3/09/2010

OSTWALD HELGASON 3D VIntage


The use of print within fashion is not a new phenomenon, however, with technological innovation a surge of photosynthesis prints is giving an almost 3D effect to the finished garments. The fusion of color, print and reality makes the wearer feel like a moving installation! One brand whose signature style integrates narrative prints and a kaleidoscope of colors is Susanne Ostwald and Ingvar Helgason of Ostwald Helgason.

The German and Icelandic designers met when both were working for a London design studio. They won two design grants from the German government and showed their first joint collection at Paris Fashion Week. Ostwald is the color and print designer and Helgason is the maestro of the silhouettes. The Ostwald Helgason label launched in 2006 and stocks in Denmark, France, Hong Kong, Iceland, Japan, Netherlands, UK and US in shops such as Opening Ceremony, Kokon To Zai and Bauhaus, and boasts fans such as Rihanna and Daphne Guinness.

3/02/2010

VIVIENNE WESTWOOD Milan FW 2010




This is why we’re out here. This show is why i work in this industry. Here is a storyteller showing a collision of fantasy, reality, and optimism. The wisdom and intelligence and style were all there in this show.









The good witch of punk fashion, Dame Vivienne Westwood, made a runway show that spoke visually about global warming, and the effects it is already starting to have on cultures around the world. She did it with innovation, she did it with panache, and she did it with passion for both the cause of sea level indigenous displacement and for making great clothes. What more could we ask for?


Venice and Maldives will be beneath waves soon, and this show was about that, and the other places around the world that will not be far behind. Here is the displacement, the upheaval, the oddity, and the quiet quest for scraps of dignity that are to come. This show was science fiction presented the way only a master fashion designer can make something live.