Matthew Miller is a new name on the London menswear scene. The introduction of this Royal College of Art MA Graduate to
the schedule this year saw his first standalone show presented at the Portico Rooms of Somerset House.
Having previously presented as part of Fashion East, Miller has demonstrated his interest in combining technology with great menswear design. This season he fused the two in a collection entitled 'Expedition'.
Matthew Miller AW12
City Perforation work was one of the surfaces which inspired Miller's collection
iPhone QR barcodes were available to scan
during the show. When scanned we were able to retrace Miller’s steps around London. These codes took us to webpages showing the exact location of each individual print and the building, object or landscape it was taken from. Prints inspired by everyday surfaces that we might not usually give a second thought to were
transformed into eye-catching macs, single-breasted jackets and slim fit
trousers.
Miller's combination of savvy digital tools and fashion is truly innovative. His interest in combining technology and design not only translated his ideas quite literally, but also interactively to the audience. The way that Miller embraces the opportunities offered by the likes of the iPhone shows a fresh attitude to showing fashion which moves with a phenomenon which influences every aspect of our lives. His example shows how fashion can take full advantage of up to the minute technology to enhance the experience of viewing a collection.
Tree bark found in Hyde Park inspired single-breasted jackets and shirts.
Surfaces such as concrete, bark, chip board (which Miller had spotted covering shop windows during the August riots) and eroding marble were all used to represent the textures of London. As an intrepid explorer, Miller’s man also needed some sturdy footwear. In collaboration with Oliver
Sweeney, the London inspired prints were transferred onto boots.
Matthew Miller AW12
Matthew Miller still has room to grow, but the ambition this new London designer is showing in combining technology and functional fashion leaves me interested to know what direction he'll be taking next season.
After graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2007, James Long debuted his collection at MAN, a Topman sponsored platform, that same year. His own label has since gone from strength to strength and Long has become the first menswear designer to receive an award from Fashion Forward (a growing scheme funding selected new design talent in London). He also has lucrative consultancy work with Versace. What’s most exciting, however, is how well James Long combines his creativity with a knowledge of what his customer wants (and needs).
James Long AW12 (from catwalking.com)
James Long AW12 (from catwalking.com)
Inspired by surrealist film maker David Lynch and the scars excavated quarries leave on the face of the earth, Long demonstrated focus on detail through intricate and unusual embroidery for his AW12 offering. Collars were adorned with gold work by British embroidery company Hawthorne & Heaney and the final product proved just why James Long is credited for being innovative without forgetting the necessity for wearability. Garments weren't overly conceptual, and even if you can't quite see yourself in an embroidered shirt, the cut was undeniably sleek. Sartorial elements were taken and translated into a language that spoke clearly to a younger audience.
James Long AW12 (from catwalking.com)
Edward Burtynsky's photography on quarries.
Outerwear came in the form of aviator jackets, some with quilted leather, others with shearling trims. But what really took my breath away this season was James Long’s knitwear. He has always been honest about his passion for creating great knits for men. The mix of gold thread with wool brought the excavated quarry inspiration into sharp focus. Every man should have a James Long jumper. The use of gold thread was minimal enough to speak to the man who appreciates detail, without alienating those for whom a full on gold jumper is a fashion leap too far. James Long may very well have his ideal man firmly in his head, but elements of his collections are opening up to not just one man, but many men. Personally, I would like one of everything please!
One of the more intriguing commissions to come my way recently, came from probably the first person to fully utilise all the various strands of my work these days. His name is Nik Thakkar and he is a young, gifted and driven account director at Exposure, a creative and publicity agency in London. He is also an avid blogger and tweeter; his blog Karl is My Unkle is fun to check into every day for its fashion and media observations.
Way back before Christmas Nik asked me to sign an NDA before telling me that one of my all time fashion heros, designer Jean Paul Gaultier (it was those cone bras worn by Madonna circa 1990 that got me started) had signed up to be the creative director of Diet Coke for 2012.
Would I be interested, Nik asked, in hanging out with and interviewing him in Paris to power the media story behind his collaboration across Europe? Uh, yeah! The first time I've been able to talk/write about this story is today. I was also able to develop my own story with Jean Paul in Grazia. The mid-April edition of Grazia will have that something special. Jean Paul is an under appreciated visionary who has given more to the contemporary fashion and style landscape than people realise.
Me and JPG. You can tell I'm having a "I can't believe it" moment.
In the meantime, below is an insight into what Jean Paul has been up to with Diet Coke and how he has approached the work. I mean, how DO you go from Hermes to Diet Coke?
His is a totally different connection than the one Karl Lagerfeld had two years ago when he worked with the brand. Jean Paul's involvement is more hands on; the fit between designer and brand is better too. JPG and DC are perfect fashion companions; we fell on the mini can of DC placed on our seats at his fashion show in Paris last Saturday like crazed hungry people, (it had been a long day).
I'll start off with this very cute portrait of the designer who I cannot believe will turn 60 next month. Everything about him from the way he scampers down the catwalk at the end of his shows, to his joyful, youthful approach to life and work says this isn't so.
Jean Paul Gaultier photographed in Paris by Stephane Sedanoui
Me: How did the collaboration come about?
JPG: Well, when they contacted me I was like ‘ooooo’. I was very pleased that they approached me. It was a pleasure to say yes. I see the Coca-Cola writing and graphically it is so beautiful. I see it in red. It’s been part of my life since I was a young boy.
What did they ask you to do first?
I have made some films [see below for the first one], designed clothes for the puppets in the films and lots more still to come. I approached it in the same way as I do my perfume bottles - all in my spirit.
When you are your rules for working with brands?
In general, for every special project I have to use their code, respect their code but also be myself at the same time. So you need to get the right balance and that’s what I try to do on the bottles, glasses and dresses. I tried to see things in the Gaultier wardrobe and adapt and change them to treat them like couture in some way - it was like a game. So is all my work. At the end of the day, I am the lucky one because I am doing what I love. So like with Hermes, I looked at the codes of Coca-Cola.
Now you’re no longer ‘enfant terrible’, who’s taking over from you?
Enfant Terrible means someone who is not completely correct and who is a little rebellious. Who is rebellious now?! Maybe Gareth Pugh?
Coca-Cola is the fashion industry’s preferred soft drink. Over the last 30 years have you seen any other fashion drinks?
Coca light is definitely the fashion drink. You go to bars that don’t even have that much to do with fashion and it’s what everybody wants to drink. In ’92, when I was working with Madonna, I remember very well that it was Perrier. But on the radio they were saying that they’d found something toxic in
Perrier. And so everyone stopped drinking it. At one moment, it very fashionable in France (I don’t know about
elsewhere) to drink Irish coffee. I stopped drinking it when somebody told me
about a guy who died because he drank Irish coffee and then this lemonade/
tonic drink and he died because of some kind of chemical reaction- frightening!
You can imagine it going solid inside you, no?!
Would you ever bring back Junior Gaultier [his cult diffusion line, which is much in demand on eBay] or work with H & M?
Yes of course. I already did Target in the US. I always do couture but I like to touch people who don’t have as much money, so they can buy my clothes. When I did Junior Gaultier, it wasn’t just about doing a second line but it was to make something complementary that was just the price of a t-shirt, but with my shape and my print.
What excites you now?
I go at least once a week to the theatre. I like to see shows and concerts. I saw Amy Winehouse; I was so amazed at her voice even though I knew she was in such a bad state. Her look was incredible- 80s in a modern way. She was so me! I was so shy to go and see her because I admired her so much. I didn’t want that feeling of meeting someone you love and them hating you. Her talent was phenomenal and unique. She’s like an Edith Piaf for me in a way, the way she gave herself when she sings.
Check out these two cute little film with JPG as "The Serial Designer"
Bicester Village is a firm fashion favourite. In case you're not aware, this little designer shopping haven just outside Oxford is home to outlet boutiques from labels like Celine, Prada and Marni. The stores are almost as heavenly as the Bond Street versions but the merchandise is discounted by up to 60%. The British Designers Collective is the result of a collaboration between Bicester Village and the British Fashion Council. It is giving some of our best British designers the opportunity to get in on the Bicester Village action. Yes, that means discounted Peter Pilotto, Osman, Preen, Jonathan Saunders... the list is long and very, very exciting.
The Great Hall will house The British Designers Collective 2012
In two weeks time, on March 21st, the British Designers Collective will open its very chic doors for the third year and FEAL will be there! In the mean time, we'll be giving you a few tasters of what to expect. As you well know, we are big supporters of our amazing British designers who work and show in London. Now that they're giving us the chance to snap up their pieces at a reduced price, it would be rude to refuse wouldn't it? And if there any guys reading, then we have good news for you too because in May the collaboration will launch its first ever Menswear selection- James Long, Grenson, Margaret Howell and Sunspel are just a smattering of the labels which will be on offer there.
Pieces from previous seasons will be available at the
British Designers Collective, like this from Osman AW11
Or this from Preen AW11
We'll be keeping you posted on all the Bicester action in the coming weeks with interviews with some of the designers which will be available plus news from the launch.
The full list of womenswear designers- Nicholas Kirkwood, Preen, Osman, Marios Schwab, Jonathan Saunders, Markus Lupfer, Peter Pilotto, Holly Fulton, Bella Freud, James Long, Goat, Emma Cook, Hermione de Paula and Jean Pierre Braganza plus accessories from Pauric Sweeney, Lily and Lionel, Mawi and Erikson Beamon.
Jonathan Saunders AW12 is shown against the backdrop of the London skyline (image from magazine.motilo.com)
It began in London on the Sunday afternoon of fashion week when most people were probably at home enjoying the final remnants of the weekend. For the fashion crowd, it was time to work and Jonathan Saunders underscored this by ushering us up sleek escalators and speedy lifts to the the 20th floor of the Broadgate tower to watch his AW12 show. It may as well have been Monday morning, had it not been for the setting sun which greeted us upon arrival in the floor-to-ceiling-glazed showspace. As we waited for the show the to begin, the sky was a soft orange and London’s skyline clearly visible from within the clean, corporate surroundings. A stunning venue.
Berenice Abbott's City Arabesque, 1936 (from Flickr.com)
Her images encompass all that is evocative about the huge
buildings which tower over us in cities
The very next day, Saunders’ contemporary, Christopher Kane, also chose a shiny modern office building as the location for his show. Fashion is not akin to associating itself with these almost spaceship like behemoths of capitalism, but it seemed like Saunders and Kane were interested in introducing them to their fashion equation. Maybe some of their biggest customers work in these places?
Chloe AW12
In fact, the overarching theme of the Paris collections that designers clearly more concerned with dressing the working woman, as opposed to the socialising women - though of course party dressing is always a bit part of fashion. Over Paris Fashion Week, the big players have been showing collections aimed directly to the heart of professional women and her wardrobe including Lanvin, YSL, Stella McCartney and Celine to name a few.
Stella McCartney AW12
Yves Saint Laurent AW12
Balenciaga's uniformed ushers (image from Jessica Michaults' Twitter)
In Paris last Thursday, Balenciaga overtook a space on the 27th floor of a tower in the Beaugrenelle area for their AW12 show. The vision of kane and Saunders was this time extended; attendants in Balenciaga uniforms guarded the entrance to the venue, as if to ensure that no spies from rival corporations were allowed through. Nicholas
Ghesquière had apparently spent months with his in-house artist Dominique Gonzalez- Foerster to perfect his reimagination of the historic French house as a corporate machine.
The fogged up view across Paris from the Balenciaga venue (from Emily Sheffield's twitter)
Suited, booted and gloved corporate clones (Image from Vogue Turkey's Twitter)
He told Style.com that he has become obsessed with the time in the late seventies and early eighties when ‘France became Modern’. Perhaps when the private sector is promised as our only hope for economic recovery, there is a renewed fascination with how vast companies operate, both now and in the past, and the aesthetic which their hugeness entails- the uniforms, the logos, the company colours and dress codes. I know from friends who work in the city that they often end up wearing the same clothes and eating the same food as their colleagues, simply because of the culture which exists in their companies.
The corporate mood ran right through into the clothes, where Ghesquière used concrete grey, cobalt blue and black as the colour anchors. The shapes were sharp, futuristic and, all importantly, architectural. There were also sweatshirts with superhero cartoons emblazoned on the front, these emphasised the fantasy element of Balenciaga Inc.
Balenciaga AW12
Balenciaga AW12
Balenciaga AW12 (All catwalk images from catwalking.com)
Whilst in Paris this weekend, I found time between shows and showroom appointments to visit the Berenice Abbott exhibition which is currently on show at the Jeu de Paume (a mere hop, skip and a jump from the Tuileries show venue used by numerous designers).
Canyon Broadway and Exchange Place by Berenice Abbott, 1936 (image from www.artblart.wordpress.com)
Abbott, a photographer who died in 1991, has a varied repertoire which reflects her desire to show ‘the whole American scene’. Some of her best and most fascinating photography was done in New York in the 1930s. She undertook an almost decade long project to document how the city was changing during this time. Her images sum up what is really awesome about the huge sky scrapers which are now familiar sites in most major cities- the precise architectural thought plus the end purpose of providing a place from which hundreds of people gather with the collective goal of making insane amounts of money.
Broadway to the Battery by Berenice Abbott, 1938
(image from lalettredelaphotographie.com)
The Flatiron building, 1938 by Berenice Abbott
(from www.photographersgallery.com)
Abbott said that 'New York is the most phenomenal gesture ever made'. Arguably, the period in French history which Ghesquière looked back to would have been quite different without New York's sky scraper prototypes. Right now is not so different- we may not be building these towers in the quantities of previous decades, but they are symbols of what got us into the financial crisis and what will probably end up getting us out of it too. In fashion specifically, there is now more than ever, a kind of admiration for designers who turn their creativity into good business. So who can blame them for having that on their mind when they pull a show together? There aren't many better ways of getting the message across than by holding your show in an elegant, corporate space rather than an old car park. Plus, as Abbott's work shows, these places are really quite beautiful.
Its been a funny old weekend. While I am out in Paris my other half is getting written about in the press, then by extension my personal life has been dragged into the tabloids too. Surreal to say the least. At this stage of Paris (i.e the very last leg of the month long fashion show caravan that began in mid February in New York - it all ends Wednesday), everything is getting surreal anyway.
Haider Ackermann's show this weekend (via style.com)
In fact it has got to the stage where I don't say hello to all the people I know anymore because, well, we see each other every few hours at shows, so a nod will do. Even with work colleagues I'm at the stage of necessary conversation only, and companionable silence is preferable. This is how it is for all of us doing this job right now.
Need I say more: Haider Ackermann kills it for Fall/Winter 2012
There were some truly magical fashion shows in Paris over the weekend. On Friday night Lanvin designer Alber Elbaz celebrated his 10th anniversary at the house with a raucous show and party, well covered by mainstream online media. Then, on Saturday morning, came Haider Ackermann. Regular readers of Fashion Editor at Large will know this is one of the few labels in the world that make me come over all fan girl. I profiled Haider a year or so ago for POP, (scroll down to the second page of the link to read the full profile) just before his current fashion fame, and knowing so much about him, gives me even more delight in his aesthetic and his success.
Over 15 years, I've seen a lot of fashion. Not as much as the true veterans of the runway circuit, but long enough to know when something is not just good, or great, but truly awesome in a shivers-up-the-spine and an emotional reaction in the pit of the stomach kind of way.
(via catwalking.com)
This happens at every Haider show; its a lot to do with the music he chooses, often a very moving classical piece; he loves a bit of Schubert... Here's an excerpt from my piece that explains:
What is happening with the cult of Haider now is that the American press and store buyer corps are obsessed with him. They love him; they sing his praises by releasing a torrent of lyrical prose to explain how they feel about his idiosyncratic clothes with their elongated silhouette, that music, those intense colours. Haider's is an aesthetic that splices North Africa and Belgium, but its the emotion they are reacting to as much as anything. Here is a little more background to explain..
Last night I was eating dinner in my hotel restaurant when I got chatting to a fellow solo diner, who happens to be a prominent American department store fashion director with an eye-watering budget to spend on clothes for her all-American woman. She told me, "It is all about Haider. We believe he is the man setting the fashion agenda for the way American women want to dress. The nipped jackets, long tube skirts, opulent fabrications and his vivid colours - the pumpkin, dark purple, russet - are pretty much the template for how we will move forward. Plus he is influencing a swathe of designers who are following his every move.."
We talked on, I was enthralled by the power a buyer and director of a large store group such as hers has, and with the simplicity of how such a seemingly complex and multi-layered vision like Haider's could be rendered so simple and commercial.
Haider Ackermann (via The Daily)
Until now Haider Ackermann has been the insiders secret; but if the current spike in interest follows through beyond the current hype come Autumn 2012, he could begin to reach the critical mass of his potential audience. That I would very much like to see.
The Fashion Editor at Large blog is the independent work of Melanie Rickey, the views are my own. The Fashion Junior at Large is Bethan Holt. PORTRAIT: Neil Haynes
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