Archives

MODERN MUSE 5: Renée PERLE

September 27, 2010 by Le Fist

There’s something about Renée… For me, PRADA really delivered this season. I thought it was an extremely strong show. Precise, uncompromising and decidedly MODERN – a word bandied about so much these days. In a season of blindingly bright hues the PRADA electric blues, oranges and greens seemed the most potent and daring. The thing I like about PRADA is you really get a sense of the woman, the narrative. The total package. Miuccia Prada would most probably have been […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: fashion, fashion critique, J H Lartigue, modern muse, photography, prada, Renee Perle

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Fussy Finished: Generation 2010 Have Spoken

February 22, 2010 by Le Fist

A v.long post, I must warn. But this needs to be said_ That Louise Wilson gets about a bit, doesn’t she? She keeps cropping up in Sunday supplements and magazine articles, pushing her brand of tuition and guidance every which way. Straight-talking Louise knows a thing or two. Louise knows best and don’t we know it! The Harder They Come: Louise Wilson I’ve sort of fallen out of love with fashion a bit. Fashion, to me, has become unfashionable. The […]

Categories: love love love • Tags: architecture, central saint martins, fashion, fashion critique, louise wilson, stanton williams

Two Girls Walking

February 20, 2010 by Le Fist

Is it just me or is there a definite sense of spring in the air…? OK, let’s not get carried away but the trees have started budding and the sunlight seems just that bit brighter. Wishful thinking perhaps but its got to end sometime! I thought this Alaia image of two girls walking away in the snow was befitting_

Categories: different seasons • Tags: azzedine alaia, black and white, fashion, photography

Needle In a Hay Stack: That CHANEL Jacket

February 12, 2010 by Le Fist

Regular readers will know that I’m not a fan of uploading ad campaigns or editorial. This isn’t what this blog is about. When I do so its because I genuinely like the piece or it relates to something else. Like this Chanel jacket you see here, from the Spring-Summer 2010 campaign. I like it A LOT. I have a love/hate relationship with Chanel. Individually, I love the pieces. As a show I sometimes find it plodding and contrived, bordering on […]

Categories: love love love, want it now, yes please! • Tags: chanel, fashion

Neo-Classic: Norton, MacCullough + Locke

February 11, 2010 by Le Fist

“Handmade in England” – has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it? Seldom written these days, unfortunately, so it’s with great pleasure that I introduce to you Norton, MacCullough & Locke_ Messrs Laurelli, Gn and Manchée joined forces a year or so ago to create a brand in the vein of 1920s bespoke luxury. Dominic Laurelli headed design at Saville Row’s Swaine, Adeney & Brigg after a stint at Alexander McQueen. Lester Gn’s masters graduation collection featured impeccable tailoring and […]

Categories: love love love, Uncategorized, want it now • Tags: accessories, fashion, MacCullough & Locke, Norton

New York Calling

February 9, 2010 by Le Fist

The madness is about to begin. Let’s see in the womenswear season with some lovely images from Halston – one of the most highly anticipated shows. Where will London-based Marios Schwab take it? Will Liza approve? Questions…I really hope he pulls it off and brings direction and energy to the brand. They both deserve it. Another Balenciaga success story in the making?

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: fashion, halston, marios schwab, new york

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Erogenous Zones 2: The Back

February 7, 2010 by Le Fist

Geoffery Beene Found photograph, 1930s France Geoffery Beene Vilhelm Hammershøi

Categories: fashion • Tags: fashion, Geoffery Beene, photography, Vilhelm Hammershøi

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History Repeating: Carmel Snow, Harper’s Bazaar, September Issue 1954

February 3, 2010 by Le Fist

Its Carmel, Miss Snow if you’re nasty… Paris: The Lean Black Line, The Cloud of White Fox_ Reading Carmel Snow’s report on the Paris Haute Couture from the 1954 September issue of Harper’s Bazaar invites a wry smile. For instance: “In general new materials are at their inventive best…Wool and Orlon woven with a puffy surface. Jerseys ribbed exactly like corduroy. Acetate and wool shot with a gilt thread.. Balenciaga’s giant puff of white fox, abloom with a pale […]

Categories: heroines, Uncategorized • Tags: carmel snow, editorial, fashion, harper's bazaar

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Bruise

February 2, 2010 by Le Fist

I like the idea that a dressmaker’s mannequin holds a memory of every garment draped over it. The markings are like tattoos recording the passing of time, each gossamer line like a thread of silk, a strand of hair… A fibreglass and cloth Joan of Arc. Each rip is like a war wound_

Categories: mannequin love • Tags: fashion, photography

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Sheer

February 2, 2010 by Le Fist

Hedi Slimane takes great photographs. Period. I love the play on transparency here. The subject of a lot of his photographic work is skinny teenage boys. Whatever floats ton boat, Hedi. Actually, I think hair is the strongest link if you look closely and bypass lazy generalizations. It acts almost as a veil around his subjects. Subtle but integral to the image_ http://www.hedislimane.com

Categories: editorial • Tags: fashion, hair, hedi slimane, photography

Role Call

February 1, 2010 by Le Fist

A ghostly casting of sorts_

Categories: mannequin love • Tags: colour studies, fashion, photography

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Cold Love: Helmut Newton vs Vogue Paris

February 1, 2010 by Le Fist

Helmut Newton POLAWOMAN Schirmer/Mosel, 2000 Helmut Newton’s “The Naked and The Undressed” series are my favourite photographs of his. The 80s poses of the models caught mid-movement must have been a technical nightmare to shoot. The humour is cutting as identical images of the models clothed and unclothed (still fully accessorised, mind you) are juxtaposed. Naked, the models seem lifeless, like mannequins in a window display that had yet to be finished. I was chatting to some models at a […]

Categories: french vogue, helmut newton, mannequin love, Uncategorized • Tags: fashion, helmut newton, photography, vogue paris

The Last Stand: Showroom Dummies

February 1, 2010 by Le Fist

God bless the Polaroid! I’ve always liked these random shots I took of mannequins when I first started working in Italy. A little bit creepy, a little bit odd_

Categories: mannequin love, Uncategorized • Tags: fashion, photography

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Turkish Delights: Behind the scenes at a factory

January 29, 2010 by Le Fist

Through a glass darkly… I thought I’d post some pics I took last year at the factory of one of my clients. I’d never been to Turkey before then and I loved it. I was surprised by how incredibly cosmopolitan it was and also by how liberal it felt. I’ll be doing some posts about the process of fashion, following from the earlier mannequin post. The shows seem o take precedent above all things and there is so much more […]

Categories: Uncategorized, workin' day and night • Tags: colour studies, fashion, photography

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Super-Structure

January 29, 2010 by Le Fist

Let’s start from the very beginning, a very good place to start_ So sings Julie Andrews in The Sound of Music. I thought it would be a great way to mark the end of couture fashion week by paying homage to the humble dressmaker’s mannequin, that unsung hero/ heroine of Haute Couture and fashion, really. Where would we be without our Stockmans and Kenneth & Lindsells? After me, doh, re, mi… Or, more appropriately, pin, drape, tack… Sew, a needle […]

Categories: Uncategorized • Tags: couture fashion week, fashion

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A Change of Subject: A sideways glance at a photo shoot

January 21, 2010 by Le Fist

They say that the camera never lies. Not true. What you see isn’t always what was. Also, what you don’t see can sometimes be as beautiful or interesting. At a lookbook photo shoot for one of my clients last summer I spent a few idle moments taking photographs of the studio space – Spring Studios on Curtain Road, London. The light was perfect – natural, bright and crisp, streaming in through the expansive windows_ http://www.springstudios.co.uk

Categories: muses, photography • Tags: colour studies, fashion, photography

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Punctuation! // Le Mauvais Garçon

January 20, 2010 by Le Fist

[salt + pepper - blk - white - gry]

Categories: boys boys boys, fashion, illustration, Uncategorized • Tags: black, colour studies, fashion, illustration, menswear, photography

Good Charlotte: Aged To Perfection

January 14, 2010 by Le Fist

I came across this article in a departure lounge last December. Following this week’s Size Debate it got me thinking about that other taboo – Age. Fashion is undoubtedly youth-obssessed above all things. Whether models are skinny or “normal” sized the one thing they’ll share in common is youth. A fat older lady? Forget it, that just pushes things a little bit too far. Apparently new clothes and old bodies don’t mix. Charlotte Rampling British Harper’s Bazaar, January 2010 Photography_ Sofia […]

Categories: charlotte rampling, fashion, Uncategorized • Tags: ageism, charlotte rampling, editorial, fashion