CITY - Issue 60 - (Page 45)

I n commenting on one of the key trends for Fall 2008, one could hum, ‘Eve ything’s Coming Up Roses’ without invoking the o iginal sou ce’s i ony. Though ﬂo al iconog aphy is usually p evalent in the collections fo Sp ing, this Fall, designe s wo ldwide flexed thei g een thumbs in ingenious ways to extol natu e’s ultimate patte n make , whethe upping the quotient on handiwo k, usually the p ovince of the coutu e’s “petite mains,” o pushing the bounda ies of fab ic manipulation and p intmaking. Whethe in a subconscious esponse to the effects of global wa ming, o a celeb ation of beauty and a ecognition of f agility in these unce tain times, the e was an uptick in ﬂo als fo Fall — f om Chanel’s bouquet of silk faille camellias (the house’s ﬂowe ) spilling out of a d ess’s low cut back, to - ’s hooded sto m coat with its ﬂocked ayon ose p int. Even accesso ies have cultivated ga dens fo inspi ation, with ed taﬀeta ﬂowe s swi ling ove the exte io of Valentino’s Rosie tote and leaves climbing up the sides of Chloe’s booties. D . Vale ie Steele, di ecto and chief cu ato of The Museum at FIT att ibutes this t end to designe s needing to inject “colo ” into the pano ama of the Fall collections as a way to encou age the consume . Plus she adds, “Flowe s fo m ecognizable and popula p ints. They have long been associated with feminine beauty, so it’s been su p ising that thei use has just been elegated to Sp ing fashion.” Tuleh’s B yan B adley concu s, “I like ﬂowe s in ep esentation only. They make a p etty p int,” which would explain the pionee ing technique he employed to fuse lace to cashme e. Th ough a steaming p ocess, much of the fo me textile is “devou ed” leaving as esidue only the ﬂo al patte n behind. B adley oﬀe s, “I’m continually inte ested by natu e and mankind’s elationship to it — hence the pe ennial — no pun intended — use of ﬂo als.” It was Belgium’s nn Demeulemeeste ’s immediate connection to natu e that info med the int oduction of he ve y ﬁ st ﬂo al p int; it was based on he husband’s photog aph of thei hyd angeas. Faded to the point that the image could have been li ed f om a dague eotype, the muted ga den ﬂowe s, p inted on wool and ﬁ ne wale co du oy, lent an eve -wistful ai to the collection. Demeulemeeste said that she wanted to po t ay the poetic side of a woman, “the ethe eal ve sus the masculine, the d aped ve sus the const ucted” and he painte ly use of dusty pinks, da k b owns and lilacs and ad oit tailo ing accomplished that. Flowe s have long been admi ed and used by humans, not only to beautify ou envi onments but also as a sou ce of food. nd if consume s a e to igno e the unsettling epo ts of the global economy and shop with elish, then these designe s have done ight to invest thei wa es with an element that evokes a p imal need o desi e. One could a gue this was the subtext of Benjamin Cho’s fantastic show opene : a velvet d ess ado ned with huge, voluptuous hand-painted ﬂowe s in silk taﬀeta that almost begged to be tende ed. n active p oponent of DI fashion who admitted “I lite ally c a day and night’, the audacity of Cho’s slim yet int iguing body of wo k is to be applauded. Simila ly, ac oss the pond, E dem Mo alioglu explained, “It was instinctual . . . it was about what felt ight fo now;” ph ases that not only desc ibed his collection but the cu ent fascination with ﬂowe s. E dem’s continuing elationships with Sophie Hallette, the esteemed F ench lacemake , and Mackintosh, the Scottish ainwea b and again p oduced some of the collection’s st ongest pieces — ubbe ized cotton and lace coats, hemmed with pinwheel osettes. What also felt ight was E dem’s continued explo ation of custom, natu e-inspi ed p ints. Evoking the look of a ‘landscape obse ved on a fast-moving t ain’ the compute -manipulated patte ns include a ‘smudged ﬂo al / botanical’ on duchesse satin that ecalled an old aunt’s favo ite Colefax and Fowle motif, willfully subve ted. In wanting to po t ay a “delicate, lighthanded decadence,” he succeeded. Steele also noted the inﬂuence of D ies van Noten’s glo ious Sp ing 08 collection — the one in which he combined diffe ent patte ns on one bolt of fab ic and then elabo ated on his luxe bohemian signatu e via wea e -f iendly silhouettes — on this season’s f ee-wheeling combinations of flo al patte ns and p ints. Ce tainly, the ecent oeuv e of Thai-bo n Thakoon Panichgul would suggest a kind ed spi it. Panichgul, who designs a clothing collection unde his own name as well as one fo Hogan, the Italian shoe b and, has stated, “I always love to do p ints, but not just fo p ints’ sake. Rathe , I tend to g avitate towa ds ones that may be mo e conceptual o i onic.” That philosophy p oduced custom ﬂo al patte ns p inted on paillettes that cove ed the su faces of two d esses. In desc ibing one of his p ints that looks like blossoms f om a distance, Ga y G aham eveals, “We found these images of blood cells unde attack and then decided to make a epeat out of them. They looked like ﬁ ewo ks o blooming ﬂowe s.” Sometimes, fo Fall 2008, a ose is not a ose is not a ose. But only sometimes. Y-3 BENJAMIN CHO ANN DEMEULEMEESTER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY - Issue 60

CITY - Issue 60 Contents Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment In Rogue Luscious Life Temporary Contemporary Fast Food Diary Leona Naess Matthew Stone Henrik V Ibskov Massimiliano Nogioni Young Bloods Keys to the Ferarri Fine Craftsmanship The New Frontier Conscious Evolution New World Order Spiral Casual Fridays Where to Buy It Cityscape

CITY - Issue 60

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