Spotlight: Tribute to Lacroix

On 7 June I rushed down to the National Museum of Singapore to catch Christian Lacroix the costumier. The exhibition brought in numerous fashion illustrations and costumes from Lacroix's atelier. Through this exhibition, I got to come up close and discover for myself the couturier's ingenuity as a stage costumier.

Firstly, the illustrations of the costumes for various theatre pieces truly reflect the Lacroix aesthetics. Behind each stroke of ink and pencil was spontaneity, vibrancy and humour. His sketches were the first signs of innate creativity as a designer, expressing the silhouettes and dazzling colours on paper.

Lacroix definitely finds theatrical solutions to couture dresses. Each costume was intricately crafted with vibrant textures, such as a corset-like belt embellished with upholstery fringes and heavy layers of taffeta, lace and tulle. The tutu in Les anges ternis were my favourite. Tulle mini skirts in full swing - a depiction of elegance and grace. Lacroix commented on the ballet tutu, "It's a mad invention, both magical and surreal. But tutus are part of tradition. And that's where they take their full measure, their full value."

Les anges ternis (Tarnished angels)

Carmen

Cendrillon (Cinderella)

Il re pastore

La femme sans ombre

Lacroix's illustrations and embellished costumes paint a picture of spectacular elegance light-hearted fantasy revue. One thing to note even in the face of a shaky future for the couturier's house, Lacroix remains an unforgotten legacy on stage.

Fresh Spreads: Sun dance

Azure sky. White sandy beaches. Foamy waves. An ideal backdrop for summer editorials, ushering in the breezy wind yet casting away the heat spell. July's Numero Tokyo ed titled Solo dance featuring Tanya D captures the light and sheer of summer fashion. Dancing in the sun - be it in a Hermes candy-coloured striped maxi that catches the wind or the commfy tee and shorts is definitely great fun (minus the occasional sunburns). So all hail summer - the sun's up!

Numero Tokyo July/August 2009

Solo dance

Photographer: Hans Feurer

Stylist: Samuel Francois

Model: Tanya D

The last close-up...definitely one of my faves out of the bunch. Observe the matching brighy eye make-up and the rainbow hued dress.

Are sunny seashores too cliche a theme for fashion spreads? Nevertheless, they are wonderful in evoking the summer spirit, even in not-so-sunny countries.

Vogue Paris March 2007

Soleil de minuit

ph: Lamsweerde & Matadin

Model: Natasha Poly

source: thefashionspot

Designer Spotlight: Bollywood Swatch

The collaboration between famous Swiss watchmaker Swatch and Indian fashion designer Indian fashion designer has kicked into stores. Mixed in his luxury collections of fashionable accessories are bright, contrasting and colorful combinations, intriguing forms, glammed up Bollywood, pop culture, humor and brimming over life's joy.

The collection consists of five designs: Huge In All, Giant Shimmer, Dancing Hands, Over Charm and From Within. Each encaptures the vibrant style of Manish Arora in different ways.

Below are wonderful reviews of each article, taken from GUM Trading house.

HUGE IN ALL - Swatch offers to your attention another piece of game-study of decorative materials' opportunities. Wide black strap of artificial leather of this beautiful Irony Nabab model is decorated with carved heart-like flowers, symmetrically arranged on both sides of the body. From the numeral 12 part the patterns have bright fluorescent green lime background color, and from 6 part the background is bright orange. Strap's clasp, watch's body and bezel are made of stainless steel with PVD-drawing of shining gold color. The dial of this model also calls a sense of charming delight. To indicate hours arrows, the designer used golden plated numbers (Roman for 3, 6, 9 and 12 and Arab to the rest), contrastingly distinguishing on the background of the fluorescent pink dial. With a closer examination it is seen that the background of the dial present an interlocking spiral patterns, and symbolic pink hearts. The hour and minute arrows count the time and bring their contrasting notes in the entire palette. The hour arrow is executed in green lime color, and minute arrow in blue.

GIANT SHIMMER - The unique Irony THE Chrono model has once again confirmed the flashing sense of Swatch humor. Catching the overall romantic collection's mood, the designer adorns massive bracelet's links with giant relief images of shining symbolic hearts. Bracelet, body and bezel are made of stainless steel with PVD-drawing of shining gold color. The bezel's circle is decorated with 36 white crystals. At one parallel to it on a structured red dial there is another ring of smaller size white crystals. Giant silver dollar sign with a textured decorative surface dominates on the dial. Chronograph counters do not have any numbers and divisions. These are equipped only with golden arrows on the background of almost imperceptible pattern of the dial's textured surface. The figure represents variation on the collection's heart-like flowers theme. Golden hour arrow and minute one with white light storages as well as a thin golden central seconds arrow measure the time.

DANCING HANDS - Honoring and admiring the art of dance, this fantastic motley Swatch Puzzle Motion model is covered with frames' images of hands' movements studded with jewelry. Strap-folio is decorated with a number of colorful images, each representing a hand, standing in a symbolic gesture of dance. Fingers of each hand are decorated with one or more rings, and the wrist is adorned with colorful bracelet. Clasp and watch's body are made of opaque pink plastic. The body frames the colorful dial, consisting of eight rotating disks. On the colorful background of each disk a big picture of a dancing hand decorated with jewels is again repeated. As the arrows pass the time cycle, the disks on the dial are rotating, providing a variety of combinations of colorful dancing hands. Colorful dial's range with slight variations, repeats the color on the strap watches. There are no numbers and points. Thin black hour and minute arrows count the time. In a world created by Manish Arora, dancing and the time last forever.

OVER CHARM - Hearts are always topical in the works of designer Manish Arora, therefore namely they adorn this delicious Skin model. Looking at the watches, you can always feel a romantic atmosphere and Bollywood style. Bracelet's links of stainless steel represent hearts inserted into each other. From the bracelet's links the trinkets in the form of hearts of stainless steel with inserts of transparent or colored polymer clay and crystals of white color are hanging down. Bracelet includes opaque dull plastic body of silver color. The Heart topic again appears in the center of brightly pink fluorescent dial: it is the image of another heart, covered by a flame of love. Shining silver hearts on the dial serve like watch's arrows: big hearts are 3, 6, 9 and 12 o'clock, and small hearts are all other hours. Short, elegant and silver hour and minute arrows are coming out of the center of another silver heart, whose image is painted on the watch's glass.

Image Source : http://www.gum.ru/en/news/id/224/

FROM WITHIN - A real lady should be a lady-vamp in a playful and tempting image not violating, however, the overall romantic collection's mood. Bracelet of the carefree light Irony Square Lady model is made of stainless steel with PVD- golden drawing. Each shining golden link is adorned with a pair of large pink crystals in the form of heart. Wide bracelet's shining path leads to the body and bezel, which are also made of stainless steel with gold PVD-golden drawing. The pink heart-like pattern symbolizing infinite love is drawn on the bezel. Turquoise-colored dial sets off a turquoise frame, and shiny steel hour arrow and minute one with rounded tips count the time.

My favourite is OVER CHARM and I really wish to get my hands on it, how about yours?

Runway Rave: A fairytale bride

Reem Acra recently showed her Spring 2010 bridal collection in New York. The gowns showed off intricate beading, fluffy gathers of tulle and traditional ruffles and drapery.

The little white dress never goes out of style. Pile on luscious clouds of tulle and lace...voila, a gorgeous dress is created out of a fairytale.

The Power of White. Spring 09's white Haute couture featured in Vogue Italia March 09

Gorgeous valentino haute couture in Vogue Italia fall 08.

Bride wears hanbok. The tradition Korean Hanbok comes clean in pure white.

Pirates romance at Jean Paul gaultier spring 08

source: style.com, thefashionspot, newjerseybride

Go Red for Women 09

In conjunction with the Audi Fashion Festival, Go Red For Women presented by MasterCard, is auctioning 10 little red dresses designed by budding fashion designers from Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. All proceeds from the auction will benefit the Singapore Heart Foundation’s Go Red For Women campaign. Symbolised by the little red dress, the campaign aims to empower women in their fight against heart disease and stroke.

Here are some of my favourite picks:

Inspired by parchutes sashaying high in the sky, this design by Nicholas of Nic Wong evokes a sense of bliss and surrealism. The couture-like details such as folds and draping showcases his clean cuts and structural style.

A well known young thai designer, TIMMY is best known for his combination of modern vintage chic with a feminine touch. This semi-formal cocktail dress is based on the popular children novel The Little Red Riding Hood. I love the crisp asymmetrical cape and the corset-like structure of the bodice.

Reckless Erika is a young and quirky local brand,balancing classic tailoring with more avant-garde use of silhouette, and constructing avant-garde silhouette with classic details. This dress is simple, yet adorned with luxurious pleats and gathers, in a deep red colour.

Jakarta-based designer Nikicio designed a flirty openback short dress that reflects a women's power and sexiness.

Other pretty red dresses:

By Nurita Harith

By Keith Png

By Hansel

source: go red for women

Beauty: changing tints

We love colour changes. First it was the clever Wonka gobstoppers and the rapid colour change of our tongue. Now beauty junkies will be swooning over the revolutionary mood lip gloss. Thanks to high tech science, we are now able to own different lip tints in one lip gloss.


First there's Smashbox's O-PLUMP Smashbox High Definition Concealer UMP Intuitive Lip Plumper With Goji Berry-C Complex™ which gives you a plump pink pout in a shade according to your personal skin chemistry. Talk about a haute couture lip gloss in a pret-a-porter store.


And how about the unedible version of gobstoppers - Too Faced Smurf gloss. From the name, we can see that this cult beauty brand's new product is inspired by the Smurfs. Thus colours range from Smurf blue to Smurf berry pink according to your body heat level. This is definitely a groovy lip gloss specially for the adventurous.





Dior Addict Lip Glow, part of Dior's new beauty collection Dior Colour Pop Summer 09, is a luxe new balm that boasts of similar colour reviver technology. Not only does the pink-beige color turn a different shade depending on the person, but it also varies depending on your mood. Containing wild mango and SPF10, this clever balm reacts to the moisture level in lips and create a custom shade to enhance the natural colour of the lips.





source: sephora, nylon

Spotlight: Elohim

"The label -Elohim in Hebrew means Jehovah Creative which also stands for God of Creativity."

- Designer Sabrina Goh on Elohim, during an interview with Cherry magazine

I first took notice of this young label when I heard it will be showcased during Audi fashion festival together with other upcoming brands. Elohim was created at the start of this year by Malaysian designer Sabrina Goh. Upon her graduation from Lasalle Singapore, she worked for various local brands and Sino London.

Her spring summer 09 collection will be showcased at the Blueprint 2009 featuring Blackmarket show. The entire collection is rather minimalist and understated. Silhouettes are crisp and clean, featuring well constructed vests and shift dresses. The play of textures and asymmetrical vs symmetrical structures was evident in this collection.

I particulary love the motif of LEGO. The statement accessories make the bulk of this collection of well-crafted clothes, such as the geometric lego necklaces and the lego-studded leggings. Overall this young brand has a long way to go and has the potential to develop into a full feleged pret-a-porter collection. It is currently stocked online and locally at Blackmarket and Hide & Seek.

source: sabrinagoh, cherry magazine