FASHION Magazine

In April, the British Fashion Council announced it would be merging the gendered calendars of London Fashion Week into one digital platform to replace catwalk shows for the time being. Tomorrow would’ve marked the beginning of the men’s presentations for Spring 2021; but instead of members of the fashion industry flocking to the city to […]

The post Here’s What To Expect From London Fashion Week’s New Digital Platform appeared first on FASHION Magazine.

See the Steven Tai Fall 2013 collection »

If the meek inherit the earth, the geeks will inherit the fashion industry. At the second day of the off-the-grid fashion week, The Shows, we were introduced to Vancouver-born Steven Tai, who virtually blew the room away with his abnormal talents. We mean abnormal in the best way possible. A self-professed mad scientist who concocts fabric mixes as if they were potions, Tai showed a vibrant, street conscious and highly wearable Fall 2013 collection made of new and unique fabrics like…silicone. “There’s a big future in silicone,” he told me after the show. How so? Well, take the two apocalyptically quaint looking sweatshirts that closed the collection (exhibit A and B). Their quirky combinations of magnets, embroidery (the little gals pictured), digital prints (the UFOs hovering menacingly) are easily covetable, but the Kool-Aid orange and turquoise poured silicone is what really makes them stand out from the rest. Tai’s fabric experimentation also extended to his use of unusual quilting on cotton pockets and jackets and his peekaboo pant pleating was extraordinary. Any way you slice it, really, Tai gets two thumbs up.

Thomas Wakeford is a womens-wear duo based out of London, designed by Thomas Wakeford and Toronto-native Raphael Castelmezzano. The boys come from different kinds of fashion backgrounds—Wakeford has from a design-based Central Saint Martin’s MA and does much of the designing while Castelmezzano, whose focus was editorial assisting and stylist, does all the styling—but the two come together in a way that challenges traditional notions of what looks good.

Working with simplistic silhouettes, the duo pairs fabrics that aren’t usually seen together—we’re talking about leather, lambskin, denim, lamé, rubber, silk, matte cotton, and more—and come out with clothes that are unexpected and very refreshing, or as Wakeford and Castelmezzano like to call them, “crude and contrasting.” They use cringe-inducing styles that have gone out of fashion, like handkerchief hems and patchwork denim, and are still able to make clothes that are utterly likable. Case in point: The frayed hems and the undone look of the garments have been described as “so wrong they’re right,” and the colour pairings are intentionally jarring. The Spring 2012 collection is bright and fun with easy-on-the-eyes colourful stripes that are almost Beetlejuice-esque. This young pairing keep getting better with each season, and we can’t wait to see what they come up with next.

While fashion and science don’t exactly strike us as similar topics, designers’ eternal quest for innovation—be it in fabric, silhouette, or colour combinations—seems quite the Einsteinian pursuit (okay, maybe that’s a stretch).

Consider Kirsty Ward’s penchant for blending sharp silhouettes and severe structure with the most romantic of shades and fabrics a beautiful exercise in contrast. After completing her masters at Central Saint Martins and working a little over a year under the wing of Alberta Ferretti, Ward started her own label in 2010. Most likely a combination of the avante garde aesthetic that CSM has become known for and Ferretti’s floaty femininity, Ward’s new line straddles to perfection.

Kym Ellery is one of those designers who is her own best model⎯one look at her own style, and the connection to her label Ellery becomes clear. A magnet for style snappers, (including Garance Doré) and a graduate of talent-factory Central Saint Martins, this Australian is magnet for girl-crushes, and we’re certainly not immune.