Where Does The Fox Hide?

One of the biggest popular motifs in pop culture lately has been the fox.  I'm not really sure why!  Foxes are native to most of the world so nearly every corner of the globe knows the fox.  Interestingly, they are almost universally associated with cunning.  In Finnish folktales, the fox outsmarts his predators.  In Japan, foxes are shape-shifters and if you watch their weddings, time forgets you and you wake up years after they catch you.  

In Pre-Fall 2014, foxes were still going strong as a motif.  My favorite so far is by Tsumori Chisato.  Beautiful black and white dress covered by embroidery and embellishment but still looks classic enough where it should be able to be worn for years.  It reminds me of Victorian-era embroidery.  But, if you look closely...there's a fox sneaking in the meadow.  Can you find it?

I know, it is silly, like a "where's Waldo?" on a dress, yet i find it oddly clever--when was thelast time you had a dress where you saw something new if you looked closer and paid attention?  This way you can have your fox now but won't look passe' in a few years when we've moved on to something else.

photo from style.com

Garden Party with Erdem!

Okay, so its no surprise.  I'm currently obsessed with antique-y looking floral prints on dresses.  I always have been.  Not everyone makes them look like something worth wearing, however.  One of the few who makes an awesome floral-print dress consistently beautiful is Erdem.

Erdem is a London-based design house led by Erdem Moralioglu.  He's of Turkish/English descent from Montreal, Canada and worked for a year under Diane von Furstenberg.  In 2005 he moved to London and started his own line.  Since then he won the British Vogue Fashion Award and is recognized as one of the top up-and-coming designers.  And, boy is he good!

 

One of the things he does so well is use print.  That's so rare!  His prints remind me of re-edited antique floral prints.  The yellow with the red and pink reminds me of this woodblock print by Kono Bairei from 1880.  To me, his dresses from Spring Summer 2011 look like he took prints like this, cut them up and made a collage and then painted over them with watercolors.  Lovely!

Another thing I like so much is the fact that the prints are strategically place to take your eye to the most flattering parts of the dress.  This dress is cut to slim the wearer and then the print leads the eye to the smallest part of the waist, the bust and then the hem to see the model's legs.  Its like a giant sign to "ignore my hips and admire the fact that I have a lovely shape!"  I love it!

Hands down, my favorite dress is the one.  It totally reminds me of antique Japanese woodblock prints of flowers, but in a modern, wearable way.  Love it!  Plus, you can wear this dress on your fattest day and never look like you've had too many cupcakes.  Its classic, its comfortable and its friggin pretty!  I don't know if you've ever played with these dresses in person, but the silk is to die for.  Erdem doesn't scrimp when it comes to materials.  Not at all.  Sure, his stuff is expensive but you get what you pay for!  In this case, its silk worth wearing for the rest of your life.  

Pictures from Erdem, woodblock print from A Private Collection

You may also be interested in my prior post about Peter Som

Barbara Tfank & Reimagined Antique Print Dresses!

Its no secret.  I'm a huge sucker for print dresses.  I LOVE them.  I don't know why.  Clothes shouldn't be boring; flowers make me happy.  One of the designers who constantly delivers some of the coolest print dresses is Barbara Tfank.

Barbara Tfank is a Los Angeles-based designer.  She got her start in fashion as a costume designer in Hollywood and then started her own line in 2001.  And, I think she does amazing stuff with print fabric!

One of my favorite pieces from her Spring Summer 2011 collection is the floral dress on the right.  The cut is absolutely classic--all at once femme fatale Art Deco but also somehow 1960s flower child.  What makes it really modern is the pleating at the neck that's so hot right now.  Also, the cute little cap sleeves are ADORABLE!

The print of the fabric looks like redone antique flower lithographs--classic and beautiful but unique.  You don't see it every day, probably because its easy to make that kind of print look like you stole your grandmother's curtains and made a toga.  What makes this print work is that the dress cut is so modern and wearable that it balances out the possible stuffy-ness of the print.

Sure, its the height of winter but I can't stop thinking about how nice it would be to sit in a garden full of tulips and wear this dress!

Dress picture from style.com, antique flower print from Collectors Prints

You may be interested in reading my prior post about Barbara Tfank