How To Get The Most Out of Fashion Week: Part 3

Comprehension (but not the kind on standardized tests)

you can follow all my fashion week boards at pinterest.com/madelinejean

Once you’ve pulled the images from shows that you’ve liked, now is the fun part: digging into what you’re seeing. This is where you’ve seen everything and now you can really look and see what the trends will be for spring.

1. Color- are there stand out colors? New color combinations that seem new and interesting? Take note of the model’s coloring juxtaposed with the clothing she’s in. This should be a good indicator of what colors will work for you in spring.
2. Silhouette- what shapes are you seeing over and over? this should be just as obvious as color. Is it  a shorts season? Is it a maxi-dress season? I’m not giving any clues, just some general ideas of how to determine the silhouettes of the season.
3. Prints and Materials- Is it a print season? Is everything made of shirting? Are designers arguing suede for spring?
4. Design References- Is everyone referencing the 60s? The future? This makes for really open ended and fun forecasting. Most fashion reporters will write what the designer said their inspiration was. It’s always interesting so see how designers incorporate their inspiration into more abstracted concepts.

Repeat City by City. Fashion in New York is totally different from Paris, from Milan, from Rio. It’s important to first look at trends separated, before compiling and comparing across all the major fashion weeks. Each city has it’s own speciality in the fashion world, and each deserves equal attention. Once you dig into each city, it makes it really rewarding to compare all the trends from each city to each other to create a great big trend recap that you can reference all through Spring and Summer.

*also, don’t forget to look at street style surrounding the shows. this is often a good way to see how wearable (and unwearable) trends are.

The Single Greatest Shirt Ever

On the runway, Carven FW12 took my breath away. But now that it's actually for sale, it's giving me a heart attack.

I'm rarely head over heels for an item of clothing, but this shirt my be the single greatest shirt ever. 

The half-peter-pan collar, mixed with my favorite painting ever.... everything is perfect.

 I'm having to remind myself that this one shirt = one month of rent.

I hereby encourage you to spend your rent money on the greatest shirt ever and invoke my jealousy for decades.

How To Get The Most Out of Fashion Week: Part 2

Start Looking (beyond)

Anyone can flip through slides, but you’re on a mission to comprehend. Grab a coffee, an indulgent snack, a couple hours, and comfy spot. Fashion Week in the internet age is a treat!

1. Social Media

Notice scheduling. Pay attention to who’s attending the designer shows. Follow on twitter, watch the livestream, like them on Facebook. Fashion is an industry and everyone is connected. Start to figure out who is collaborating with who, who’s supporting which designers, which models are walking what shows. It will help you figure out which designers are the “it-designers” of the season

2. Figure Out Your Database

I personally like Style.com. You may like another resource. Try to pick one and stick to it. The reviews will be cohesive from show to show with a similar voice. This is really helpful when you go to form your own opinion. Don’t let the editors or news reporter’s tell you what to think yet. That’s what the glossies are for 6 months from now. Right now, the excitement all relies on the fact that YOU get to form your own, personal, opinion!

3. Use Your Eyes

Flip through slides. Watch livestreams! Have Fun! This is the best part! Skim before you comprehend. Get inspired and enjoy! Use Pinterest if you have to!

I personally like to look at the previous day’s shows, each day. This way I can keep up, and don’t get overwhelmed, but strategize as you wish. There's a lot of information to be had and you want to capture it all.

How To Get The Most Out of Fashion Week: Part 1

Pre-Work: Focus Your Efforts

images-style.com

While not all of us can run around the globe chasing the newest designs, with the expansion of the internet, Fashion Week (er, month) now comes to you. And almost instantaneously, at that. What was for decades an industry event has now unfurled into a full blown PR spectacle that as design connoisseurs and fashion enthusiasts, we can’t help but be consumed by. This is the first part (and a little overdue, sorry!) of a 3 part series on how to get the most out of Fashion Week.

1. Acknowledge you cannot have it all.

Unless it is your full time job, (which if you’re not at Fashion Week, it’s not,) you need to focus your efforts. There are simply too many designers and too many cities for you to even attempt to take it all in. Know this before you start, and you won’t be disappointed.

2. Identify your personal style.

Of course this as a small no. 2 is rather unfair. Identifying your personal style takes years and years of experimenting and researching. If you know your personal style, great; you’re done. If you don’t know your personal style, think about types of silhouettes you gravitate towards, materials that excite you, and treatments that you find yourself returning to again and again. Colors and prints will change season to season and year to year, so it’s best to not declare yourself “a blue,” but rather a “feminine structure,” or “embroidery and pants.” When you say it outloud, it sounds like gobbledigook, but if you’re really looking and comprehending style, it will make sense.

3.Know your designers.

Make lists. Those are the shows you need to focus on.

-Your top 10 personal favorite designers

-CFDA Incubator (designers in the spotlight for the first or second time. They will not disappoint. There will be hype. It’s entirely possible they will be the next big thing)

-Must-see shows by city (the labels that season after season never fail to excite and the press hypes)

-Parisian Couture houses

4.Invest

You wouldn’t expect to breeze through half a year of The New York Times in 15 minutes; take the time to really invest your energy in learning and comprehending what you’re seeing. Fashion Week explores a half a year's worth of work. Plan on taking the time necessary to really involve yourself.

Sounds of Nouveau

Midland from Arthur Beatrice on Vimeo.

I'm obsessed with this track. It's everything you want from a single.

It's haunting, it's optimistic. It's catchy, it's orchestral.

It makes you want to go for a run, read a book, dance your pants off, and share it with friends.

This song has seriously been on repeat for the past 2 days non-stop. If only they had a few more...

Be sure to check out Arthur Beatrice on Soundcloud  and the other bands on Open Assembly.

Ivory Knots

all images

I'm not really into weddings, but when I saw images from Dhani Harrison's wedding to Sola Káradóttir, I was awestruck. They look like the happiest and loveliest bohemian couple.

She wore a custom Stella McCartney creation that featured all-over embroidery (including their first names) to make the dress feel both traditional and modern.

Overall, it's just absolutely stunning. 

Looks like something out of daydreams and fairytales.

Gifts from Giacometti

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I spent most of yesterday in the park with the September issue of Vogue.

I certainly wouldn't be the first to marvel at what an amazing book it is, so I won't....

I just really want to point out an essay that in such a massive fashion book might have been missed.

On page 494, Amaranth Ehrenhalt remembers being a struggling artist in the 50s in "Cafe Society."She recalls a gift, or rather two, that she received from Alberto Giacometti.

I won't spoil it an recount it in entirety (its worth the cost of the magazine just for the one essay,) but reading this essay reminded me again why I love to read.

I love the stories, the connections, and the characters. I love it even more when they blend reality and fantasy, so that the only way it is real, is that I believe it so.

I'm used to finding stories like this in The New York Times or The Atlantic, but to find such a powerful, short, and sweet story in the middle of the September Vogue, was the most pleasant of surprises.

Things That Are Awesome Thursday: Internet Menagerie

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Now that I'm no longer a full time art history student, I no longer spend my days sifting through countless databases and archives looking for images and primary sources.

Today, however, I landed on the "Classic Illustrated Zoologies and Related Works 1550-1900" database on the New York Public Library.

Needless to say, this is the greatest thing I've seen on the internet in ages.

Orchestras of Bug Dreams

both

Uniqlo is collaborating with Jun Takahashi of Undercover on a line of outerwear and clothing this fall.

While the clothing is beautiful, the real gem of the collaboration is the campaign shot with the whimsical insect instrumentallists.

They're a little robotic and creepy, but at the same time they have a feeling about them that reminds me of a forest spirit friend from a Miyazaki film.

This campaign has everything I could want: beautiful coats, scandinavianesque light filled rooms, and bug friends.

Dibs on the cricket.

Ice Cream Man and the Elephant

sources unknown

I'm a bit of a black and white kick this week.

How great are these photographs?

They're vintage, nostalgic, endearing, hilarious, and intriguing all at once.

They make me want to spend the whole day daydreaming about a black and white world where people have, not pets, but animal friends.

I think I'd like to spend the day paling around with an Otter.