Brand love: Minimarket

Oh YEAH man, just stumbled across Swedish label Minimarket. Sisters Sofie, Jennifer and Pernilla Elvestedt are the designers behind it and their A/W11 collection has a distinctive autumnal theme with lots of auburns and deep red hues. So beautiful…

As much as I love designers embracing brights for their A/W collections and steering clear of the conventional winter black, it’s also really nice when some reflect nature’s colours of the reason. I feel like Minimarket has done just that and done it really well. Looking at the pictures makes me wanna put my bobble hat and boots on and run outside to kick leaves!

….And if the clothes don’t impress? Juuuust take a minute to absorb these.

Anyone that manages to slip Dr Marten-style numbers into their collection has my vote automatically.

Also, they have a fairly strange yet somewhat entrancing campaign video. Sure, the horror movie-style sound effects might chill you to the bone, but it’s quite interesting to watch none-the-less:

New Season: Mini Review

Back in February I wasn’t that enamoured with the collection images that flooded the internet off the back of fashion week.  Then 3 weeks ago I bought the Elle Runway Edit and have pored over its images nearly everyday since. This happens every season; I’m not fussed by what I see online but as soon as I get my hands on a hard copy, I’m sold. I defy anyone with an interest in fashion not to obsess over the Elle collections book… with its funky layout, witty captions and above all those FANTASTIC matte pages. Let’s face it guys, that matte-ness is a major contributing factor in the buying of the Elle collections book, over say, the Vogue version (that is, if you’re not already buying both, which I did, but whatevs that’s not the point).

There’s just something so beautiful and professional looking about the Elle Runway Edit. This is why I shoot my all-things-digital-loving boyf down when he proclaims print is dead! To me, having a hard, non-glossy copy of the best collections of the season, to sit with all its predecessors and be flicked through whenever, is unrivalled.

So thanks to Elle I have been re-inspired! I am hugely excited about the forthcoming androgynous and Navajo trends for A/W11 not to mention the crazy mish-mash of prints that’s still flying around – because I still haven’t plucked up the courage to don an outrageous clashing print mix yet.

Firstly, Mary Katrantzou, I have watched you from the side lines since your debut, and now I’m ready to come out and say it, you’re my hero (or heroine, but hero sounds better.) What an absolute feast for the eyes with that delicious explosion of colour and pattern. I would never have thought that an intricate floral pattern with a cheeky chicken’s head thrown in could be beautiful, until you came along, Mary.

Same goes for you, Jonathan Saunders … with your geometric graphical prints that are so visually entertaining they make your eyes feel funny. I love the variety too: damask and leaves and stripes and triangles printed all over bright dresses and midi skirts (yesss the midi’s still here for winter). Plus you’ve only gone and done preppy! Jonathan, thanks, I LOVE PREPPY. I can’t afford your clothes, but I will be buying all the Topshop clones of those button-up shirts with sharp collars.

Stella, great. I look forward to channelling my inner boy this year with inspiration from your collection. This season I will be more focussed on the MadMen as opposed to the ladies – braces, fedoras, oversized blazers, you better watch yourselves!

And Chloe….if I ever needed another reason to love you,  it’d be that bloody brilliant patchwork Navajo shawl (not the emerald green, shiny, shake skin skirt I’m afraid).

 

 

Hungary for more…

Couldn’t resist the pun. So anyway, here we have the cover of the July issue of Hungarian Glamour, featuring Hungarian model Eniko Mihalik, and I love it! Ever so Eastern European and fairytale-like. She reminds me of a queen in a Brothers Grim fairytale. Those of you who’ve read my blog before may know that I do love fairytale-like models and folklore-inspired editorials.

You might remember Eniko’s  kitten-like face from H&M’s A/W 2009 campaign.

But I prefer her in the cover shoot, where there’s something more regal and mature about her.

The clothes that Eniko wears are by Hungarian designer, Renata Gyöngyösi, and check out those opulent sleeves! Without sounding too much like a camp fashion stereotype and gushing all over the place, I LOVE the use of studs and how they modernise and toughen everything up here – so it’s not entirely a carbon copy of an outfit from a BBC period drama.

Renata Gyöngyösi’s SS 11 collection at Budapest Fashion Week. Images via fashioninquisitive.com and pestiside.hu

What’s more, Renata seems to be one step ahead with her S/S 2011 collection, which kind of draws parallels with the A/W 11 royal and revolution trend seen in Vivienne Westwood and PPQ. So hopefully this means she won’t be one of those designers to fade into the distance.

Milia M: Winter 2011 Trunk Show

Last week I went along to up and coming designer, Milia‘s trunk show, held at a la mode boutique just off Sloane Square. While she already has stockists across several other countries, this was her first trunk show in London, and showcased her A/W 2011 collection, which will now be stocked permanently in a la mode.

I often find that new designers who flourish in summer with colourful collections full of diaphanous fabrics and unusual shapes, lose a bit of that panache, when they’re not sure how to see it through to winter. As a result, their winter collections end up being a bit boring. However, this is not the case with Milia, whose beautiful collection has all the obligatory winter black pieces, but is also peppered with deep hues of purple and blue, gold and emerald.

What I loved the most about this collection was the inspiration behind it. Milia told me that it reflects the nightscape of bustling cities, specifically Asian capitals like Hong Kong and Tokyo, where amidst the darkness, glimmers of neon light catch your eye. It is the magic of this event that Milia has tried to evoke within the collection. If you look carefully you can see every now and then some neon orange stitching which rather than look garish (as it might sound) actually really compliments the garment and turns it into something completely unique.

Some of the other items I loved for their originality. For instance, the wool and cashmere pleated, billowing maxi dresses (seen below, belted), the cropped pink silk tank top and the gold/khaki halter neck midi.

The darker items were no less beautiful or intriguing. The snake-skin biker jacket and the silver-sequined and leather pieces served to funk and toughen up the collection.

Milia herself, standing next to her favourite piece in the collection

“There’s only one thing the world loves more than a beautiful girl, and that’s a beautiful girl who’s a little bit bad”

I know it’s a bit taboo, but let’s be honest, smoking can sometimes, not always, look quite cool (why else do youngsters start? It’s not because they like taste.) And I don’t think there is a better person to validate my point, than Kate Moss, the epitome of cool, smoking on the Louis Vuitton catwalk.

… Now, before there is a surge of outrage, I’m not saying it IS cool, just that I think we can all admit, that at some point in our lives, we’ve clocked an unlikely candidate lighting up for the first time, and for a split second seen them in a whole new, edgier, light..

As controversial as it sounds, I absolutely love what Marc Jacobs has done here! When it comes to smoking, I’m fairly impartial, I have succumbed the odd cigarette, but I don’t support or encourage it. However, Kate Moss casually smoking a cigarette, whilst walking for one of the most revered fashion labels of all time, in PARIS, on national anti-smoking day, after the announcement of UK plans to hide cigarette packets beneath shop counters, sends a tingle up my spine. 

She has made headlines in the past for her drug abuse and bad choice of rock star boyfriends, and has been snapped countless times pissed, falling out of taxis and smoking; essentially, she oozes rock n roll (without ever having picked up a guitar). So as bad as some of the things she has done are, you can’t get away from the fact that rock n roll is a bit cool. Kate Moss’s smoking on the catwalk is just her giving one last V-sign the system, before she goes back to a life of normality.

Louis Vuitton AW11

Whether you love or hate Kate Moss’s part in the LV show (and I’m sure there is a clear cut divide), you must be able to appreciate the cleverness of it. Not only has she jumped straight back into the limelight after 3 years off (you only have to Google Kate Moss or LV to find a host of related articles), but Marc Jacobs has potentially made one of the most memorable shows in history and placed his collection at the forefront of everyone’s mind. I have never really been a big Louis Vuitton fan, but admittedly, it was the sight of my favourite British icon that lured me to the Louis Vuitton Fall 2011 page of style.com, where I sat, clicking away for a good 20 minutes, mesmerized by some of the creations. And even if those flasher macs and maid uniforms only appeal to a select few, special, individuals (…Lady Gaga), those handbags will be everything and everywhere come Autumn.

Title quote from The Guardian’s Jess Cartner-Morley