Designers 101

[Rosenrot]

Viktor & Rolf are a Dutch duo who got famous by making gargantuan architectural clothes which don't get seen much outside of the runway shows. Last I read they were striving to create clothes that cannot be copied by the high street. I started noticing them from the FW2008 collection



And then they got really famous with the SS2010 collection:


Which was trumped by the FW2010 collection as they layered and de-layered the clothes on the model

http://condenastl3cdn.cust.footprint.ne ... 4/low.webm (sorry I don't know how to embed vids)

These days they seem to have fallen off the radar and most of the clothes aren't so conceptual anymore, but they still have the same architectural elements in gigantic proportions. They're owned and manufactured by the same companies (Only The Brave and STAFF INTERNATIONAL S.p.A) that Margiela belongs to.

[Vaeltaja]

Would love info on Lad Musician, Number (N)ine (and The SoloIst), Christian Dada and Dressed/Undressed

If anyone could elaborate on the Carpe Diem/Guidi/Augusta/all the Carpe Diem offshoots story that'd be great. All I know about that relationship is through Stylezeitgeist...

[kyung]

taken from http://bad-musician.tumblr.com/ladmusicianguide

History of Lad Musician:
Lad Musician was founded in 1991 by lead designer Yuichi Kuroda. Yuichi’s first show as a brand started in 1995 with his collection “Debut”, and is managed by FLOWERS. What inspires Yuichi to design his clothing is music and the musicians within the art form. Artists such as Bob Marley, The Sex Pistols, The Rolling Stones, The Smiths, and more are inspirations for the collections that are brought forth.

Lad Musician is known for having a tailored aesthetic with simple designs and fine-cut details. “Clothing fit for musicians” is the main driving force for the brand, as the collections and pieces that are sold are made for mobility and function. Each season Lad Musician brings forth new artist collaboration t-shirts (the past being The Smiths, My Bloody Valentine, Bauhaus, Les Rallizes Dénudés and the current being Spacemen 3) which shows the homage to the musicians that inspire the entire season’s showcase.

Very simplistic, modern, and careful styling is what brings interest towards the brand. Recently with the introduction of the “Middle-Shirts”, interesting layering options that expose the cuff/shirt-tail are taken into consideration. Also, the short/long aprons when layered correctly add a further elongating illusion. Most of the clothing is fabric blended, which adds comfort to technicality. (Wool to Cotton, Rayon to Cotton, etc..)

[hmwut]

[b4my]

Can someone tell me about Maharishi?

[can-]

Maharishi is probably best known for their super baggy sno pants which zip off at different points to become capris or shorts. these things were everywhere in the early 2000s.

their slogan covers most of it, 'pacifist military design.' the clothes tend to be technical and uniquely patterned with a strong military bent-- noticeably they put flight pockets and zippers just about everywhere. they have huge runs of garms made with garish prints and patterns, often modified military or hunting camos. it kindve reminds me of how in the states, a lot of milsurp stores are run by a combination of vets and hippies. there's something very flower power about the brand, and they source a lot of organic cotton for their tees and shirts. I imagine some vegan tae kwan do instructor who wears full Maharishi.

purely in terms of product, I see a lot of similarities between Maharishi and y-3, isaora and Alexander Wang.

[omgimacarrot]

Can I get some info on Kapital?

[kewks]

really intrigued now by the thought of fashion as spectacle/art/architectural. can anybody post their favourite examples of this?

[ramseames]

This is all just research i've done tonight but they're a cool brand I wanted to learn more about anyway so whatever. If anyone has more knowledge or i'm wrong about anything please step in and educate us.

Kapital as a name refers to Kojima (being the denim capital of japan supposedly). Started in 1984 by Toshikiyo Hirata and Kazuhiro Hirata (his dad) because Toshikiyo got sick of making levis repros and wanted to make jeans that are an improvement upon them (his own words). obviously very workwear oriented, they've also done stuff that's influenced by traditional native american groups, and even some ivy stuff (with their own spin on it obviously)

From what I can tell they have a mainline for men and women, a separate line called kountry which is all the beat to fuck stuff that looks like it was found in a barn after being patched like 20 times, and then the century denim line of jeans that stays pretty standardized.









Hard to find lookbooks and I'm assuming these aren't complete but here's what 10 min with googled located:

[Rosenrot]

[areo]

Could anyone tell me a bit about Cloak, please?

[germinal]

i'm not all that familiar, but:

this is a good retrospective/timeline of events
http://1972projects.blogspot.co.uk/2012 ... eller.html

this is a good article that captures how popular cloak was at the time
http://www.somamagazine.com/cloak-desig ... e-plokhov/

the styleforum interviews are funny because plokhov and geller have such different versions of events
http://www.styleforum.net/t/362499/a-co ... eview/0_40
http://www.styleforum.net/t/341840/an-i ... roids/0_40

[areo]

Great, thanks, this is a much better way of killing time than failing at tetris...

[verilyvert]

Does anyone have info/experience with Paula Gerbase's 1205 brand? I'm familiar with her background on Savile Row, but would like to know more. One thing that caught my eye was this waterproof wool flannel she used. If anyone else uses similar fabrics, I would be interested in learning about them as well.

[thug]

Tell me about Visvim

[starfox64]

Visvim is Hiroki Nakamura's blending of like traditional artisanal views of clothing, re-imagining both Americana (Native American, workwear, and military) and to a lesser extent Japanese styles (he makes noragis and uses boro).

I think originally everything was made in Japan, but now some of it is made in China. Regardless, the emphasis of the brand is on both using traditional methods of production (hand-dyed wool for sweaters, hand-made paper for the retrospective book, etc.) and on creating items that will wear and break in beautifully. I think that last point is one of the best ways to look at his stuff, because it's more about it aging well than actually being super durable or whatever.

The brand has a weird cult following in the US (by which I mean on the internet) and prices in Japan are kind of expensive but much more in line with other similar brands, while overseas they tend to be like 50% higher.

I think we had a discussion about visvim in the wtaps thread or something, try searching for it. Otherwise, here are a few interviews:

[mc-lunar]

the other day i realized out that stone island and river island were different, which cleared a lot up. in any case, does anybody have things to say about these? I only know what cursory googling tells me. I'd never heard of either living in the states.

also, what's the deal with anonymous-ism socks? are they part of any other label? are they worth the price? how have they managed to be everywhere from mall shops like club monaco and j. crew to places like steven alan and oi polloi to even places like unionmade?

[ramseames]

river island is same as topman i think. Stone island is a crazy italian brand that does loads of in house fabric design and has an entire line every season called Shadow project designed with Errolson Hugh (the dude from acr). loads of stuff to watch/read about them, so much history and its been really well documented too.













anonymousism seem pretty ok when i handled them at jcrew. Fabric blend is weak though (cotton/acrylic, dunno what the %ages are), that's why they're on the cheap side. chup is a bit more but no acrylic. for a cotton sock (and nylon/poly for stretch) they wear pretty well.

[maj]

every piece, of recent years

http://www.stoneisland.tv/

[teck]

what do people know about Thamanyah? I've never bought anything but I love a lot of the pieces. Seems like they do man dresses, boxy shirts, etc. I'm also mildly attracted to it because the name sounds vaguely vietnamese (even tho i believe the designer is Arab). From an 'about' on Ink:

Thamanyah is the work of designer Ahmed Abdelrahman, the newest protege of Michelle Lamy and Rick Owens. His first collection for Thamanyah touches the four main pillars that define everyday life in the Arab states of the Persian Gulf: Identity, Religion, Military Power and Petroleum.

Masculine allure, influenced by lines and volumes of the male wardrobe of “Jazeerat Al Arab” or the Arabian Peninsula, is reinforced by details of western bespoke tailoring."

[hooplah]

[Syeknom]

Tell me about Ato please

[areo]

I saw that first picture earlier today and was curious too.
A quick summary: http://www.japanesestreets.com/fashion-brands/366/ato
Article mentioned in the link above that talks a bit about Ato: http://www.nytimes.com/1999/07/02/news/ ... jap.t.html
Ato website: http://www.ato.jp/concept/index.html
Interview with Atu Matsumoto: http://en.fashion-headline.com/article/ ... 6/135.html

Also according to google, Kanye and Lupe Fiasco are fans of the shoes...

[hamburgerlady]

[Stingray Sam]

can i get some information on Mai-Gidah i just saw the ss 14 look book and i thought it was really cool
http://fuckingyoung.es/mai-gidah-spring ... -lookbook/

[bels]

Saw this on SF



http://www.styleforum.net/t/164384/the- ... ead/109560

Brand breakdown says the jacket is KKA. What is KKA?

[Syeknom]

[thug]

Can someone tell me more about Final Home?

I tried searching on google but most things are in Japanese or something similar.

All my knowledge is based off of these type of infographics:

[charybdis]

I am oddly fascinated by Band of Outsiders but I know very little about them and that Childish Gambino wears a lot of it. Please enlighten me.

[can-]

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Maria cornejo