Flower Beards

Trending_Beard flowers

While Walter Van Beirendonck has delivered green foam beards as a colorful and humorous accessory for his SS 2009 “eXplicit” collection (left), these days we’ve witnessed a similar yet very different approach – hipster beards garnished with flowers (right).

I admit that #flowerbeard as a fashion trend could sound a little bit weird, yet it is quite funny and perhaps it is a precise indicator that the time of full hipster beards finally comes to an end.

Home Sweet Home

Dipped in pastels and gold, calm and soft humour, Walter Van Beirendonck’s S/S 2014 Menswear collection brings a romantic touch to the masculine summery wardrobe.
Inspired by designer’s home, the collection smartly combines geometry with rustic details. The key-pieces are the oversized woven caps (a collaboration with Stephen Jones), delicate imprinted silk blouses (with hyper-realistic details), perfectly tailored angular jackets, the shoes adorned with phallic symbols. To get a better picture on collection’s mood, you have to watch the entire show:

 

 

images via style.com

 

Monsters in Fashion

From February 13th until April 7th, ATOPOS cvc is presenting its ARRRGH! Monsters in Fashion exhibition at La Gaîté lyrique. The craziest, sexiest and most radical monstrous creatures are invading Paris!

Atopos is a non-profit cultural organization based in Athens. Founded in 2003 by Stamos J. Fafalios and Vassilis Zidianakis, Atopos is already a powerful reference in contemporary fashion, collaborating with various designers and artists, for exhibitions, publications, performances and events. In less than 10 years, Atopos CVC (its name denoting the strange, the unwonted, the eccentric and the unclassifiable) is a meeting point for different visual disciplines, gathering rare original creations of contemporary designers. Atopos stands out with their unusual projects focusing on the human figure and its relationship with costume – see RRRIPP! Paper Fashion (now in Germany, Waiblingen), Atopic Bodies, ARRRGH! Monsters in Fashion (with the first presentation at the Benaki Museum in Athens, and currently on display in Paris, at La Gaite Lyrique).

Based on an original idea by Vasslis Zidianakis, with the design of Fafalios Stamos, ARRRGH! Monsters in Fashion manages a unique combination of  fashion, animation, costume and art. Participating designers and artists reshape the human body and reveal a new universe full of dreams, nightmares and hybrid creatures.  The theme seem very appealing to me, and the 58 exhibitors from around the world, turns it into a stunning cocktail:

Alexander Mcqueen UK, Alex Mattsson SE, Alexis Themistocleous CY, Andrea Ayala Closa ES, Andrea Cammarosano IT, Andrea Crews FR, Bart Hess NL, Bas Kosters NL, Bernhard Willhelm DE, Boris Hoppek DE, Bronwen Marshall UK, Cassette Playa & Gary Card UK, Charlie Le Mindu FR, Chi He CN, Claire Michel FR, Craig Green UK, David Curtis-Ring UK, Digitaria GR, Dr Noki’s NHS UK, Erika Mizuno JP, Freeka Tet FR, Filep Motwary & Maria Mastori CY & GR, George Tourlas GR, Helen Price UK, Henrik Vibskov DK, Heyniek NL, Hideki Seo JP, Isabel Mastache Martinez ES, Issey Miyake & Dai Fujiwara JP, Jean-Paul Lespagnard BE, Josefin Arnell SE, Kim Traeger DK, Leutton Postle UK, Luis Lopez Smith UK, Mads Dinesen DK, Maison Martin Margiela FR, Manon Kündig CH, Marcus Tomlinson – Gareth Pugh UK, Mareunrol’s LV, On Aura Tout Vu FR, Paul Graves US, Pictoplasma DE, Pierre-Antoine Vettorello FR, Piers Atkinson UK, Rejina Pyo KR, Rick Owens US, Rozalb De Mura RO, Shin Murayama JP, Sotiris Bakagiannis GR, Takashi Nishiyama JP, The Brainstorm Design GR, Tracy Widdess CA, Toma Stenko RU, Urban Camouflage DE, Walter Van Beirendonck BE

 

Wear Me Out

Erwin Wurm is an Austrian sculptor, inspired by popular culture, well known for using everyday objects (furniture, houses, cars, clothes, plastic bottles) for his particular exploration of space, potential form and volume. In his particular quest the human body has a prominent role and is considered as the perfect canvas of experimentation. His art is smart, humorous, interactive.

This summer, Erwin Wurm presented his “Wear me out” project  (29 May to 25 September 2011), an exhibition held in open air at Middelheim Museum of Antwerp. He also invited fashion designer Walter Van Beirendonck to collaborate for the occasion.

images via stylebisto.com

Walter Van Beirendonck’s Gentlemen

The truth is we’re already preparing for the Fall. Bye bye sun and wonderful summer days, I never get enough of you! Anyway, I’ve searched for a Fall collection which is colored enough to preserve the summer in our souls. .. something special and warm like Walter Van Beirendonck.

Van Beirendonk may not be the  most popular designer of our times, but, definitely, he has a smart, spirited and funny approach to Men’s fashion. Remember the WonderFur project, the “Kiss the future” slogan, the huge headphones collection? With every new collection, the Belgian designer plays on a new theme – he knows that creativity matters and always gives it a twist. For the Fall 2011/12 Men Collection he showed out something more “classic”, very “wearable” and literally elegant. Mixing the tribal spirit with the western elegance, he dressed up some African models after he made a casting in the street.  The looks remind me particularly of those Afro- dandies portrayed in Daniele Tamagni’ s book- “Gentlemen of Bacongo“. Van Beirendonck’s gentlemen from the catwalk or the snobbish gentlemen from Tamangni’s book, both of them show the same wonderful features- genuine color, creativity and a great enthusiasm. And I love the fashion enthusiasts!