Power Dressing in the era of #MeToo

Gareth Pugh FW 2018

Being aware of it or not, the way we dress is often based on cultural constructs from history. Politics, ideology and identity are narrated through sartorials matters. Although many frontiers have pushed boundaries through fashion, the question is how much has actually changed. Fashion has always walked hand-in-hand with the events that are happing in the world, fashion expresses the zeitgeist and predicts the world that awaits.
In the era of #metoo movement and the Golden Globes black-dress-code protest, it has been just a matter of time when the 80's Power Dressing trend will hit the runways of mayor fashion weeks. Marc Jacobs and Gareth Pugh are just two examples who referenced power dressing 80's aesthetic and tailoring in their latest collections. Gareth Pugh stated that the FW 2018 collection is "for women who accept zero bullshit."

Embraced by the Instagram generation, the beautiful collections of these designers obviously speak for themselves, however it can not be ignored that it is rather sad that we have not left the black pages from the past behind.

Power dressing is a style that occured in the second half of the 1970s, and that developed further in the 1980s. It is a fashion style that enables women to establish their authority in a professional and political environment traditionally dominated by men.
The concept of power dressing was brought to popularity by John T. Molloy's manuals Dress for success (1975) and Women: dress for success (1980), which suggest a gender specific professional dress code. Molloy's manuals addressed a new kind of female workers entering in a typical masculine environment recommending them a "uniform" that would have helped them to acquire authority, respect and power at work.

Grace Jones 'Nightclubbing' album cover

FEE - The Ages

In the Golden Age of FEE, we have created a concept of garments in iconic styles. Inspired by all the grand fashion statements through the ages, we present the collection of FEE - The Ages.

FEE Conceptstore and platform, winner of 'Most Innovative Store Award 2014', launched its own label. After seven years of experience as a fashion house, FEE has released its own fashion collection. The concept is inspired by all iconic fashion styles from the 1920s to the contemporary style, ready to be represented by 'women of all ages'.
The first collection features ten black dresses; locally produced in Limburg and made from high quality Italian fabrics.
The salon presentation will take place on Monday 5 March 2018 at Mr & Mrs Watson in Amsterdam. The collection will be available online from March 6, 2016 at www.feetheages.com and can already be seen at FEE, Limbrichterstraat 71 in Sittard.

FEETHEAGES_DRIELUIK from FEEtheages on Vimeo.

Gucci - Cyborg

'Identity, a social and cultural construction'

Inspired by feminist philosopher Donna Haraway’s 1984 “A Cyborg Manifesto: Science, Technology, and Socialist-Feminism in the Late Twentieth Century”, Alessandro Michele has created his own visual manifesto challenging the binary categorization of human identity that is forced upon us as a means to both control and regulate us. Identity is neither immutable nor fixed but rather a social and cultural construction, and as such it can be adjusted, redefined or even invented.
This is the idea behind the Gucci F/W 2018-2019 collection, that is reflected in a fusion of materials and a clash of references such as Russian babushka headscarves, balaclavas, Balkan costumes, pagoda hats, Sikh turbans, English tweed and Scottish plaid juxtaposed with ruffled lamé dresses, velvet gowns, oversized sweaters, sneakers and logo's.
The striking feature that exploded on instagram where models carrying iguanas, coral snakes, baby dragons, replicas of their own heads and so on. The presentation was staged in a lab-like scenography, resembling operation room rather than a traditional catwalk.
And what about the clothes, well they where beautiful, such as are the numerous accessories.

www.gucci.com

THE GREATEST LUXURY - Hot Air Film

Hot Air, Selfridges' own broadcasting platform, has commissioned a short film which explores the concept of luxury from the singular point of view of contributors from diverse creative universes. The film focuses on three established talents, chosen for their radical approach to their life and art. The result is a visual hybrid documentary short film, consisting of in depth interviews, poetry, and beautifully designed visual metaphors for each of the main pillars. The contributors are: fashion designer Gareth Pugh; American performing artist, rapper and activist Mykki Blanco; choreographer, director and artist Holly Blakey; poet and performer Lilly Ashley and dancer Sophie Appollonia.

In an era of high-speed living, digital overload and people feeling stretched across various aspects of their lives, The Greatest Luxury looks at the importance of doing small things that make you feel good - those everyday luxuries that are more about self-worth than (as we often worry) being selfish. All three of the cast have created exceptional work, stayed true to their vision and how they live their lives. For that reason, director Kathryn Ferguson wanted to go back to basics and find out how they felt about the word on a personal and emotional level.

Celebrating the concept of luxury as something that's as individual as ourselves, The Greatest Luxury reclaims luxury as something personal, emotional and liberating.

Kiss x Kiss x Kiss

American freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy kisses with boyfriend Matthew Wilkas

How something simple and loving, like a kiss, can evoke many emotions in just one week.  

Gus Kenworthy made the headlines at PyeongChang 2018 not for a medal, or a nasty fall, but for a kiss with his boyfriend - and he couldn't be happier. 
The global men's tailoring brand Suitsupply released their SS18 campaign putting the spotlight on gay love, illuminating the attraction between two men. While pride and love are celebrated in many parts of the world, it is generally left out of mainstream advertising. On display throughout nearly 100 stores, across 22 countries, the Suitsupply SS18 campaign will have gay relationships front and center, lauded as the "everyday" gentleman. Quickly, the news followed that Suitsupply loses thousands of followers after posting their new campaign.
them. teamed up with photographer Alasdair McLellan to capture LGBTQ+ couples, all styled in Burberry’s Rainbow collection.

Hello world, it is 2018!

Suitsupply Spring Summer 2018 campaign

Suitsupply Spring Summer 2018 campaign

them. x Burberry

The Moncler Genius Project

Craig Green

The Moncler Genius project was conceived by Remo Ruffini to serve as a platform for exceptional minds and was officially unveiled at opening of Milan Fashion Week.
The collaborative project will be staged in the new Moncler Genius building in Milan, which features eight cells — each one home to one of the seven collections that Moncler will launch over the next few months with special drops.
Taking on a curatorial approach, the project invites different designers to take the Moncler identity to new places, which the brand believes will strengthen its uniqueness.

List of cells, participants and their corresponding “theme”:

1. Moncler Pierpaolo Piccioli (pure essence)
2. Moncler 1952 (pop trademark)
3. Moncler Grenoble (playful flair)
4. Moncler Simone Rocha (pragmatic femininity)
5. Moncler Graig Green (dress as habitat)
6. Moncler Noir Kei Ninomiya (wearable geometry)
7. Moncler Fragment Hiroshi Fujiwara (subcultural subtleness)
8. Moncler Palm Angels (going viral)

All images courtesy of Moncler.

Moncler Pierpaolo Piccioli

Hiroshi Fujiwara

Simone Rocha

Kei Ninomiya

Moncler 1952

Moncler Grenoble

Moncler Palm Angels

them. x Burberry Rainbow

them. teamed up with photographer Alasdair McLellan to capture LGBTQ+ couples, all styled in Burberry’s Rainbow collection.

Photography: Alasdair McLellan
Styling: Beatriz Maués
Hair: Shon
Makeup: Frankie Boyd
Manicure: Nickie Rhodes-Hill
Set Design: Kim Harding

https://www.them.us

Central Saint Martins Ma Class of 2018

Central Saint Martins MA Show 2018

Liam Johnson

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes

Serena Gili, Discipline Collection 2012, Photo Saga Sig

NOMA’s First Fashion Exhibition Examines Archetypes of Womanhood

Showcasing rare pieces from one of the world’s largest private collections of Alexander McQueen fashion, the New Orleans Museum of Art (NOMA) presents A Queen Within - Adorned Archetypes, on view from February 21 through May 28, 2018.
NOMA’s first major fashion exhibition will feature contemporary designers showcased in an immersive gallery presentation. This exhibition’s bold couture explores different archetypes of femininity, and how these mythic characters manifest through storytelling in fashion over the past decade.
Designer Alexander McQueen (1969-2010) was a master of building narratives through his collections and runway shows. Inspired by his sensitivity to historical and literary research, A Queen Within uses fashion to explore seven archetypal personality types of a Queen, or metaphorically, of a woman: The Mother Earth, Sage, Magician, Enchantress, Explorer, Heroine and Thespian. These themes are derived from recurring motifs in myths and fairy tales of world literature. The story of each feminine archetype—its powers, its weaknesses, its significance—is articulated in A Queen Within through pioneering fashion, photography, and artwork.

Maiko Takeda, Atmospheric Reentry, 2013 Photo Yuen Hsieh

“The designers featured in A Queen Within showcase the competing, complimentary and often contradictory roles within the ideals of contemporary womanhood,” said Susan Taylor, the Montine McDaniel Freeman Director of NOMA. “The exhibition explores the complicated symbolism used by avant-garde designers while bringing a major fashion exhibition to New Orleans. This exhibition definitively demonstrates that fashion is art.”

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes features more than 100 experimental gowns, headpieces, jewelry, and shoes by more than 50 of the world's most insightful contemporary designers, artists and photographers. The exhibition includes household names like McQueen, Prada, Chanel and Comme des Garçons intermixed with other boundary-pushing fashion, like Chromat's body-positive architectural looks, Rich Mnisi’s experimental videos and Iris van Herpen's dresses that boldly use new technology.

“This exhibition shows beauty, certainly, but also pain, humor, power, and weakness,” said Mel Buchanan, NOMA's RosaMary Curator of Decorative Arts & Design. “A Queen Within references the past and foretells the future, exploring how fashion can be about the complex human condition."

Minna Palmqvist

A Queen Within shows fashion’s possibility as an art form, full of glamour, wit and escapism but also innovation and pressing social issues. "A Vivienne Westwood coat is from a collection that called for people to unite in an effort to save Venice, and the rest of our planet, from the effects of climate change. Minna Palmqvist’s mannequin busts capture the beauty of nonconforming bodies, showing how fashion's pioneers are moving away from the standard size zero dress form. Gypsy Sport’s gender-fluid work is seen as the voice for a new generation that calls for a more global, inclusive world. The exhibition also highlights photographers and artists such as June Canedo, Raúl de Nieves and Joanne Petit-Frére, who use the adorned body to depict stories from communities around the world and place them in a global historical context,” said exhibition curators Sofia Hedman and Serge Martynov of MUSEEA. 

A Queen Within: Adorned Archetypes is an exhibition developed by Barrett Barrera Projects and MUSEEA, toured internationally by Flying Fish. Presentation of this exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art is sponsored by the Eugenie and Joseph Jones Family Foundation. Additional support provided by Ashley Longshore, Joseph: A Women's Fashion Boutique, and Millie Davis Kohn.

Comme des Garçons, SS 2015,
Courtesy of Barrett Barrera Projects & RKL Consulting
Photo Sarah Carmody

Exhibited Designers, Artists and Photographers
69, Adidas, Alexander McQueen, Anrealage/Kunihiko Morinaga, Arvida Byström & Maja Malou Lyse, Ashish, Bea Szenfeld, Bourgeois Boheme, Carcel, Chan Luu, Charlie le Mindu, Chromat, Cindy Hsin-Liu Kao & Jimmy Day, Comme des Garçons, Cooper & Gorfer, Cutecircuit, Daan Roosegaarde, David Lachapelle, Diana Scherer, Fantich & Young, Gianfranco Ferré, Gucci, Gypsy Sport, Hassan Hajjaj, Herdentier, Hideki Seo, Iris van Herpen, Jalila Essaïdi, Joanne Petit-Frère, Jordan Askill, June Canedo, Keta Gutmane, Louise Linderoth, Maison Martin Margiela, courtesy of Maison Margiela, Maja Gunn, Maiko Takeda, Maïmouna Guerresi, Michael Drummond, Minna Palmqvist, MuSkin, Omar Victor Diop, Pam Hogg, Prada, Raúl De Nieves, Reformation, Rich Mnisi, Sandra Backlund, Serena Gili, Slow Factory, Tabitha Osler, this is Sweden, Tommy Hilfiger, Viktor&Rolf and Vivienne Westwood.

Special commissioned headdresses by Charlie le Mindu.

About NOMA and the Besthoff Sculpture
Garden The New Orleans Museum of Art, founded in 1910 by Isaac Delgado, houses nearly 40,000 art objects encompassing 5,000 years of world art.
Works from the permanent collection, along with continuously changing special exhibitions, are on view in the museum's 46 galleries

www.noma.org

Sanchez-Kane Fall Winter 2018

Sanchez-Kane Fall Winter 2018: New York Fashion Week Men’s 

In just two years, since I first encountered Barbara Sanchez-Kane at the 2016 edition of FASHIONCLASH Festival 2016, things have been going very wel for her brand Sanchez-Kane. Starting with a selection by VFILES which provided her the opportunity to show in New York followed by Los Angeles Fashion Week, Mexico City Fashion Week and now her second solo show at NYFWW.
Talented Mexican designer, presented a new collection 'Artesanal Sex Shop' inspired by her interpretation of sexual oppression in Mexico. Addressing topics such as the lack of adequate sex education to same-sex love, catholicism and politics. The collections features fetish pieces, plaid school uniform inspired suits and striking accessories.
At the moment, Sanchez-Kane is one of the most interesting emerging brands, and an example to new generation that show that fashion can be much more than a consumptive and trendy product.
http://sanchez-kane.com

Goeie Katoen

FW 2018 'Vitam Et Mortem'

Fashion is now often considered inferior to art in terms of its creative value. Using design inspired by mechanisms of the human form, Goeie Katoen grounds a depiction of life and death in contemporary settings for the release of its Fall/Winter 2018 luxury ready to wear collection: Vitam Et Mortem – Life and death.

Drawing inspiration from Magritte’s iconic paintings- enshrouded models styled by Ross McCleish and photographed by Alexander English in a bussling atelier workshop, represent fashions perceived positioning in the creative spectrum and Goeie Katoen’s desire to re-earth the role and perception of fashion as a valued art form. Where in Magritte’s time art was considered an inferior creative representation of life to literature and philosophy, now fashion is often considered an inferior creative representation of life to art.

Goeie Katoen translated means 'Good Cotton'. As a brand it looks to bridge the gap between atelier methods of design and free creative expression of contemporary issues. Goeie Katoen uses a DIY Couture ethos to bring a dream and escape to the 21st century rat race. To be considered as art before fashion, the items are made to have lasting value in a throwaway consumer society.

http://www.goeiekatoen.com