Blog # two

Have you seen the latest CdG collection, Autumn/Winter 2014 RTW?  It's astounding.  I go on to www.style.com to clock what is going down in the northern hemisphere.  It's a great site for following favourite and fascinating designers.  There are two collection seasons, spring/summer(March) and autumn/winter(October).  Earlier this month (March) I went on, to see what was happening with CdG, and I clicked onto this .......

(Always read the review. The one for this collection was written by  Amy Verner.)

I thought Wow, what's happened, this is very, very, subdued for Rei of CdG....well you know what happened, I was on the wrong CdG range.

So check this one out.....

This is more like Rei Kawakubo!

How on earth would Rei Kawakubo follow up last season's collection? That's what many reviewers were asking themselves before the start of theComme des Garçons show this evening.......

The sight of those monstrous shapes—literally, largely knitted monstrosities—enveloping the models with their oversize frames, knitted cages, and multiple arms was no longer a shock......

This was a clothing collection, but one where the boundaries had been redefined........

Of course, not everything had so much ease; the ability to move your arms or see properly at times is an issue........ 

But who cares if the clothing is outlandish and impractical, anyway?....


Kawakubo herself defined the lineup in the following way: "The theme of the collection this time is MONSTER. It's not about the typical Monster you find in sci-fi and video games. The expression of the Monsters I have made has a much deeper meaning. The craziness of humanity, the fear we all have, the feeling of going beyond common sense, the absence of ordinariness, expressed by something extremely big, by something that could be ugly or beautiful. In other words, I wanted to question the established standards of beauty."By Jo-Ann Furniss
(For the full review go onto www.style.com.  These review are always interesting, creative and thought provoking.)

What a jacket, ay.  I think I go for what is underneath it...looks quite "tweedie"

Here are some images from the collection that tweaked my interest.

Tubes stitched together

Amazing pieces that are stitched together

Shaped structures on top of garemnts

Lots of sleeves creating bulk

A bulky burka look...extreme

Love a tutu with very structured top

Again, interesting structured shapes creating skirt 

What interests me, is recognising design feature details from previous collections.  Have a look, what do you think... maybe it's time to insert this quotation, a student of mine presented in a report she wrote last year.

A/W 2013 RTW wonderful shaped structures

same collection, same shapes idea

"Fashion has always been a repetition of ideas, but what makes it new is the way you put it together".

(Caroline Herrera)

S/S 2014 RTW interesting shapes making up a skirt

same collection, shaped structures on top

The S/S 2013 collection is definitely interesting stuff.  Look at this cool wee cartoon I scanned from The Fashion Elle Collections SS14....it expresses the conceptual nature of the collection 

Go and look at the whole collection.  What do you think? 

Anyway, that's a bit of side track to what I want to be chatting/blogging about.

I like particular aspects of the latest collection, for example, this one...

Amazing pieces that are stitched together

It reminds me of some other really interesting stuff I have seen.  Stuff that is on the upcycling/recycling spectrum, which has become a very accepted concept due to the responsible drive toward sustainability.  Have a look at this Nike baby sock jumper.  It features in an interesting magazine I purchased years ago,

 No C MAGAZINE featuring Hussein Chalayan 
(Chalayan is a very clever designer. He once designed a wonderful collection that consisted of furniture items becoming clothing. I'll find an image of it.)

I think it was created by Winnie Lee, who I do not know much about, but I think this is a bit of fun.  I also came across the instructions for a sock sweater made by Martin Margiela Maison, which are also a bit of fun.  Really would love to try it out one day.

If anyone has a shot at this, please send me a piccie of your creation.  I did come across someone who was making a sock sweater (isn't the internet a wonderful thing!) but I could not locate an image of the finished product.  This is all I could source.....

Would you believe me if i said our first project as Fashion newbies was to create a jumper made from 6 pairs of mens socks........ Its true. Here is my work in progress (sorry for the crappy quality photograph), it doesn't look like much now, but once its finished you can see how it turns into a great knitted jumper for the cooler weather. The heels of the socks turn into elbows and shoulders, and the ribbed tops make excellent cuffs! It's now almost complete and I will definitely post the finished garment for you to see. Plus I had some left over socks which I will totally be wearing with my gladiator heels now its autumn!

What do you think?

Sorry, I did not make a record of the creator of this.  You get the picture, but would love to see the finished result.

Isn't it great, creative ideas using socks!  I might raid E's socks drawer in preparation for winter!!

Going back to CdG's latest collection..I also like the colour palette she has used, dark, bit sombre...I've often played round with these shades.  I was over at Smart Dress Fabrics today and I saw a fabric which would be ok for my take on this cowl neck top from the collection.  I like how she has inserted another fabric inside as an interlining.  I have always loved the cowl neck.

Here are some other interesting shots from the details of the collection. 

Stuffed knitted shapes, amazing!

A mini cape style, I always like this design idea

Well, I think that will do for this blog.  I have been trying to insert an interesting fashion glossary so you can choose the terms and definitions that you think apply to this latest collection, but it is not working for me...so will have to be another time.

SLTSLTBsigning out.

Beginning of my blog

I love Comme des Garcons, among many other things, but I'll go into that in other blogs.
  
Comme des Garcons is not restricted by fashion trends and I like that.  One could even consider CdG collections to have a hint of the anti-fashion about them and I like that as well.  Maybe Kawakubo is so ahead of the pack, she is not racing against the others.  But, in following seasons, other designers will be delivering CdG influences in their new collections.   The influence may be toned down, but it’s there.  Kawakubo will even tone down some of her RTW collection designs.   Cool and very “wearable” t-shirts and skirts are always produced following each collection, which are highly inspirational and fun to work with, on my own terms.  It may be way out silhouettes or putting together colours & patterns of fabrics previously considered no go.  One of the biggest buzzes regard Kawakubo is, don't be restricted by the rules.

 Let’s face it, I can’t always afford CdG creations and in some ways I don’t want to, ‘cos I love to create for myself…..who’s at home sewing (anyone remember that catch phrase from the Seventeen magazine of decades ago?).

Well, I am and I thrive on it!  I have made a style for myself which is inspired by many but, nowadays  Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garcons is right up there.

So, I want to share my creative and curious approach to life, which tends to be connected to a sewing machine. Maybe, you will share creations and curiosities with me, especially if it is a shared passion for CdG, and how you incorporate her style into your life using a sewing machine.

I love this image, you may have seen it before.  It is the work of an innovative Japanese clothes designer called Yoshikazu Yamagata.  Sometimes he collaborates with a wonderful knitting artist called Mafuyu Murakami.  Together they worked on a very inspirational series of knitted houses, maybe Mafuyu assisted with the knit work involved in this Village Girl piece.  It is a very cool image, and the little story is particularly appealing to me.  I relate with this village girl, attraction to the city, always creating clothes for herself and in an attempt to get clothes she has no access to, she creates them herself.
It is exciting to imagine a story that can connect with what we create and wear, often the story isn't imagination, it's reality, memory, that sort of thing.

This was my homage to CdG's Fall 2012 RTW collection.  This collection was quite astounding.  Working in felt Kawakubo, with the help of her extremely talented pattern makers (more of that skill in another blog),created wonderfully structured coats and dresses.  My creation started with the fabric i spotted in The Fabric Warehouse.  The flower pattern reflects the coat on the right, the brown and pink colours are me and the cut is inspired by the coat on the left.  It was a matter of playing around with huge inside out french seams. .  Terrible photo I know, flashlight in the mirror to record the image.  And the shoes, sale price somewhere, but they had that CdG style for me.
 Here is a great image from the work of Bill Cunningham, showing his fab shots of New York women wearing originals from that collection.  Aren't they wonderful.  By the way, there is a wonderful film documentary about Bill Cunningham's life and work. I found it quite moving, especially when he was responding to questions about his religious faith.

This is my play with CdG's extroverted applied embellishments.  I am on a big drive to use up as much of my collected fabrics as possible.  I've been working on this for a few years now.  I was having no great ideas for this dotted knit fabric, but then thought hey try a t-shirt with these applied roses.  CdG had raw edges on some of their ones, but I needed a bit more strength and stability so I folded the strips of fabric in half and stitched them on.  CdG used a very clever technique of cutting the first strips from the actual garment and winding them around.

The image just above here, is from a cool web site called The Cutting Class.  It is worth a visit and worth subscribing to.  They pass on heaps of great information and tips for those of us interested in such curiosities and creations.  And maybe that's a good note for me to end this beginning blog on!  What a gestation and what fun!