Designers 101

[can-]

hello taglets, this thread is dedicated to the open and free exchange of knowledge with specific regards to designers.

are there any designers that you simply 'don't get'? this is a space where we can help with that.

I personally would love to know more about Stella McCartney-- I know almost nothing about her except that she's Pauls daughter and that she only(?) makes vegetarian clothing

[schiaparelli]

i feel i hear a lot about stella mccartney lingerie, and is mad popular in the blogger set right now. i feel like her stuff is fairly "normal" from far away and the intriguing details are in, say, fabric choice or fabric treatments. i feel like her stuff is more intimate and slightly girly, and not super street-style-circus-y. here's a article that maybe explains a bit.

there's some interesting history between mccartney and phoebe philo: they were friends + schoolmates (i think? at CSM?) and worked together (phoebe was stella's assistant) at chloé. stella left chloé, phoebe didn't, and took on the CD role.

that is the extent of my knowledge =|

[hooplah]

[can-]

someone explain to me facetasm?

I know their clothes but don't really understand or see their visual identity

[germinal]

[can-]

thank you bb.


john Lawrence Sullivan?

[germinal]

John Lawrence Sullivan is named after , the designer Arashi Yanagawa is an ex-professional boxer himself. the brand was founded in 2003 with the winnings from his last fight and in 2011 started showing in Paris. The clothing is mostly an exploration of slim classic tailoring with sportswear elements and unexpected fabrics and patterns thrown in, which is nothing new but the execution is good. the jls man is elegant but could beat you up. the look is more restrained than Facetasm or PHENOMENON say, and has a lot in common with latter-day Raf, Lanvin, etc but still seems distinctly Japanese, to me at least. they may not be responsible for it but they codified the "round shades, chesterfield, ballcap, cropped trousers, portfolio clutch" look that was popular recently



women's was introduced in 2010

[RycePooding]

What about Steven Alan

[can-]

Steven Alan is upmarket jcrew with better taste, design and costs twice as much

[charybdis]

To be fair, j.Crew is a mall brand, which I don't believe Steven Alan is.

Also, I think the crowd Steven Alan caters to (at least in regards to womenswear) is much younger than the j.Crew set. J.Crew womens is still very much targeted towards women in their forties, if the sheer number of godawful j.crew centric clothing blogs is any indication of this.

[RycePooding]

I may be way off-base with this, but I feel like as far as menswear goes J Crew caters towards early-twenties dude trying to 'dress better'.

[anshin]

Could somebody inform me about Death to Tennis?

[can-]

death to tennis is a really young brand out of NYC, designer comes from Ralph Lauren textiles and they only have a couple seasons. name comes from a print he made for Ralph which was two tennis rackets crossed w a skull in front like skull and crossbones.

they've been iterating on a topcoat for a couple seasons that is nice and has modern detailing, wouldn't look out of place in ervell's world. their shirts have cool inverted and recessed back pleats and huge front pockets. they remind me of tender's shirts. they also make chino-sweatpants really similar to jpress york street.

they remind me of Ovadia + sons, bespoken, mcnairy amsterdam, and Hans (bjarkenwhatever(?))

[sid3000]

The european brand Hope? Mainly does it have anything to do with Bless?

[midvh]

^Swedish brand, decent stuff. They don't have anything to do with Bless, at least not that I know of.

I'll write something better/longer another day if you're interested, I have to get some sleep.

[charybdis]

[deadkitty]

Could someone do Wonder Worker Guerilla Band? I know they're the two dudes that design Sasquatchfabrix and Eototo, but I haven't been able to find too much about them aside from a couple interviews.

[Mippipopolous]

Anyone able to give me the 411 on Christophe Lemaire? Not terribly knowledgeable on him, but really like quite a bit of what I've seen here and there.

[can-]

Chloe and I accept no less than 600 words

[Syeknom]

We do have an employee of Chloé on here

[spahdfgo]

I'll write something up tonight since I'm about to go to work

[soundclip989]

[spahdfgo]

I apologize, it's not 600 words long.

To understand the brand, you have to know what kind of girl Chloé is.

Chloé is a young Parisian woman, she’s only 22, tall with chestnut hair and always smiling or laughing. She’s obviously beautiful but not in an intimidating kind of way, you’re more admired by her. It’s the kind of the girl you fall in love with during your subway ride, you’ve never met her before but she still lights up your day. Girls want to be her and boys want to be with her. She’s always going to some art exhibition or for a coffee with her friends. Everything she does seems effortless because she doesn’t have to worry about anything. Even though she has many boys chasing her, she doesn’t want to tie herself up in a relationship. So that’s who the Chloé girl is, feminine, independent and free.

Now Chloé was founded in 1952 by Gaby Aghion at a time when women had just earned the right to vote and the consequences of the war were still very much present. She wanted women to take their fate into their own hands. Her first collection was shown at the Café de Flore located in Saint-Germain-des-Prés, it is one of the most famous café of Paris, populated by writers, philosophers and left wing politicians. It was much less restrictive than what was being done at the time when ready-to-wear wasn’t really a thing yet.

Karl Lagerfeld joined in 1966 and allowed Chloé to become a world renowned brand worn by many actresses. However, in the 1980s after Karl left for Chanel, the brand faces some financial difficulties and is bought by Richemont. Karl comes back in 1992 to bring Chloé back on its feet which he does. He’s replaced by Stella McCartney in 1997 whose first collection is a success. The difficulties of the 80s are forgotten. In 2001, Phoebe Philo, Stella McCartney’s friend and assistant, becomes Chloé’s head designer, she launches See by Chloé, a more affordable and accessible line and makes bags a central part of the brand. With her departure in 2006, things become a bit chaotic, three head designers in five years and a new CEO in 2010 after some financial difficulties.

The current head designer is Clare Waight Keller who arrived in 2011. Although, she’s not extremely well known, her resume is quite impressive. She was responsible for launching Ralph Lauren Purple Label and worked with Tom Ford at Gucci. She’s assisted by Tom Van Lingen, formerly responsible for the knitwear department at Sonia Rykiel and the design studio at Céline. Success is now back, the Baylee bag is a huge hit and often sold out and the different collections are very well received.

The brand recently celebrated its 60 years and Gaby Aghion received the Légion d’Honneur for her contributions.

[charybdis]

Could someone enlighten me about Black Crane?

[can-]

what's good with Simone Rocha? really impressed with what I saw today at DSM.

[charybdis]

[starfox64]

I'm on my phone but a lot of the criticism I have read about hedi/slap is that his designs are mostly just hedi slimane designs under the saint Laurent label and he is essentially treating the label like a blank canvas, rather than taking into account the history and legacy of ysl. This includes changing the name. But supposedly the execs wanted a brand overhaul and sales are way up.

[suubz]

Would love to hear more about Aitor Throup

[can-]

Aitor is a doozy- honestly he could have his own thread, there's a lot to talk about and look at.

From the aesthetic standpoint, aitor advances an extremely modern look and silhouette. it's tempting to call him a futurist, but I think he is grounded in a dystopian look that is more contemporary than anything else-- it evokes the world of akira and ghost in the shell, it evokes the extreme pollution in china, and it evokes the attitudes of modern day riots. it's very slim-- almost like skin tight armor-- and it has military trimmings. his production method is singularly unique in about a dozen ways. it's all built from scratch in his atelier via construction techniques that the man invented. everything is sewn edge to edge with zero seam allowance. i believe he does this by using double layers of fabric everywhere and sewing them together where they meet-- imagine laying two pillow cases flat, sewing them together at the seams and pulling them tight. i could be wrong about this, but i know there is nothing else available that's made the same way. this shit blows my mind: his button holes have NO STITCHING! most of the seams are also taped, not for weatherproofing usually but rather for the look it brings.

conceptually i find him brilliant because while the look is modern and avant garde, it's all rooted in modern events such as racist stop and frisk policies, hurricane katrina, and UK football casuals/hooligans. i recommend you look up his sketches. they are highly stylized yet the relationship between them and his garments is clear. his sketches all depict anatomical forms in movement, and this is evident in his product by the intricate and unique pattern making. you can also see this in his capsule collaboration with soccer brand umbro. this marketing vid for the collab -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5apjct0DVY -- pretty much shows you what it's all about. here's another great video done for DSM -- http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cNGdBVFjQH4 -- there's a brilliant timelapse where he creates a form out of mesh/mache. the dude oozes talent and passion.

his stuff is often lumped in with techwear, and there are obvious similarities between his gear and acronym, veilance, and also BBS, CCP and rick owens (in terms of an obsession with modern or new pattern making). but it's not technical in the traditional sense (which usually means schoeller or gore fabrics with a gusset here or there). the stuff is technical in terms of range of movement, but it's also technical in a largely conceptual sense-- for instance, almost all of his bottoms have shoes engineered into the hem so they can be worn by themselves. but i'm not sure how practical it actually winds up being. his pricing scheme also makes ACR/veilance look like budget options

[charybdis]

Can someone tell me about Victor & Rolf?

Thank you!