Twitter // Bainser
Loading tweets...
Showing 3 posts tagged autumn winter
Horace // Autumn Winter 12 // Not LFW
For all the hundreds of designers that are showing this week there are countless more that wont be, one of these is the brilliant and directional Horace. I first their collection as a combined video and catwalk presentation this time last year, and loved it. The more directional elements are not my style but even the most reserved person could see on the right person how cool it would be.
I hate to use the word cool, even uttering renders something slightly uncool, it’s such an intangible quality that those who have it just do, whilst those that chase after it too hard will never catch it.
Check out Horace’s Facebook to see the whole collection and for the current collection head over to 6000AD (more to come from them here later!) What do I love most from the collection? Clearly the T’s above are great, but what I am most after is one of the Biker Jackets. From what I’ve been told they are in the softest leather.
I really need to decide which colour, and face facts it’s time I invested in a brand I love and a much needed leather jacket.
French Connection // Autumn Winter 2011 // Menswear
It’s been a long time since I’ve worn French Connection. If I’m honest I really felt they had lost their way and become bogged down in a campaign that had long since run its course. The hilarity of of how close FCUK was to a rude word died with the last century. However, the new campaigns are a massive turn around and bringing back some class to the brand that had initially attracted me as a teenager in Dublin. So when I was approached to review this Autumn Winters collection I was in two minds. French Connection was no longer a brand I would happily buy, was I just doing this to get some free clothes?
Well, I thought, if their happy to send me some clothes then who am I to complain. And so their new double black magneto jeans and drosselbart breton tshirt ended up through my door. (I had originally ordered some chinos, but had forgotten to account for my summer weight loss, they were huge on me. French Connection gladly swapped them for the jeans - bonus point here)
The thing was I review clothes and collections without so much as touching them or seeing them in real life all the time on here. What could I do to make this a bit more special? In my day job when we are about to launch a new cloth, block development or technical spec we sometimes perform a wearer trial. This is exactly what it sounds like. Someone quiet literally wears the product to death. Wears it, washes it, wears it, washes it. We need to know there are no faults, that the garment can take a beating. You don’t want to launch a new travel suit only to find it creases ridiculously just by looking at it. So thank you French Connection for having the patience and waiting for this review. But I think you’ll see its worth it.
The Drosselbart T is right on trend with its Breton feel and is a heavy weight tshirt. A loose fit that drapes nicely, with a wider than normal crewneck. All of which work really well. There is a stitch detail along the centre back which I hadn’t noticed when ordering. Had I been buying it myself it’s a superfluous detail that probably would have put me off. But, it actually adds something different and from a technical point it adds tension through the centre back which helps the tshirt to hang a bit better.
It washes really well. The T holds it’s shape and colour brilliantly. All in all well done. At £30 it’s not the cheapest T-shirt on the high st, but it certainly isn’t the most expensive either. If the rest of the French Connection collection stands up to wear in a similar way, I would say the quality is definitely worth the price tag.
Colourwise a true black is very difficult to achieve and is a right pain when it comes to colour continuity. Every time I go on a sourcing trip at least one person in the office will ask if I can find a blacker black. We debate whether a black is a red black or a green black, and if it is they can’t be worn together. It’s about finding one that is deeper and fuller. Oh and one that is resilient. If you dont believe me go find two old black shirts from your cupboard. Now put them side by side. Both black, but totally different.
Anyway I digress, I’m guessing from the name the Double Black Magneto Jeans are overdyed. Which means they’ve been dyed twice, once as yarn, then after this has been weaved into cloth. This gives the best possible black, and means it should last substantially longer. Now when it comes to quality jeans I may yearn for the likes of Nudie or Acne, but my budget is more Uniqlo.
The cut of the jeans is slimmer than I normally wear, and I’m a great advocate of slim not skinny. I genuinely can’t abide skinny jeans that either have a restrictive effect in the crotch or sag in the arse so it looks like you’re wearing a nappy. Not being used to skinny jeans when I first tried them on I wondered if they were a bit too like DVT socks across my calves. I quickly learnt socks on first with these jeans. But they looked good and didn’t sag round my arse.
Much like the tshirt, they’ve also been washed to within an inch of their life. Too hot, not hot enough, several times. There was very little shrinkage, and the colour has stayed as deep and true as when I first opened them. The £60 price tag is more than I would normally spend with Uniqlo still churning out great jeans and I really need to see how the wear over the next couple of months. But it’s a good start and the price really isn’t prohibitive, considering how much I’d pay with a more flexible budget.
All in all if these pieces are representative of the quality of the rest of the collection then French Connection are worth checking out again. They may be more expensive than a good chunk of the high street but they’are worth it. I’m still not a fan of their chunky knits, and anything with the more brash fcuk branding. But that’s me and at least the brand is much more than that.
As for the new advertising campaigns, have you seen the latest video? Brilliant.
Paul Costelloe Autumn Winter 2011
It’s late February and Somerset House is flooded with the journalists, buyers and fashion students desperately blagging any ticket going. It can only be another fashion week, and once again Paul Costelloe opened the event. To the tune of The Rose his daughter, an opera singer by day (well night I suppose) began the show in a deep red and purple tweed coat. Looking every ounce the professional model she later said the only bizarre part was walking out onto the runway then leaving again having not sang a note.
What followed was a light and youthful collection drawing inspiration from Paul’s Irish heritage as well as the sixties and designers such as Courreges. The checks worked best at their boldest and the bright mustards and pinks mean that we should be able carry the warmth of the summer through the darkest months. The fabrics including world famous Harris tweeds looked warm and comforting, without being old. Favourites of the collection included the minidress with a pleated bateau neck, and a green check bomber jacket with hood. 
The whole collection lifted everyones mood on a slightly chilly February morning. Styled together with coloured opaque tights and vertiginous heeled loafers, the girls were fresh and new. In contrast to the deeply coloured checks were a range of metallics from an almost burnished silver to a deep emerald green, as well as silk print saturated in colour that was also given a metallic finish in some looks. The womenswear will easily carry you from the late warmth of autumn in pair of colouttes through the worst of storms winter can through at you in the above mentioned checks.
Paul hasn’t left us boys out in the cold though. A much improved collection that was in harmony with the woman’s came down the catwalk today. Opening with an astrakhan (faux - obviously) knee length over coat, and working through sumptuous velvet jacket and trousers in red, black and orange, as brilliantly cut slim fitting tweed suit, and a several bold coats. Favourites again were the checks brought across from womenswear and the two velvet jackets. One in a liquid red, the other black over printed with a rococo design. With a menswear pop-up shop launching in John Lewis immediately after the show, we can only hope this side of the brand will continue to grow and we can see more mens looks next season.
