Mirror Visions & Yohji Yamamoto

While there were pl-enty of exhibitions to be seen at the recent Festival Hyères (check out all of them on Fashion Snoops), I had two favorites.

First comes from Dutch artist Anouk Kruithof. Artist as in WHAT you may ask? Well that’s a little complicated, and it’s also what defines her. The “medium” is always the starting point for Anouk’s projects which also rely on an interaction with the surroundings or people involved. While the photos fail in comparison to the experience, look first and then I’ll explain.

Anouk’s exhibition, titled “I’ve taken too many photos/ I’ve never taken a photo” was set in the historic Tour des Templiers in Hyères old city center. The location was also utilized for an impressive photography exhibit when I attended the festival in 2010. This time around, upon entering, all guests were given a square mirror plate, which was used to view the many photographs suspended from above without looking up. The photos themselves, in an assortment of sizes, featured a variety of subjects captured over 10 years from portraits to landscapes to objects. There was no particular order to view the exhibit and each “viewing” of the photos varied depending on positioning of your own mirror. Holding the mirror from your chest and then drawing it up to your face gave a feeling of movement, almost like inverting the ceiling and floor and causing momentarily confusion.. an amazing experience that was truly original!

The next subject requires no introduction.. Mr. Yohji Yamamoto, who served as this year’s president of the fashion jury during the festival. As always, the president of the jury features an exhibit set in the villa Noailles pool room.

Displays were set up inside the empty glass-enclosed pool which viewers walked upon. Set in a luminous room, florescent lights and shadows made it difficult to see the exquisite tailoring and craftsmanship of the all-black collection, while the setting seemed to suit Yamamoto quite well – perhaps by appealing to his broad fan base. Throughout the festival, the designer was spotted at the fashion shows, in conferences and in the final photo above, at a book signing of his autobiography My Dear Bomb, which now resides on my coffee table.

TREND CONVERSATIONS at the MET’s Costume Institute Gala

As you’ve more than likely already heard, the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute Gala was held last Monday night in New York City. As per usual, the grand Oscars of Fashion is co-chaired by Anna Wintour, who was accompanied this year by Miuccia Prada and Carey Mulligan in honor of the exhibition “Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations.”

WHAT YOU MAY NOT KNOW is what trends marched down the red carpet. (Or maybe you do, since live coverage was live-streamed for the first time on Amazon.com, vogue.com and metmuseum.org.) Anyhow, dare I say that the Costume Institute Gala is more fun than say, The Oscars, probably because here we’re looking at fashion people (not just celebs) and if there is ever a time to take a risk, it’s here, amongst other fashion people. Although in the end no matter who you wear, you want to be on Anna’s good side, and that’s no easy feat.

One sure way to do it is by dressing in the designer that the exhibit honors. And in this case.. the devil wears Prada (couldn’t resist).

Since the exhibit is equally dedicated to Schiaparelli, apparently Anna encouraged guests to embrace Schiaparelli’s trademark pink. After that it was up to interpretation from vintage elements of pink to paring it with denim (like only Jenna Lyons can) and pink hair a la Chris Benz.

Unfortunately for Schiaparelli, ORANGE is still having a moment for Spring 12. And so it is here, the number one fashion color at the Costume Institute Gala.

Also indicative of the Spring 12, BOLD PRINTS liven up the red carpet in refreshingly season-appropriate looks.

METALLICA never looked so good. Shimmering silver and gold embellishment dazzled as THE number one trend of the evening, with Karolina Kurkova standing out in a backless Rachel Zoe number.
Leave it to the fashion crowd to take on one of Spring’s most buzzed about details, PEPLUMS!

Sheer maxis are very much on trend and look every last bit glamorous on the red carpet. See-through skirts offer a more forward look than slits.

More than a handful of guests dresses in jewel tones from emerald to sapphire. Constance Jablonski in two-tone Haider Ackermann wore it best.

If jewel tones have you thinking Fall, these Renaissance Women take it a step further in lavish embroideries which were indicative of the most recent runway collections.

Alas, The Individualist. From lavish frills to mismatched, shirt layering to barely there.. anything goes!

If all else fails, black is an eternal crowd-pleaser and these frocks are anything but ordinary.

If You Had One Look to Design for Chloé…

What might it look like? That’s the question that the 10 designers at Festival Hyères were challenged with for a shot at the Chloé Prize. The image above is winner Steven Tai‘s design for Chloé, recepient of the 15,000€ award.

Chloé, an official sponsor of the festival, held the contest for the first time 2 weeks ago, and plans to continue it for the next three years. The idea was to create a look in “the spirit of the Chloé tradition, demonstrating expertise in luxury ready-to-wear combined with a naturally elegant, spontaneous and modern feminine style.”

You’ve got to admit that this is not your average contest. First consider that the line-up of designers at Festival Hyères is not your usual grade of student designers. A selection of them have already worked at the likes of Raf Simons, Stella McCartney and Viktor & Rolf, the latter who were actually discovered at Festival Hyères years ago. Further to that point, emerging designers rarely embark upon their own collections successfully at first, and I’m sure more than a few would entertain the idea of assisting at Chloé or any other major fashion house in the coming years.

The idea is a brilliant for Chloé as well, in that it is a highly visible contest with a sizable award on a recognized platform. The added bonus here is that if you were Chloé hiring a design assistant, you’re undoubtedly going through portfolio after portfolio but rarely have the opportunity to see a designer’s vision of your brand beforehand. What is also interesting here is to look at the complete collections of each designer and then at their 1 look for Chloé and compare. There are some true talents in the group, including menswear designer Jasmina Barshovi who incorporated accessories and even knitwear designer Ragne Kikas who incorporated a very Chloé-esque color palette.

Should Clare Waight Keller desire a new assistant, seeing the visions of 10 different designers would certainly be of interest. In fact I wouldn’t be too surprised if Steven Tai got more than a check out of the deal..