Dries Van Noten

I love the work of Dries Van Noten who always creates an innovative yet wearable collection. His latest collection was shown at Paris Fashion week on Wednesday and was full of gorgeous colour and print, heaven for any textile designer. Fabrics were sourced from the 30s, 40s, 60s and 80s and these decades were also echoed in the shapes of the clothes. The designer was influenced by Picasso who took scraps of wallpaper and worked with those instead of using paint and a brush, and this has created a scrapbook look in his clothes. Dresses had open seams, or looked like they were made entirely out of scarves, that had been beautifully draped.

The outfit above beautifully pairs plaid trousers with a silk dressing gown.

 The outfit above has a fabulous lip print, reminiscent of Schiaparelli. I love the draping of the bright yellow scarf, which has also been belted at the waist.

  The androgynous look above has been softened by the draping of a silk scarf at the waist. I love the inclusion of the slouchy leather clutch bag.

The bold floral and colour way of the coat above is stunning!

I love the mix of the diagonal stripe of the trousers and vintage floral of the top above, toned down by a smart, soft brown jacket. Check out that stunning clutch bag!

  The inclusion of lilac in this collection is fab! In the outfit above it is mixed with a stunning shimmering metallic silver to create an asymmetrical skirt. In the outfit below is has been pieced together with completely contrasting fabrics that work so well, to create a stunningly draped evening dress.

Dries Van Noten

I'm a few days late in mentioning this, but I had to post some images of the latest Dries Van Noten collection shown at Paris Fashion Week a few days ago, and seen on Vogue.com.

As a textile designer, I always gravitate towards pattern and colour and the Dries Van Noten collection had all of that, and more! Dries wanted a brutalist approach to this collection, chopping up garments and throwing flower prints onto them to create heavy contrast.

Some garments were asymmetrically designed. I love the extra long sleeve of the dress above. 

Vibrant colours sat against deep black or soft white grounds. The coat above is stunning and reminds me of many of the vibrant obi fabrics I came across in Tokyo.

Several outfits incorporated heavily beaded Victorian-Inspired neck pieces.

The blue one below picks out the blue from the print on other outfits and acts as a dramatic contrast to the beige and black dress.

The coat below reminds me of the Chinese silk fabrics I picked up on a recent trip to New York and am looking forward to making some more clutch bags out of it. Watch this space for the next instalment.

I love the combination of the acid yellow and brown of the outfit below, with stunning florals.

It's a bit difficult to see from these photos, but the runway was flagged by stunning floral arrangements that emulated rich botanical oil paintings. Each arrangement had been frozen in a massive block of ice to create a temporary ice display case for each piece.

Paris Fashion Week - Valentino

It was hard to know where to edit the Valentino collection as it varied so much in style and detail!

 The underlying inspiration was from Africa. The collection started off with plain black outfits, that used many techniques to stand out - fringing, layering, mixes of fabrics. The collection proceeded on to a more obviously African-inspired look with African designs, beading, embroidery and fringing incorporated into the outfits. As the collection went on, it became more colourful, with outfits of tie dye, mixed with embossed and studded leather corsets and gladiator sandals. The last few outfits were the extreme of black and were all white, still with a host of techniques and fabric types within one outfit.

I love a bit of fringing and it works so nicely in the outfit above as black on black.

The studded collar makes a bold statement.

Raffia fringing adds texture and sheen.

Embroidered panels bring a shot of dramatic colour to a black outfit.

Vibrant African prints mix well with embellished, fringed jackets.

 Beautiful embossed leather skirt.

 A tie dye coat mixes rich colours of olive and rust together.

 Stunning white!

Paris Fashion Week - Dries Van Noten

Paris Fashion Week is now in full force and I dipped in to have a look and was blown away by the collection of Dries Van Noten. It's heaven for anyone who loves textiles and colours, with an array of jacquards, ruffles tweeds and pleats all thrown together to produce a juicy melting pot of design. I love the clashing of colours that work so well together.

Acne Studios

I love a bit of neon and couldn't resist mentioning the latest collection from Acne Studios which has a mariner theme, using nautical stripes and naval styles. I love the neon yellow colour inspired by a sou'wester, mixed with deep navy blue and over-sized knitted sweaters.

Dries Van Noten

Paris Fashion Week has now started and I homed in on the Dries Van Noten show, mainly for its use of artisanal techniques, as well as its mix of rich fabrics and floral motifs. I love the barbed wire print on delicate floaty fabric, the multi-layered floral print dress and the mix of rich gold lace skirt mixed with a neatly tucked in black and white print shirt.