Yamamoto RTW f12

Yamamoto nearly always yields himself to my obsessive interpretation of protect-me-fr0m-the world clothes. It's impossible to cover oneself up without revealing. Defenses always give us away. You pull the coat down to your ankles only to leave out the shoulder. Asymmetric capes hang down like worn out membranes or perhaps deformities. The bubble sweater dress is a shelter, but the seam looks like a string of stitches or a scar. The roomy coat is a world in which you're safe, yet, as a black-and-white diptych, it screams of the visible and the invisible.

Vivienne, mon amour

The latest Red Label collection captures what I love most about Viv's designs. She takes the best of wholesome, classical tailoring then switches the center of balance in the garment: elongates a lapel, shifts a few buttons, tugs at the hem of the skirt, loosens up the collar. If I didn't know how much thought and calculation goes into making these clothes look effortlessly disheveled, I'd imagine it's all the work of a bunch of mischievous smurfs who regularly break into the studio of a hard-nosed British tailor and put their own spin on the finished products. Or maybe it's a willful trophy wife who does what she can to rebel against some dress-code.

As a bonus, this collection is a study in my favorite color scheme. A teal undershirt peeping from under a coral dress; ice-blue tartan trousers worn with burgundy boots and belt, and a soft camel coat to tie it all together; the shimmering, cascading lilac dress; the beige knit ensemble i could live in; the perfect yet stubbornly asymmetrical black velvet blazer worn with a jabot shirt and - oh Vivienne - torn skinny jeans; and possibly the look I'd most like to own: the gray sweat-suit style two-piece worn with a laid-back chambray shirt.

zero waste design

yep, this anorac can be produced without any waste. designer Andria Crescioni, a graduate of Parsons The New School for Design, took the width of the fabric as a starting point and re-thought the pattern of this one-size-fits-most anorac so as to use all the material (100% wool, by the way), without leftovers.

Loomstate undertook to produce the garment and it retails at 345 USD.

Makes me think of that old idea I had of taking a pair of discarded jeans and consume it for various projects to the last scrap. I think I've done that with a pair of jeans already without documenting the process: in the course of three years, 1 pair of jeans = two soft toys and a kindle cover. Perhaps it's time for a new cycle. Especially since I have old jeans galore, a new teddy bear pattern, and a couple of grungy ideas.

curioser and curioser

I've seen a few selections of Alice in Wonderland illustrations recently (happy birthday to Lewis Carroll. As of Friday he is 180 years old, though not, unfortunately, alive and kicking), and I'm sure to please all four of my readers with the following sampler:

Arthur Rackham, 1907:



Marjorie Torrey, 1955:





m. cowers with shame at having been so far unaware of Salvador Dali's depictions of Alice:







Ryan De Haas, 2005:



and Maggie Taylor, 2008:

Alexander McQueen, Menswear Fall 2012

This time Sarah Burton got her inspiration from a collection of 19th century Vanity Fair portraits whose protagonists ranged from street urchins to bankers.