ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories: Resort 2013

Thursday, 10 January 2013

Cruise Control by Stella McCartney

Sit back and let Stella take the driver's seat for your resort wear! Newly-crowned "Designer of the Year" by the British Fashion Awards, her cruise collection for 2013 is lovely in bold colors and eye-catching prints.

Stella McCartney’s resort presentation was a sanguine nod to the future. “This is one of my favorite seasons,” she said. “I was excited to bring optimistic color and a wealth of texture into resort.” Day-glo pink jacquard floral suits resembled vintage upholstery fabric cranked up several notches, while holographic pumps and clutches appeared to have descended from a storybook planet. Even though resort stays in stores the longest, there was nothing here that could be called closet filler or, considering the hallucinogenic mix of leopard, mustard, sky blue and fuchsia, merely a basic. That’s not to say there was anything tricky about McCartney’s by-now-trademark oversize coats, streamlined tailoring, or voluminous knee-length frocks. Rather, the daring attitude that threaded throughout this businesswoman-slash-mother’s riotous clothing rendered this a collection for those who “don’t want to play it too safe.”

Beneath the playful exterior of the looks and the customary convivial setting (this season McCartney put on an outdoor carnival with a live brass band, strongman game and ring toss) was some very well-considered garment construction. While McCartney’s Savile Row pedigree always shines through her menswear-inspired suiting, there was also a lot more to the knitwear than initially met the eye. “Toile and calico was a starting point,” she said. “I wanted to deconstruct it and rip it into bias-cut pieces.” Then she wove it back together in chunky, highlighter bright oversize sweaters, which added a certain weightiness to perforated pleated skirts. Calico was also the thought behind the minimal white-on-white, palette-cleansing looks—cotton pea coats and wide-leg pants among them. “It’s a balanced collection,” McCartney concluded, gesturing towards the more delicate lace, fringed evening dresses in effortless T-shirt shapes. A subtle reminder that the designer’s M.O. is, after all, to “create clothes for real women and their wardrobes.”

Take a view on Andrea's Stella McCartney selections at LYST: White Plexi Glass Printed Clutch, White Oversized Motif T-Shirt, Blue Cork Wedges, Floral Print Mini Skirt, Blue Shoulder Bag, White Fringe Shirt, Blue Crocodile Effect Sandal, Multicolor Snake Print Pump, Multicolor Falabella Metallic Python Tote, Blue Falabella Oloeografic Python Clutch, White Sling Back Wedge.

Get in the spirit of our Spring '13 collection and shop your favorite looks

now in stores & online > http://bit.ly/UCc8oC

Selections by ANDREA JANKE Finest Accessories

Photo Credit/Source: © Stella McCartney

Behind The Scenes: Photography by Pamela Berkovic

More Cruise To Love ...

'Resort 2013 Collection | ERDEM'

Sunday, 17 June 2012

Resort 2013 Collection | Louis Vuitton by Julie de Libran

Those designers inspired to tackle the question of dressing for the tropics usually go the skimpy route, showing all sorts of itsy-bitsy, skin-baring clothes and gauzy fare. That’s not Julie de Libran’s way. For resort she held Indochine in mind, not the New York restaurant, not the movie, but the one-time French colony. “The idea for the collection was that it was so incredibly hot, but that the women were still well-dressed,” she explained.

A slick of sequins glazed the front of a white broderie anglaise shirt worn with tobacco-brown culottes. She showed boxy jacquard tunics with a seventies vibe over slim tailored shorts, and a slouchy sequined T-shirt with a long and loose denim vest and gaucho pants. The models peeked out from under elongated visor caps, like they just couldn’t get enough shade, towering on Taxi Driver platform heels. Surely the fashion fan who might slip on a two-toned pink-and-brown fur during a heat wave is beyond dedicated, but even when de Libran’s reality went into soft focus she never lost track of the essence of a great resort collection: ease.

There was a fabulous effortlessness in her laid-back new proportions, the tunics, the relaxed camp shirts, and drop-waist dresses, bringing high-concept style and offhand cool all together in the same look.

About Julie de Libran

In truth, though, de Libran was to Vuitton born. She had always wanted to work for a storied French brand, and she greatly respected Marc’s talent. She was raised in Vernègues, a small village close to Baux de Provence in the south of France, by her wine producer turned restaurateur father and interior designer mother who was perpetually decked in Yves Saint Laurent, Hermès, and Sonia Rykiel. When de Libran was eight years old, her father moved the brood to America. She spent the ’80s in the United States. Some of de Libran’s earliest and happiest memories are of visiting the tailor with her mother and grandmother to be fitted for smock dresses. But when it came to shopping, she never found what she wanted in stores. During high school, she drew some sketches and took them to a seamstress. “Oh, it was very ’80s,” she says, describing a fitted black velvet dress with long sleeves, a low waist, and a fuchsia taffeta balloon miniskirt. “I think my mom still has it.”

Though she proclaims that “every French girl grows up loving Vuitton,” she’s not a believer in the single-brand mentality. Using a stool to reach a high closet shelf, she pulls out a traditional brown monogrammed Vuitton shoulder bag, but there are also multiple Hermès bags here, plus jeweled heels by Prada, Alaïa, and Vuitton, all lined up in boutique-worthy rows. (There’s enough here that, a few years ago, she changed her pochette, or clutch, so often that her friends nicknamed her Pochette.) “I don’t believe in total brand loyalty,” she says. “I love to mix designers and collections and time periods. I’m never head to toe in anything. I always need to personalize my look.”