Trends to watch out for: Fashion from across the border
By Our Correspondent
Published: February 6, 2012




A look at what is expected from our fashion-forward Indian contemporaries this season. PHOTOS: FILE

ISLAMABAD:

It’s always good to know what one’s regional neighbours are up to, which is why we have extended our gaze eastwards — to see what our Indian counterparts are brewing. With Mumbai’s Lakme Fashion Week right around the corner, we take a look at some of India’s contending designers and the looks/trends to watch out for.

Manish Malhotra

Bollywood bigwig Malhotra’s Spring/Summer 2012 collection is set to light the ramps on fire at the grand finale of Lakme Fashion Week. Many characterise him as the reigning badshah of Indian fashion, whose designs are worn by a multitude of designers. Sheer fabrics, breezy kurtas, sartorial saris and sophisticated gowns are his forte. Last year, he astounded the audience with his ‘Badshah of Bollywood Couture’ collection — his designs catering to the contemporary Indian woman and his panelled and voluminous lehngas stole the show.

This year, Malhotra will be working with corporeal garments and fabrics, with particular emphasis on chiffon and nets, to create a modern, sensual look. According to Malhotra’s Lakme Fashion Week profile (briefly detailing what we can expect from the young savant): “Colours like tangerine, neon pink and the classic ivory have been merged with Indian silhouettes to take fusion to the next level.”

Little Shilpa

Edgy, futuristic and mildly dystopian, Shilpa Chavan’s designs are known to be deliciously avant-garde. Last year, we saw geometric shapes and elaborate, floral headgear — the look combined futurism with earthy, animal tones to create a fashion dichotomy. These are the designs we think would make Lady Gaga squeal with delight — the triangulations, fabric shards and block shapes are a throwback to Gaga videos like “Poker Face” and “Bad Romance”.

However, the buzz this year is all about Chavan’s upcoming ‘Future of Fashion’ collection, which will undoubtedly take last year’s designs one step further. We hope she delivers and the collection doesn’t land itself into the trap of redundancy.

JJ Valaya

Heralded as one of the key monarchs of Indian fashion, JJ Valaya is a seminal couturier. The style, in accordance with his title as a fashion royal, is equally regal — a noble fusion between the refinement of traditional-wear and western sensibilities, combined with his interest in the evolution of modern technologies (photography, print, image-stills).


In fact, Valaya’s interest in photography inspired his outstanding collection last year. Says Valaya: “My latest collection for Aircel is called Tasveer and pays homage to the journey of the still image from its black and white avatar to its current digitised one. Technology and its evolution has always inspired me and it was only fair to finally acknowledge this love affair.”

SOURCE: LAKMEFASHIONWEEK.CO.IN.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2012.

Does 'Retro' Mean The End of Trends: Or, Why Do New Collections Have To Kill Old Collections

French fashion house Courreges co-Presidents Jacques Bungert (L) and Frederic Torloting (R) pose at the end of an interview with Reuters at their offices in Paris January 23, 2012.Credit: Reuters/John Schults
By Pascale Denis
French brand Courreges takes retro fashion online

PARIS | Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:26pm EST

(Reuters) - Courreges, the futuristic fashion brand of the 1960s, is poised to bring its vinyl boots and A-line mini-dresses back into vogue, relaunching the French name online.

A year after the brand was sold for more than 10 million euros ($13.05 million) to two directors from advertising agency Young & Rubicam, Jacques Bungert and Frederic Torloting, Courreges is now also aiming to expand its perfume business.

The simple shapes and minimalist black and white palette of the couturier Andre Courreges -- a protege of Balenciaga -- had their heydey in the 1960s and 70s, rivaling Chanel and Dior, before being sold to Japanese investors in the 1980s.

A decade later Courreges and his wife Coqueline bought back the brand but it largely disappeared from sight before the purchase by Bungert and Torloting in January 2011.

"We're hoping that the brand returns, in five to 10 years, to its former stature as a global brand with its dimension of innovation that earlier made its success," Bungert told Reuters.

"When the feeling of a brand is respected, it can be reborn without losing its integrity," he added.

Currently, Courreges clothes and accessories are sold at its Paris boutique in the posh Eighth Arrondissement, where sales have risen 40 percent in a year, Bungert said. Total revenue for the brand is now about 20 million, the executives said.

Internet sales begin February 1, and women will be able to shop online for nearly all the clothes and accessories currently sold in the boutique.

Torloting said Courreges' design lends itself well to online sales, as the brand does not use the kind of delicate fabrics that could get damaged in transit.

As for perfume, Courreges' "Empreinte" and "Eau de Courreges," currently sold only in the boutique, will now be distributed more widely, and a publicity campaign, the first since 1996, is planned.

As Paris Fashion Week launched Monday with its bi-annual Haute Couture shows, Torloting said he has no intention of parading twice-yearly collections on the catwalk at the industry's fashion weeks.

Founder Andre Courreges refused to use celebrities to promote his swinging sixties styles, claiming designs such as his 1964 "Space Age" collection were created for the "ordinary woman."

"The idea of creating collections that push each other out is not very modern in our view," Torloting told Reuters.

"We don't want to manufacture our own obsolescence," he said.

(Writing by Alexandria Sage, editing by Paul Casciato)

Site:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/24/us-fashion-courreges-idUSTRE80N1L220120124

Navy likely new black at New York Fashion Week

By Michelle Nichols

NEW YORK | Wed Feb 8, 2012 7:05am EST

(Reuters) - Navy is likely to replace black on the catwalk when New York Fashion Week starts on Thursday, with experts expecting rich fabrics, waist-defining jackets and some 1920s-inspired styles sparked by movies like The Artist.

Dresses will continue to feature strongly among the 90 or so designers showing fall 2012 collections, experts say, because of the wide appeal to consumers who are more thoughtful and focused on value as the United States emerges from recession.

A dress is seen as more tempting because it allows women to skip the extra, and sometimes more costly, step of having to coordinate skirts or pants with a blouse or T-shirt.

"Dresses perform very well. Women love a dress," said Ken Downing, fashion director of luxury chain Neiman Marcus. "It's such an easy way to look amazing. It's effortlessly chic ... it goes from coffee to cocktails."

"Navy will be the neutral of the season," he said.

Downing said some designers will have drawn inspiration for a "modernized flapper" style from the silent film "The Artist" and Woody Allen's "Midnight in Paris" - both nominated for several Academy Awards - and the pending release of director Baz Luhrmann's remake of "The Great Gatsby."

But he cautions this does not mean an immediate return to the dropped waist dresses that defined the 1920s era.

"Many designers really understand the importance of celebrating a woman's shape and clothes that are reflective of her curves are always the most popular," he said. "Women spend a lot of time at the gym ... they want credit for how they look."

Deep shades of green and rich fabrics such as brocades and jacquards are likely runway trends that could draw in customers, said Colleen Sherin, senior fashion director at Saks Fifth Avenue.

"When customers spend their money, they want to feel and see that they are truly getting something for what they paid," she said. "Any form of embellishment or decorative fabrication makes the consumer feel they getting something quite special, that's worth the money they have spent."

SCULPTED JACKETS, HEMLINES FOR ALL

Designers were expected to show menswear-inspired tailored jackets sculpted to define a woman's waist and peplum dresses and other styles that show off the waist.

"I'm liking the masculine (inspiration), I like women that have a cool tailored jacket. Definitely I am heading in that direction, but we have a lot of great surprises," said designer Yigal Azrouel, whose collection will be shown on Friday.

But with consumers wary amid a slow U.S. recovery and a jittery global economy, designers are continuing a trend of growing their brands with cheaper collections.

Azrouel opened a first retail shop last week for his lower-end Cut25 label and Jason Wu -- best known for designing first lady Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown -- released on Sunday a collection for Target with everything priced under $60.

"We're creating future Jason Wu customers," Wu said.

While unemployment dropped to a near three-year low of 8.3 percent and retailers posted a better-than-expected rise in sales for their traditionally slow month of January, retail sales in busy December rose at the weakest pace in seven months and consumer confidence unexpectedly fell in January.

"The consumer has become much more thoughtful in her purchases," said Sherin. "She's thinking about multiple usage, longevity of the garment, quality and that there's value."

When it comes to hemlines, there will be something to suit everyone, said Kibwe Chase Marshall, women's runway and trend editor for trend forecasting firm Stylesight.

"Maxi proportions, as well as the precarious 'midi' length have found footing as staples in ready-to-wear collections. On the horizon, A-line minis -- worn with hosiery -- complete the new length trio, creating myriad options," he said.

David Wolfe, creative director at trend forecasters The Doneger Group, said color would be the driving force at New York Fashion Week with rich jewel tones and bright accents and that the styles were becoming more accessible to women of all shapes.

"It's color that is moving fashion forward," he said.

He added that the sobering economic reality for consumers likely means fewer silly, unwearable trends in the fall collection. "I don't think we're going to have an identifiable look 'Oh God, it's the season of the Eskimo."

Fashion Week in New York is followed by events in London, Paris and Milan.

(Editing by Doina Chiacu)

Site:http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/08/us-newyork-fashion-idUSTRE8170SO20120208