\ RUNWAY MAGAZINE ®

October 3, 2010

30 September. Barbara Bui show, presentation of Hiroko Koshino and wonderful weekend.

30 September. Barbara Bui fashion show and Presentation of Hiroko Koshino.

Beginning of fashion week still full of surprises. Barbara Bui fashion show – the new collection one of my favorite designers. The collection for radiant woman full of energy and light: jumpsuits, khaki shirts, silky cargo pants, and silk dresses, blouses, and natural linen shifts and tiny shorts. Collection was very strong elegant and well casting to the world of reporter simple working woman. Half-covered half-uncovered by python skin on glam-rock young lady.
Invasion of sex appeal and a brooding aesthetic that Bui offers to the adventurous women. From beige, knee-high gladiators to black booties, it is truly a shoe lover's dream. Following in the vein of her coats from Fall—and the current trends—Bui also showed leather outerwear pieced with panels of snake skin and perforated suede. With shades of both biker and aviator, these also dovetailed with the chic and nomadic foreign correspondent she imagined.
Barbara Bui described her new collection in very simple way to me “JUST LUXE”. She said everything should be very simple and warm, like secure place for adventures woman. That's why she mixed crocodile skin and gold with dusty canvas. This is the paradox of being adventures and having safe place “easy like Sunday morning”. Creating pieces for the sophisticated and confident woman Barbara goes not to the image of the modern woman but to her real nature, like herself.
















After having nice talk with Barbara at backstage I popped to the presentation of new and absolutely unknown in Paris Japanese fashion designer and artist Hiroko Koshino in Cite de l'architecture. She created even a space for her guests. I understood why she didn't want to make fashion show – she decided to bring her guests trough labyrinths of colors , spaces, fabrics at first before to show what the fashion creation could be like. Well, it's Japanese creations – very colorful and statistic. Koshino's clothes explore the tension between Western influences and Japanese values.
“I love Japan and have been attracted to traditional Japanese culture. I'm trying to express oriental sensitivities in a modern, Western framework. What I think, what I feel, my lifestyle - these are the starting points for my designs. They give me confidence in and a sense of identity with my creations.” Indeed Hiroko met her honorable guests in traditional blue kimono painted herself .
Well there were Japanese ambassador and of course Kenzo Tokada – the great Japanese designer who now devoted himself to the paintings and personages. I've been at his exhibition this summer in gallery of another great fashion designer Pierre Cardin – he told me that he feels like every emotion eventually turns into color.
Indeed like in creations of Hiroko Koshino.
The evening was splendid. All guests were surrounded of great and sophisticated care of Japanese team who were supporting the presentation. Well, wonderful end of the fashion day...

















1 October. Lie Sang Bong fashion show.

Having a little rest during the fashion week I decided eventually to see the Lie Sang Bong fashion show in Hotel Westin on rue Castiglione. And it was surprisingly good. Inspired by the movie “Santa Sangre” and images of the wings symbolize the idea of freedom and dove pure love.
He focused his attention to the strong geometric forms. And More and more his pieces became like a paintings which at the end was like typical book illustrations on the girls-pages.
Personally me I was completely in love with little white dress made by “wings” of dragonfly. So amazing and beautiful fabric – what brings you into imaginative world of fairy or angels being where everything is so pure in any breath...













2 October. Presentation of “The Original Douwdouw” in “Old Paris”.

One of my winner in Paris fashion Academy 2009 Dutch fashion designer Therese Schreinemachers-Wieske originally presented her brand “The Original Douwdouw” and new collection luxury shower caps at little restaurant “Old Paris” on Cite. After successful presentation in Cannes “No Drama in the Shower” she decided to make another presentation – Little Jazz concert and show in atmosphere of American Thirties. So lovely and so sweet evening with best Dutch “Sinatra” singer, dancing elegant models brought all guests back to the sources of fashion – time when all big names were created like Chanel, Dior, Cerutti etc – what we call “capital” of fashion today.
I was no able to attend all the events and shows like missed and very exclusive carnival organized by Vogue magazine, some presentation and the best has to come – Pret-a-porter collection of Chanel, Leonard, Zucca, Ellie Saab. Stay fashionably tuned for more :-))))).











October 2, 2010

29 September. Fashion week. Devastee, Pierre Cardin and Guy Laroche fashion shows.

Fashion week in Paris heats up for fall. This season all catwalks are given to young fashion Asian designers. I see in official scheduler 12 of them. All are exiting different and extremely creative, bringing something to Paris what we haven't see for a long time.
I made a random choice of the Asian fashion designers what I'd like to see this season – known and absolutely new names. I like differences. I made my choice by my way of seeing elegance, colors and shapes. Of course there's always black white and red, and there's also the classic shapes of starlets, sexy secretary of fifties.
My first fashion show this season was the first show of little mark Devastee. Two French designers Ophelie Klere and Francois Alary, decided to go to Japan in their creations – push out the daisies in black and white movie tape of fashion. Theme of black and white movies comes in chic of peasants. Black and white floral print is an interesting twist on the classic spring look - definitely a departure from the bold boring colors.
“The gates were opened, the hinges were singing their loneliness” - that's the main theme of the collection. Floral sad Pierrot, who has nothing to do with Commedia dell Arte. An approach of could, and I felt like my heart is slowing down, my blood is freezing in this New Ice Age. Could summer of 2011 – an unusual combination of economic forces brought us together this morning, and don't let us to be lonely and don't freeze to death.







From this freezing world I came directly to colorful summer collection of Pierre Cardin. Pierre Cardin, the pioneer of Space Age fashion back in the 1960s, re-launched his catwalk career after a 10-year absence, at the Paris prêt-à-porter season. The 88-year-old designer proved he can still boldly go into the future, with a spring/summer 2011 collection which featured his 'n' hers, astronaut-style bodysuits in hot pink, rubber jewellery, UFO-bubble-hats, neon-bright, architectural mini-dresses and cyber-look crinolines in silk brocade. Still glorious, still talented, still surprising.
This is one of the amazing shows this fashion week for me. This show of 60th anniversary of fashion house. The symbol of great class and experiment and elegance Pierre Cardin told in his interview that he would never hand over his label to a younger designer, explaining that, "No, because I have five people sketching for me who are very young. And I think the young designers of today are less avant-garde than I am. I'm still in good shape, I work every day."
Cardin designed the collection to represent a four-season, and give us a tour of his own fashion galaxy. The man who made his mark on the 20th century with far-reaching, futuristic designs, once worn by The Beatles and the Rolling Stones, reclaimed his auditorium in order to prove his "name" is still a viable force in the 21st century: something already demonstrated by the fact Lady Gaga recently wore one of his metallic, chain-mail creations.
The original fashion Trekkie, Pierre Cardin, began the show with his and her futuristic jumpsuits in bright fuchsia, cobalt blue, metallic and brown. Next, came little, mini cocktail dresses in futuristic and avant-garde colors. It reminds me spirit of avant-garde and futuristic painters, architectonic designers and poets. In his collections was everything in great collaboration – geometric forms and poetic elegance mixed in styles of 20th and 50th. Casual and cocktail dresses, futuristic rain coats and bridal gowns showed great specter of Pierre Cardin vision and creativity in mixture of different styles epochs, profound light trough of 100 years of our history, culture, dreams about universe and still being under sign “down to Earth”.
Personally I adore his hats and futuristic silhouettes what came from classy fifties, which gives amazing elegance of creative and modern woman.





































After Pierre Cardin I was heading to Guy Laroche fashion show. Different world – warm, soft made by muted colors made me feel.... well like real French lady type of Catherine Deneuve and almost saying something like “lamour toujours”. Rephrase: born to be blond or not to be – there's no matter, Marcel Marongiu, the designer of Guy Laroche, will make you feel like real blond.
The military collection of Marcel Marongiu’s was inspired by strength of modern woman who likes her independence and in the same time soft and unresisting attraction. Classy French blond with pistol who can ones and for all damage poor men hearts.
Simple style and yet sophisticated look is presentation of feminine tailored basics – that is real French couture. The show itself seemed to almost mimic the changing of the seasons. The collection started out in cool neutrals – shades of taupe, dusty pink, gray, and navy dominated the first third of the show, a reminder of the slow transition from winter to spring. A pop of orange followed in a matching printed silk chiffon top and pants, as well as in a belted dress whose mini skirt had a daring slit up the side, marking the collection’s full embrace of spring in royal blue, lemon yellow, and crisp white. Floor-length yellow printed dresses and an equally ethereal purple printed chiffon mini dress are “Le Bouquet Finale” of the collection.
Indeed I enjoyed the show and soft vision for the business woman made with class and tailors attention.