switzerland illustrated

A short version of the planned article in Schweizer Illustrierte was published last week due to the actuality of the running NY Fashion Week. Go to the e-magazine article!

back to the 80's again?

The week is over and what remains is a lot of impressions. Our sales meetings went well and I am looking forward to a pretty good season ahead. During the shows, good design won the votes and I basically liked everything that was optimistic!

There were a lot of vintage looks on the runways, 80's especially (just have a look at Marc Jacobs collection, or Michael Kors's), the big shoulders, punk hairstyles, club wear, day-glow colors, asymmetrical cuts, etc. The regular Joe's on the street were mostly dressed in decent shades of grey..??! What a contrast! A disconnect maybe?

I thought these 2 bystanders went into the prognosed direction and had a pretty authentic style:



And here a very last impression from the tents...


...see you in 6 months!

ny fashion week

The iron statue of a factory worker manufacturing clothing in the midst of the ever so busy fashion district, reminding us of the humble beginnings and the hard work fashion really is.

You know you don't get the usual fashion coverage here and I hope you like my personal first days round up, as it reads a bit different than many other blogs that tell you the same old BS you may or may not wanna hear.

So, yes - I am convinced you know by now - the beast has come out and you see an immense and quiet perplexing amount of fur. Why in the world...?? It's beyond me. Fur, fur fur, the most ugliest of which. I started taking pictures to report it to you, but I prematurely deleted most of them because I really don't want to cramp up my posts with this stuff. As if someone would have money to buy fur next season...??

Of the commercial shows I saw the Barbie Runway Show and Erin Fetherston, which I loved both. Yesterday I went to Tibi and Narciso Rodriquez, which only really were so so...

I also visited the Digital Moda event, which was held at the top of the 110 building on 40th Street. Gazing out the windows you could see the ever so promising fashion week tents below...


..but in all - I really wanted to say something positive about Yuli Ziv's event - this event was nothing special and it seamed a waist of time talking to the, only somewhat fashionable, crowd. Plus the drinks were really cheap.

...there were animals and fur there too...

So, I quickly made my way downstairs again and headed over to the tents. Where I was greeted by friends and colleagues who were all chatting away waiting in line to see Tibi. I liked the Barbie display:


I mentioned Tibi was not interesting, so I really could not wait to see Narciso. I went to the bar and ordered a Vodka Martini with 3 olives and mixed in with the waiting crowd. One young fashionista had this bag which I thought was fun and fitting for the Obama Zeitgeist:


And I had a quick opportunity to chat with Simon Donovan, the Creative Director of Barneys New York. I told him I was sending him my new catalog next week.

simon donovan of barneys new york waiting to see narciso rodriquez

Then finally after more than 1 hour in line, I snatched my seat at Narciso's.


The photographers are ready too, so let's get on with this show!



My attention span was beginning to stagnate and so I was just looking for a cab! Ah, there is one!


A last look uptown in direction of the ever so lit up Times Square.


And so I survived another day of NY Fashion Week!

pop art

It's just the weirdest thing that while I am focusing on finishing the Dark Glamour Gothic post, there is color all around me... day-glow at that! How am I supposed to think straight?? Anyway, this is a daily debacle for a fashion designer and I am used to think about things that are not here to think about at that time. But as it is, a good press article never comes at the wrong time and I always in particular look forward to Olivier Rohrbach's selections of "IT-things" of the moment.

This seasons picks of Pop Art pieces do clearly speak for themselves... and I am so proud to be featured among such great timeless designs of my long time favorite Jean-Charles de Castelbajac as well as Stephen Sprouse (who sadly died only a few years ago due to lung cancer. It's the reason I finally stopped smoking 2 years ago...)

On a much happier note: Thanks Olivier for the eternally funky selections, as always!

...stephen sprouse in 1997 looking iggyisch (photo: rainer hosch) and below as a punk rocker in the 80's (photo: patrick mcmullen)

...jean-charles de catelbajac's lady diana tribute...

To buy the Nico, The Velvet Underground Shift Dress, featured in the Pop Art article click here!

fashion rocks rockstar magazine

Yeap, just came hot off the press! Fashion Rocks collection featured in Rockstar Magazin! Thanks to my all time top photographer Carl Posey and Swiss connection PR genius Arnold Meyer.

sylvie fleury was on time

...it is me that is behind with the posts. So here is, on yet another note before the long awaited dark posts (I am working on them, they are altogether a way bigger story than I initially anticipated), Sylvie Fleury's New Years card, which is so "Fleury" that I wanted to share it with you all...

From the caves of Switzerland...

xxx

Read my post about Sylvie's work in the Chanel Mobil art exhibit.

poison yellow!

I know you were expecting more black, after I just announced that the last post "black" would lead into something darker... but I take a turn right here in the name of actuality for a second or "a post" and talk about The First Lady Michelle Obama's choice of color.


I took a good look and I saw a yellow with a tad of green in it, which led me to my declaration of The First Lady's deux piece (although I could see some additional layers underneath the coat) being a sort of poison-isch yellow. The choice of green gloves may have supported the fact that there was indeed green in that yellow, it may even have brought that shade out more in the midst of all the yellow.

It's really hard to criticize that wonderful Fist Lady of ours and I am not doing that, besides having been accused of doing exactly that. But hello, I can't believe the inability of people to admit that she chose a uncanny green-isch yellow for her day dress. Why can't everybody just admit it and be comfortable with the fact that she did choose one of those colors with a bad rap (I'm not even saying that, but that is what all the commotion is about).

Surely she can wear it - it looked great - everybody agrees! Why is everybody still tip toe-ing around not being able to admit that they were a bit shocked with the choice (BTW, it also was not a traditional lace - in the contrary to wide believe - but a so called acid-cut or Giupure 100% woll fabric, which looks like lace and was also used by Miuccia Prada in her 2008 collections).

miuccia prada giupure 2008

Now, I really loved the unconventional choice, as I always do. But most people say: Oh no, this is yellow, not green, a very nice pastel color, very beautiful, no poison in it, noooo! Oh please...!

Anyway, what's the point? It does not really matter. As long as I knew what color it was. Hey, I did not go to art and graphic school for 5 years for nothing! When I got the letter from my mother, containing all the relevant Swiss news paper clips (they mostly contain imminent news about fashion, views from Europe about the USA or family related news) of the recent month, I was surprised - well then again, not so much - that the lace fabric of Mrs. Obamas dress was from Forster Rohner Textile, the world renowned, famous lace producer out of my hometown St. Gallen. Yes, that's right!

Needless to say, I was very fond to read how it's Creative Director Hans Schreiber described the shade: A mix of mustard yellow, yellow daffodils, lemon grass green and gold. I knew it! There IS green in it! I must have felt it, coming from my home, where Forster Rohner stands for: always special, unconventional and fast forward quality.

Good choice, Isabel Toledo (the designer of the outfit)!

Mrs. Toledo reportedly went to St. Gallen herself, last year and bought 12 meters for the price of 190 CHF (Swiss Francs) each. My mother told me on the phone today that by now the famous wool Giupure is selling for CHF 500.-/meter (a meter is just a bit more than a yard), cheez!