written September 13th, 2009 ·
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Fabiola Arias is a Cuban born (Miami raised) fashion designer who just recently graduated from Parsons and is showing her collection during New York Fashion week as an installation of still life models. I wanted to post some really beautiful images of her latest collections here and share some of her process and my thoughts.
Her Fall 2009 collection was inspired by the winter in New York, which includes designs that are beautifully textural and sculptural. Combining the contrasting images of fallen leaves and snow with broken glass and rubble from the streets of the city, Fabiola created a chilled palette of black, pine green and silvery beige. Her sculptural dresses are elegant and expressive and her pieces are formed by layers of bunched fabric in an attractively organic way. The fabric resembles an organism that has attached itself lovingly to the wearer’s body, which is what I admire about her work, that it is structural with a deep sense of the body underneath.
Her Spring 2009 collection shows traces of her love of structure and layering as well. She designed a lovely pink top that has bunched fabric clusters along the collar and sleeves, which gives it some weight and then the rest just drapes light as a feather and relaxed down to the waist (see pictures below). A simple yellow mini is transformed into a textural beauty by large stitches that curve around the hip area in a seductive and flattering way. She also worked with a very organic print on a lovely dusty rose colored dress, the form of the dress hovering between structural and amorphous in a feminine and charming way.
Fabiola’s line was picked up by the store Ikram in Chicago (a favorite of Michelle Obama’s) before she graduated and she will be presenting her Fall/Winter 2010 collection in Tokyo. So watch out for this rising talent!
Posted in Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written March 9th, 2009 ·
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The beautiful shapes of the Jil Sander collection!
Image sources: NYTimes.com and Style.com
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written March 9th, 2009 ·
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I just get so inspired by fashion! Here is another collage of some of my favs…..
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written March 9th, 2009 ·
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An article I read by Cathy Horyn on NYTimes.com made me put the fashion shows of Fall 2009 in perspective. Instead of just saying, ah yes, I like this outfit or not, I needed to look at the fashion collections as art and put them into the context of the world’s economic situation. This was an interesting experiment. I found that I was more attracted to certain pieces once I realized that the designers were responding to a larger inspiration than beauty and trends (such as the Prada collection). Of course fashion designers are connected to current events and can be real artists at times and not just trendsetters, but this can be easily forgotten. read more…
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written March 4th, 2009 ·
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Even though I wasn’t blown away by this collection, I enjoyed the idea that the models were women walking down the street with their purses, lattes and magazines in their arms. Dsquared collections are usually more casual and very real in terms of what many women wear daily, but putting the models in this context really drives the idea home. It is not a completely original idea, but i admire the creativity.
read more…
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written March 4th, 2009 ·
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I am revisiting Marc by Marc Jacobs’ warm and fuzzy collection. I realized that it is actually nice to be looking at this year’s upcoming fall fashion because the warm and cozy looks fit perfectly to the weather we have now. Maybe Marc Jacobs was inspired by the long winter we are experiencing now.
Marc by Marc Jacobs image source: NYTimes.com
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written February 26th, 2009 ·
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Images from NYTimes.com. Proenza Schouler here and Marchesa here.
For these collages, I was inspired by the similarities I found between various designers and their collections. The same color, texture or shape may be found in different collections and I will then make the connection visually by collaging a new outfit together, not seriously, but only for comparative purposes. The distorted figures that are created through this process are intriguing to me. Cropping a photograph from the runway and honing in on a specific part also focuses more attention on the outfit and taking it away from the model, which I am always distratcted by. I think it is true that humans are drawn to faces. Maybe if I was actually at a fashion show, I would be too overwhelmed to bother with actually observing the individual models, but for now I will just crop them so that they become a part of a visual equation and not a specific woman.
Images from NYTimes.com. Marc by Marc Jacobs here and Ralph Rucci here.
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
written February 24th, 2009 ·
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I enjoyed a lot of the Marc by Marc Jacobs looks, although I’m not sure if it was because the clothes looked so warm and cozy, because they were colorful, or that the outfits were like big collages of colors, patterns, materials and styles. The combination and synthesis of grandma chic and girlie is really enjoyable here. These are grandma house frocks modernized for working women who enjoy comfort and and style! Here are some colorful examples I would totally rock.
And some mens styles that i quite enjoy….
Images from NYTimes.com
Posted in Collages, Fashion, Fashion Fall 2009
