Is it time to ditch gendered fashion weeks? Spring/Summer 2016 Men’s and Women’s Show.
So read the invitation for last night’s Prada show on the Milan menswear schedule, where a whole troupe of girls – twenty in total – almost stole the spotlight from the boys in slick python skins, graphic prints and mix and match layered tops and dresses. It was far from the first time we’d seen the gender-blending of a Prada runway – after all, the house’s collections have always had parallels between them, often drawn out most consciously in his ‘n’ hers campaign imagery – but this time it felt like it had been pushed it to another level. While such casting decisions are often an easy way to open up the more insular world of menswear to a wider fashion audience, now they’re coming at a time when, both in terms of fashion and the self, ideas of gender are becoming more popularly questioned and deconstructed.
Of course, Prada isn’t the only one to make its runways co-ed. But some are going further. Selfridges will launch a gender-neutral pop-up department. There's change in the air, and Selfridges is one of the first to sense it.
The London luxury retailer is sweeping aside cultural norms and launching a gender-neutral pop-up department that will include spaces on three of its four floors. It's called Agender. The unisex experience won't be limited to London, either. Selfridges outlets in Manchester and Birmingham will also feature gender neutral spaces. "We want to take our customers on a journey where they can shop and dress without limitations or stereotypes," the store said in a statement. With girls appearing on the menswear runways (see: Gucci) and Acne trumpeting its pro-woman credentials with scarves reading "Gender Equality", there's probably never been a better time for a department store like Selfridges to try something new. So how committed is Selfridges to its theme? Selfridges has also lined up exclusive launches with Body Map, Nicopanda, Rad Hourani, and VFiles. LN-CC FILM: Ava Catherside AW12.
Noir Unisex Couture : Ava Catherside for LN-CC Collection. By: Alexandra Serrano - Published: Aug 17, 2012 • References: highsnobette With an all-black theme, the Ava Catherside for LN-CC Collection debuts the label's latest designer selection.
The featured video that accompanies the release of this collection is a collage of behind the scenes insight into the creation of this fabulous collection. It delves into the precision involved in creating minimalist showstoppers that make a bold statement of androgyny. LN-CC also retails brands such as Comme des Garcons, Yohji Yamamoto and Dries Van Noten which makes the Ava Catherside label a logical choice for the minimalist retailer. Keeping in tradition with LN-CC's capitalization of individuality, Catherside's designs are an incredible show of cutouts, and stunning simplicity that manages to remain the at the pinnacle of forward- thinking design.
Yeezy Fall 2015 Ready-to-Wear Collection. Kanye West is probably the most polarizing personality in popular culture at the moment.
That Grammys ceremony said it all: the strongest musical performances of the night undermined by the assholery that would deny another artist his well-deserved moment in the spotlight. West's collaboration with Adidas launched tonight in a similar storm of conflicted emotion. "I'm here to crack the pavement," his fierce voice-over announced. "I want to create something better for you. " But a show that started this willfully late in a schedule as dense as New York's spoke to a certain insensitivity. Still, transplant that genius into a context where its muscles are called on to flex in a more conventional way and different criteria come into play. That military aspect was key. Too Good - Style Bubble. So much of what S/S 14 offered was about surface.
Nothing wrong with that of course. There were some GREAT surfaces – printed, sequinned, feathered, texturised – a fetishisation of decoration almost. Towards the end of Paris Fashion Week, when our heads were filled with showgirls, tribal ferociousness and paintbrush strokes of art colliding with clothes, it felt quite cathartic to step into the showroom of Toogood, a new clothing concept, created by furniture and installation designer Faye Toogood and her sister Erica. If you don't know Toogood's name, you might have seen her work in the store designs of the new Browns Focus store, Phllip Lim's pop-up in Selfridges or the set creation of Humberto Leon and Carol Lim's first show for Kenzo at Rue Vivienne. Faye has a distinctively singular and sculptural approach towards design and objects that she has applied to Toogood, the clothing label. Toogood is thus rooted in a desire to overcome these industry evils. Story - Bethnals.