Hasta La Ideas

Orthopedic practices to correct body deformities influenced the leather straps and buckles in this fashion collection, presented by Marina Hoermanseder at Graduate Fashion Week earlier this week (+ slideshow).

Vegetable-tanned leather is double-sided and painted red on the reverse to create patterns where sections are flipped over.

“I became absolutely passionate about working with leather and manipulating it,” Hoermanseder told Dezeen. “I experimented a lot with moulding, twisting, buckling and strapping the leather around the body.”

Buckles secure twisted straps down the length of a perforated leather skirt and helmets worn after an accident informed the back of a visored hat.

A series of buckled bands form the sleeves of one top, which has a zip-up bodice and two wide shoulder panels clasped at the neck.

Straps are also fastened around the legs with metal studs, either over bare skin or white leggings.

In some cases the leather items are worn over ruffled tops in red, grey and white, designed to emulate skin maladies.

“The colourful silk ruffles were inspired by serious skin conditions such as smallpox and represent skin that is falling apart,” said Hoermanseder. “They provide a contrast to the stiff leather elements.”

Accessories include straps that fit around the head and cuffs that look like plaster casts, which can be attached to metal hooks at the breastbones of some tops.

“The accessories are my favourite,” the designer said. “Outside of the collection they work with casual clothes, adding a little fetish edge that’s still high fashion.”

Other garments are created by wrapping skin-coloured bandages around the body.

“My aim was to give women a spine, by giving them support and self-confidence in the world of fashion,” Hoermanseder concluded.

The collection formed part of the Esmod Berlin International University of Art for Fashion exhibition and show at Graduate Fashion Week 2013 in London earlier in the week.

We recently featured an exhibition in London that displayed fetishistic prosthetics.

See more fashion design »
See more 2013 graduate projects »

The post Ilpox by
Marina Hoermanseder appeared first on Dezeen.

Plump pastel silicone garments moulded from knitwear feature in this collection by Royal College of Art graduate Xiao Li.

The marshmallow-coloured range features silhouettes exaggerated with puffed-up skirts and sleeves that billow from midway down the upper arm.

“Traditional knitwear is more soft and shapeless,” Li told Dezeen. “I wanted to find out a new way to present knitwear and was influenced by Modern architecture and 60s Balenciaga.”

The voluminous pieces are made from spacer fabric, which combines two layers of textiles connected by filaments and holds its shape while still appearing lightweight.

Li used her own knitting samples to create moulds to produced patterned silicone material used entirely for a jacket and skirt, and as hems or accessories for genuine knitted items. “I wanted to make sure my collection is innovative but still wearable,” she said.

She swapped the fluorescent colours of her earlier work for more muted shades, affiliating lilac, peach, mint green and pale yellow.

“All the materials came in white and I dyed them by myself to match the colour,” said Li.

Her collection was shown at the Royal College of Art fashion show last week, where Maiko Takeda presented headdresses covered in hundreds of colourful bristles.

At the Westminster graduate fashion show Philli Wood revealed giant cable knit patterns printed onto oversized outerwear.

See more projects by students from the Royal College of Art »
See more fashion design »

The post RCA Fashion 2013 collection
by Xiao Li appeared first on Dezeen.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America voters have spoken. At last night’s post-downpour awards extravaganza‎, held at Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center and hosted by effervescent Bravo exec Andy Cohen (taking the night off from his Watch What Happens Live clubhouse), Proenza Schouler’s Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez snagged their third womenswear of the year trophy in seven years–and by the looks of their fall 2013 collection, the dynamic duo might find themselves back at the podium next year at this time.

Thom Browne (pictured) continued his winning streak, picking up a second menswear designer of the year award (his first was in 2006) in the wake of his 2012 National Design Award and last month’s “Fashion Visionary” nod from Pratt Institute. After saluting fellow nominees Michael Bastian and Duckie Brown’s Steven Cox and Daniel Silver (“I feel like we’ve grown up together”), Browne gave a shout-out out to his “fearless tailor” Rocco Ciccarelli, a seventysomething sartorial whiz who owns the factory where Browne’s clothes are made.

Rounding out the night’s big three, Phillip Lim–and his highly covetable Pashli and 31 Hour bags–bested the Proenza boys and Alexander Wang to take the accessories category. Read on to learn who else went home a winner:
continued…

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Vera Wang during a conversation with Fern Mallis at New York’s 92nd Street Y.

“It was like being in designer heaven.” That’s how Vera Wang describes her stint at Ralph Lauren. “We had everything, anything we needed as designers, particularly as a design director, as a team. It just magically appeared,” she told Fern Mallis during an on-stage conversation earlier this year at New York’s 92nd Street Y. “If Ralph believed in you, he really believed you. And he really supported and believed in me. It was very hard to leave.” That difficult decision paid off and more than twenty years later, Lauren remains a Wang fan. He’ll be on hand this evening at Lincoln Center to present her with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award, one of the special honors at tonight’s Council of Fashion Designers of America Fashion Awards ceremony.

What began as a bridal business backed by Wang’s father (who saw an opportunity in a low-inventory venture that would require a limited range of fabrics) has grown–smartly and steadily–from ready-to-wear and accessories to flatware, stationery, and lines for the likes of Kohl’s, David’s Bridal, and Zales. (Did you know that she designed the uniforms for the Philadelphia Eagles cheerleaders?) According to Wang, she is very involved in the array of licensing deals. “With all of these lines, you have to come up to speed, not only from a business sense but technically,” she told Mallis. “That learning curve is something I embrace because I love to learn. I’ve worked hard at it for over a decade, but it’s challenging.”

With her name synonymous with a brand that sells everything from perfume to pillowcases in 35 countries, are there any product categories still on Wang’s wishlist? Looking back to her years as an elite figure skater, Wang is eyeing activewear. “I think that for women and men today, there’s such a natural desire to be comfortable,” she told Mallis. “I’d like to do athleticwear. That kind of clothing, it’s just kind of joyous to be able to walk around in. Especially if you can bring a sense of fashion to it. I’d wear it.” She could also be sweet-talked into another deal. “I do love donuts,” she said. “I think I could do a mean donut.”

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

The illusion of giant cable knits was created by prints on sportswear fabric in Westminster student Philli Wood’s BA fashion collection.

Wood chose to print black knitwear patterns onto pink and orange performance nylons instead of knitting the pieces. “I liked the idea of something looking like knit from afar but in fact being something completely different,” he told Dezeen.

Three dimensional cables on a round jacket and a separate chunky scarf appeared to be inflated. The wool patterns were also printed onto silk dresses and tights in the same colours.

Parkas of various lengths with wide-brimmed hoods were lined with orange nylon to reference the traditional anoraks.

Drawstrings used to manipulate the outline of the garments were made from thick rubber and had oversized metal toggles. “For the silhouettes I began looking at traditional parkas and then exaggerated the traditional shape into something more modern and exciting,” said Wood.

Wood’s collection featured in the University of Westminster BA Fashion 2013 show, which took place last week.

Oversized knitwear also featured in Sibling’s Autumn Winter 2013 The Natural Blond womenswear and Please Kill Me menswear collections. Other graduate work from this year includes a shape-shifting ballet school and towering seaside structures for wild birds.

See more fashion collections »

The post Westminster BA Fashion 2013
collection by Philli Wood appeared first on Dezeen.