Odelaly! Check out the Fall/Winter collection from Eckhaus Latta! (Entire collection can be viewed here, as well as their complete catalogue).
I really like their experimentation with shapes, architecture, zippers and the various weights and stiffness of materials. The collection feels a bit "all over the place" somehow, but there is still a magic thread pulling them all together like beads on a necklace.
They don't seem to give a crap about trying to appeal to cautious dressers.
Their overcoat that creates massively sloped shoulders is really cool. I am also fascinated with their execution of the dual-toned pattern dress. The way that they have ruched the fabric in the front seam to combine the two patterns is kind-of breathtaking.
I also really like the echo of the lampshade construction in the two parachute dresses and the stiff jacket and pants set with forest pattern.
Lastly, the two padded fencing jacket-esque ensembles with orange piping and florescent floral patterns are just plain awesome and I could see them being standard issue guard-duty uniforms in a futuristic kingdom.
It's awesome that they are totally normal and consistent with casting diverse and gender-fluid ensembles of people to show their collections.
I'll definitely have to pay attention to Eckhaus Latta more often to see what they are up to. Last time I thought about them before this collection was in 2017, when they debuted a controversial ad campaign featuring couples have real sex (with pixelated blurs).
One of my favorite designers, Jade Lai, has shuttered her brand: Creatures of Comfort. This post is a tribute to one of my favorite fashion collections.
(Photos above are 15 of 34 presentations. Full show here.)
The photos from the collection above are from the Creatures of Comfort Fall 2014 Ready-to-wear collection. It's one of my favorites ever.
I love Lai's reductive design sensibility and rejection of luxury materials!
These designs feel like clothes from an adventure in which the wearer is a character. The presentation suggests to my imagination that some elements were improvised by this character due to the circumstances of their quest — a hat tumbled over the side of a bridge in pursuit and was scooped up by our hero, a sash of fabric belts up the tailor's old trousers in a pinch.
-And speaking of tailoring, I love how some pieces fit perfectly and some do not. The dropped sleeve caps and slouched shoulder silhouettes are wonderful. The tailored jackets with padded shoulders that extend the slope and line of the shoulders down until they fall into the sleeve are so good. These choices seem to suggest that these pieces are men's garments that have been adapted by women and altered to fit their missions and lives in such a cool and unique way. It's an awesome statement.
I love the toothy appearance of the wools and fabrics. These clothes feel dependable and rugged, as if they could be patched up and used forever. This sensibility is one that I have always appreciated about Jade Lai's designs.
Lastly, her combinations of fabrics and textures is really awesome.
Silky or gauzy-thin fabric next to the skin with a bulky outer shell of wool.
Slouchy socks, practical shoes, warm turtle-necks, high collars.
Layers!
Maybe it's the climate that I live in that gives me an appreciation for the reliability and practicality of these ensembles.
Additionally, I like the styling of the models with their choppy bangs, raw skin, wet hair and wax/paint-capped fingertips. It's such a shame that there is little-to-no diversity in the casting.
I haven't been able to find runway footage of this show. I think it would be really cool to see how everything moves.
Jil Sander Spring / Summer 1996 catalogue and ad campaigns.
PHOTOGRAPHER: Craig McDean
MODEL: Guinevere van Seenus
HAIR: Eugene Souleiman
MAKEUP: Pat McGrath
LAYOUT / ART DIRECTION: Marc Ascoli
Simple, personal, different.
I love this photo shoot. Before I went and looked for information about the creative process of this project, I knew it was special. These pictures have an everlasting intrigue. The work between photographer and subject escalates these photos into another dimension - I can hear/feel the conversation between the creative team when I look at this campaign.
Photographer Nick Knight has produced an interesting series of films for SHOWstudio called Subjective, which highlight model's perspectives on iconic photo shoots. I'm so thankful for this interview he did with van Seenus. In it, Guinevere talks about what made this photo shoot so unique and how the industry has changed since that time. She provides fascinating insights into Craig McDean's methods, artistic collaboration and shares her personal experience of inclusion as a member of the creative team on this project. I am grateful for productions like these that talk about creative processes and mention the people who have contributed to a project.
Nick Knight has also produced a series called Transformative, similarly highlighting the work of stylists, make-up artists and hairdressers. In this video, he interviews hairdresser Eugene Souleiman about his work on this shoot:
Makeup artist Pat Mcgrath's work here is so fresh and interesting. Taking down Guinevere's eyebrows a bit with bleach tips the scales towards Botticelli.
Her treatment of the face and skin is not immediately evident, yet, her traces of
shimmer, hollows and glossy creases show you that something special has
happened.
Marc Ascoli's
project vision and layouts are totally compelling. I wish I could find photos of the
entire catalogue. He has arranged and cropped everything in such an
interesting way - adding a stuck-and-torn-apart-page effect to the outer
bottom corners of each picture along with an occasional collage of images. You can catch a flip-through of the catalogue in
the video posted below (an excerpt from Souleiman's interview starting at the 5 minute mark):
Lastly, an excerpt from the book Amber, Guinevere, and Kate Photographed by Craig McDean: 1993-2005 in which Guinevere van Seenus is interviewed by Glenn O'Brien on March 1st, 2013:
GO: Tell me about your first meeting with Craig?
GvS: I remember my first job with him—a Japanese or Korean editorial—and it went really well. I remember really understanding what he was doing. It was different for me because I hadn't worked with people yet that were doing something different and unique.
...
GO: Was there anything about the way the way that Craig worked or in his manner that seemed different to you?
GvS: I'm not sure I'll be able to clearly explain it, but for me he brings his own quirks and individuality into it. It helps you explore or be comfortable with these parts of yourself that most people think are a little awkward or weird. They become beautiful in his pictures. He carries that through with his body—he shows you positions or he does things to help it make a lot of sense. You jump right in with it, and then you work together to bring it further, to develop it from there. Most people, they wouldn't ask you for those types of awkward in-between moments or expressions. And if you gave them to them, they wouldn't really understand what you were doing.
GO: And when you saw the pictures what did you think of them?
GvS: I loved them. I didn't really get to see the pictures of that first job we did. I was probably too shy at the time to ask. But later with Jil Sander, it was very much like we were there together for four days. I think we totaled about fifteen hours of overtime. We would work until two in the morning. It became like a fun family thing and we were just exploring, so I really got to see everything. And the more he liked something, like a weird expression I might have done as a child, the more I just pushed and explored more.
GO: You said that Craig would act something out, or strike a position. Is that unusual?
GvS: Yes. Some people do it slightly. Some people just ask verbally for something and then they let you have your own interpretation. But the way Craig starts it, you really get an interpretation of the energy he wants behind it. Some people don't really even know how to ask for what they want. Craig makes it really clear. We would explore for hours and hours every day. I don't think I've ever had another experience quite like that.
...
GO: Did it seem more collaborative in nature than the usual modeling job?
GvS: Very, very much so.
GO: So when you look at those pictures do you think: I came up with that?
GvS: Sometimes you come up with something from feedback someone gives, but it's also the entire energy in the room. How comfortable do I feel around these people? How vulnerable do I feel like being? Do I trust them with the parts of myself that I don't necessarily think are beautiful? Having Eugene Souleiman, Pat McGrath and Marc Ascoli—that was the team you could just do anything with.
