Prada presents their new FW12 campaign video

Prada has done it again. Their new movie campaign for the FW12 is as intriguing as it is stunning. Magdalena Frackowiak and Anne Vyalitsyna are such good front women and they play their part brilliantly. If you thought last season's video was incredible, press play and think again.

Milan Fashion Week: FW12 Highlights
Style.com

Longchamp x Mary Katrantzou: Totes psychedelic!
Collette.fr

Mary Katrantzou has quickly become one of the most exciting and successful London-based designers to go global. Whether it's dressing the chicest celebrities for the red carpet, top models for magazine covers, the most popular editors, or even the most stylish TV characters she has done it all and so well! Her SS12 collection, which we saw in London last September, also proved that her now world-famous prints  can also work in an abstract way. I am constantly mesmerised by her work!
Now Katrantzou is ticking another to-do from her list by teaming up with Longchamp to produce a capsule collection of their classic bags featuring the designer's iconic kaleidoscopic prints. They are all available online and in store at Colette but they're literally flying. My favourite are the big tote bags, which you can use every day to go to work but also for travelling, going to the beach. Or you could go for the smaller options –Longchamp's signature shapes that are always practical and timeless.

Get your shine on, it's the Prada SS12 Press Day
Know Wear

A couple of weeks ago Giulia and I attended the Prada SS12 Press Day. It would be fair to say that out of the dozens of press days lined up this was the one we were most excited about. I'm a huge fan of Miuccia's work. Giulia is too but her keenness goes beyond because she is also a wearer.
Walking into the showroom our faces lit up. And how could they not? There were sparkles everywhere kept in the very good company of Miuccia's celebrated graphic prints of flames and late 1950's cars.
The Prada team was so welcoming and seemed to be as excited about the new collection as us. While we chatted Giulia I and chose our favourite pieces, which she happily modelled for our camera. She was in awe of the bejewelled bags –especially the clutches– and loved the graphic flame flat bags. I personally wasn't sure of how women would feel about looking literally on fire but the way Prada has played with the prints makes them so easy to wear.
My favourite were the shoes. After watching the SS12 show I wondered whether they would have to edit out some of the design as a sacrifice for their sales. But it seems this is exactly the kind of thing Prada can get away with. So I admired the super cool heels worthy of a superhero.
Even though I had already seen them, I couldn't get over how good the jewellery looked. Ever since my last post about it I have been obsessed. I loved finally seeing them in an editorial on one of the last S Moda magazines modelled by Paz de la Huerta.

Do you love?

Know Wear

Style.com, LaCartujadeSevilla.es

I never thought the day would come when I would disagree with Tim Blanks on his reviews. The Spanish references he found on Dries van Noten's latest collections were, to me, a little lost. It is true that there was a clear Balenciaga influence, especially in therms of the shapes of the big coats and peplums. And even more literal Spanish references like the toreador boleros (even a parka!) or the bullfighter's cape turned into a fuchsia skirt. But most of the references were not that obvious.
Hamish Bowles explained on his review how Dries didn't want to work with prints that were intended for fabrics. So he showed us two types –one more traditional and a much more modern one.  The first one, in black and white, was inspired in a Spanish version of early Victorian prints. The Pickman family established then in the south of Spain a company of British china –La Cartuja de Sevilla–, which soon adopted the landscapes and scenes of the folkloric Spanish south.
The second type of prints were very contemporary. Bird's eye views of countries and cities that progressively went from literal prints on t-shirts and flamenco-dacer skirts to abstractions of the images in the shape of crystals that embellished the last part of the collection.
One of the best DVN collections I can remember and possibly one of the cleverest we are going to see from Paris for the SS12 season.

I know bold prints —Jil Sander, Stella McCartney, Céline and the lot— are pretty much old news. But the fact is that I am currently very much inspired by them. Not only they match my jolly summer mood (despite London's temperamental weather) but they look über-cool when carefully combined with other prints.

As a man, I have to be even more careful with my print combinations but you ladies are so lucky to be able to go a lot crazier. I am loving stripes and flower prints at the moment, especially if the florals are a bit funky and look quite collage-y.

Which prints will you be wearing this summer?

Collage Sunday, 06.03.11: Parisian delights

It was so hard to choose only one or two designers to make my Sunday collage about that I chose four instead. They are some of my favourite collections of the weekend so far. Alber Elbaz did it again. I am forever in awe of his skill and imagination at Lanvin (please don't take him away to Dior!). I obviously loved his wide-brimmed hats (where you could have friends over for tea) and the beautiful shoes buckled at the ankle. Cacharel was a pleasant surprise. Cédric Charlier used colours (or lack there of) with prints to express a very modern and chic point of view. I loved the simplicity of the cuts and the layering as well. I hope Giovanna Battaglia gives this a try. I absolutely loved Sonia Rykiel's collection this season. her combination of checks, winter motifs, quilting and dyed hair was quirky but also rather Parisian. I particularly liked the tartan throw-ons and patchwork blazers. And finally, Junya Watanabe. He does extraordinarily well wherever he goes. I am dying over his fw11 light and asymmetrical knits and those slightly cowboy-ish Chelsea boots.

Clockwise from left: Lanvin, Cacharel, Junya Watanabe, Sonia Rykiel.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

Collage Sunday, 27.02.11: Versace goes back to Gianni

I have very seldom posted about Versace on the blog over the last few seasons. Except for the odd red carpet hit it's not a brand that often appeals to me. But every once in a while Donatella rescues some of Gianni's old flavour and manages to create a collection that reminds me of why I loved his brand so much. For fw11 Donatella has done very simple shapes, mostly cocktail dress length and black or white, with bold graphic motifs in purple, yellow and green. These, together with the big gold logo detailing took me back to the Versace of the late 80's and early 90's. I particularly liked the white one-shoulder night number that Abbey Lee rocked on the runway and the incredible bejewelled medusa evening bags, which, I hope, will make a big hit.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]