Van Der Ham goes to Scotland!

Michael Van Der Ham is known for his clever mix of pattern, fabric, texture and colour, and of course for dressing amazing Bjork for her recent tour. But now the genius of Van Der Ham's work has broadened to knitwear, where he has teamed up with Scottish cashmere brand Brora, keeping his usual mantra in mind Van Der Ham has thoughtfully constructed every piece of the collection using a different knitwear technique.  He has created a collection of exquisite pieces, in beautiful shades of pastel, each item in the 12 strong collaboration has been designed expertly, theres not a piece i wouldn't want!  Striking patterns and delicate cashmere make this a collection to swoon over, who doesn't want a divine cashmere jumper thats warm, practical and most importantly looks incredibly cool! Though not cheap [the cheapest item is a pair of gloves for £65!!] these pieces would most definitely brighten up your winter year after year.


My Picks:


  

There's something about Iris.

Iris Apfel is without doubt one of the coolest women in the universe, so is quite rightly having an [upcoming] documentary made about her. And today i saw a preview clip and it looks inevitably extremely interesting.  If your not familiar with Iris she is a American interior designer, who has undertaken design work at The White House for nine different presidents and is also a world wide style icon even at the age of 91, forget Marilyn and Audrey, Iris is where its at!  The most likely fantastic film has been made by filmmaker Albert Maysles and the blogger behind the excellent Advanced Style [check it out], Ari Seth Cohen, who does the interviewing, finding out about Iris' extraordinary life, her personal style and career as a textile and interior designer.  The quirky film is shot in Iris' eclectic home and also features some very cool music, i am as of yet unsure when and indeed where the documentary will be shown but definitely something to keep your eye on heres the sneak peak...

Iridescent Nightmare!

After seeing Blumarine's A/W 12 collection way back in February i have been yearning for some Iridescence in my life and being A/W now i thought it would be the opportune moment to begin the search.  However i have been scowling the internet for a few days now and my thirst is yet to be quenched, no high street stores or sites i can find seem to have picked up massively on the Iridescent trend!  And even the picks i've found don't match the gloriously shiny embrace of Blumarine, why is no one lighting up Winter with this wondrous fairytale . And so my search continues on this Iridescent nightmare of mine!

Blumarine

Blumarine

Blumarine

My picks from the high street:

Love Moschino Large Colour Block Bracelet

ASOS Beaded Iridescent Clutch

River Island SILVER MIRRORED MINI BAG

Urban Outfitters Iridescent Snake Hip Flask

HOUSE OF WARIS

After seeing his name crop up a few times i decided to investigate Waris Ahluwalia and it turns out he's a pretty interesting guy, apparently an acidental Jewellery designer and sometime actor.  Ahluwalia's brand House of Waris showcases stunning handmade pieces and is scarcely available, theres a great bio/interview on him here http://www.elleuk.com/fashion/designers-to-know/waris-ahluwalia#image=1 so check it out.  With his hands in lots of pies one of the most interesting i found was a film project he worked on for 'The Luxury Collection' a very posh assemble of more than 75 hotels and resorts, the project brought together the minds of Waris Ahluwalia, Luca Guadagnino and Tilda Swinton who together conceived the idea for the short film. The charming short features model Agnyess Deyn following a trail of intriguing notes throughout America and The Luxury Collections hotels, wearing ultra cool clothes in breathtaking surroundings.  Also Jason Schwarzmann and Woody Jackson composed the music the project, it couldn't really get much cooler, Interview Magazine provides an excellent insight into the project here it is http://www.interviewmagazine.com/culture/here-there-and-everywhere-with-waris-ahluwalia-and-the-luxury-collection#. The wonderful film is called Here i could watch it again and again (if my internet connection wasn't so terrible) its definitely worth the watch though, as Interview Magazine say there is a lot of interesting Hitchcock references and the whole thing in a word; Spectacular! 

P.S This article on designboom is also worth a read its about House of Waris' recent exhibition in Istanbul; http://www.designboom.com/design/the-entitled-punk-maharaja-waris-ahluwalia-of-house-of-waris-at-istanbul-74/

   

Bloomin' Warhol

A new side of Andy Warhol will be explored this month at the Eykyn Maclean gallery, New York. The gallery will showcase a selection of the sixties god's lesser known work, the Flowers series.  The iconic artist took a change in direction from his famous referencing of commercial branding in 1964 and produced a series of floral prints inspired by a photograph of seven hibiscus flowers by Patricia Caulfield.  The prints are varying sizes and feature different techniques, 'the exhibition looks to highlight the “nuances of [their] development”.'  The brightly coloured flowers create interesting contrasts on their dimer coloured backgrounds and put together create an impressive collage. These stylish prints are a breath of fresh air from the usual iconic Warhol images we're bombarded with. 

Exhibition Poster 

Hell for Leather

Distinct designers Meadham Kirchhoff have designed an exclusive range of 3 hand painted leather jackets for luxury online retailer net-a-porter.com. The jackets are bewilderingly beautiful, adorned with pastel coloured patterning and sweet motifs on the back they look good enough to eat.  Meadham Kirchhoff's utterly refreshing take on the leather jacket is to be applauded these painstakingly hand painted creations are completely unique and are not surprisingly selling out fast, even with there £3,135 price tag! The jacket's have been designed to crack and morph over time to create truly individual pieces, the quilted satin lining tops off these wonderful works of art. Has anything ever been so whimsical! 

Cutie hand painted leather jacket

The Witch hand painted leather jacket

Yes No Maybe hand painted leather jacket

Erdem for Elsa?

I found out about some ridiculously exciting news today i must stress this has only been rumoured but i really hope it materialises. Super talented Erdem Moralioğlu has been rumoured to be the designer who will step up and reignite the legendary Schiaparelli house! What a match made in heaven if there ever was one, imagine Elsa's surrealist design delicately interwoven with Erdem's lace covered, heavenly printed, perfect dress ascetic. I'd love this to be true although the excitement i felt when the collection was unveiled would most likely be the death of me, oh well, surrealist lace heaven isn't a bad way to go!

Wood I..

Danish cool kids Wood Wood have again taken part in the Adidas Originals upcoming Consortium women's collection.  Wood Wood have produced a design to fit the Adidas Vintage Gazelle shoe and my lord its lovely. Simple but truly spectacular camel suede exterior with the Adidas logo gently imprinted just above the laces, perfect cork like insoles displaying each company's logo one in each shoe and striking orange sole with white circle design. The product shots were released today [below] they are expectedly cool and minimal, I'm not usually one for trainers but i definitely wood!      

The Wood Wood x adidas Gazelle Vintage women's sneaker will pre-release in Wood Wood stores December 1st. 

H&M x MMM =

So H&M are at it again for i believe the 13th time since beginning on their excellent designer collaboration undertaking. I'm sure you've heard by now that this time designer powerhouse Maison Martin Margiela are next in line to send the high street into a frenzied 'get your hands on any item' mess and although the collection will not launch until November 15th and the official campaign site on the 8th of the same month i have excitedly tracked down the entire collection lookbook online at styleite.com. After viewing the collaboration it has not let me down not that i was in any doubt however, it delivers everything you'd expect from a Margiela collection; expert tailoring, innovative shapes, neutral tones and obviously creations that are some what bizarre but never the less chic. Choosing favourite pieces was hard but i have narrowed down the sizeable collection to bring you my top 5 MMM collaboration pieces so here goes.

First up is this exquisite suede camel jacket lets be honest whats not to like? You could throw this on with anything and look instantly sophisticated although i'm sure this kind of sophistication will come with a rather large price tag if only i wasn't a student.

Secondly these oversized slouchy bleached denim trousers should do the job i love the fit of them and they just look so goddam cool!

Next up is an accessory, a rather peculiar leather handbag, gloves act as the handle clutching the bag at either side making for a little confusing but comical illusion. 

This stunning red number is next in line i love the draping that travels the length of the dress creating a unusual and refreshing silhouette.

And last but clearly not least is this insanely cool and undoubtedly impressive leather jacket words cannot describe what i feel for this jacket so just look at the picture and commence the aching need. 

Overall a very avent garde collection but definitely one of my favourite collaborations EVER, sadly i foresee almost all items will be out of my price range but i can't wait to see the items hit the stores and cause inevitable chaos on the shop floor and website freezing madness online.     

In the black (jacket)

Timeless fashion house Chanel will exhibit at the Saatchi Gallery this month, the exhibition will feature over 100 of Karl Largerfeld's black and white photographs of famous faces wearing the classic Chanel black jacket. Aptly named The Little Black Jacket looks to be a treat, even the website is amazing, so if your not able to get to London check it out thelittleblackjacket.chanel.com. You can view the many famous stars in the black jacket each putting their own unique spin on the piece, watch the making of the jacket in Chanel's ateliers, and look at behind the scenes of the photoshoot imagery and video. Its the traditional jacket we know and love but reworked in so many ways.   

My choice picks:

Edie Campbell:Model

Waris Ahluwalia:Jewerllery Designer, Actor 

Olivier Assayas:Director 

Dakota Fanning:Actress

Splendid Sandro

I caught sight of the brand new A/W 2012 Sandro campaign today and i loved it, obviously! So i went in search of all the campaign images i could find to complete my engaging puzzle, i also tried to find some kind of explanation or further insight into the idea behind the campaign but sadly had no such luck. However i personally feel it has something to do with self portrait and self expression, i love the contrasting images black and white and colour, the apparent randomness of the images as a collective and the askew angles the photographs appear to have fallen at.  Anyway see for yourself my personal favourite is the girls in the newspaper hats!

The Picture Collection

Whilst flicking through my monthly Wallpaper* magazine i stumbled across an extremely cool and interesting article about a collection of pictures [1.2 million to be precise] housed at the Mid-Manhattan Library, these prints, postcards, posters and images have been carefully clipped from books and magazines, and are part of the largest circulating picture library in the world.  Established in 1915 the New York Public Library Picture Collection has been a valuable resource for writers, historians, artist, filmmakers, fashion companies, costume designers and advertising agencies for many years. 'The artist Diego Rivera used the collection while working on his man at the crossroads mural at the Rockefeller Center. (At the time, Rivera noted how the scope and the limits of the collection might shape contemporary visions of America.)'  Taryn Simon, Wallpaper* magazine. The head of the collection from 1929-1968 Romana Javitz, recruited 40 artists during the 1930's to help clip, cull and catalogue the collection, the images at present are collated under 12,000 subject headings, members of the library can borrow up to 60 clippings at a time.  The collection is an amazing source of inspiration and a great research tool you can browse the collection online at digital.nypl.org/mmpco/index.cfm and choose from an overwhelming list of categories. Yet another website i could loose my life on!

The collection has also sparked Image Atlas a new project from artist Taryn Simon and programmer Aaron Swartz, 'Image Atlas investigates cultural differences and similarities by indexing top image results for given search terms across local engines throughout the world'. A little hard to get your head round but the basic ideas is visitors can refine or expand their search from 57 countries and sort by Gross Domestic Product or alphabetical order. Image Atlas creates the possibility for a universal visual language. The site provides an intriguing outlook and an enthralling insight into the search term and image results of various countries again a great inspiration/research tool but beware important hours of your life could be lost!

Folder:Snow-Avalanches. The Picture Collection.

Folder:Handshaking. The Picture Collection.

Image Atlas Selection, "Jews", 4.45PM (Eastern Standard Time).

Images from Wallpaper* magazine October 2012 issue.