Wednesday, 29 July 2009

Damir Doma S/S '10 Runway Videos


He presented my favourite collection for the next spring/summer season in Paris.
He created a smoking new look in menswear.
His designs make me wonder every time I see them.
He is Damir Doma.

I don't talk to the wind, see videos of the whole collection and backstage below.
My review about the collection, can be found here.






In addition to the motion pictures, also read the official press release of the collection. I have to admit, nor could I conceive my thoughts better.

"Between spirituality and philosophy, Doma explores the delicate balance of humanforms and harmonizes the ongoing dialogue between body and soul.

Oversized and almost floating elements are meant to provide space between skin andgarment representing a new spiritual freedom allowing the mind to focus on life’selemental values.

With an understanding of humility and purity, Doma eliminates the unnecessary andconcentrates on the essentials of shapes and forms resulting in a heightened appreciationfor simplicity. No buttons or unnecessary trimmings were added to thegarments to maintain its integrity and mutual respect for the individual and nature.
Our relationship to nature and the things that permit our existence, is spoken throughthe colors, with white symbolizing purity, red the energy that rushes through our veinsand black’s thoughtfulness, the beginning, the end and what is still yet to be discovered.
Doma’s quest to fuse mind, body and spirit, stands as a trinity with fabrics, colors andshades as its loyal disciples."
~ Damir Doma

Regards, Miska

Pure Desire - Rozalb de Mura Unisex Painted Trousers



Perhaps it's a kind of fetishism, who knows... in any event, since I first saw I can't get it out of my head. Have you ever felt unappeasable carving to possess a piece of beauty? I think this feeling might be familiar for everyone in our materialistic world, and come on, fashion is all about that. Awaking the slumbering instincts and let them be free...

"... And do not take us into temptation..."
Why not?

Even if these unisex painted Rozalb de Mura trousers would be the perdition itself, I won't protest against them. They are more like a piece of heaven, fallen down to earth, and got dirty from the sky during the fall.


photos from Not Just A Label, retouched by me


"These statement making painted cotton trousers feature black embroidery on the thighs. "Vitezkotes", the Hungarian for "the string of the brave" is the beautifully embroidered black string that nowadays is a graphic decoration on the traditional Hungarian male costume. This is the symbol that ignited the Transylvanian designer's curiosity and made him delve into XIXth century cutting and assembling techniques." ~ Not Just A Label

Along with other beautiful creations, the pair of delight is available at Not Just A Label's webshop.
Harrowing desire, leave me alone...


Regards, Miska

Friday, 24 July 2009

Je Suis Belle Interview


I think, I can boldly declare, I'm loyal. This virtue of mine can be enjoyed mostly by those around me who are able to maintain my interest, and to acquire my appreciation.
While I circulate in the turnings and twistings of fashion, it always feels well returning to familiar, beloved places. Je Suis Belle is getting to be something like that for me.

I asked one half of the designer-duo about their adventure at the Berlin Fashion Week. Hope to see their brand growing bigger and bigger, fingers crossed.


Regards, Miska



JE SUIS BELLE INTERVIEW


About the premiére in Berlin:

MWM:
How did you gain admittance into the official program of Berlin Fashion Week? Were you looking for the opportunity or it found you?

Tibi Kiss:
- It was a common idea of Collegium Hungaricum Berlin and Kriszitna Csikós (the Room), to feature Hungarian designers at the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Berlin. Their support and persistence helped us to get into the official program. So, I would say that the opportunity found us, which we can only be really rejoiced by.

How did you prepare for the show? Did you participate in all phases of the organization?

- We were involved in all phases, but good people have hepled in the organization, work and coordination. Since the Berlin Fashion Week is quite an early one, and we got informed only 3 weeks before the date of the presentation, we knew that the program will be heavy. We prepared here, at home, but had a great help in Berlin, the Institute’s associate, Thea Sóti. We organized the invitations, the lighting, the models, the runway, the styling, the media and the audiance in parallel with the preparation of the collection. It was an enormous gig, but everyone took his part in it.




How were the feedbacks on the part of the profession and the public?

- Great! Susie Bubble and the Kingdom of Style wrote about us, the German Vogue also required our material, so did the Italian Glamour… The press is more interested in us now, but there’s much to be done in order to maintain this attention, there’s no time to sit back.


How did you feel in Berlin? How was the atmosphere of the Fashion Week?

- Berlin is a very good place, although we were only in the Mitte. It’s free, young and it’s fizzing. There was no time to explore the city, but the Collegium Hungaricum, and the place where we lived were in a nice neighborhood, and we were able to sneak out for half hours to sightsee a bit. We couldn’t really feel the atmosphere of the fashion week, because we were working constantly, and had not much time to go back an forth. As we’ve seen, it was very dynamic and fresh, like Berlin itself.


Was this a one-off time, or are you planning to return to Berlin for the following season?

- We plan to go back in January, and to make everything more clear, we’ve already started the negotiations.




About the collection:

Compared to the fall/winter season, you built this collection around a more fluid and less statuesque silhouette. The use of different painted materials gives a montage-like edge to the pieces. What inspired you while designing the collection?

- We were inspired mainly by picturesqueness, nature and personal nostalgia. We wanted to work anyhow with paintings, patch-like, large-scale materials. We wanted to reach nostalgic effects, not for a certain era, rather for something that everyone can find some personal relations with.


How did you work out the idea to collaborate with Attila Szűcs? How did you choose the paintings, that you used on the fabrics?

- We wanted to work together with contemporary painters, and we both already knew Attila’s artworks from the past. I met them in the course of my arthistory studies, and really liked them: like you can easily sink into their specific floating world. The combination of the colors is beautiful, but in the same time there’s something grotesque and a pinch of wry humor in them. Similar to our pieces… isn’t it?


What was the technique of producing the painted materials?

- The materials were prudced in Portugal. We found a great company, who could manufacture digitally printed fabrics at a reasonable price. We blowed up the paintings, slightly redesigned, and then posted them to the manufactory. After they returned the samples, we felt they’re going to be fine, and they can result in an exciting collection



In your opinion, which are the most powerful details of this collection? Which are those key-elements, that characterize Je Suis Belle in the sping/summer ’10 season?

- It was important to ease the cuts. We built the garments almost exclusively of squares, supplemented by delicate, feminine details: ruffles, small strings, draws. We particularly focused on the jewels; corals and turquoise were used. The shoes are our designs as well.


How do you see yourselves through your works? Where are you at the moment, and where are you going? What can we expect from you in the future?

- Since about the past two seasons we feel that our collections have settled down a bit, and they are targeting a little bit older age-group. I think it’s normal, and reflects the changes we are going through. We finished school, moved to the donwtown of Budapest into our showroom. These episodes all act upon our collections. And now that time has already came to give priority to the nature and the relaxation given by nature during designing. What to expect? Hard work, giving rise to thoughts and great clothes.


photos from Je Suis Belle, retouched by MWM

Saturday, 18 July 2009

Return of the Wayfarer



photo from Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman, 1968)


In the past two weeks it happend so, that I was under the necessity of roaming somewhere, very far from here, while actually sitting in one spot, just spun around my axis. It was like some kind of test, a hard observation.

However, it was difficult to experience the lack of everything which bent me here, since the first letter I've carefully placed on these pages; it wasn't in vain.

I'm back. For good. Intended.


Regards, Miska

Sunday, 5 July 2009

Qasimi's Higher State S/S '10 Film





Some of the top trends from the spring/summer '10 menswear runways seem to emerge in this short film (directed by Mariano Vivanco, styled by Robbie Spencer, featuring model Marlon Teixeira) to present the new collection of London based brand, Qasimi, entitled "Higher State".
The sensual adaptation of reworked traditional male garments by Qasimi, are expressing examples of a new tendency in men's fashion.
Transparency, organza and chiffon, airy drapes fused with tight cuts, gladiators, a touch of exotic inspiration, this time from the deserts. Characteristics of an interesting new look, which we've seen on many runways in the past few weeks. Ricardo Tisci for Givenchy or John Galliano also created their own variations on the theme, which might rule men's fashion next summer.


Regards, Miska

Thursday, 2 July 2009

Je Suis Belle at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin

I proudly announce, that the promising Hungarian designer duo, Je Suis Belle, is featured in the official program of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Berlin with their SS 2010 collection. The show will be presented as a part of the CHB - Fashion Days event organized by the Collegium Hungaricum Berlin.


Girl in red by Attila Szűcs, 2006.

Je Suis Belle is one of the most prominent representatives of the young Hungarian fashion-scene. They cleverly incorporating their signature style-elements from the very beginning into the evolution of the brand. For the spring/summer season of 2010 the desingners Dalma Dévényi and Tibi Kiss have chosen picturesqueness as the main line of their inspiration, both in abstract and in concrete sense. They collaborated with Attila Szűcs, talented young Hungarian contemporary artist and used four of his artworks, painted on the fabrics. The silhouettes were designed and shaped to emphasize the airy, loose, slightly deformed and effortless grace of the paintings. The result is a nostalgic but innovative collection, which reminds us to the Sundays dressed in glad rags, and keeps this feeling for every day.


Girl in "Girl in red", by Je Suis Belle, SS'10

Date and venue of the event:

Je Suis Belle SS'10 SHOW
July 3rd, 2009, 22.00

Panorama Hall Collegium Hungaricum Berlin
By invitation only.
Street Screening for the public without invitation.


For further information visit CHB's site, as well as for more artwork from Attila Szűcs follow this link.


Regards, Miska