Giles, Erdem and Danielle Scutt, these three designers, who presented their new collections these past days during London Fashion Week, all looked back at where they came from. Focusing on individuality, creativity and the valuable lessons of their education. "I just thought I wanted to go back to what got me into fashion in the first place. I graduated from Central Saint Martins in 1992 and I wanted to recapture all of the fun we had playing with things in those days. So the collection is a revisiting of all the things of my own that I've liked and hopefully an improvement on them." Giles said. His models were a mixture of former fashion heroines (the model opening the show was eighties supermodel Rachel Williams) and street cast locals from Camden. An overall look that played with the cliches of runway behaviour. The attentive viewers recognized the circular leather skirt which came from his graduation collection. So who said that fashion is all about the future?

Danielle Scutt also looked back at her graduation from Central Saint Martins: "Because I could only do a small show, I started remembering everything you have to do to stand out when you're graduating from Saint Martins: Make the strongest statement you can in a few outfits." Her collection however reminded of Thierry Mugler which caused an unintended eighties feel.

Erdem Moralioglu took focus on individual creativity. Not necessarily in the silhouette, but in the beautiful floral printings, especially in the use of them. Wether they were following the shape of the clothes or visual creating a new one, mixing them all together or sometimes only a subtle trace the printing certainly contributed to the feminine look of the collection.

(Images by: Style.com)

25 February 2009 ― By LP ― Runway Report ― 0 Comments

As I told earlier, there were some serious malfunctions backstage during the show of my friend Linda Valkeman at the Amsterdam Fashion Week. More than half of her collection didn't appear on the runway and the outfits that did made it were styled embarrassingly wrong. I always assist Linda in styling her collection, creating the right look from accessories, the outfits to hair and make-up. I remember watching the show and noticed something was going very wrong backstage when the third outfit made an appearance on the runway. The impact of these major mistakes were not only emotional but also practical. In a few weeks she will also present her collection during the Paris Fashion Week and was planning to use the runway photos, made during the Amsterdam Fashion Week, for her Lookbook. Well that plan went down the drain big time. To make up for this practical damage the organization offered to pay for a Lookbook shoot with a great photographer, model and make-up artist. And so it happened. Last friday I met Linda bright but very early at her studio (on the 13th floor) of the World Fashion Centre in Amsterdam. After packing the collection, shoes and accessories we stumbled our way to the elevator. With our hands full we tried to get everything in while keeping the heavy doors open. Trying to keep the heavy doors open I have to say because although our best effort they closed with half the clothing rack still outside. After pushing all the buttons and some Rambo actions from our part we managed to open them again without damaging the clothes or the elevator. We made it downstairs safely and called a taxi. It rained and generally speaking taxi drivers are not the most fashion conscious people, so he let a (of course) white outfit that was not fully covered in plastic hit the car, leaving it with a stain on the skirt. But we've been through worse and remembered to smile, because it's only fashion... We arrived at the studio and met the photographer Marc Deurloo, model Jessie and make-up artist Ellen. And from that moment forward everything went smoothly, everybody knew what to do and did it very well. Linda left with beautiful pictures and her famous smile back on her face.
Here the result and you see why she is smiling again and why I am proud to have a friend like that.

(Clothes by Linda Valkeman, Styling by Lizzy Peters, Photography by Marc Deurloo, Hair and Make-up by Ellen van Exter and Model Jessie)

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18 February 2009 ― By LP ― Behind the scenes ― 1 Comments

Once in a while it's sneaking up on us. It was there in the 60's as it became more acceptable for woman to wear pants, in the 70's thanks to ABBA.., in the 80's (Lord help us) and the 90's with a little help from Michelle Pfeiffer in Catwoman and the Spice Girls, the jumpsuit. This all-in-one piece has been flirting with us for a year now, but this spring it looks like it's finally breaking through to the mainstream. Stella McCartney has a beautiful one piece suit, Sonia Rykiel a comfy floating one and Alexander McQueen covers it with crystals. My designer friends were also right on this trend and showed one or more in their collections for this summer. Although it looks like this one piece is easy to wear, it really isn't flattering on everyone.

(Images by Style.com: Stella McCartney, Sonia Rykiel and Alexander McQueen)

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16 February 2009 ― By LP ― Trend Report ― 2 Comments

It is certainly not the best time to launch a new magazine, but something tells me this one might make it through. On the cover of the first issue of Love magazine shines the full figured Gossip singer Beth Ditto in all her glory and there is nothing cliche about that! Moreover, most of the people mentioned on the cover have been to rehab and back. We have to wait till February 19th, but maybe this magazine (as the cover suggests) will bring us less glamour and more reality.

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14 February 2009 ― By LP ― News, In the Magazines ― 0 Comments

Take a look at Jil Sander's Spring/Summer 2009 ad campaign. When you make beautiful clothes you don't need all the fuss, just: black, white and Natasha Poly.

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8 February 2009 ― By LP ― Ad Campaign ― 0 Comments