China’s Top Models – 中國頂級模特
photo courtesy of Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott
Lane Crawford, one of the premier specialty retailers of luxury goods in China, is making a strong imprint globally with a fall. winter 2011 ad campaign shot by re-known fashion photographer team of Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. The stunning shot features top Chinese models Fei Fei Sun, Liu Wen, Ming Xi, Shu Pei and Xiao Wen Ju, highlighting pieces from the fall.winter collections of Lanvin, Dries Van Noten, Balenciaga, and Alexander McQueen to name a few. This photo will appear in September issues of major magazines around the world.
Lane Crawford was originally founded by two Scots in Hong Kong in 1850. It now is one of the premier luxury specialty stores in China boasting some of the most prestigious retail real estate in Hong Kong and Beijing.
Balenciaga – Rockin’ the Hotel Crillon
Nicolas Ghesquiere continues to raise the bar for Paris fashion week with his collection for Balenciaga. He showed, again, at the Hotel Crillon. This time around, he tiled the entire floor of the salle in white. This graphic background was perfect for a collection of prints and controlled draping. He’s the one of the few who can give you elegant, luxurious clothes but not make it looked forced or old. Silk prints and draping??? Ghesquiere has such a steady and controlled hand at executing this that the end result is hyper-chic and ultra-today. A bit of leather trim, great structure, mesh and bold colors give it just enough edge to continue to keep the collection on the most wanted list.
Balenciaga – look who’s back!!!
Just a quick note…. this morning at the Balenciaga show at the Hotel Crillon Nicolas Ghesquiere brought back Amber Valletta, Carolyn Murphy, Stella Tennant and Gisele Bundchen. Oh, and the collection was a strong one. More to come on that.
( photos Monica Feudi / style.com / runway.com )
Paris – THIMISTER
Josephus Thimister is a Belgian designer based in Paris. He has been creatively present in the fashion world since 1997 when he started up his eponymous label and Anna Wintour anointed him one of the top designers of his generation. Josephus has worked with Karl Lagerfeld and at the House of Jean Patou for the couture collection before he became creative director at Balenciaga prior to Nicolas Ghesquière. He has been in the same role for Genny and also Charles Jourdan. Somewhere amidst all these different jobs, he shuttered his namesake collection. His Thimister label made a tremendous comeback during Paris Couture in January where he showed his couture/ready-to-wear collection to much adulation from the press as well as retailers.
Thimister opened the spring.summer 2010 couture shows with his “Bloodshed and Opulence” collection. A sort of a blend of Russian history and present day anti-war message complete with military jackets, cossack coats, knitwear with splatters of red yarn to convey bloodshed. Dire elegance… imperial satins, regal wools, mohair knits, leathers and fur trims lead the charge. The color red was once again the punctuation mark.
Josephus Thimister self-financed this collection after an 8 year hiatus of showing on the runway. A tremendous show during couture that many regarded as a welcome change because he chose to show a collection that was not all red carpet wear. A sign of things to come? See a slideshow of his complete collection here from January 2010. These sweaters were amongst the strongest from New York to London to Milan to Paris.
The photos I took are from a showroom appointment during the Paris pret-a-porter in March. It’s good to see Josephus back. This time, we hope to stay.
This post is experiencing a first. It’s being written and posted at 39,000 feet. Strangely, for me, airplane cabins are some of the best places to completely relax and think. Thanks to a system called Gogo, I am able to stay connected throughout my flight. Some may say dangerous…. but I’m all for it.
Balenciaga : high-rise
Remember the amazing shoes from the runway presentation chez Balenciaga?
Here’s an up close and personal view of theses wonders created by well known and very respected Paris based shoe designer Pierre Hardy for Balenciaga. Pierre Hardy has his own eponymous shoe collection and is one of the hottest and most visionary shoe designers in the world. These high-rise brogues and sandals are works of art.
all photos DChen
BALENCIAGA – f.w 2010 – other worldly
Nicolas Ghesquiere continues his push into the future with a close regard to the heritage of Balenciaga. He intelligently launched into new territory with his tailoring. Remembering the shapes of the past and morphing them into shapes relevant to a modern woman’s closet. Some shapes bordered on boxlike but engineered to be more than flattering. Fur trim present and accounted for as the season has mandated. Mr. Ghesquiere’s use of color splicing and his choice of using pale grey, pink, pale green, apricot, aqua, white – a color palette more common to a Spring collection brought a unexpected but soothing appeal. His use of colorful embroidered knits were also a new element. The pant silhouette is still as narrow as can be and the skirt still mini short. Text was used as the new print. The one odd element that didn’t work as well for me was his white padded outerwear tops with black yokes. Nicolas Ghesquiere has once again pressed far further than any of his peers with this precise and beautiful collection.
all photos DChen 
PARIS – Balenciaga s/s 2010
I’m already on day 2 in Paris. What happened between 23 September, and now, has been a blur. I was in Milan for 4 days and managed not a single post. The condensed trip to Milan and the wicked pace of showroom appointments and order writing left me very little time to even think about writing about what I was seeing. I will have to do a recap of Milan after the fact. I feel if I do not get right onto Paris while it’s fresh… I fear that I will be a week behind forever. So onward…..
photos-DChen
Nicolas Ghesquiere has long held the frontrunner position for Paris fashion week. The spring/summer 2010 Balenciaga collection was shown at the Hotel de Crillon, once more. Mr. Ghesquiere delivers and seldom ever disappoints with his prophetic vision. His collection was a parade of urban and futuristic forces. Leather was dominant and his use of color spliced into his presentation was very well done. Rather than hard edged, his beautiful use of bold color strokes gave the collection life and dimension. His sleek, futuristic silhouette was back after last season’s detour. The lady is gone but the woman marches forward. The pants were supersonic slim ranging from motocross leather to printed fabric. The skirts were all short… some faux wrapped and some pleated. Of special note were the skirts towards the end of the show. Sliced pleated minis in a melange of colors were absolutely breathtaking. Unsure of what material they were constructed of but the impact of color and the engineered cuts were really a visual treat.
photos-DChen
Mr. Ghesquiere sets the bar quite high for the week to come here in Paris. I applaud him for his vision and his consistency. It was a great collection to start the week. Bravo, encore. We have our writing appointment in the showroom next Tuesday. Looking forward to seeing the clothes up even closer and prolonging the pleasure.
