It’s an open secret in the fashion world that New York offers little in terms of creative design and much in terms of hype. But there are exceptions, the label InAisce being one of them. Its designer, Jona (last name undisclosed), was happy to offer us a preview of his new collection for men and women, called Pilgrim, that he will debut next week in Paris. Indulge in your nomadic dreams.
We reviewed the newest Deborah Turbeville’s book, The Fashion Pictures, in the first issue of SZ magazine. This week I was pleasantly surprised to find out that a selection of Turbeville’s photography is on view at Staley-Wise gallery, hidden above the hubbub of Broadway in SoHo.
The exhibit consists of twenty-one prints that transport you to another time and place. Beautifully haunted spaces are occupied by beautifully haunting models and it’s hard to believe that most of these photos were commercial work for US and Italian Vogue in 70s and 80s.
We covered the brilliant creations of Iris van Herpen, the Dutch haute couture designer who makes her otherworldly creations using 3-D printing, in the first issue of StyleZeitgeist magazine. Here is a video of her beautifully haunting show in Paris that took place this past summer. The clothes take on a completely different dimension when shown in motion.
Lumen et Umbra, the under-the-radar Italian label known for its deceptively simple menswear, introduced their first collection of womenswear in Paris earlier this month. Issei Fujita, the Japanese-born designer who has been working in Italy since 1999, has transferred the same understated complexity of his men’s garments into tops, skirts, pants, and jackets for women. Intarsia, a technique for embedding visual details into the knitwear by inserting different threads, was the idea behind some of the designs. Fujita studied Leonardo da Vinci’s drawings of the muscle groups, which he then implanted on the back of the cardigans and the front of his knit tops.
If the thought of peeking into a wealthy woman’s closet makes you feel uncomfortable, you are not alone. Surely there’s something odd about finding in a museum context what is ostensibly a display of personal taste (and a taste made possible by vast and inherited means, at that). And isn’t there also something improper — if deliciously so — about bringing something as intimate as a wardrobe before promiscuous public eyes?
But if the exhibition of Daphne Guinness’ wardrobe, currently on view at FIT, indulges our voyeuristic impulses, it also provides a rare opportunity to see the work of some of the finest minds and hands in fashion.
EXCLUSIVE TO STYLEZEITGEIST: Lost & Found shawls, limited edition of 10. 88% linen, 12% silk. Width, 135cm, length, 200cm. $250US/$275 global, including a copy of StyleZeitgeist Magazine, Volume 1, available in our market.