Aug 7, 2009 | Fashion
Tia Cibani’s Ports 1961 Fall 2009 presentation took guests on an exotic journey to India, set during Mughal Dynasty. The Red Baratt Festival! Dhol ‘n’ brass band performed music derived from traditional Punjabi Bhangra, to which the models strutted, swathed in rich gold, saffron orange, henna red, ruby, begonia pink, sandy beige, moonstone gray, and jasmine white. Long and layered, short and lame – the collection represented the vibrancy of India’s past enhanced by the regal textures of tapestry tweeds, jacquards, brocades, filmy silks, and intricate lace. Offering both her version of the traditional Indian sari and more Western-inspired structured coats, the designer produced some fabulous pieces in her attention to detail: the jeweled collar of a ruffle-hem cropped jacket, for example; the ruby piping between the fingers on the above-elbow tan leather gloves; the gilt buttons down the front of an asymmetrical-closure stewardess dress; soft ballerina-style slippers in muted shades; a black on black seamed Nigella damask dress. Though many garments seemed to be loose-fitting at the waist, merely hinting at the feminine form, they embodied the modesty and grace of the traditional Indian woman by revealing just enough skin to be sexy. However, some of the designer’s interpretation of the Indian influence seemed to be slightly exploitative and what one would imagine “stereotypical;” the hot pink sari, the overly-gilded heavy Achkan coat; and the Angarkha jackets could have been pulled from the costume racks of any Hollywood Indian film. It was when the colors were most muted and tailoring most detailed that the pieces stood out, and even garnered some discussion and nods of approval from front row faces Olivia Palermo, Anna Wintour, Grace Coddington, and a whole bevy of Vogue-ettes. The softly loose romantic curls in the hair, the shimmery nude makeup, and the accessories styling of the models was top-notch, though, and helped smooth over the discordant notes to create a collection that, though a bit uneven from start to finish, still felt unified in elegance.
Some photos from
Style.com‘s Marcio Medeira below:
And below, my photo:
Sorry for the Japanese – I sent this crappy photo I took to my MIL to prove Anna Wintour was really there, so I subtitled it for her. Well, we all know who it is!
What do you guys think of the collection?
xoxxo
Carly
Aug 2, 2009 | Fashion
(handmade dress from Dockers men’s shirt, Ebay DIY clutch, DIY silver necklace, jelly flats, Jeans Warehouse sunglasses)Hub says my new hat makes me look like a Columbian druglord (no offense to druglords intended LOL:-). I made this dress out of an old shirt of Said Detractor…I posted the step-by-step tutorial (along with my crappy illustrations) here. The dress has hidden straps that I can wear tied as a halter, tucked down and hidden, or as regular spaghetti straps.
The clutch I bought on Ebay after I had seen a similarly shell-adorned Lulu Guinness clutch (above) at Neiman Marcus…it was on sale for $75 I think, but I didn’t buying it and ended up kicking myself for awhile…so I bought a half-moon straw clutch on Ebay (turned out a little more orange than I expected, haha) and sewed on some little conch shells and added a raffia tie to the zipper pull, as well as some raffia braid around the edge of the bag. I kind of like how it turned out, even though it is Oompa-Loompa-colored!! LOL.
The necklace I’m wearing is my DIY version of the
Elsa Peretti Tiffany Bean Necklace…I couldn’t justify spending the $95 for the real one (I am such a cheapskate!!) so I formed one out of Art Clay Silver and fired it. (If you haven’t heard of
Art Clay Silver, it’s the precursor to Precious Metal Clay that’s available more widely in the U.S…you can mold it like clay but then when you fire it over a gas burner or with a little creme brulee kitchen torch (or in a mini-kiln…sure we all have one of those, don’t we???) the paper binder and water is burned off and you’re left with 99.7% pure silver. So you can make pendants, silver components for jewelry, rings, and even small sculptures. It’s really easy to work with and the results are beautiful. Gordon K. Uyehara is an Art Clay Silver artist I adore (happens to be from Hawaii); his work is spectacular – you can view it
at this link if you’re interested. If you guys are interested in the DIY tutorial for ACS stuff, I’ll definitely put it up, just let me know!
And remember jelly flats? I has a pair of them when I was 7 that I wore for 3 months straight until they literally fell to pieces. Well they’ve come back in style again, and some brands are offering styles for adults…so I opted for this spiderwebby-looking pair (that was $7 from my local Fred Meyer – shhh! Don’t tell anyone:-) They’re the spitting image of the
Melissa Compana Corallo Jelly Ballet Flats (sold at Saks 5th for $60 hahaha)…and they’re so cheap they don’t even have a brand imprinted on their soles. Love at first sight!
xoxox
Carly J. Cais
Jul 30, 2009 | Fashion
Jelly Garcia
(sorry for the excessively-pixellated photos; they’re what was on the company’s site)
Jelly Garcia (love the name) is a Japanese brand that is one of my faves. I always stop by where they’re sold when I’m in Tokyo. The pieces are drapey, multi-functional, soft, and unusual, mixing bohemian and industrial sensibilities. (more after the jump)…
Here is the woebegone English description (directly from their website): “Jelly Garcia was launched in 2002 for the autumn/winter collection in Japan. The brand aims to establish conceptual ideas as the inspiration for cloth making. The notion of elegance is explored and constantly experimented, mainly through the military style. Different concepts are incorporated for each season to create a piece of clothing that has always an “elegance factor”.
“The anatomy, also the study of materials is particularly considered at the pattern making stage. They are then put under production often using materials that are invented originally or exclusively manipulated in our own method to create the classic design.”
Designer Hideaki SAKAGUCHI was born in 1973 in Tokyo, Japan, and after briefly working for DC meson, founded EXPERT WORKS TOKYO co. ltd. He then established his own label “Jelly Garcia Premium Wear.”
“Our aim is to create “the most beloved piece of garment” in wardrobes.”
Qojelly
Qojelly (with the “Q” pronounced like a “K”) is kind of the little sister to Jelly Garcia (“Ko” means “child” or “younger/smaller” etc. in Japanese). It’s a little more youthful and is smaller in scope, putting out fewer pieces each season, and offering more accessories and shoes. Below, some photos from some past Qojelly collections:
A pair of Qojelly shoes I bought last year:
They have these 2 long leather thongs attached that you can tie around the middle frilly part of the shoe, or twine around the shoe and up your ankle. They kind of look like girly spats to me.:-)
This is the Jelly Garcia dress I bought last time I visited 55Hotel Boutique at LaForet Harajuku [a huge shopping plaza mall in the heart of Harajuku in Tokyo]. I love the industrial feel to the straps and the heavy-duty canvas fabric couple with the beautiful asymmetrical hem and feminine cotton gauze lining. It’s adjustable and can be configured into multiple styles (which I love – that was one of the premises of my old line RIVETED when I launched it 2 years ago). A couple photos below:
Configuration 1: Outer layer zipped and snapped closed, waist drawstrings pulled and tied.
(Jelly Garcia dress, Jeans Warehouse tank, DKNY jeans, Steve Madden flats)
Configuration 2: Outer layer open, inner layer tied halter-style around neck.
Configuration 3: Outer layer open, one side of inner layer spread open and wound around neck, other side laced under the outer layer strap to tie at back.
I wish I were more photogenic so the true beauty of this dress could be seen. I was even wearing it when I had a fashion sketch done of me at the tents at New York Fashion Week this past February. (Chambord was doing this free promotion thing.)
I had belted the dress above with a thin studded black belt.
It is indeed “the most beloved garment” in my wardrobes. (And when I put it on to take the photos my son said “Oh Mama! You’re wearing a pretty dress!” Testimony enough.)
-Carly J. Cais
UPDATE (8/2009): Jelly Garcia Premium Wear has now changed its name to “The Dress & Co” (though QoJelly, retained under The Dress & Co label, remains the same. They will apparently be showcasing a collection to an international audience in New York in October 2009 (though not affiliated with Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week).
Jul 26, 2009 | Fashion
(Photos: courtesy of G-Star RAW; Blond model photo: by Scott Wintrow/Getty Images North America)
On Tuesday, Feb, 17 G-Star RAW presented their latest collection in a spectacle of a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom, and yours truly was in attendance, courtesy of FashionTribes.com. The huge ballroom with its echoing ceilings and gilt pillars was packed with guests, including Micha Barton, Natascha Beddingfield, Miss J. Alexander, Robert Verdi, Shenae Grimes, and Tyson Beckford. On a stage separated by a translucent curtain, live classical music was played on two grand pianos, while male and female models alternated stomping down the W-shaped runway. The latter half of the show was marked by actor Benicio del Toro
appearing onstage and reciting as spoken word poetry, the lyrics of Joy Division’s song ‘Candidate.’ G-Star chose the song based on its connection to the film Control from renowned Dutch photographer/director Anton Corbijn, who curated G-Star’s Spring 2009 advertising campaign. Del Toro’s art intervention transitioned the show from traditional catwalk to a G-Star finale, as ‘Candidate’ played in the background, reached a crescendo, and ended the show with all the models standing behind the translucent curtain. (More after the jump…)
The pieces showcased in the collection represented G-Star in its purest form as a luxury denim brand. NY Raw Fall/Winter 2009 magnified the brand’s signature detailing to an unprecedented level; each garment, created by the in-house atelier, blended the finest material, sophisticated design, and extreme utilitarian functionality. Though I‘ll personally be skipping the drop-crotch denim carpenter harem pants, almost every single coat (both men’s and women’s) was to die for. Innovative dying, overdying, and washing techniques had produced amazing denim fur (!) and varnished denim. Extensive bindings and buckles, high-stance necklines, oversized pockets and straps gave the collection a rugged, industrial feel. The multi-belted trenches, aviator jackets with goggles attached to the hoods, plethora of pockets, leather detailing, peacoats, high-shine denim, chunky knit scarves – all evoked an Aviator-meets post-apocalyptic feel that seemed on-trend and current in today’s market.
Below, see all the women’s looks and a few standouts from the men’s:
-Carly J. Cais
Jul 26, 2009 | Fashion
Yup – when it rains, it pours. Yet another mention of my dinky little blog out there on the WWW. (This time I had nothing to do with it…they found it and reposted it on their own.) And this was on FashionIndie…one of the hugest fashion sites there is! I was so proud…but I can’t take all the credit! I wrote the original post for FashionTribes.com, and it was due to the wonderful talents of my editor Lesley Scott that my bumbling loquaciousness was crafted into a really slick DIY post. Thank you Lesley for all your hard work! Read the original post here.
Jul 24, 2009 | Fashion
Like beaded waterfalls draping the body, James Murray Jewelry ranges from the fun and flirty to the dark and gothic. Designer James Murray has been styling photoshoots since the early 1990’s, but couldn’t find the jewelry he envisioned while on set. This lead to him creating his own, and from there everything took off. He began making pieces for friends and family, and growing interest lead to him selling in a variety of retail stores and creating jewelry for runway shows such as Vera Wang, Rebecca Danenberg, and Gottex. Featured in Glamour and In Style magazines, he has also made pieces for pop star Nadia Ali, Cindi Crawford, Good Morning America, Jacqueline Smith, and Lara Flynn Boyle. The multi-talented designer is currently working on some jewelry for a film that is slated to begin filming in august.
“I am fortunate to have so much to inspire me,” says James Murray, “New York itself is an endless source of beauty – its glittering buildings, restaurants and the men and women who live here. I’m fascinated by the complexities and contradictions we see every day! The vegan who chain smokes, the hotshot lawyer who takes off in the middle of the day to finger paint with her child, the frenetic creative director putting doing a million things at once while her smile flirts to a man across the street whom she won’t see again – it’s great.”
“Women in New York pay a lot of attention to their accessories even when they are simple. Adding something that is classic, like glass pearls, but amping up the glamour factor is what I like. You can wear the Anna necklace to the ballet or with your t-shirt and jeans out to dinner. The “rules” for what is street wear and what is evening wear have become a lot more fluid and my designs are in concert with that. A crystal Burst bracelet may be worn next to a Cartier watch or a Sanskrit tattoo—and both are great.”
And not everything in the collection is high couture. Many of his pieces are now on sale for $25 and under, like these beautiful Swarovski Crystal and Glass Bead Earrings (Blue), $18 (above). See the full collection and shop at JamesMurrayJewelry.com.
