For The Boys: A Shingle Thing

   

    With the label's recent retail inauguration on London's favorite sartorial street, it was all Savile Row hyper-tailored tradition at McQueen this season. That is, tradition with all of the witty twists one has come to expect from Burton. Crisp button shirts boasted exaggerated collars, ancestral pinstripes were given a new lease with cleverly concocted panelling, and a fantastic stained-glass jacquard almost mocked formalities, lending culture to the creation of a bold statement print. Not to mention the presence of some rather unsettling plastic 'killers' masks'..

    True, the collection may not have been as gasp-inducing as say, J.W. Anderson's audacious micro-mini shifts, but it held true to the Alexander aesthetic: impeccable tailoring with a hint of dextrous darkness. 

    Which brings us to the perfection of the cinematic gothic glamour of the styling. Lensed back stage by Another's Alina Negoita, we get a good ogle of hair maven Guido Palau's neo-shingle and the magnetic noir of this season's maquillage... 

    

       








































...of which, along with the boudoir-to-business layering of suit jacket over house robe, I am hoping, but perhaps not truly anticipating to see adopted on the street in the fall to come.

An Old Friend Returns, A New Face Appears

    Some months ago I lauded, or rather obsessed, over the delightful facial qualities of up-and-comer model Kolfinna Kristófersdóttir. Would you know it, the folks over at Another seem to have joined the fanclub too...

    Lensed by Ben Toms, and styled by Robbie Spencer, Mz. K was snapped for the AW 13 issue collections editorial alongside another of my new favorite new faces Kremi Otashliyska...

    ...Her eyebrows are what dreams are made of, and her piercing glare of disinterested detachement makes us wish we were cool enough to be her friend. Here's hoping we shall be seeing a lot more of the both of these funny faces.

     For the full editorial, see here

London Calling

    The rain is pouring, BC parents are rabble-rabbling about report card-snubbed children...and life couldn't be sweeter. New York Fashion Week is a wrap, which means it's time for all of my favorite fashion darlings across the pond to flaunt their wares on the London catwalk. No room for menial everyday tasks or To-Do lists in the day planner, my Moleskine is chock full of Must-Sees and fresh scoutables. 

    In like British manner of hype is the release of Another Magazine's Sp/Su 2012 issue. Starring The Tree of Life's Jessica Chastain on the cover (rocking a most magnificent 40's pomp, I might add),  Another's latest features an intimate conversation between Sarah Burton and Susannah Frankel, which has me in fits of anticipation. Accompanying the piece are stills from She Builds Domes in the Air, a 16mm film exclusive. Directed by Catherine Sullivan, the film has model Kristen McMenamy stalking stunning and spectral in Burton's third collection since taking rein (and divine reign) of the McQueen house... 

       "Although there are elements of this collection that are quite dark, even sinister, there's always a romance to it, a delicacy. Empowerment and protection: working here, you always have to bring it back to Alexander."

     No words can express my impatience with the delay between the England release, and the Canadian delivery dates. Alas, for now I will have to sooth my beleaguered soul with the wondrous offerings of London Fashion Week. Stay tuned for many a fine British find. For now, a song...

Like a Shot of Whisky

    One of my favorite classes at Blanche was Fashion Awareness. Each week, I would look forward to those four hours where I could sit back and twine my fingers about the strands of time that brought us to where we are today in fashion. My lovely teacher Peggy, a collector of fashion relics and personal wardrobe packrat, would bring in period pieces appropriate to the decade being studied to each class. One of the most memorable of Peggy's treasures came about when we were studying the 50s and 60s; a gorgeous red cocktail dress that Audrey Hepburn had worn in a deleted scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's. Tracing the pattern, and running my fingers along the intricate structure of the bodice, I recall being enchanted not only with the fact that I was actually touching a garment that had been constructed by Hubert de Givenchy, but that it had once held the fragile and graceful form of one of history's most spellbinding muses.

   If anybody can relate to this sense of awe and admiration of Audrey (which I think, a vast majority of us  do), it would be photographer Bob Willoughby, who was present at her first unveiling to the press of a starlet on the rise in 1953, and continued a lifelong relationship of photographic affair...

    Recently released by renowned publishing house Taschen is a collection of these loving photographs. Showcasing Willoughby's most iconic shots, and the intimate moments in between, it is a volume any Hepburn admirer would kill to have on their shelf. And you might have to, as there are only 1,000 signed and numbered copies in circulation.

   " I really didn't know what to make of Audrey when I first saw her...she did have something...but I couldn't quite put my finger on it until I was finally introduced to her. Then that radiant smile hit me right between the eyes, warming me inside like a shot of whisky."

Bob Willoughby: Audrey Hepburn, 1953-1966 is available on the Taschen website. An interview with Willoughby on the collection and his photographic affair with Audrey may be found on ANOTHERmag

A Little Bit Eternal

   Those of you who know me are most likely familiar with my general disdain for all things gushy and romantic (unless of course, in the form of avowal of love for a particularly breathtaking runway creation). This little nugget, however, managed to tug at my denied heartstrings. Who knows, maybe my subconscious is more susceptible to this whole pre-Valentines Day hype than I would like to admit.

    The invasive and ice-heart-melting piece in question is "A Little Bit Eternal", a short film portrait of designer Rick Owens and eccentric counterpart Michele Lamy. Directed by Danielle Levitt and Jake Magee, the feature follows the darkling lovers through their collaboration in the latest addition to the Owens Empire; furniture. Yet joined artistic endeavours merely heighten the sense of perfection in romantic union. There are no fluttering of the lashes, bashful pecks on the cheeks, or irksome PDA; only two outlandish beings creating in anomaly together, and isolated from the rest of the world.

    "I really can't imagine being with anybody else. I mean, who else could be the right match?", mused casually a candid Rick.

    Well, I can't say that I could help him there. They seem to be, as They say, "a match made in Heaven". Or, as would be more appropriate, in a dimly lit room furnished beautifully and outlandishly in Owens-Lamy fashion.

    To witness the film that finally broke my aversion to romance, and for a preview of the stunning furniture to come, "A Little Bit Eternal" may be watched on Another Mag HERE

   

PUNKATURE

   
    To me, a great editorial is like one of Salinger's Nine Stories; a short-lived and limited access into a character's world that leaves you nonetheless with a sense of having known them personally. It should leave you intrigued and yet, simultaneously remiss to actually meeting them, for fear of breaking that perfect little window that granted you their being.

    My craving for this perfection of character is usually, if not always, satiated by the editorials of Another Magazine (every magazine floor attendant has now learnt to fear my frazzled presence during the interstice weeks of the UK and Canadian release dates). In the current issue, there is such an example seen in 'PUNKATURE', the editorial shot by Nick Knight and styled by the lovely Alistair Mackie (one of my most loved stylists). All characterisation aside, the photography is stunning, and revisits the grittiness of 80s and 90s editorial.

    Anyways, enough words...on with the visuals!

New Kid on the Block

 This past June, graduates of the Royal College of Art MA fashion program presented their debut collections. Amidst the multitude of promising up-coming talent, 4 were chosen by Another Magazine to be highlighted through a digital mag photoshoot. One newcomer in particular caught my eye...

Photography by Rasha Kahil
Styling by Nobuko Tannawa
for Anothermag

Deep jewel tones, harmonious divergences in fabric textures, and intriguing knits were seen with VICTORIA ALICE HILL's graduate collection. "I was mainly concerned with the way garments control and release around the body, creating both movement and shape..." Well, needless to say, the thought process culminated into a beautifully laid-back, yet glamorously intriguing work that has established her firmly on my Those-to-Watch list.

For Another's full coverage of the graduates click here...http://www.anothermag.com/current/view/1350/Royal_College_of_Art_MA_Fashion_Graduates