio and a guaranteed selling space in Londons Fashion Week until 2012, which they have done so far perfectly. The two are said to be the widely and inventive of contemporary designers. Chris and Bruno have been getting noticed in an extreme way. This is shown by a comment by Sarah Mower, a writer at London's Fashion Week; " who new Donatella Versace and John Galliano once eloped to Rio and secretly gave birth to a pair of love twins." The way they express themselves through their designs and crazy shows, it is no wonder they are getting compliments thrown at them. Basso and Brooke have a strange thing for sticking ridiculous objects on their models head. For example, in Fall 2008 collection the pair used felt pebbles for many of their runway models.
The best way to describe the two highly inspirational men is by a great quote;
" A FASHION WORK OF ART "

Dame Vivienne Westwood

Sun, 14 Aug 2011 20:25:46 +0100

Vivienne Westwood is a self made British Designer. She has caused the controversy, punk and sex within fashion for years. Vivienne started designing in 1971 where she opened her boutique, Let It Rock. The name was changed to Sex in 1974. Her first major project after this was dressing the Sex Pistols with her husband, Malcolm McLaren. Her first collection was in 1981 which was entitled Pirate. Vivienne was named British Designer of the year in 1991 after she launched her first menswear collection in Florence. Her most recent award was in 2007 when she won the award for outstanding achievement in Fashion Design at the British Fashion Awards. Westwood's (A/W1982-83) and Punkature (S/S1984), along with the opening of the second shop, Nostalgia of the Mud, in 1982 explored the cultures of the Third world that wew becoming a visible part of life in multicultural Britain. She also designs for Selfridges with her Anglomania label which has been a great success.
The Dames S/S 2009 collection saw the launch of her Gold Label consisting of a DIY collection. As her collections are manly inspired by politics she found the inspiration of this collection from the credit crunch. Her clothes were made up from recycled scraps of fabrics, safety pins as fasteners and what it looked like food sacks for a cape! She quotes " There is status in wearing your favourites over and over again until you grow old or fall apart." This is how these garments looked. Falling apart, torn however she put across the message she intended in true Vivienne style. Her Spring/Summer 2010 collection was entitled, Planet Gaia which was inspired by the Gaia Theory- an ecological idea, named after the Greek supreme goddess of Earth's components as one. There were Kabuki-faced models with hair that could withhold a tornado! There were knitted-tights, the revive of her +5 degree range, vast wrap round dresses, 16th century silhouettes and the clash of patterns.
Dame Vivienne Westwood has been an admired fashion designer for 35 years winning a number of high prestigious awards. Her work has showed that she is not afraid to put herself out there and she is not afraid to show anyone her strong points of view. Vivienne is an inspirational and exciting designer who will continue on with her quirky and punk designs that we know and love her for.