Belgian designer Bruno Pieters has always positioned his work on fashion’s less is more side. Currently he’s Creative Director of menswear for Delvaux, Belgium’s celebrated leather maker where fellow Belgian Veronique Branquiho heads the women’s side.
A graduate of the Royal Academy of Anvers, Pieters worked for Maison Martin Margiela, Josephus Thimister and Christian Lacroix Haute Couture before he produced his first solo show at Paris’ Haute Couture in July 2001; a collection of 24 suits inspired by Dior’s ‘new look.’ He has gone on to win a slew of young designer competitions: Elle style award in 2008, France’s Andam award in 2007, Swiss Textiles’ award in 2006 and Fortis bank’s most promising designer in 2000.
Pieters’ geometric, scalpel cuts never fail to put an angular edge on womanly curves. There’s something of the Hitchcock heroine to his look. So when I heard he had designed an eyewear collection to be distributed by Netopic I was eager to see what he would do with fashion’s most architectural exercise. Lean, clean frames, beginning with this spectacular black and white pair show that Pieters has maintained his rigorous viewpoint for 2010. The styles for men and women come in eight colors and are available at selected stores.
Who better to show off the aching desirability of the new Mercedes-Benz SLS AMG than photographer Nick Knight and Gareth Pugh with the lovely Julia Stegner. Knight had an open brief apparently to photograph this Bond-worthy sportscar which he promptly positioned in a nose dive as a backdrop to Pugh’s space age tailoring and Julia’s endless legs. The preview is set for Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in January.
Grainy grey Monday morning in Paris and guess what flashes on my computer. A Christmas gift idea from my friend Mandi Lennard, London PR extraordinaire. Who knew that Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo has a “Jungle Flowers nonsense theme” for the holidays? Well all the CDG fans in Japan, of course, as this Platinum Label Collection Barbie, dressed in a the nonsensical Jungle pixelated rose print gown by Rei, was a sell out last week over there. And now it’s available at Comme des Garçons stores all over the world and at London’s Dover Street market, of course. For those not into dolls, there’s wallets, T’s, scent, Artek chairs and snowballs.
It’s a sunny Monday morning in Paris, but it’s raining collaborations. First off, Sonia Rykiel is H&M’s next guest designer. Expect a selection of lingerie in store on December 5 and a Spring 2010 collection of her stripey knitwear hits on February 20. And don’t forget Jimmy Choo spikes for H&M on November 14. That’s just about when Rei Kawakubo’s Beatles bags will hit London’s Dover Street market.
Yes, Kawakubo’s Comme des Garçons’ has signed a deal with Apple Corps Ltd, (the company which manages The Beatles’ musical catalogue and image, for a collection of bags under The Beatles/Comme des Garçons label available at DSM and at Gyre in Tokyo in mid-November. WWD reports the deal is long term and might extend to T-shirts.
And because news always comes in threes, Kitsuné, the elegant Paris classics label from DJ’s Gildas Loaec and Masaya Kuroki, moves into Colette today. Boutique Kitsuné Maison is a gingham-covered pop-up shop at the store featuring Kitsuné record label’s CDs and clothes for classically funky men and women through October 3.
Elle magazine is one of the things that makes Paris fashion go round, so it’s fitting that Superfluparis would start on a Friday, the day Elle hits the stands. For those far form the hexagon, but ever in need of a Paris style fix, here’s what the world’s biggest fashion weekly has to say about la mode a few days before Paris Spring 2010 fashion week.
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