AW // RTW 09 - 10

After the last week’s fashion victims (Veronique Branquinho, Christian Lacroix and Emma Cook) falling prey to economic issues, it’s nice to simply see something that I’d love to wear up online. History tells us that hard economic times are always a good time for creatives to get creative; but at this stage of the game it seems that most people are playing it safe. Does this mean we haven’t quite hit rock bottom yet?

Jakub Polanka is the thirty year old Czech fashion designer responsible for the following look book. His latest collection is totally one after my own heart, a journey through black, marles, silvers, grey and finally white. It involves shiny black fabric, interesting gathers and lots of ruching. This collection had the very distinct possibility of going into a very hard feeling direction; but Polanka’s exploration of volume and texture is a softly organic take on the futuristic silvers and shiny blacks that feature.

Who can resist wearing their duvet around on a cold day? We do it all the time around the house at least, nobody's allowed to go further than that, but if we had duvets as chic - and as portable – as Jakub Polanka's, it would be another story. And how good does the look book look (how much wood would a wood chuck, chuck?) below? Is that model for REAL?!

Carri Cassette Playa, dat new collection really you? BWOY, it sure is, despite her AW 09 collection being considerably toned down on first glance; perhaps reflecting a more mainstream shift to the original new raver's direction (including collaborations with Nike last year).

Her latest collection is entitled 'Believe in Flesh + Metal', inspired by Norse mythology, cyborgs and mmorpg's, and sees her go all black and white on us. Despite this though, her visual statements remain just as bold as when she began; still incredibly clever in her interpretation of influences to create a totally new declaration with her prints.

Sad Face

I've got to admit that I'm a sucker for her signature Cassette Playa faces, this time constructed from sci-fi shapes and cobbled together with Viking mythology - no doubt these will be selling like hotcakes as per previous collections.

Rye Rye in Cassette Playa

via Cassette Playa

Cassette Playa certainly isn't everyone's bag, but girl sure has her finger on the buzzer. In case you've been living under a rock, girl was down with M.I.A. when they were still 'the only weirdos in West London' at the time. Let's name drop like bricks a little more - Klaxons, Dizzee Rascal, LOTP, Patty Wolf, Ruff Sqwad and Afrikan Boy. Whether she gets the answer universally correct or not; at least she's got one and she believes in it. So whether you're a Playa Hater or Lover, you've got to at least respect her. Fo'realz.

Check some of the AW 09 lookbook below.

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Mark Fast

Okay okay, so the title of this post was a bit of a (c-h-e-e-s-y) stretch - but it’s true evertheless. Because you need a bangin’ body to show off Mark Fast's tight knits (I’m on FIRE); wherein he blends lycra with viscose, angora or wool to pull his collections together by hand on a domestic knitting machine, crafting super-sexy body-con creations.

Mark Fast is a 28 year old Canadian born knit wear star who emerged from the forrested countryside of Winnipeg to take on the BA course at Central St Martins before collaborating on knitwear at Bora Aksu.

Gorgeous

With clean unfussy lines and luscious block colour interspersed between my perpetual favourite, black; this season Fast favours scoop necklines and exposed shoulders to show off his lush weaves and innovative stitching techniques to maximum effect.

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The Graduate...

And here's to you, Mrs Robinson...Dustin Hoffman's graduate inspires many things - I gotta say, both Hoffman and Bancroft are pretty hot in this film. In turn, 'The Graduate' has become the inspiration for Kitsuné's AW 09 collection.

It seems like we've been teasing you about it for ages, but here's a Making Of video for the photoshoot for The Graduate collection of Autumn Winter 09.

Ferocious

Hannah Marshall is one of my favourite new young designers from London. There is only one word for her eponymous label: FIERCE.

Her angular little black dresses are the James Bond of the LBD world; provocative, body conscious and effortlessly ooze a power that hint at fetish. AW 09 sees Marshall continuing her architecturally influenced tailoring. Not for the fainthearted, Hannah Marshall's severe silhouette is for the femme fatale. Nothing is excessive in this collection, every piece is precisely tailored, every contour and panel a necessity. The pointed shoulders, breastplates and padding can only be described as armour for the modern warrioress.

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The super slick neo-goth chic of Ipso Facto have a kindred spirit in Hannah Marshall, and the uber styled trio are recently rarely seen out of their Hannah Marshall threads. In fact, she kitted them out for the vid of their single 'Six and Three Quarters' last year, so they provided the live soundtrack for Hannah's LFW show. Jealous. 

Yay for see-through plastic!

I'm on such a see-through plastic tip of late; I feel like it's a weirdly sterile kind of kinky.

Romain Kremer's collection for AW 09 delivers this, and also has a touch Henry Holland's paint sample colour blocking, but executed with much more humor and imagination in construction. The ultimate for 'prawns' (hot body, but too bad about the head) and when you're having a bad face day, Kremer's collection gives us see through plastic panelling that both excites and amuses. His used a tri-colour palette of black, bubblegum pink and caramel, styled with squares of man-flesh under the see through plastic segments. I'm loving the idea of outerwear that doesn't obscure the outfit (or body) beneath.

There is more than a breath of the androgynous about the pieces; whether it be in the mirts (manskirts), bared midriffs (traditionally an area only exposed in womenswear as such), or the softly curving hemlines and seams (as well as Balenciaga-esque hourglass shaped coat thrown into the mix) that are juxtaposed with the blocky, unfussy and almost clunky panelling.

Kremer's catwalk show was styled by Nicola Formichetti, who then pulled him in to be responsible for Fischerspooner's wardrobe on the cover / video for their forthcoming album 'Entertainment' with utterly fabulous results.

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