Style Bubble

Woven Goods

In my latest Bubble and Speak (seriously...the name still tickles me...) column for Business of Fashion, I profiled the French-born, London-based designer Faustine Steinmetz who is about to hit us with a new wave of trompe l'oeil.  Pah!  New wave of trompe l'oeil indeed...  Haven't we mined every trick of the eye there is in fashion?  Well, scroll down and take a look.  Denim that isn't denim.  Recognisable but different.  Uniform pieces of clothing shifted into another textural dimension.  Steinmetz, has been playing around with ideas of trompe l'oeil ever since her 2011 Central Saint Martins graduation from the MA fashion print course, where she overturned ideals of a "rich" woman's wardrobe by painting fur coats with acrylic paint and making up Chanel-esque backpacks in cheapie fabrics and then making Tesco shopping bags out of leather.  

Whilst they may have been rooted in Maison Martin Margiela-esque workings, with her first proper collection, Steinmetz reworks a familiar, bordering on-mundane wardrobe, inspired by the Matthew Kassovitz film La Haine (The Hate) about living in Parisian suburbia.  To use some less-than-savoury terms, the French equivalent (if there is such a thing) of chav attire come to mind.  The tracksuit top and bottom.  The secondhand 501 Levi jeans that don't quite fit right.  The natty denim jacket.  The chain jewellery.  The rucksack.  In Steinmetz' hands they are entirely constructed out of textiles she has hand woven and hand dyed in her Shoreditch flat, using four hand looms and a couple of interns.  Without setting out to do a collection, she started off with a pair of pale blue jeans and a t-shirt, completely reinterpreted with this unexpected fluffy mohair texture.  Then piece by piece, she built it up, creating a woven narrative for this reconfigured wardrobe.  Every texture is subverted.  Hard and rough denim becomes soft to touch.  A Jansport rucksack is rendered in soft lambswool.  Thin and disposable t-shirts are strengthened with merino wool and raw felted seams.  Lightweight polyester tracksuits are done up in heavy woven wool and lined with cotton jersey.  Gold bling bling jewellery is dulled with grey flock.  She was even tempted to create a Nike trainer entirely out of warp and weft threads.  Particularly with the denim, the effect of the trompe l'oeil is extremely effective, especially when you touch the soft texture of the woven mohair.  The contrast between these made from scratch fabrics, which are a labour of love and time-consuming craftsmanship, and the almost disposable and freely available garment choices, is what makes Steinmetz's work so compelling.  So much so that she has secured an exclusive stockist this summer with Hostem in East London, who are launching a womenswear store.  She'll also be launching an e-store to meet what is unsurprisingly a high demand for her unexpected take on denim.  It might be trompe l'oeil but there's no deception here.  Steinmetz is just  out to create meaningful clothes that are at once precious and tangible at the same time.      

Future Vintage

It's that time of the year again to cosy up with fellow Bicester buddies (errr.... well, actually just Alex Fury of Love Magazine who is also my Yoox/eBay sage because we collectively love a bargain) in fashion and head on up to this Oxford shopping mecca to see the launch of what is now the fourth British Designers Collective.  What started off as a tiny shop in Bicester Village's sprawl of outlets that include Prada, Marni, Celine and Versace (alright just rattling off my personal faves there...), has now turned into a strongly curated affair with a storefront that is sure to grab curious passers-by, even if they've not necessarily heard of say Peter Pilotto or Mary Katrantzou.  

This year's British Designers Collective was given a meaningful umbrella theme of "Future VIntage", essentially branding pieces by this set of mostly young British designers, as highly collectible, something which I'd certainly concur with, looking to the way I buy into Brit designers, not just for aesthetic value, but possibly for posterity's sake as well.  Yasmin Sewell, multi-tasking fashion consultant extraordinaire, together with her team was responsible for curating the space as well as overseeing the visual merchandising of the store, which is definitely a vast improvement from previous BDC stores.  A powerful image of Queen Elizabeth I as the headline graphic is likely to draw the crowds in, even if they get lured in under the impression that they might find Tudor-themed souvenirs inside.  As an expert in retail, Sewell has also ensured that there's a good stock flow going in and out of the store, so that it's regularly replenished and never looks stale.  Oh, and Rita Ora is fronting the campaign this year if that interests you.  When asked by someone what I thought of Ora, I couldn't even lie through my teeth and feign knowledge.  I literally have NO opinion of Ms. Ora, not knowing her music or anything about her.  And yes, I do like living under the cooling shade of my habitable rock.    

The likes of Jonathan Saunders, Preen, Nicholas Kirkwood and Holly Fulton are old BDC hands but joining the roster of labels are J.W. Anderson, Lucas Nascimento, Meadham Kirchhoff, Mary Katrantzou and millinery power from Noel Stewart and Piers Atkinson.  Hussein Chalayan was the new addition from the established set of designers and to emphasise the future vintage point, had a dress from his seminal a/w 2000 collection made from 250m of tulle on display in the window.  On the accessories front there are additions from scarf designer Athena Procopiou, sunnies from Prism and Linda Farrow and jewellery from Annina Vogel and Imogen Belfield.  The selection is the richest it's ever been and could well be worth multiple visits over the course of the year, to take in not just BDC, but the other delights that Bicester offers.  The ever-wise Mr Fury advises that visiting mid-week is potentially better for scooping those fresh Celine deliveries and that super low markdowns may occur around the August period.  Don't take those words as golden though.  The beauty of dizzy shopping (dizzy=discounted) is the sheer surprise so a chance visit on a random day could result in... well, whatever is your personal dizzy shopping dream buy.

Archive Hussein Chalayan tulle dress from A/W 2000 collection

Meadham Kirchhoff

Mary Katrantzou // Peter Pilotto

Nicholas Kirkwood

Jonathan Saunders

Mary Katrantzou

J.W. Anderson // House of Holland - wonder if this particular design is undergoing a bit of revival?

Piers Atkinson

Holly Fulton

Mawi

I didn't strike it lucky anywhere outside of the BDC but I did get in on some heavy embroidered Peter Pilotto action from their S/S 12 collection.  It's weighty and I fear that I might cause accidents with broken threaded bugle beads but for future vintage's sake, this is one piece that the likes of Kerry Taylor (speaking of which, they have a brilliant auction coming up judging by the catalogue) might be interested in, 40 or 50 years down the line.  

Worn with Cécile t-shirt, Karen Walker cap, Sheriff & Cherry sunglasses, Nicholas Kirkwood shoes

The Birds and the Bees

Back in the depths of freezing cold January, I had a catch up with Amy Powney, director of design at Mother of Pearl, which as a brand has been fascinating to watch evolve as a sort of insider-nudge-nudge-wink-wink label that doesn't always quite get the spotlight it deserves.  The internal set-up is partly the reason for this.  Powney, has progressed through the ranks, starting off as an intern and at present shapes the design direction of the label, alongside Maia Norman, who has historically been the "face" of the brand, and is responsible for finding the artists to collaborate with on each collection.

What's interesting is that, that particular USP of Mother of Pearl has almost become secondary to the design, which can be put down to Powney's work.  "Maia (Norman) finds the artists," explained Powney.  "That's her world.  It's her ethos of the brand.  She isn't a trained designer.  That's where I stepped in and really nailed the aesthetic of the brand.  I very quickly realised that this product and brand has got to have its own identity all by itself and then the art collaboration is a bonus on top of it.  We've worked hard on establishing the aesthetic."  

Therefore it's no surprise that the word of mouth chit chat about Mother of Pearl, in amongst buyers last season for S/S 13 wasn't necessarily focused on the art collaborations but on the easy-going, sports-luxe aesthetic married with great visuals.  As brilliant as Mother of Pearl's selection of artists has been, the clothes have to stand up on their own as well and Powney has successfully carved out a specific mood for Mother of Pearl.  Like I have said before, they're non-precious ease-led clothes that are still intrinsically interesting, complex and layered (both physically and metaphorically).  They intrigue without shouting out their origins, hence the "cool underdog" box, which the label ticks.  

There's a potential to really build a whole universe around Mother of Pearl, something which Powney is aware of.  She's not a flamboyant designer of whimsy but thinks of herself as an astute product designer, who takes into consideration what's selling, what works, what doesn't to better evolve the brand.  It's great to see British brands thinking on scales of ambition where the likes of Prada and Marni are potential end goals.  

After seasons of straight forward artist collaborations where people like Francescco Simeti, Fred Tomaselli and Fiona Banner have lent their artwork to be used as prints, A/W 13-4 sees a shift where Mother of Pearl worked with British taxidermy artist Polly Morgan not just in prints but on an overall concept.  For instance Powney, took influence from Morgan's taxidermy process, by illustrating tools on silk scarves.  Likewise, where Morgan uses dead bees in her work as physical objects, Powney has translated that into a reccurring print motif in the collection.  "With Polly, we have a really great relationship.  This has been the nicest collaboration I've done," said Powney.  "It opened up a set of creative freedom.  All the hand drawings on the scarves are something I did myself.  It was the first time I got my hand in and created the visual print."

Powney has also changed it up with the silhouettes, taking a more polished swerve towards the elegance of the 1950s.  Fitted pencil skirts, wide-legged trousers, shirts and oversized coats are balanced out with slip-on Vans-esque shoes that retain the sportiness that Powney is fond of.  The mix of prints is also a lot more playful than previous seasons where the artist's work has really dictated the visual direction.  This time solid stripes, stark animal print and rococo swirls worked in with leopard print are all clashed together, referencing the animalistic element of Morgan's work.  More literal translations of Morgan's work are worked into the collection such as a woven jacquard of her 2009 piece Dead Ringer as well as a group of parakeets pecking at a heart on a striped knit top.

It's a quiet evolution that has slowly but surely grabbed the attentions of stockists with an increasingly impressive list that now includes Net-a-Porter (always a useful stockist barometer).  You get the feeling though that Powney is in it for the long haul and has even bigger ambitions in mind with Mother of Pearl and that's something to get excited about.