bloggers take over COS

COS Brussles offered the window space to a blogger. I didn’t find time for it(I’ll soon show you another window project I’m currently working on), but luckily the kids of ilovebelgium.be did. It’s a pastel coloured heaven!
The pictures are up on varioussources.tumblr.com.

glitter scenario

Sometimes I get into a strange buying mode when my logic follows two parallel paths without any interaction between them. So I end up buying very irrelevant pieces like this Lena Lumelksy blouse from RA13 stocksale and Margiela glitter stilettos that were a total steal on eBay – all shiny and glittery and dangerously feminine.

The parallel logic line runs along my day job and the constant interaction with the most amazing design pieces courtesy of Rick Owens, Ann Demeulemeester, A.F. Vandevorst, Dries Van Noten and plenty of others that make the unpronounceable name of Belgian fashion. The quality of the pieces makes me give in a little as well as the possibility to pay the buyer price instead of the retail one…tempted? Utterly! So I come home with a Rick Owens short-o-skirt and Ann Demeulemeester boots – the two being robust, somewhat lumpy, harsh and unisex and the direct opposite of the shiny heels. The moral? Once again I realise that I’m a collector, eclectic and a two-faced creature. By no means negative tough! I do prefer owning a random collection of marvellous design pieces than a tasteful matching wardrobe. I prefer awkward beauty to prettiness, and a shocker to pleaser…but then if you see me dashing through the street I’m most likely to wear a basic COS dress and an H&M coat from 3 years ago, but then occasionally shopping for groceries in a total look from Henrik Vibskov and some 10cm high heels. It’s a surreal scenario I live in, still don’t really understand why.

sleep...love...i

Various Sources

Inspiration images, the publishing progress updates and some new work in digital form – that’s what you may find on the Various Sources fanzine blog. I’m writing more often there and trying to keep the personal and professional somewhat separated, but as learned from Anu Tuominen – in direct personal involvement the artist’s life becomes a creation in itself…

shadow play

jacket COS

cardigan Maison Martin Margiela

skort Rick Owens

bag second-hand

I promised to write more formally…no no, don’t try re-reading the previous posts in search of the given promise…I made it to myself, and that’s where you’ll find it:

http://varioussources.tumblr.com/

bits and pieces of the 'heavy' agenda

Proenza Schouler worship group

Spring/Summer 2011

Autumn/Winter 2010
What attracts me the most in the recent notion of beauty is its odd extraterrestrial part, when everything seems to be as wrong as white trash, but glows of unexplainable beauty from within. Naturally, if I were to pick a soundtrack for this I’d go for Salem’s King Earth – the right amount of trashiness that makes the doom and the gloom of ‘drag’ so hard to appreciate but so easy to quickly get addicted to – the slowed down and deconstructed version of hip-hop, and who would have guessed, but I’m loving it to the bone.

Spring/Summer 2009

If I were to quote one brand to get the full picture of this odd beauty, it would be Proenza Schouler. What Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough do to fashion is wicked, witty and weird. They sow:

Spring/Summer 2010

We reap:

I wish to have a heap of fried blond hair and a can of coloured hairspray just to praise this girl’s look and Lazaro’s and Jack’s odd aesthetic.

love alphabetically

I always found it hard to classify or pick favourites, partially out of scepticism – there’s always the little something to criticise, partially out of objectivity – don’t want my personal taste to win over the respect to one or another designer’s work. There’s no better way than to see them all with amazement and indifference equally. Here’s what I like – in ALPHABETICAL order.

A
Acne’s new season made me think of nothing else but the Matrix trilogy…strangely enough while looking through their Spring/Summer 2011 lookbook I noticed that all the sunglasses are named after the Matrix characters – there’s Neo, Morpheus, Cipher… Clearly the season is looking into the future, but I love that slightly 90’s appeal of the collection. The most beautiful looks are in grey, me thinks.


A.F. Vandevorst made me look forward to finally meeting this amazing grey trouser in person. Only a few months left!



Alexander Wang is just may be more loved than the others – the tailored silks, calf length, THAT colour-palette of ochre and cement mastic and THOSE shoes. The perfect summer wardrobe in the Perfectland – someone take me there.

B
Balenciaga has done something really different, but I can’t help to like the final silhouettes of the catwalk – the more typical Balenciaga looks with the right amount of veneer and sheer. The shoes are robust and structured – probably the perfect complement to any girliness that might show through all other season’s collections.

D

Staying with the shoe subject – Dries Van Noten holographic heels would go fantastically well with any of the grey tones that every designer seems to do for spring.

Damir Doma and Hannah Marshall show what to do with a transparent skirt – wear another skirt over it, finish off with a long blazer. That’s a look to adopt…and to contrast with those fabulous Alexander Wang heels – ah excuse me, I’m floating away to the Perfectland again.

J-H
Hussein Chalayan and Raf Simons for Jil Sander are the only two who can make the lightest shade of mint look so attractive. I love Raf’s hyper-minimalism - just imagine the Dries Van Noten heels worn with that look…

M

Marios Schwab, alongside with Proenza Schouler (which deserves a separate post) is full of reference to the 90’s again. This time around to the punk and the grunge in the massive load of textures, lace cut-outs, tie-dye and tattoo motifs, but surprisingly both are making it elegant. I’m not a fan of the styling and make up at Marios’ catwalk, but nevertheless the pieces are marvellously detailed. I find the entire gothic trend revived a bit too soon – we’ve seen it happening now and then in the course of the noughties – but somehow the new gothic references are more pagan than Catholic (look at the result at Givenchy) and somehow less cliché than in the previous years. Could it be that we have really plunged into the world crisis head to toe and are not willing to see any light? We are consumed by the dark, the occult and the apocalyptic moods… no surprise that some catwalks like Jil Sander or Prada explode with colour – it’s just a counterweight.

Maison Martin Margiela…stop, wait, pause… this team of assistants is really genius! Too bad it’s not consistent and we still can’t expect the miracle to happen season to season, but this collection (and of course my selection of the beautiful greys) is so far their best work. The logical continuation of the winter and its XXL waistlines gets even more surreal as the catwalk progresses developing into the most simple of the shapes – a square – in other hands it could have been banal, but here it’s genius.

P

Proenza Schouler:

Well, here’s the collection that has blown my mind this season. It reminds me of Toga’s early work and Undercover circa 2007 – just enough girliness proportioned with weirdness.

R

Rodarte with the 70’s veneer and gold is principally different from the beautiful zombie of the previous seasons (just when everyone else has caught up on it!), and I can’t find the silhouette I like enough – let’s wait a couple of years to digest.

V

VPL is one of the New York’s catwalks so rarely referred to here in Europe. I can hardly think of any glossy that uses VPL in the photoshoots and just as hard is to find a decent retail point. The recent collections are reminiscent of the last ones of Veronique Branquinho – the sporty/elegant mix of floating silks, nude tones…less mystic, more brave.

Y

And to finish off with Yves saint Laurent – or Stefano Pilati, to be honest, because it’s his work that I really admire. The sleek black and the fuzzy nude here could once again go so well with the Balenciaga shoes.
Cheers from the Perfectland.

Swedes have sweets

Today after having looked at my schedule, the train of jolly window dressing thoughts has screeched to a halt. The last week of October will be fun though, and I’m curious to see the result of a new project launched by one Swedish brand. They’ll be swapping their windows with bloggers, letting us – the rare breed of creative minds that feed on catwalk images from style.com – be in charge of their window displays for a whole week. I’m sad not to take a part in it due to lack of time, but I’ll do my best to document the transformation as it unfolds.

And for those who are impatient to get a bit of the Swedish sweets, here’s your chance:

RA1 Year

This Saturday, the 16th of October RA13 will be celebrating 1 year anniversary…'til dawn!

white on white

I just got an e-mail offer to make a window display for one brand that I love, would be great to know in which country and which city though. Tomorrow I’ll give them a call to find out.