Never has a time being that we create a sense of nostalgia for ourselves as a glimmer of hope and optimism for things that used to be all dandy and happy. And now, that the times are more contemporary than ever and with though some designers such as Raf Simons would prefer to call his collections rather fluid than ‘futuristic’ that has never been such a time when utilitarian basics dominate and govern the way we dress so fondly. Though, womenswear seeking to use manufactured organic silks and cottons is a signal for green decisions in the whole entire designed process, one fabric remains distilled. So close in fact that it could be as old as the history of lace and its Flemish roots. Denim has never been that glamorous acting as a symbol of low social class than high wealth but as the creatively and musically talented could see its tactile properties being texturally enduring, and also its rich indigo blue in colour it has always been enhanced by young guns of icons and figures. Stephen W. Daniels who wrote the titled article, ‘A Study in Denim’ in Issue 10 of Tate Etc. discussed three portraits with profound effect. An oil painting of Peter Blake in 1961 wearing a matching denim jacket and jeans that showed on one hand a fine example of British Pop Art but also the change in an era where war was left behind and denim’s emergence was just flowering. Over the years, this piece of fine double-twilled fabric was always a labor of love through to another example shown in the article of singer Elvis Presely standing proudly with his pair of denim jeans in 1949. The portrayal of denim throughout our history has been as significant as Tartan, the use of plaid which became a considerable measure in the modern fashion industry. Though its use became antagonistic and subversive it a distinguishable piece of cloth and used quite considerably, notably by Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo. As Suzy Menkes mentioned about the universal use of Tartan for this season by a number of designers, its vivid colour, versatility, its edgyness and becoming post-modernist (a reaction to clothes made for being quite sensual), its touch which can create a swarming feeling of lightning bolts or more elegant scarf wool-like shades create greater contrast than something such as leather itself. As both Denim and Tartan and even Burberry’s own trench coat have come from a more dowdy and military upbringing, they share a common theme of identity and a sense of personal belonging - to a group, a class and a fade maybe.

The choice of denim used by Stephanie Downey is embraced by her new collection titled Friendship. Because denim is a living organic fabric and not as synthetic as it is today, its integral and develops a realationship or even a bond with one another. Though the embodiment of her concept ‘Dress Up’ as ‘an ode to vanity’ this new collection, we are able to view equally measurable pieces featuring denim and sheepskin. A denim jacket and skirt of tencel makes the denim less dense but softer and warm, the skirt is extended and a wool twist top in light beige with a broader shoulder line. The zipper skirt made from sheepskin is attached with a cute behind zipper with the buttoned denim vest having a fittingly snug rounded shoulders. In this collection, warmth and its elongated shapes with the full high-waisted jeans and long-sleeved black zipper dress is as assertively considered in character and in personality. Dress Up is growing with maturity and age.

The current collection of Dress Up is available at The PR Store in Sydney with the Autumn/Winter 2009 range soon.

Dress Up

The Stephan Schneider story on Cultures In Between was meant to have been up a short while ago but his office has been extremely busy with setting up their new collection for showings and buyers as well as setting up the individual shows early next year. Hopefully, Mieke from his office will be sending the new collection images soon. In the meantime, please enjoy some images, again taken by Hannes and the team from Tres Bien who recently made their buying trip to Schneider’s showroom setup in Rue de Montmorency, Paris. A wonderfully made collection where all garments are manufactured in Belgium and fabrics produced by Schneider himself. That’s true handscraftsmanship!

A first of many of street photographic images in Sydney. The photograph was captured in The Rocks.

For the past few months, there has been some contemplation of establishing a street photography website to best represent what Sydney is really like. There has been a massive proliferation of many people working on a similar format but as yet, there is none for Sydney. Sydney, as mundane as it is at intervals and not as a city with the same calibre as Paris or New York, there is originality and beauty amongst the hidden and inner streets. Should we have another website documenting the way people dress creatively? The short answer hopefully, yes.

The planned website format will be as well presented as Hedi Slimane’s diary. To show a gallery of images like a sketchbook or visual diary as documentation rather than a typical style blog and images captured as surprised moments rather than an arbitrary process. All the thanks will go to Liisa Jokinen and Sampo Karjalainen who both have given street photography great perspectives.

You can never be too accustomed and know what Sally and Micah are up to in developing each new collection season. Each season, there is no underlying theme only associations, cues, uniforms and social periods that define what Rittenhouse means. This mould has been carefully crafted when a surprise opportunity to meet and talk about their new Spring/Summer 2009 collection arose. It was as an insightful and exciting experience. The Rittenhouse studio is not grandeur,  far from it and not in anyway as being touted to a super-sized one like that of Martin Margiela’s. But it isn’t about the studio, it’s about the clothes and everyone knows, in the darkest most unprofessional spaces, the best ideas come alive. 

Clearly for this new collection, Micah wanted to challenge and breath new life into Rittenhouse’s signature handprinted t-shirts. The inspiration was from fireworks or bright sparks elevating a sense of energy displacement in three developed t-shirts of Ink Radial, Sergeant and Halo.  It gave a sense that everything was crisper, more acute and sharp. Womenswear is sensually tactile. The convergence of dark heavy texture in the use of wool, denim and chambray in the dark extended anorak in its inner lining was contrasted from the soft, sheer woven pieces of silk cotton. The key pieces in the womenswear collection included a denim curved hem skirt, striped fancy shirt with authentic New Zealand sea-shell buttoning, a drawstring dress with pleated collar, a rounded collar navy ‘Peter Pan’ sweater and black jersey pants of a higher waist and low crotch nonchalantly giving confidence. Strongly focused is menswear with elegant tailoring in the form of sand yarn dyed plackett shirting adding muscle shell buttoned detailing on the front.

Constantly altering the way they perceive how a seam should be sewn or be concealed, cleverly positioned or even patched by eyelits, everything was complimentary toned and focused for being naturally dressed. Their love for obtusely changing a typical garment and adding military and children’s wear references is Rittenhouse’s unpredicable progession and success.

What label doesn’t have their own store? Rittenhouse don’t and Sally once said she would love to have Rittenhouse’s own in Paris. The label has had enormous international success and this idea probably won’t still be imagined for long.

The Spring/Summer 2009 collection for this season are mirrored story themes of childrenswear, mililtary and traditional fabrics. The collection will be available early next year respectively at Our Spot, Oi Polloi in Manchester, In God We Trust in Brooklyn, I Heart in New York and also at Totokaelo in the near future.

Rittenhouse

New Zealand young creatives crossing the Tasman sea to Australia is always a welcoming sight. Rene Vaile is a New Zealand born photographer now living and working in Sydney. With already an extra-ordinary array of produced images for names such as Doingbird, Dazed & Confused, i-D, Tokion and Therese Rawsthorne, his work is much like an unmatched pair of lovingly worn socks. One half of his compositions are life-sized surreal perspectives and the other, images capturing a sense of in-depth natural setting - dividing his time of editorial commissioned, landscape and portraiture. We will be looking forward to seeing more of his work in the near future. Please see a larger collection of his work including work for Architecture in Helsinki and Songs.

Rene Vaile was also featured in Our Spot’s previous lookbook with film director Michaela Sanders.

Rene Vaile

Dear fellow Danes, Hej! Jonas Arnby, Sanne Frank and Elisabeth Heltoft of Chi Chi Potter are opening their 2nd exhibition night featuring artworks of Noam Griegst, Heidi Anderson, Marlene Hartmann, Maria Bajt, Thea Bjerre and more. The opening night will be on this Friday October 24 from 5 to 9PM and the address in Copenhagen is:

Gothersgade 27
1123 Copenhagen

Hope you all enjoy it if you can make it there.

Photographer Lina Scheynius has skyrocketed her work by producing on-going exclusive images for a host of internationally recognised faces and names. The recent issue of Autumn/Winter 2008 of British based periodical AnotherMan features her photography which she developed for Belgian fashion maverick Bernhard Willhelm. The shoot features all clothes of Willhelm’s in his Autumn/Winter 2008 collection.