Pitti Uomo and Pitti W is the men’s and women’s trade shows known best for translating high-fashion trends to retail. You won’t find middle-of-the-road brands at this event: Each label is either steeped in tradition, or starting a revolution in its specific category. (Whether that’s men’s brogues, outerwear, bow ties, or hats.) Photo credit goes to Tommy Ton of Jak & Jil.
Raf Simons (born January 12, 1968) is a Belgian fashion designer. He studied Industrial design, but after a few years of self-study, he became a menswear designer in 1995. Initially, he worked with Walter Van Beirendonck in Paris, where he was exposed to the work of Martin Margiela and Jean-Paul Gaultier.
Raf Simons’s menswear has earned the Belgian designer a reputation as a revolutionary in the fashion world. The New York Times’ Cathy Horyn said in 2005, “Simons is probably the most influential menswear designer of the last decade.” His clothes look simultaneously deconstructed and impeccably tailored, and his skinny-suit predilections have helped alter the sartorial landscape since he started out in the nineties. He tends to use “regular” boys rather than professional models—another example of his policy “to avoid the trappings of the fashion system.”
In 2000, Simons took a one-year hiatus to reconfigure the business end of his company by cutting down the number of people on his team. Although the label is best known in avant-garde (and rich) circles, the designer sought to expand his clientele in 2005, when he launched his lower-priced line, Raf by Raf Simons. His fan base expanded exponentially that same year when he was tapped to be Jil Sander’s new creative director.
Neil Krug’s photography and directorial video work often touches on a rough, vintage, psychedelic feel. In other work, he captures the simple beauty of landscapes as well as the female form.
His body of work is a range of music videos & photography for such bands as My Chemical Romance, Ratatat, Devendra Banhart, Ladytron, The Horrors, Tame Impala, First Aid Kit, Canyons, Sea Wolf, Juan Atkins, The Pierces, Dri, and White Flight.
With summer just 20 days away there are a few essentials that can help you stay cool in more ways than one. The Wasted Youth Tank can be purchased via our online shop.
In the late sixties, a forward thinking Japanese photographer (Teruyoshi Hayashida) traveled throughout the northeastern United States stopping at each of the Ivy League schools to document the style of the era. The resulting book, cryptically titled Take Ivy, is pure genius. The photo book was out of print until a few years ago when a small run was re-released, only to immediately sell out. I have tried to recreate the spirit of the book as best I can through these scans. Further proof that preppy / Ivy League style transcends time and trends.
Pierre Thoretton’s Film Explores the Legendary Designer’s Greatest Passions
Capturing Yves Saint Laurent’s rapturously received spring ‘58 debut for Dior and a selection of the designer’s show-stopping bridal gowns throughout the decades, today’s exclusive clip is taken from new documentary L’Amour Fou. Translating to “Mad Love,” the film traces the 50-year romance between the fashion legend and industrialist Pierre Bergé. The pair met in 1957 at Christian Dior’s funeral, subsequently embarking on a personal and professional relationship that lasted Saint Laurent’s lifetime, despite their amicable romantic separation in 1976. Director Pierre Thoretton was introduced to Bergé through mutual friend Catherine Deneuve, and gained unprecedented access to rare intimate photographs of the designer by Helmut Newton and William Klein as well as footage of the couple’s fairytale houses in Paris, Marrakech, and the Chateau Gabriel in Normandy. L’Amour Fou’s point of entry is the three-day, 2009 Christies auction of the duo’s art collection following Saint Laurent’s death. The “sale of the century” comprised works by Manet, Picasso and Matisse, art deco furniture and Roman antiquities, amounting to a staggering $480 million (divided between the Yves Saint Laurent Foundation and AIDS charities)—but as the movie suggests, it was, first and foremost, a poignant monument to Bergé and Saint Laurent’s shared life. “The collection is a reflection of the integration of their taste,” says Thoretton. “It was the growth of their vision of beauty and aesthetic in the world.” L’Amour Fou opens tomorrow in New York at the IFC Center and Paris Theatre, and in select cinemas nationwide on May 20.
After a decade-plus in which sharp tailoring ruled the outerwear world, a more rounded look—characterized by a softer, less defined shoulder—is mounting a comeback. The term is “raglan,” and it refers to a sleeve that extends, in one piece, all the way up to a garment’s collar, rather than to its shoulders via armhole seams. (Picture an old school Burberry trench coat; or those long-sleeved T-shirts with contrast-colored sleeves that people wore to baseball practice—or Journey concerts—back in the day.) The term is named after Fitzroy James Henry Somerset (1788-1855), a British Field Marshall in the Crimean War and the first Baron Raglan (Monmouth County, UK). The Baron lost his right arm in the Battle of Waterloo, and it’s thought that the original raglan design may have come about as a way to fit him after his amputation.
Mark Daniel Ronson (born 4 September 1975) is a British DJ, guitarist, music producer, artist and co-founder of Allido Records. When you’re an award-winning music producer and the brother of up-and-coming New York designer Charlotte Ronson, you have no other choice than to care about fashion. But Mark Ronson doesn’t just care, he craves.
There’s an explanation for his addictive side too. When your other sister is infamous DJ Samantha Ronson and you willingly share the same cracked-out airspace as Amy Winehouse, it’s cause for concern.
Nevertheless, being surrounded by a combination of couture and craziness has somehow resulted in a distinctive style that commands attention.
The 35-year-old British music maker isn’t known for being ratty, ripped or fedora-tipped. Instead, despite a young age and an occupation that would suggest sloppy style, Ronson suits up when he steps out.
Leif is an artist and Creative Director. His work explores themes of connectedness, the relevance of nature and the psychedelic or altered experience. By utilizing these subjects he attempts to coerce the viewer into a realignment with themselves and their surroundings.
The story of Missoni’s now-legendary patterned knits of zigzags, waves, and stripes began in 1948 when founders Rosita and Ottavio (Tai) met at the Olympic games in London (he was a runner and designed the Italian team’s uniforms, while she was there studying English). They opened a small knitwear workshop in Gallarate, Italy, after marrying in 1953. In 1973, they won the Neiman Marcus Award, which is typically thought of as the Oscars of fashion.
Today, Missoni is still very much a family affair: Rosita and Ottavio’s daughter Angela took over designing in 1996, and sons Luca and Vittorio oversee the business, while Angela’s aspiring-actress daughter, Margherita, is the brand’s ambassador. Missoni has expanded as well.
Instead of taking on collaborations like other labels, they developed over 25 sub-lines including M Missoni (a lower-priced line owned by the Valentino Fashion Group), Missoni Home, Missoni menswear, fragrances (first launched in 1980), and at one time, Missoni Sport (now discontinued). There are also plans for Hotel Missoni, a Rezidor Hotel Group project set to open in Kuwait in 2009, with others to follow in cities like Dubai, Paris, and Miami.
The three children of the founders play a large part in the business. Vittorio (born 1954) is the Marketing Director, Luca (born 1956) was responsible for the design of the menswear collection through the Spring/Summer 2008 collection, and Angela (born 1958) is Creative Director for womenswear and took over menswear beginning with the Fall/Winter 2008/2009 collection.
