I've been meaning to post this editorial for a while, as I really love the concept. In this shoot for Spanish Elle (April 2010), Masha Novoselova picks up a paintbrush and gets creative (and a bit messy!) on set.
Styled by Inmaculada Jimenez, Masha poses in simple, classic combinations (when the clothes are important that is..!) - casual denim shorts, tank tops, high-waisted trousers and floaty kaftans add to the relaxed, unfussy style of the artist character that Masha embodies.
What 'makes' the shoot for me, is Mario Sierra's brilliant use of natural light, which reflects the luminous and spacious atmosphere of what could be a real artist's studio. The abundance of light in Mario Sierra's shots enhance Masha's natural beauty and the model's poses give the composition a sense of energy and dynamism - distinctly fashion, without being over-exaggerated.
It seems that the fashion-art link is ever alive, but Sierra's photography adds a modern twist. Being covered in paint never looked so fashionable!
Yes, Vogue España has done it again! Take a top model, add a kitten and a snake and throw in some spectacular clothes...Voilà! You've got one super-hot editorial spread that'll knock your socks off!
Although I loved the other editorials of Vogue España's april issue, top model Edita Vilkeviciute's striking cover shot captivated me right from the beginning and I wanted to flick through to see the rest of the shoot straight away!
The 18 page spread, entitled "Surf Urbano" (shot by David Vasiljevic,) was no less than a visual delight! The editorial taps in to some key summer trends - digital, tropical, floral, animal and graphic prints in bright and bold summery colours. Edita strikes great poses in a range of fitted bathing suits and dresses, whilst interacting with a kitten and a snake! The dynamism and playful energy that Edita exudes in the shots are testament to her eye for showing off the garments and her fluidity in movement - that snake has sure got some competition! ;)
Take a look at the pictures below! (The snake pictures are my favourite - and that's saying something, given that I am usually quite creeped out by them!)
I have been meaning to update my blog with a review of Christopher Kane's Autumn/Winter 2010 collection for a while, so my apologies for my blogging absence!
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For London fashion week, the Christopher Kane 'woman' has once again shifted identity. Kane says farewell to his Lolita phase - the sickly sweet pastels, gingham and checked prints were tossed aside for what appeared to be a foray into a darker world of leather-clad "juvenile delinquents" and religious cultism.
Never one to pander to expectations, Kane's designs were visually impactful due to the jarring fusion of matte or patent black leather and PVC, contrasted with bead/gem embellishment and embroidered flowers that resembled parochial Women's Institute craftwork.
Kane cites the robes of the Vatican and Priscilla Presley “before Elvis got his hands on her" as two sources of strong inspiration for the collection. His desire to convey a perversion and irony in this collection has been deftly pulled off, through his unusual and somewhat scandalous splicing of the prim and proper with 'bad girl' rebellion.
However, although I am a huge Christopher Kane fan, I feel like I have developed a 'love-hate' relationship with the actual garments from the show. There are elements of the collection that I love and those that I really dislike:
The good: (The simple feminine cuts, subtler gem detailing and lace panelling work for me.)
The bad: (Check out that fur and leather abomination and the scary leather collar shirts!)
Emma Watson and Carey Mulligan have been snapped sporting pieces from Kane's Fall collection, but do you think they did the designs justice?
I think Emma rocks her Kane dress - I have always liked the way that he plays on the idea of underwear as outerwear, so the weird leather/flower combo is less accosting. I'm not feeling Carey Mulligan's outfit though, as it is a tad catholic school-girl gone wild!
So, what do you think of the collection as a whole? In my humble opinion, the collection is very interesting - it is unpredictably avant-garde and authoritative in its execution, but its commercial wearability remains strongly in question. I love the lace panelling that remains a signature for Kane and the lace-up leather heels are great! I especially like these lace-up gladiator shoes with gem detailing (I would buy those if I had the cash!):
Clip from the show:
All I'm wondering is...what will Kane do next?!
je-suis-style xox
(With thanks to Nytimes.com, fabsugar.co.uk, ssense.com and mylifetime.com for the pictures.)
I think it's the first time I've hit a store on the day a designer collaboration collection's come out (N.B. omitting the time I stayed up most of the night waiting to see Christopher Kane's 2009 Topshop capsule collection go online!;)), but I was keen to see what the atmosphere would be like in my local Spanish H&M for the new Sonia Rykiel collection. I had quite a busy day, so arrived around late afternoon to encounter a much busier H&M than usual. The atmosphere was civilised (no pushing and shoving at all), much to my relief! (I think my preconceptions about exclusive collection launches have been coloured somewhat by the media..)
Anyway, I walked through the men's section, straight towards what appeared to be a treasure-trove of bright colours and glinting rhinestones. As I'd expected, there was quite a range of age groups - from girls around my age (mainly looking at the dresses, jumpers and accessories), to mothers with young daughters (a double breasted blazer in one hand, whilst trying to force a pink beret over a cranky 7 year old's head!) and a few older, very well dressed women (who were looking at the Rykiel knits.)
I was immediately drawn to the Rykiel iconic stripe dress, but looking at the price tag, I was surprised to find it more expensive than I'd expected (See previous blog for the Sonia Rykiel look-book and english prices) At 60 euros, I wondered why a random price inflation had taken place..I'm not sure what the prices are like in England, but everything was more expensive in euros! I tried on a couple of things which were nice, but nothing that particularly said 'wow' to me. The one thing I was tempted to buy, was the "Mon pull Rykiel" jumper, which I talked about in my last blog post. Priced in Spain at 40 euros, I decided that if I did buy it, I'd be paying solely for the brand and not garment quality, as it was very thin material!
I am glad, however, that I took a look at the 'accessories section' of the Rykiel collection, as I picked up a "mon pull" rhinestone brooch and a limited edition Sonia Rykiel UNICEF shopper bag. At a mere €2.95, i figured I couldn't go wrong, and I love that the bag's for charity. The proceeds go to a project called “All for Children”, which is a five year initiative from UNICEF and H&M, which aims to protect and improve children's lives in areas of cotton cultivation in India.
I love French-inspired clothing and accessories, so the "mon sac Rykiel" UNICEF bag and "mon pull" brooch are perfect for me. (The pink carrier bag my purchases were put in is also super cute and good quality!) I'm looking forward to pinning my "mon pull" brooch on all sorts of cute knitwear and jumpers (See picture below right - me with my brooch and shopper bag!)
All in all, it's been a successful day in many respects, so I'm full of 'joie de vivre'..and not just because of my Sonia Rykiel goodies :)
H&M has partnered up with Parisian designer Sonia Rykiel for a second capsule collection, set to storm around 250 H&M stores on the 20th February 2010! With just two days to go, the fashion pack are picking out their favourite pieces and the question on everyone's lips is whether Rykiel's collection will be as popular as H&M's Jimmy Choo capsule collection, which was snapped up like hot cakes only a few months earlier!
Sonia Rykiel's first designer collaboration with H&M launched on the 5th of December 2009, concentrating primarily on Lingerie and luxurious loungewear: 50's style bras and bodysuits, bow headbands, pillows, slippers, brooches, chic slips and bralets, using fabrics such as velvet and chiffon coupled with diamanté rhinestone detailing. Some of the pieces in the lingerie collection included: I personally didn't buy any of the collection, but I liked the bodysuits and zip bras the most, as they're feminine with a touch of vintage glamour! The chiffon slips and rose-detailed bras are also quite sweet and add a touch of romance to the collection.
Sonia Rykiel's new collection for Spring/Summer appears to have an even wider range of garments, which targets women of all ages - the collection doesn't just have a women's wear section, but also has one for little girls! The collection quite fittingly showcases classic Rykiel designs - trademark colourful stripes, iconic sweaters with printed words and bow and crown rhinestone motifs. Rykiel isn't called the "Queen of knits" for nothing you know!
As you can see from the video below, the focus for the H&M knitwear collection is on very bright colours, giving the garments impact and make for real statement pieces.
And now, for the Sonia Rykiel look-book pictures (with thanks to Nitrolicious.com):
There are a few pieces of the collection that I really like, but i'm not normally one to wear loud colours and designs. I think it will sell very well though, as the prices are just a fraction of Rykiel's standard designer collections and her knits are very sought after! My favourite pieces are: I'm above all tempted to buy the "Mon pull Rykiel" jumper in black as it's classic Rykiel and very versatile. If not, I might just pick up a "mon pull" brooch to pin on a plain black jumper!
What do you think of the collection? Will you be buying from the collection and if so, what?
So I got home the other day, only to find out that the first issue of my subscription to VOGUE España had arrived! (It states that it's the February issue, so I'm not exactly sure what happened to January's issue, but nevermind!) I was met by the image of Kylie Minogue on the front cover, with the title of "un baño desnudo, SEXY KYLIE: confesiones de una super estrella" emblazoned next to the image (which was surprisingly tasteful, given the dubious insinuations of "un baño desnudo" - bathing nude?!) Kylie looks particularly demure on the cover, so my worries that my subscription had been substituted for FHM were quickly dissipated!
I was reading on the Fashion Spot that a lot of people were not 100% sure about the Kylie cover image, declaring it was a bit 'boring' compared to the cover image that was on the accompanying VOGUE BELLEZA beauty magazine. (Interestingly enough, both cover stars sport similar poses!) What do you think? Kylie or Isabeli Fontana?
Personally, I think the Isabeli Fontana shot leaps out at you more than the image of Kylie does (perhaps due to the paleness of Isabeli's complexion contrasted with the piercing blue eyes and femme fatale scarlet lips), which makes for a more eye-catching front cover. The whole point is that on a magazine stand, you should be immediately drawn to a front cover and consequently buy it! However, the more I look at the other cover, the more I appreciate and am drawn to the sensual beauty that Kylie exudes. It captivates me rather than accosts me with colour.
On further inspection, the 15 page Kylie spread is most certainly a visual delight - The photographer, Vincent Peters, portrays Kylie as a mixture of 1920s movie starlet in the black and white images, dreamy and romantic painter's muse and seductive vintage pin-up! And goodness gracious, does she look amazing for 41!
Take a peek at some of the images...
And here's the 'behind the scenes' video:
I think Ibiza was a great shoot setting and I adore the sun-set field shots! The soft-glow back lighting is truly stunning! The cover may not have first grabbed you, but the shots in the magazine are really something else!
Moving on to the fashion spreads, there was a spread entitled "show de jeans", which pictures an array of different types of denim and displays their day to night wearability and versatility.
However, I was less interested in the denim, and more interested in the amazing photographs..and above all, the model! I skipped to the end of the article, hoping to find out who she was, but it wasn't included in the credits..Luckily, after a bit of online research, I've found out that her name is Elena Melnik! I think I have a new model crush! (Seriously, look at that bone structure and jawline!)
Another of the fashion spreads which deserves a mention, is the "Happy face" shoot with american model, Chanel Iman (photographed by Michelle Ferrara). For this shoot, the emphasis is on textural volume, evoked by mini-dresses with puffed sleeves and lots of ruffles, pleats and petticoats. I particularly like the orange jewel-tone Jorge Vázquez dress (pictured below) and the shape of the ethnic print Juanjo Oliva dress (bottom right). I was at first a little bit skeptical about the 'happy face' expressions Chanel sports, but coupled with her effortless and fluid high fashion poses, it works and stops the shoot from feeling too contrived!
All in all, a good introductory issue to my VOGUE España subscription. I wonder what's in store for next month...
je-suis-style xox
(With thanks to thefashionspot.com for the additional pictures of Elena & Chanel. All other pictures used are my own scans.)
