Tag: fashion week

Fashion Writing – Tommy Hilfiger

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Article Written For Tommy Hilfiger SS 2015 Collection For Print Magazine

Since 1985, Tommy Hilfiger has been building his internationally recognized lifestyle brand into what we know it as today.  Sometimes collections feel very prep-school cool, but then we enter the spring and summer 2015 designs and we’ve got a funky mix of rocker vibes with his always clean lines, which is definitely pushing for notches above cool now.  With some design throwbacks that reminisce more of the 60s and 70s eras of music, Hilfiger goes for something a bit darker, a bit more sharp than before and as what he described his muse for this collection as—”an updated cue from the free-spirited festival gals of today.”

Expert tailoring is never lost on Hilfiger’s work, but we love the deep, darker reds, splashes of black and blue in all its star-spangled glory.  Stars were everywhere during this show, from the famous faces who walked for it to the all over starry prints on several of the designs.  Despite the rather patriotic palette, Hilfiger does find ways to toss in some purple, green and yellow to balance out the other primaries.

Producing striped pattern looks that feel very laid back and just right for a music festival, everything became a mix of how we’ve always viewed Tommy Hilfiger’s clothing and the youthful, free spirited energy of summer festival trends.  Despite somewhat appearing as opposites in a sense, Hilfiger presented them in a very funky and very cool harmony.

If you told us bohemian, music styles could work with preppier, tailored tops and bottoms we would have disagreed, but we just got school by one of America’s most iconic designers.

Fashion Writing – Deola + Clan

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Article For Magazine Done Last Year

A Fashion Week Debut Full Of Luxurious Textiles, Plus A Mix Of Bright Hues & Playful Youthfulness – Min A. Lee

Deola Sagoe and Clan (which is made up of Sagoe’s daughters Teni, Tiwa an Aba) successfully presented their New York Fashion Week debut collections full of color, youth and luxurious textiles.  Looking at the designs of Sagoe one can see how she draws upon Nigeria in a lovely mix tradition and current aesthetics in the fashion world.  Her line is filled of body conscious cuts with conversation-starting details from cut-out patterns to an iridescent sheen for shifting colors and then adding in echoes of Nigerian fabric patterns, all brought beautifully onto the main stages of New York.  We can see why Deola Sagoe is gaining world-wide notoriety and praise.

As we watched the models glide towards us, we could feel the bold presence in her designs—they truly speak for themselves.  This line is not meant to be taken lightly, but worn for that occasion you want to stand out.  Even in the neutral looks there are features that instantly pop out at viewers.  We hope to see more of Sagoe at the coming fashion week industry events and anticipate her future collections.

CLAN

CLAN interests us with their take on clothing collection availability.  While nearly all designers offer two main collections, one for fall/winter and one for spring/summer, CLAN decided to create truly timeless designs in the sense that “these pieces will be available all year round in chosen variations and upon personal requests,” explained Teni Sagoe.

While viewing the debut, we felt an immediate sense of playful, youth with a bit of urban wear appeal.  Amping up the paints with open-mesh appeal, draping and mixed-media was a fresh take for the on-going trend.  One of our favorites was a phonetic spelling for laid back (laid-back) splashed across a silky top.

A perfect descriptor for parts of the CLAN collection with its easy-to-wear designs and casual coolness.  There’s even a comfort appeal to the more complicated designs we appreciate.   When it comes to fashion, we are always on the hunt for compelling designs with functionality.

Fashion Writing – Costello Tagliapietra

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Article Written For A Review Of Costello Tagliapietra’s S/S2015 Collection

Exploring The Lovely Oceanic Blues Of Fashion House Favorite: Costello Tagliapietra – Min A. Lee 

Viewing each style from Costello Tagliapietra’s spring and summer 2015 collection is transitioning down through the layers of the ocean.  Beginning with the sometimes tumultuous clouds and winds that can create such beautiful stormy hues that slice through an otherwise golden palette.  How fitting the fabrics picked by the designers move like the wind and water and sometimes appear like a stormy horizon on some.  A perfect mix of emotion and grace for those who are a bit more on the serious side of wardrobe preferences because not everyone is into frills and flounces.

Just as the water turns into a crystal, clear blue, as does the flow of the collection to longer lengths of the hue while keeping water-like properties that move around the body in seamless waves.  Despite the form fitting cuts that emphasize natural waistlines, comfort is definitely key. These aren’t garments that you’ll constantly be adjusting and pulling on to keep its shape.  There’s something completely natural about the way they fall even in standing positions.

As the ocean becomes deeper and darker with tinges of green to black, the level of mystery arises. There’s almost a more quiet quality to the depths that aren’t pushed about by winds and the moon’s gravitational tug-of-war.  In the darkness you have to look closely to see the subtle details, the same goes for the design duo’s work.  At first glance the dresses seem simple, but look closer and one can see beautiful pleating to create small cascades, silky textures with gauzy overlays, contrast piping and lining for added contour and emphasis, and our favorite—their signature plaids but with an open weave.  Dark and mysterious? Yes, definitely…then mix it with the strong force of attraction these looks imbue and you are set for date night.

The gradient of hues in the collection complement every skin tone and hair color, which isn’t easy to come by because it can be difficult matching warm and cool to the right color—you don’t have to worry, they’re expansive line offers the ability to create looks depending on the wearer’s desire.  These are clothes meant to make any woman feel stunning.  Even the more sportier option with its silky bomber jacket and body conscious skirt still initiates a striking aura that is found in every collection produced thus far.  If you are looking for pieces to refresh your wardrobe for next spring put Costello Tagliapietra high on your wish list, they’re definitely up there on ours.

skingraft

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What happens when I hit a block: start illustrating. SKINGRAFT has the coolest look book of images ever. I’ve never been one for classic fashion designs, I prefer the more out-there and unexpected. LA Based, but definitely with a New York Street feel, I can’t get enough. Drawn with a ball point, ink pen in about five minutes and now the block has removed itself.

Erickson Beamon

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Erickson Beamon

Two Page Spread Design by Monochome Wings . Written Piece by Monochome Wings
A Story of Change & Fashion . A Pink Palace
For Seek.me Mag

There lived a girl who believed only in pink.  With laces, frills and flounces of the delicate shade filling every corner of her castle from the tapestries to her bangles of dyed jade.  Even her cheeks were painted with a soft, rosy blush to match her eccentric need for the color she loved so much.  It would seem this was truly a one-sided infatuation, that no other hue could hope to exist in this girl’s imagination.  But, one day while out for a stroll, she chanced upon a sight that took her aback, a girl with arms full of spikes, metal and jewels that were beautiful yet…black.

How opposite can one color be from the very one that filled her usual dreams, not soft or warm as she would expect, but intriguing, dark and with unspoken desires to be met.  A curiosity took hold as she wandered home that afternoon, wondering how this somber tone could imbed itself so deeply in her emotions…this hue that belongs only to the moon.  Soon a need to find these beautiful cuffs and rings developed, excitement took hold and from pink to black she went.  Without looking back, a girl was reborn; she had a fierce edge, a dark sense of fashion and designs from Erickson Beamon gave her freedom to find a new passion.