Up-and-Coming Awesomeness, and Also, Australia

Attention, attention! It is that time of the year, my not so Swedish friends. A time of suspense and "oy moi gourd"-ing, a time of ecstasy and "oym soy excoyted"-ing. It's time for Australia's Next Top Module/Westie Scrag as well, but what I'm really getting at is the return of fashion season!

After a glorious summer (for some of us, perhaps; I have actually seen rather a lot of dreary rain of late), it is time to redirect our eyes and Prada sunglasses back to the international runways. First on the scene for those of us who are Not So Swedish, and thus Danish, is Copenhagen Fashion Week. Not just because it is amazing, and sort of like following indie musicians before they sell out, but also because we know that Copenhagen averages a little over four hours of sunshine a day each year, which makes us wonder why they bother presenting summer collections at all. It seems to me that vampire over-population would be a more pressing concern in a land of permanent night, (or at least lack of sun), but rest assured: DANSK word smiths, the Madsens appear to have seen Twilight, so they will know all about how Scandinavia offers vampires the perfect opportunity to tone down the sparkle. That they only watched Twilight because of KStew is besides the point.

So yes my darlings, I will be reviewing Copenhagen shortly, and after that is done and over with, I anticipate that preparations will have to be made for New York, London, Milan, and Paris. I have a whole system set up with spread sheets and quadratic equations and stuff, so my reviews will be based on scientific results and statistical analysis that none of the Australian modules would be able to do.

Except maybe the one that was born under the tree. I have a good feeling about her. Well, I think so, any way. There were like, 100 girls, minus one that was either picked off by Charlotte Dawson for looking like a Clearasil ad or by Alex Perry for not being expensive enough. And then they got rid of 79, either because they were too fat, too skinny, or not expensive. So I'm really not sure if girl-born-under-tree made the top 20. I can tell you the was one with pink and blue hair named Izzy did though. Pezza said he loved her, and I proceeded to chirp Grey's Anatomy jokes to my enormous teddy bear, Augustus III.

Oh yes, and there was a new Cassie, who is just as much of a bogan as Cassi van den Dungenmunchhausenshoovennoob was, just she's not as skinny, looks more like Dumbo the elephant than a crack whore with broken teeth, is apparently a bit more expensive than Cassi van den Dungenhaagendaasteiger because she said she'd like to work retail for "Supre or Gucci" instead of just "Supre," and is an "indishennussstrayen," which I hope means "aboriginal," because the concept of an aboriginal bogan will win Sarah Murdoch the Nobel Peace Prize, and AusNTM the rest of Australia's viewership. Oh, and before you comment on how they both have shit runway walks, New Cassie didn't shout "FUCK" at the end of the runway, so at least she's got that going for her. To my great disappointment, her lack of cursing also signals a lack of anger issues, which means that I cannot look forward to any potential new Lola van Vorsts (re: Izzy, and that girl that everyone thinks is pretty, but General Dawson and I think is pretty bitchy) recreating my favorite moment in the history of all Top Model franchises across the globe, and inducing a wall-punching session. (For those of you who need to be informed of this in full detail, click here to observe what will forever be referred to as "major angerness".)

Somewhere in the world, assuming she cares, our favorite bogan from Logan is shaking her head in disbelief at. Or getting ready for fashion season, because in case nobody noticed, somebody is apparently back in business after finishing her Kit-Cat bar, because I'm feeling especially punny today.

Hugo Boss S/S 2011

I was planning on quoting lyrics from "E.T." by Katy Perry as a caption for these photos, but the only words that sprang to mind were "Ima disrobe you, then ima probe you," which felt a little crass for the demure fashion crowd, besides not getting my point across at all. Short of it: looked like an alien, closed the show, I clapped a little.

But since I brought up Lola van Vorst earlier, can we discuss for a moment how Cat McNeil and Hilary Rhonda's lovechild dyed her hair blonde and went from being dead sexy to being, well, still dead sexy, but edgy and blonde too? She's been churning out new work like a poor man's Freja this summer, which she occasionally posts on her Tumblr and Twitter, which I followed because I have no more convenient ways of knowing when it's 11:11 in Sydney (It just passed, like, two hours ago, in case you're wondering. Cheers, sexy.). Not expecting to see her on runways this fall, but then, who am I to underestimate the power of invisible eyebrows?

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Tell me I'm wrong

She even has a tFS thread now, which I would have started if someone hadn't beaten me to it, and for all I know, you can put that on your resume. All I'm saying is that AusNTM started with 99 problems this season, but this bitch ain't one.

Your emails have been ever so kind this summer, all three of them were real soul-stirrers. Maybe sending one of those to Rrose Selavy will convince her to return to her Freja blogging ways. I apologize for my own extended absence... the beheading of Ned Stark in Game of Thrones was simply too much for me to handle. (Not because of Stark -- I knew that was going to happen because unlike everyone else in the world, I read that shit when I was twelve -- but because the Ring of Power has evidently driven Sean Bean to decide that life is no longer worth living.) I hope you have all enjoyed your summers (Or winters, depending where you are. Like Australia, or Westeros, for example.) as much as I have.

Sidebar: I also hope you noticed that Wayne Rooney got hair implants. Fingers crossed he shares his doctor with the Prince of Cambridge in the coming years.

I'll do my best to have a Copenhagen review up within the next two weeks, as well as finally finishing up the Top High Fashion Runway Model Ranks so you know who to watch this fashion season. Not that it really matters, the toppers will probably be at every farking show again this season, so you'll catch on quick enough. Laters!

Peace, love, and floating,
Gill Ford

P.S.: People who watch AusNTM would be well advised to start reading Jo Blogs and Bland Canyon. People who don't would be well advised to ditch Tyra Banks and start.

Photos courtesy of tFS user AriLove, juliawheeler.blogspot.com, lovelola.tumblr.com

Back In Black

As promised, I have finally gone through all of the gorgeous collections at Copenhagen Fashion Week for Spring/Summer 2011, and as I said before, I am quite in love with what Scandinavia had to offer! I suppose the best way to do this would be to give a rundown of the trends I saw popping up most often, followed by some of my favorite designers this season. Here we go...


Trend #1: BLACK

You might not usually include it on your usual colour pallette for the warmer months, but if there was one colour that appeared in just about every show (and when I say 'appeared' I mean DOMINATED), it was black. Dresses, skirts, blazers; black was all over the runway. While there were few that didn't include black, it was rare that a collection was nothing but black (they lightened up occasionally with some greys and whites). I suppose that's excellent news for anyone wanting to recycle wardrobes... Perhaps the continuation of black into spring/summer collections is a helping hand in light of the financial crisis sweeping the globe? Either way, it's pretty clear: Scandinavia is forcasting dark times ahead.


Trend #2: BLUE

   

When a real colour arrived, the first one that really did it for be was blue. There were some pastels as might be expected for spring, but the blue that was used most effectively (in my opinion) were the darker shades along the lines of royal, as demonstrated here by TSH and Peter Jensen. Both brands were extremely colourful in comparison to the others, incorporating not just blue, but reds, greens, and yellows as well. I was a big fan of the boyfriend blazer at Munthe plus Simonsen, personally.


Trend #3: YELLOW

   


It wasn't as noticeable as the blues, but yellow also had a subtle influence on collections, appearing every now and again in full outfits, but also in minor details, including bags at the CIFF Press Show, skinny belts at the CPH Vision Press Show, and bows on shoes at Ils of Norway. A favorite seemed to be yellow dresses, with several appearing at Marlene Birger, Henrik Vibskov, and at the show featuring Designerskolen Kolding's BA students. On another note, Minimarket actually had a bright yellow runway for their show at City Hall.


Trend #4: STRIPES

   


Stripes were absolutely everywhere. They came in pants, they came in skirts, in dresses, vests, and comfy shirts... But seriously, stripes are in, no question. while most shows had only a couple elements in each collection, Bruuns Bazaar was noted for using stripes fairly frequently, as was the dark circus themed Moonspoon Saloon, and I don't think Ivana Helsinki's nautical themed collection had a single look that didn't incorporate them in some way (and usually a major one at that). Another thing about the stripes: it doesn't matter what type of stripes they are. You can have horizontal stripes, vertical stripes, big and little stripes, dual tones, tri tones, it doesn't matter. Just make like a zebra this spring and you're well off.


Trend #5: PRINTS

   


Prints were another important facet of the SS11 runways in Copenhagen, and often took over entire looks. Ivana Helsinki used a number of prints, and in most cases, combined them with her overriding stripe trend. Stine Goya had a major focus on prints in his collection, while TSH provided flowing gowns with multicoloured prints that sometimes recalled the colours of Alexander McQueen's SS10 'Plato's Atlantis'. For the most part, this trend was restricted to sun and maxi dresses, but as Goya asserts, if you want those printed harem pants, go ahead and rock them. Another thing you might want to remember is that the prints were rarely animal inspired. PETA take note.


Trend #6: HEAD SCARVES

   


Headscarves were an interesting edition to a number of collections. We saw Lady Gaga-esque draping happening at the glam rock inspired Bllack Noir show, while Margit Brandt favoured a sleek side knot for her safari girls. Every single one of the top heavy models at Ivan Grundahl teetered down the runway in massive black and white turbans (I suspect that this was the reason they were also wearing high-tops and loafers). Malene Birger topped her (also safari inspired) collection in a similar fashion to Brandt, but with the addition of a cute fedora.


As you may or may not have caught from my Gossip Girl post, I am very partial to the rocker chic at the present time. So as you can imagine, I was very pleased to see that black was so common in Copenhagen. I looooooved the collections at Bllack Noir, Karen by Simonsen, and S'nob de Noblesse. Spon Diogo was  also great in the LBD department. I was also quite taken by the safari collections at Margit Brandt and Malene Birger, and the looks at Munthe plus Simonsen were in no way dampening my spirits.

On another note, I would encourage you to check out the AMAZING SHOES at Moonspoon Saloon... Apparently they were each hand painted by Tal R, which according to Didder Rønlund makes them about as valuable as anything similar from the big Parisien fashion houses (dare I even mention McQueen?). Anyway, the shoes are essentially encrusted in these colourful pinecones, and amidst the blacks and dark browns and maroons of the collection, they really stand out:

   

Once again, CFW was excellent; it's surely only a matter of time before it becomes added to the seasonal rotation with New York, London, Milan and Paris. If you want to have a look at the runway shows yourself, you can visit the Copenhagen Fashion Week official site, where they list all the looks from each show. I'll also link you to the Gallery, where a huge number of designers presented their collections. The site lists the different brands they hosted the past month, and provides you with direct links to their official sites. If there are specific brands that you would like me to do an exclusive look at, please let me know and I'll get right on it. I'd also love to hear what you lot thought of CFW this year: what were your favorite looks? Did any brands in particular stand out to you? Why do you think there is so much black for a usually colourful season? And most importantly, how do you feel about Peter Jensen's pairing of athletic socks with sandal stilettos and flats?
 
Peace, love, and floating,
Gill Ford


All photos courtesy of Copenhagen Fashion Week®

Copenhagen Cancer City Kill

Now that the first official post is out of the way, I guess I should get this thing started...


So as you all may or may not know, we are fast approaching major fashion weeks. New York, London, Milan, and Paris will all come in good time, but for now, we are sitting on our laurels as September issues start appearing... Okay, so I'm kind of lying. One of my FAVORITE fashion weeks just occurred actually, running from August 11th - 15th in Copenhagen, and as always, the Danes reminded us why we love them oh so much.


As it happens, this year was a record breaker for the Scandinavian fashion capital; hosting over 50 shows in total, and featuring approximately 260 brands! It was to my complete and utter devastation that we were left hanging by two of my favorites, ACNE and the incomparable Mads Nørgaard (note the streaming tears), neither of whom showed this year. That said, we can all expect great things from Jonny Johansson, because ACNE is once again showing in London this year, and word on the street is that it's going to be bigger and better than before!!


One of the major attractions of Copenhagen this year was also a record setter, and perhaps one of the more lucrative ones we've seen in a while... A MILE LONG CATWALK. That's right folks, we're talking 1609 meters of pink, winding through the core of the city. I don't know about you lot, but the only times I willingly walk that far in six-inch heels is when I'm drunk as fuck and can't find the lou. So props to the 220 models that undertook that trek, may your next shows involve flats or trainers.


Now, you can all bet your asses I'll be back with my favorite looks from the week, but I need to finish looking through them all first... It would be exhausting if I wasn't so in love... let me tell you, there is NOTHING rotten in the state of Denmark. That said, I will leave you with two of my favorite fashion films by Mads Nørgaard, titled 'The Copenhagen Experience'. I've included parts one and two of the trilogy, as the third has yet to be released, and at this point I'm not expecting it at all :(. The films feature Danish models Freja Beha Erichsen and Eddie Klint, as well as covers/remixes of the song 'Copenhagen' originally by the Danish band Sort Sol for way back in the 80s. The song, here redone by Rework and Trentmøller (honestly, who else?) is a great track... the covers are available on iTunes.


Part 1:

Part 2:

I know right, that was a cornucopia of awesomeness. I'm telling you, Denmark is where it's at. They have a great fashion week, they have great music, and they have great models. Not to mention, they also own Greenland. Yeah, when I found out I was well surprised too. Everyone's talking about China and India and shit, but before you know it, Denmark is going to take over the world.


Peace, love, and floating,
Gill Ford