Later this month, Frankfurt based museum Museum Angewandte Kunst is set to open doors to their latest exhibition in collaboration with Haitian couture icon Michelle Elie and Paris based label Comme des Garçons. During the past few seasons, many have noted Elie as one of the reigning queens of Couture Week as she can always be spotted in the streets and in the front rows serving the most inspiring yet flamboyant looks, many of which often happy to be Comme Des Garçons.
“Life doesn’t frighten me” traces the her journey in fashion and the spark of her love story with the brand beginning with her first purchase in 1997 from the brand’s Body Meets Dress, Dress Meets Body collection, to her fondness of how the brand’s clothing shaped her body during her first pregnancy, to the vast collection of pieces she holds in her closet today. The exhibition will showcase all of the key pieces that speak to her by means of defying ideal standards of beauty and body, while also touching on themes of representation not just in the world of Couture but fashion in general. Which was why she opted for each piece in the showcase to be worn by custom-made black mannequins made to resemble her.
The exhibition was set to open on April 2nd, but as a result of the current health crisis the opening has been pushed back to April 19th and will run until August 30th 2020. In the meantime the Museum’s director Prof.Matthias Wagner K and curator Dr. Mahret Ifeoma Kupka invites guests to virtual opening where one can get a taste of the exhibition online through the museum’s instagram channel.
East London clothing store Hostem has moved into a temporary space in Nichol Street for the spring, with the interior inspired by the sculptures of artist Oscar Tuazon.
Located just a minute’s walk away from their original Shoreditch location in Redchurch Street, the gallery interior at 28 Old Nichol Street has been conceived and built entirely in-house. It is an open-plan design, featuring original Chandigarth Pierre Jeanneret furniture and artwork by Lucien Smith, Kika Karadi and Graham Collins. A freestanding timber frame structure showcases men and women’s garments from the likes of Lanvin, Thom Browne, Loewe, Dries Van Noten, Comme des Garcons, Visvim, Yohji Yamamoto and Geoffrey B. Small.
The menswear boutique, which launched in 2010, has earned a World Architect Festival Award for the design of its Redchurch Street store, which over the course of five years has been expanded by five storeys. The temporary site will be used while the Redchurch Street store undergoes further expansion.
To celebrate the opening of their new space, Hostem are running their first ever Instagram competition, with a prize of £5,000. On visiting the Nichol Street store, entrants are invited to take a picture of the new space and to leave their name, email address and Instagram name in the guestbook. An Instagram user will be chosen from those who upload the picture accompanied with the hashtag #HostemSpringStoreE27HR. The competition closing date is the 9th March 2016.
For spring/summer 2015 Converse has teamed up with the Japanese fashion house founded by legendary designer, Rei Kawakubo, for the fourth time to release the Converse Chuck Taylor All Star ‘70 PLAY COMME des GARÇONS sneaker collection.
This collaboration sees them create an exclusive four pair range of the premium All Star Chuck 70 sneakers in high-top and ox silhouettes. They feature heavy grade black and milk canvas uppers, a smaller toe box and higher midsole finished in solid white, reinforced contrast canvas heel strips, nickel hardware, thick cotton laces and a cushioned sockliner for added comfort. And of course the design is finished with the signature red heart logo created by New York-based graphic artist, Filip Pagowski.
The collection is available exclusively at Dover Street Market stores in both London and New York, COMME des GARÇONS New York and online at doverstreetmarket.com.
What do you get when you combine one of the most influential designers from the East with one of the most prestigious luxury brands of the West? A limited edition line of silk scarves entitled Comme des Carrés to be exact.
Fusing together Rei Kawakubo’s eye for the all things off-kilter with Hermès’ reputation for craftsmanship and quality, the capsule collection is comprised of five Black and White styles in everyone’s favourite non-colours, plus six Colour scarves printed with geometric patterns such as gingham and stripes. The former will be exclusive to Comme des Garçons stores in Paris, New-York and Aoyama-Tokyo, whilst the latter will be launched at the Dover Street Market retail venues in London and Tokyo.
“In our project together, rather than wanting to wear the scarves, I was looking forward to the change that would happen when I added something to the beautiful ‘paintings’ of Hermès scarf designs. I think through the addition of abstract images, we have transformed the scarf and created something new,” explains Kawakubo.
The S/S 13 season was eventful to say the least: Twitter feuds between Hedi Slimane and NY Times fashion critic Cathy Horn, Ready To Wear debuts at the houses of Saint Laurent and Dior, and between it all, some wonderfully accomplished collections.
Twin looks back at which collections made us say je l’adore.
Chanel
Presented in a setting of solar panels and wind farms instead of a crystal landscape, Karl Lagerfeld went a bit more down to earth this S/S 13 season. A-lines, bolero jackets and rounded silhouettes with floral embroidery in every colour under the sun were topped off with oversized pearl necklaces. Like its staging, the collection was the perfect mix of technological linearity and natural materials and forms.
Christian Dior
Raf Simons may have already shown us his haute couture offerings for the house of Dior, but nonetheless there was still a great anticipation for what the Belgian designer would bring to the Ready To Wear table. The answer? Expert tailoring mixed with modern femininity. Pleated office attire was given metallic panels, sequined evening gowns a sheer overlay and nude shift dresses an exposed neon lining. With so much love for detail, it’s hard not to give Simons a congratulatory thumbs up for his efforts.
Comme des Garcons
In fabrics of toile and velvet, Rei Kawakubo crushed, sculpted and draped an intriguingly beautiful collection. Save for a flash of royal purple or fire red, the collection kept mostly to CDG signature colours of black and white. While the surrealist-style crowns designed in collaboration with artist Graham Hudson and linear white make-up may have given the models an otherworldly look, there was still something beautifully fragile about the body — and person — in these clothes. As with all things Kawakubo, this collection is definitely worth a second look.
Dover Street Market is engulfed by a variety of installations this week, all in celebration of London’s Frieze Art Fair.
The work of Brazilian/French artist duo Vivid Astro Focus encases the ground floor entrance, creating a 360-degree tunnel of vibrant paintings, which the DSM team is calling it “one of the greatest installations we have ever done”. Three stories upwards resides an exhibition of creations by heel-less shoe God/Daphne Guinness favourite Noritaka Tatehana and New Yorker ceramicist/sculptor James Salaiz.
The store is also exclusively hosting Dr Marten’s Bespoke in its basement event space, where the iconic boots can be completely customised, right down to the last eyelet.
If you ever needed an excuse to get lost in Dover Street Market for a few hours, this is it.
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