House of fun
22 December
London based-fashion designer Matty Bovan has created a selection prismatic of Christmas wreaths for House of Voltaire. Created from marble foam, plaster and bedazzling jewels, the decorations are an acid-trip take on festivity.
Hybrid handbags
21 December
Renowned for creating clothes that defy classification, Sacai’s Chitose Abe has turned her hybrid aesthetic to handbag design. Collaborating with Katie Hillier on her debut bag collection, the six enigmatic styles, crafted in soft leather, crocodile skin and mink act as spliced versions of archetypal silhouettes.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Wool worth
20 December
This season sees the return of an exclusive C.P. Company fabric, which was developed by designers Paul Harvey and Alessandro Pungetti four years ago. Named Shetland SL, a heavy-duty lycra is formed by bonding light weight traditional yarn-dyed wool.
The team worked with a bouclé yarn for the first time, which was typically used for men’s outerwear in the 1950’s and 60’s. Combined with the Shetland SL technique, the fabric boosts the coat’s protective qualities whilst maintaining the natural elasticity of the wool fabric.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Feeling Plein
19 December
The latest addition to the New Bond Street fashion mile, Claudio Pironi & Partners, the architecture practice who designed Philipp Plein’s expansive Milanese showroom, has worked with the German fashion designer on his new London flagship. The majestic three-floor store boasts marble, gold and mirrored surfaces, bedecked with Plein’s idiosyncratic logoed and rhinestone finishes.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Seeing clearly
19 December
New Zealand-based sunglass maker Karen Walker has used industrial acetate and monel in her debut range of clear lenses. The vintage-like oversized frames are the ultimate eccentric optical update.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Mythic method
15 December
The casual aesthetic of German brand Closed and the delicate yet humorous embroideries of designer Jackie Villevoye are brought together in a three-piece line launching in spring next year. Villevoye, the founder of Jupe by Jackie, worked together with her team of master artisans in India, who hand-stitch the mythological creatures directly onto the garments.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
On the right track
14 December
Go-faster stripes race through Smythson’s new luggage offering for S/S17, with every piece from the Burlington Stripe collection boasting bold hand-printed navy and blue track lines. The pattern pays homage to the heritage brand’s signature jacquard, used in the lining of the Bond Street bag, which was the first ever produced by Frank Smythson in 1902.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Travel right
13 December
Robe de Voyage work with a collective of talented weavers in Bihar, East India, to craft its lightweight khadi cotton and silk travel robes. Scribble, the first print in the collection, which evokes rippled sunlight on water, was hand-painted by founder Jessica Linklater in her London studio, and then screen-printed in Delhi. Constructed in vibrant colourways, bright oranges, salty blues and rich reds were inspired by landscapes in Zanzibar, Kyoto and Malabar.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Stiff sophistication
12 December
Renowned for its attention to American craftsmanship, FRAME has collaborated with Cone, the oldest fabric mill in the US on its debut range of rigid denim. Reimagining 11 archive styles, including denim jackets and its signature cropped bootcut silhouette, the faded and frayed finishes are inspired by vintage denim fabrics.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Into the wild
9 December
Inspired by his childhood spent overseas, men’s artistic director Kim Jones has brought a piece of Africa with him to the Louis Vuitton menswear pop-up shop in Selfridges. Teaming up with regular collaborators the Chapman brothers, Jake and Dinos have added wild flair to the pop-up with African animal illustrations. Customers can also enjoy exclusive products from the pre-spring/summer 2017 and S/S 2017 shows and shop at the brand’s denim bar.
Writer: Aylin Bayhan
Have you met Suzy?
8 December
Bally has a new addition to its ever expanding accessories family, and the Suzy bag is its disco-centric little sister. Showing off the same B Turn lock, its smaller shape and gold chain shoulder strap is both youthful and rebellious. Stepping out in studded, block and tri-colour versions of suede, python and calfskin, it makes for most B-loved dance floor date.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Prada’s plush interiors update
7 December
Constantly revitalising the interior design of its store spaces, Prada has added velvet accents, geometric carpeting and exquisite glass and marble furniture to its Harrods concession in London. Exclusive Osvaldo Borsani chairs in plush strawberry pink complement the colourful furs on display, while the marble, steel and glass finishes of tables and counters reflect the embellishments of bags and costume jewellery. These luxurious updates are also featured at Prada’s Monte-Carlo outpost.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
California dreaming
6 December
Personalised gift curation service Assembly of Objects has looked to the creative flair of California for its new collection of bespoke gift boxes. In limited edition runs of 100, founder Zoë Black has curated gift sets for him, her and new mother and baby, exquisitely packaged in screen-printed wooden boxes. Covetable gifts found inside include artisanal linen-bound notebooks, copper coffee measuring scoops and hand-dyed shibori silk scarves.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Glow with the flow
5 December
In 1996, Calvin Klein commissioned the artist Dan Flavin to create Untitled, a configuration of red and white tube lights, which opened on Madison Avenue a month after his death. Lighting large storefront windows and doorways, Flavin’s installations are on view once more at the NYC flagship, acting as a minimalist antidote to overblown festive decoration.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Raw materials
2 December
G-Star Raw has experimented once more with Italian selvedge denim for the launch of its first RAW Research capsule collection. Launching tomorrow at Dover Street Market in London, Tokyo and NYC, the 20-piece collection features G-Star Raw's new Rackam 3D denim jeans in bleached-white, and a bomber jacket that can be strapped to and carried on the shoulders, in untreated raw indigo.
Writer: Laura Hawkins
Perfectly measured
1 December
Neapolitan tailor Kiton has added a bespoke floor to its newly expanded and refurbished Munich boutique. The floor is devoted entirely to a bespoke tailoring service offering German customers an opportunity to experience the artisanal approach that exemplifies the brand. The store will also stock an exclusive selection of Kiton fabrics selected from the personal archives of brand founder Ciro Paone.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Woolly two-shoes
30 November
Awarded the New Zealand design award for best product recently, Allbirds is making a name for itself in an oversaturated trainers market where logos are ubiquitous. For Allbirds founders Tim Brown and Joey Zwillinger comfort comes first. In New Zealand, they source sustainble merino wool – never used in footwear before – which has incredible airing and isolating qualities; the footwear is then produced by Italian mills. Expect flocks of fans.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Magic circles
29 November
Black, deconstructed and minimalistic, Yohji Yamamoto’s sunglasses collection for spring/summer 2017 casts a spell on us. With curves in all the right places, the styles feature rounded glasses in an array of metal frames.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Wool power
28 November
There’s more than meets the eye with Danish brand Carcel. The brainchild of social entrepreneur Veronica D'Souza, Carcel works together with inmates in a women’s prison in Cusco, Peru to produce knitwear made of 100 per cent fine alpaca wool. Designed by Louise van Hauen, the minimal shapes come in many colours, combining comfort with Scandinavian cool. Via Carcel, the women have a market to sell their products. ‘We pay them $15 for one sweater', Souza explains. 'This adds up to more than three times the minimum wage in Peru.' Carcel’s next collection – made entirely made out of organic silk – is to be manufactured by women in India. Stay tuned.
Writer: Vas Panagiotopoulos
Golden eye
25 November
In the Noughties, Citizens of Humanity was synonymous with fitted and flared styles of denim that elevated jeans into the designer realm. Today, the brand has grown bigger than that, boasting four sub-labels. One of these is Goldsign, a denim brand that designer Karen Phelps was tasked with reviving. Phelps created a modern aesthetic that’s nonetheless soft around the edges. By laundering the fabrics before sewing them, she reverses the usual denim manufacturing process. The result: relaxed, super soft separates that cut a slightly 1970s silhouette.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Into the fray
24 November
Italy-based brand Alanui brings ethnic flair to your modern day look. Founder Nicolo Oddi’s unisex Navaro jacquard cashmere cardigans offer a vibrant tone of Indian American patterns, framed by fringed-edges that feel decidedly relaxed. Eleven hours of knitting and assembling goes into creating each cashmere piece. Worth a trip to Selfridges in London, Tsum in Moscow and Beymen in Istanbul.
Writer: Aylin Bayhan
Bags of attitude
23 November
Each season Kris Van Assche revisits Dior’s iconic house monogram in a capsule accessories collection for Dior Homme. For A/W 2016, the designer taps his rebellious streak with overprinted checks, embroidered streaks and paint splashes running riot on coated canvas backpacks and travel bags. A series of works by Japanese artist Toru Kamei completes the collection.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Danish debut
22 November
Danish designer Martine Jarlgaard, who previously worked as head of Diesel’s female apparel, has launched her eponymous line. Jarlgaard’s debut during London Fashion Week showed sculptural silhouettes in minimalist tones which were made of organic and recycled fabrics.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Roll up, roll up
18 November
In Fellini’s fantasy world, the circus was a major fascination figuring in the legendary director's films, from La Strada to I Clowns. On the occasion of its new Double T Circus bag, Italian leather goods brand Tod’s revisits this festive theme in the holiday windows of its Madison Avenue boutique. Decorated with a red-and-white striped circus tent dotted with acrobats, the scenes were devised by none other than the Academy Award-winning set designer Dante Ferretti. With these three Italian favourites lined-up, the circus comes full circle.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Knitted and booted
17 November
Camper has widened its young talent collaborations with designer duo Eckhaus Latta, New York Fashion Week’s underground stars. Reworking the block-heeled boot to meet the athletic sock, the result is a knitted shoe that comes in off-white, grey and mustard. The shoe’s offbeat aesthetic was captured in motion, as actress/model Hari Nef’s stormed through the torrid plains of Mallorca.
Writer: Aylin Bayhan
Vibrant vision
16 November
The bold and the beautiful come together in Roksanda Ilincic’s debut sunglasses collection, made in collaboration with luxury eyewear brand Cutler and Gross. Vivid, contrasting colours clash with geometric lines in handmade frames of the highest quality Italian acetate. The sunglasses are the latest addition to Roksanda’s growing accessories range.
Writer: Jason Hughes
The rainmakers
15 November
As designers make increasingly clever use of 3D printing, Alexander McQueen is the latest to foray into digital fabrication with its new 'Black Skull' umbrella. McQueen enlisted a helping hand in the form of Berlin-based company VOJD Studios, which specialises in luxury 3D printed goods. Created from a cast of a handprint, the ergonomic handle was scanned in 3D and then printed, so as to fit organically and comfortably in any grasp. The asymmetric handle has been galvanised to achieve the resulting high-shine, mirror finish, and a slim brass stem leads up to a wide, canopy, embroidered with the classic McQueen skull emblem.
Photography: courtesy of Ssense
Writer: Elly Parsons
Give and take
14 November
Free shopping may seem like an oxymoron, but Lablaco Give, a new social app that focuses on fashion, promises a proxy to it. The brainchild of Lorenzo Albrighi, Lablaco Give offers a solution for fashion’s waste problem by creating a framework within which surplus clothing can be given away.
Conceived as a ‘free vintage store’, givers and followers can find each other locally and share clothing by picking the garment up in person or by using DHL, a world-wide Lablaco partner, for delivery. The cost can then be split or taken on by a chosen party. Albrighi sees the potential of the app to develop into a hub for philanthropy as well, explaining, ‘There’s an option named Crowd Giving, for areas which may be affected by natural calamities such as earthquakes.’
Writer: Siska Lyssens
High spirits
11 November
Two German tastemakers are set to combine tomorrow in Berlin. Discerning boutique Andreas Murkudis – where clothing is just one aspect of the beautiful objects displayed – will open its doors to host the tenth anniversary celebration of Stählemühle, a fine brandy distillery. Three of the company’s best vintage flavours - Constantinople apple quince, Sicilian blood orange and Nymphenburg cornelian cherry – are bottled for the occasion in the finest Nymphenburg porcelain, an artisan product with a history going back more than 266 years. Actually, make that two German tastemakers – and one historical authority on craftsmanship.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Art and soul
10 November
Having recently joined Mount Street’s distinguished retail arena, J&M Davidson brushes up its art credentials, launching a new collaboration with fashion illustrator Tanya Ling. With every purchase from the A/W 2016 handbag collection, the brand will offer a personal customisation option. The 'Belle', 'Olivia' (pictured) and 'Oona' bags become canvases for Ling’s artistic endeavours, transforming them into abstract, sculptural works. Customers will be able to purchase any bag from the Mayfair boutique and order the unique commission to be painted on them until 31 January.
Writer: Aylin Bayhan
Slope star
9 November
Neil Barrett takes to the slopes for A/W 2016, with the release of his first skiwear collection. Hooded anoraks and quilted jackets come emblazoned with modernist graphic motifs and the brands' emblematic thunderbolt, while ski-pants come with tailored front pleats or a tuxedo-inspired stripe running down the leg. Informed by Barrett’s distinctive menswear vision, the skiwear collection combines modern luxury with performance materials.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Jean genie
8 November
From patches to tassels and your initials – or even Wallpaper’s asterisk, if so inclined – the new M.i.h online customisation service makes personalised denim possible. It’s not just the brand’s jeans that are cut out for it; even non-M.i.h denim can be sent in for upcycling. Besides the different personalisations (think custom cuts and patch packs) there is also the option to craft a one-off look, completely tailored to anything you can dream up. The project is an on-going service with new components added to the service each season.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Reformation station
7 November
Reformation has built a reputation for affordable, original and feminine clothing that’s on the right side of dressy, with the added benefit of sustainable awareness. They’re opening up a temporary shop on London’s Monmouth Street today, with an interesting retail concept that allows customers to shop from touch screens while also trying on the clothes, and then have the purchases shipped home for free. The pared-down space is airy, with white walls and parquet floors. Dressing rooms and a seating corner are furnished in muted cream, pink carpets and leafy shrubs – an LA code of cool.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
If the shoe fits
4 November
For Salvatore Ferragamo, one’s personal tastes are equally important to quality and craftsmanship when deciding which shoes to wear. A made-to-order option was therefore not far on the horizon for the Italian footwear brand, and they’ve taken their iconic Giglio men’s line as the foundation of that personalized program. The Oxford, The Monkstrap and the Monkstrap boot will be open to bespoke input on material, colour and buckle finish, along with personalized lettering on the sole. Named Tramezza, the service is available in stores and online.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Patchwork players
3 November
If you ever dreamed of wearing a crying moon on your sweater, or fantastical flora and fauna patches all over your jeans, now’s your chance. Visual artist Frances Upritchard has left her mark on a capsule collection with fashion designers – and longtime friends and collaborators – Peter Pilotto and Christopher De Vos. Everyday separates like tops, sweaters and stonewashed denim are transformed under Upritchard’s artful watch, with ancient Peruvian embroidery, colourful fraying and more. Created in exclusive collaboration with matchesfashion.com under Amex's partnership umbrella, it’s a perfectly tuned coupling that sees cultures collide.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Colour blocking
2 November
British design icons Paul Smith and Anglepoise have joined forces to create a new version of the latter's classic Type 75 Desk Lamp. Taking inspiration from artists Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg’s De Stijl movement, primary colours come out to play in the lamp's graphic palette of white, red, yellow and blue.
Writer: Jason Hughes
Arm candy
1 November
Strap on, pouch off - the Transformer bag (pictured right) by Theory is the brand’s first customisable cross-body bag. It is part of Theory’s inaugural accessories collection, designed by newly minted creative director Rory O’Hanlon. The Transformer allows you to build your own bag by selecting from a range of straps and up to three pouches. From calf hair and suede, to shearling and patchwork fur, each pouch can easily be removed or adapted for a different look. Also new to the Theory family is the Whitney (left), a clever piece in which jewellery and handbag design come together.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Westwood on Westwood
31 October
Get A Life, Vivienne Westwood urges us in characteristic irreverent fashion, with a collection of diary entries meant to spur the reader into activism. Taking us along on her trips to, among others, the Amazon rainforest and to David Cameron’s Cotswolds home – as well as opening up about her daily fashion responsibilities – Westwood shows us the inside of her mind and the back of her tongue in these compelling and detailed diaries. On these pages, she admits: ‘I don’t like sounding bossy even though I’ve got strong opinions.’
Get A Life, by Vivienne Westwood, £16.99, published by Serpent's Tail.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Accessories with Mr A
27 October
A collaboration based on a good story is one that has legs – literally in the case of André Saraiva, the Paris-based artist who stumbled upon a pair of vintage Bally boots from 1973 while packing for a trip. He still liked the boots so much that he wanted his girlfriend to have a pair too. So Saraiva and Pablo Coppola, design director at Bally, got down to work on redesigning the boots and creating, in the process, a small leather goods capsule collection that’s embossed by Saraiva’s graffiti-artist alter ego, Mr A – a cheery, top-hatted, leggy stick figure.
Writer: Siska Lyssens
Álvaro González’s boot debut
26 October
This season, sandal specialist Álvaro González takes his first steps into the world of women’s boots. Featuring an almond toe and a straight leg, the unfussy design comes both in a knee-high and ankle version – both with a chunky wooden heel. The boots are fully lined in shearling and crafted from a single piece of calf leather by artisans in workshops around Florence. Available exclusively on matchesfashion.com.
Writer: Lune Kuipers
Signature simplicity
25 October
Azzedine Alaïa, as usual, presented his S/S 2017 collection only once it felt right. The latest line-up was rich with graphic detail and desirable, beautifully developed silhouettes – all while furthering the designer’s reliable repertoire of sculpted leather, athletic knit dresses and flawless tailoring. You need only consider the opening look, a peasant dress in the supplest leather marked with a single saw-toothed band of red and cinched with moulded belt, to realize how his simplest statements are wondrously deceiving. Swishing dotted fringes and arrangements of studs – an Alaïa signature – transitioned from grid-like formation to curving, swooping lines down and around the length of his dresses. When one of the optical illusion motifs played out as a jacket and maxi handkerchief skirt total look, the result was movement within movement.
Writer: Amy Verner
The beautiful game
24 October
Football in China is enjoying a groundbreaking sartorial boost, with the national team stepping out in a crisp new capsule wardrobe of off-field formal and leisurewear, designed and made by Italian menswear brand Ermenegildo Zegna.
Zegna’s newly-appointed artistic director Alessandro Sartori was responsible for the bespoke new look, that comprises a navy blue, single-breasted Trofeo fabric suit with a scarlet lining (a nod to the official Chinese colour), paired with a soft white shirt, a pocket square and black Derby shoes. A contemporary take on the classic raincoat completes the ensemble.
The leisure side of the collection sees slim-cut denim jeans, a full zip sweatshirt, a navy blue backpack and the highlight – a triple-stitch trainer in a fire-red grained calf leather.
‘Over the past 100 plus years, Zegna has been dedicated to creating a contemporary look for men of all ages and from all walks of life, among them artists, successful businessmen and athletes,’ CEO Gildo Zegna says. ‘The way we look at it, art, sports and fashion are interlinked on many levels.’ We agree that it’s a perfect fit.
The triple stitch sneakers are available in stores in other colour variations; a red version may become available to the public in the future.
Writer: Catherine Shaw
Private rooms
21 October
There are still four months left to discover ‘Rik Wouters & the Private Utopia’, a thematic exhibition at Antwerp’s ModeMuseum (MoMu), which zooms in on the Post-Impressionist painter and his intimate domestic scenes. Wouters’ expressive style hasn’t lost its dynamism, and is translated in works by a number of contemporary artists and designers included in the exhibition.
One of these is fashion designer Dirk Van Saene, who, together with The Woolmark Company, has created a picturesque rug as lively as Wouters’ brushstrokes, and which was hand-tufted by a family-owned firm in the western Belgian city of Moeskroen.
A rug based on Van Saene's one will be on display at Biennale Interieur in Kortrijk until 23 October, at the 'Limited Edition' booth.
Writer: Siska Lyssens