Tim Soar’s collection at London Fashion Week came under the title ‘Him/She’. As the title suggests, these clothes are designed for women as much as they are men. Rather than gender, it’s more about the actual clothes themselves.
That’s not to say the clothes are wholly androgynous – the clothes compliment either gender, without either sexes features being blurred into the other.
Dover Street Market is a shop in London which was set-up by Rei Kawakuno of Japanese label Comme des Garçons. As well as stocking lots of Comme des Garçons, they also carry high end brands such as Maison Martin Margiela, YSL, Damir Doma etc.
The first thing that struck me about the shop when I entered was the details. The shop is is set over six floors – with each floor carrying a different ‘theme’. For example, the ground floor is all white, the third floor is laid out on a giant chess board and the basement is set to look like a street.
DSM is unlike most stores in that it plays with lay-out and design. The changing rooms on each floor become centre pieces, rather than being there for their sole function. One of the changing rooms is an altered port-a-loo, another is a huge cylinder covered in beads and tassles. This challenges the regular conventions of shop design.
The garments themselves are also treated with more respect than most highstreet shops. Rather than rail after rail of clothes, they are laid out sparsely – which makes them garner more attention.
Usually I find high-end stores such as this very intimidating, however DSM is a fun and welcoming place to be.
"I want to create a kind of market where various creators from various fields gather together and encounter each other in an ongoing atmosphere of beautiful chaos: the mixing up and coming together of different kindred souls who all share a strong personal vision."
Rei KAWAKUBO
All photographs my own.
"…the result is rather typical of modern technology, an overall dullness of appearance so depressing that it must be overlaid with a veneer of "style" to make it acceptable. And that, to anyone who is sensitive to romantic Quality, just makes it all the worse. Now it's not just depressingly dull, it's also phony. Put the two together and you get a pretty accurate ...basic description of modern American technology: stylized cars and stylized outboard motors and stylized typewriters and stylized clothes. Stylized refrigerators filled with stylized food in stylized kitchens in stylized homes. Plastic stylized toys for stylized children, who at Christmas and birthdays are in style with their stylish parents. You have to be awfully stylish yourself not to get sick of it once in a while. It's the style that gets you; technological ugliness syruped over with romantic phoniness in an effort to produce beauty and profit by people who, though stylish, don't know where to start because no one has ever told them there's such a thing as Quality in this world and it's real, not style. Quality isn't something you lay on top of subjects and objects like tinsel on a Christmas tree. Real Quality must be the source of the subjects and objects, the cone from which the tree must start."
Patrik Ervell’s latest collection is the perfect blend of forward thinking clothing with inspiration from the past. The collection seems to be inspired by space travel – this is evident in the jumpsuits which are given a more wearable silhouette than actual spacesuits, and also in the bomber jackets, which are constructed with a heavy knit.
I usually don’t like the ‘military look’, however this collection of clothing shows how it can be done. Rather than just give a jacket shoulder cuffs and putting heavy duty boots on the models, subtle elements have been added to clothing, such as sharper pockets and stronger fabrics. You can see how Ervell has taken in images of space travel, and clearly worked it in a way which is wholly his and original.
All images courtesy of Style.com
When I saw these photographs by Inka Lindergard and Niclas Holmstroem I thought they demonstrated the principle of ‘Your Space’ perfectly. In ‘Your Space’ the idea of camouflage going beyond optical illusions is encouraged. Here, in these pictures, I get a real sense of the people blending into their environment through the colour and the texture of their clothing. You know the people are there, yet they seem to be submerged in their settings.
There is no camera trickery, it’s the palette of the clothing alone which dictates that the people do not become the main focus of the photographs.
For this brief we were taught how to construct a professional looking garment. Having had pretty much zero experience with a sewing machine at first I found this a little bit daunting.
As more techniques were taught to us I began to get a gradual understanding of how things work when you’re making a garment. I never really felt out of my depth during this brief, and enjoyed the technical nature of the working methods.
The brief was also slightly different from what I’ve done before as it involved making a dress. I’ve never designed women’s clothing so wasn’t sure how much I’d take to it, or, if I could do it! But when I designed my dress I tried to almost make it incorporate things I like in men’s clothing. Things such as function, form and subtle tailoring details.
Constructing the dress was also enjoyable, it was very beneficial to how the skills I’ve learnt work when put into practice. Using these new skills also meant that it didn’t really matter to me what the final thing I was making actually was; more about actually how I was making it.
I’m very pleased with the final dress I made – the final standard of construction and design is something I’m proud of. Three months ago I barely knew how to use a sewing machine, and now I’ve made a garment which has all the small details I admire in clothing.
