THE ALTERNATIVE FASHION WEEKS
June 11, 2004
DREAMS AND TROPICS
"I always say that is important to believe in your own dreams, but is also important to create them". With this firm statement the president of the Association of the Brazilian Textile Industry, Paulo Skaf, expresses the will to make the Brazilian fashion industry known throughout the world.
To joint forces with him, Paolo Borges, creative director of Sao Paulo Fashion Week, who keeps on creating collaborations with the European fashion capitals like London. In May the department store Selfridges welcomed " Brazil 40", a collection of fashion, music and art from the Latin-American country.
This year the Sao Paolo fashion week is part of the celebrations for the 450th birthday of the city. The common aim of all birthday-related events is to show, communicate and unify the different aspects of the city.
Sao Paolo illustrates the contrasts and contradictions that are so typical of South-American big cities: the past near the future, the old and the young, poverty and wealth. All these factors were recognised in the fashion week which means that fashion design could be the key to communicate the spirit, the soul of a country.
A few names? Reinaldo Lourenço, Jefferson Kulig, Alexandre Herchovitch.
DOWN UNDER ON TOP OF IT
Australia splits the fashion week in 2: summer/spring takes place in Sydney, autumn/winter in Melbourne. This way both cities and local talent have spotlights and better media coverage. Melbourne is the place where new fashion designers come to light. They are aware (the guys from Sydney too) of the not only geographic distance between them and the big fashion centres and you can see (and appreciate) it in their collections: they have a tough/strong Australian personality and are locally market-oriented. Considering the laid-back character of the marvellous Australians (when I come over I deserve a drink, don't I ?), the nice weather, the surf culture, it's not a coincidence that the local designers express themselves through Sport and Street wear. In the last Melbourne show the prints in many collections were stunning; they had a strong contemporary touch and they were created mostly by graphic designers (not only fashion designers).
To have a better idea on what I'm talking about, take a walk in the fashionable Greville Streets where is the shop of the local brand Vainsoul by Dan Collopy and Lydon Mcgauchie which for the Melbourne show presented a collection with understated prints that portray the Australian street-style: calm, discrete, extremely cool.
BLACK COLORFUL CONTINENT
It seems that speaking about African culture we didn't get through stereotypes, even in the world of art it is like there is nothing more than tribal African mask.
But now something is changing and we have to cheers our fellow citizens. During this year many shows and exhibitions have been organized in the country and one of them is the exhibition at the Turin based GAM which in February hosted African masterpieces from the first Millennium B.C till the last century, when massive European artists like Matisse, Leger and Giacometti totally felt in love with the so called "primitive figuratism". And starting from the word primitive, the show organizers suggested us a reflection about another interesting concept; the one of values. The concept of primitive undertakes the existence of an "after" and a "before", but this is a western point of view where the people think constantly about the future trying to gain the most in the less time. The African culture instead has a way different sense of the time, they always think that the best times have already passed by. They have a circular concept of time, so, even if we consider 3000 years of art we could recognize a sort of unity in the codes used by the artists.
Another show was held in Milan by PAC where Yinka Shonibare was one of the main protagonists. The British-Nigerian artist used Indonesian batik fabrics (but most of the people believe they are African) to play with the ambiguity of the modern cultural melting pot.
Keeping on talking about African fashion designer we must name the already well known Ozwald Boateng who has recently taken over the creative direction of Givenchy menswear.
We should also keep an eye on the fresh talents of the Semaine Internationale de la mode de Dakar; Julian Iluba, Hip Hop, Stoned Cherrie and Malcom Kluk. The aforementioned fashion week has been created by Omou Sy, the self-made fashion designers who showed up for the first time at the Cape Town Fashion Week.
EAST IS EAST
Ok, now I don't want to say that we are cool, that we are fast in catching upcomings trends. Let's say that we are just lucky. Yes, we are lucky that a lot of talents applied since ITS#ONE and gifted us with such amazing portfolios. And guess what? One of the leading trends of the ITS#TWO finalists' collections was the childhood and this was also one of the themes of the last Hong Kong fashion week! Our guys are sooo cool! We love you!
Now, let's get rational again.
The main source of inspiration for the designers who played Hong Kong F.W remained the Far East; no matter if the outfit is a classic kimono or a Japanese-pop art-inspired dress, the oriental theme is recognisable in both collections.
Other trends were nostalgic lingerie (Ruby Li) and combinations between masculine styles and feminine elements.
Among the others, Ika, the most important name in the region's world of fashion, presented Black and White, a witty collection inspired by the old beloved disco music, dedicated to night clubbers dressed in satin and chiffon.
India is known worldwide for its textile heritage but over the last 5 years the Indian fashion design had seen a massive increase even if the target customer base had not witnessed the same growth. This is due to the fact that the Indian customer buying power can't be compared with the western therefore there is a need of more affordable apparel.
To help developing business relationships between the main interlocutors of the fashion biz (designers and trade buyers) in 1998 the Fashion Design Council of India was born and 2 years later it launched the first fashion week, Lakme Indian Fashion Week. As you probably already guessed Lakme was the main sponsor and in the next years big names like DHL, Hyunday joined the event with sponsorships.
If you notice the event is called "Indian" fashion week, not New Dehli ( 2000 edition) or Mumbai (2001 edition), it's because the organisers wanted to represent the national scope of the local fashion industry.
Since the beginning the fashion show has seen a big growth with representatives from Selfridges, Galleries Lafayette, Bloomingdales, Maria Luisa etc.
In the 2003 edition there was a lot of kamarbangh-like corsetting, lots of handkerchief hems and a lot of bias cuts. The eastern influences from China and Japan were not missing, together with entire military combat gear with bondage straps
Among the designers named it is worth mentioning Sabyasachi with his nostalgic-romantic-retro collection inspired by the streets of Victorian London and Calcutta. He gained a considerable popularity for his colour sensitivity, but this time he decided to put aside colour and he focused on contrasting textures and intriguing silhouettes.
In an interview he stated that the Indian buyer, stylewise speaking, is not orthodox anymore. We truly hope so!!
NO MORE COLD TURKEY
The CPD woman-man in Dusseldorf confirms once again that the Turkish designers will have a big part in the future of fashion design. Umit Unal and Hakan Yildimir are already well known within the fashion biz and they don't miss an occasion to catch us with their unconventional collections, bordering on art and poetry. Mr Unal presented work inspired by the Fallen Angels mentioned in the Enoch, the book of the Essenes, that lived by the Dead Sea in the 2nd century.
The CPD is getting bigger every year and the organizers are well aware that fashion is becoming a matter of entertainment, so here is a fair made up to be enjoyed. Every exhibitor has the chance to personalise the stand so the visitor can feel the real brand's atmosphere.
According to Manfred Kronen, president of Igedo Company who organizes the event, CPD in the near future it is not going to be only a wider trade event but has all it takes to become a real fashion week.
Oops, I forgot: during the event there was a press conference where Igedo Company and SIMM Madrid fashion week said that they are continuing their collaboration made of mutual promotions.
