Fashion shows are odd and very complex events that have a specific function in the fashion mechanism. For an outsider, watching a fashion show can be a confusing experience. Some designers are very focused on creating garments that can be bought straight off the runway, nice and straightforward. Other designers present fantastical garments and unwearable-looking creations, spectacles in cloth and embellishment …read more

Alexander Wang presented his much awaited début collection for the house of Balenciaga during the Paris a/w fashion weeks this March. Given that he only had four months to familiarise himself with the house codes and conventions after he was appointed in late November 2012, one cannot expect him to travel too far from the heavy past of the house. He expectedly returned to the origins of the house, offering his take on recognisable Balenciaga couture propositions and fabrications adding his personal …read more

American philosopher and one of the leading voices in defining art criticism, Noël Caroll divides the task of a critic, in his book On Criticism, into two parts. On the one hand critics describe, classify, contextualize, elucidate, interpret and analyse artworks and objects. All of this suggests that a critic should have an ability to capture the object of criticism and to position it against something bigger: frameworks, contexts, narratives or histories. In order to do this, critics must have …read more

Last week, the film folk gathered to celebrate the 85th Academy Award ceremonies at the Dolby Theater in Hollywood. We, the fashion folk, are always eager to see who is wearing what and, more importantly, which brand on the red carpet. This year, Valentino eagerly spread the word that Anne Hathaway was going to be wearing a dress by the brand but in the end, the actress appeared in powder pink Prada …read more

Every collection starts with a concept. It provides a frame of reference for design generation, a narrative for development and a focus for editing. It is the holy grail of fashion design thinking now. Since tailors and dressmakers became Fashion Designers, on a par with artists, the concept behind a collection has become a paramount component. Each collection just has to have a concept and the more ‘complex’ the concept, the more ‘conceptual’ designers are labeled. …read more

Fashion is produced and consumed in vast quantities. Take luxury level fashion brands for instance – they are all committed to making not just the seasonal s/s and a/w collection but also mid season resort and fall collections. Only fractions of the designed collections are seen on the catwalks, which in most cases are reserved for the edited statements. Then there are of course the diffusion lines, childrenswear lines, sportswear or denim lines as well as bags, shoes and jewellery lines along with the rest of it. On the high street …read more