Martino Bidotti

Freelance fashion journalist and blogger. Overview of my work

[martinobidotti]

Yves Saint Laurant Spring 2012

Stefano Pilati, the Italian designer of Yves Saint Laurant gave a very French collection. For next spring summer the YSL woman walks in couture-like volumes in silky shiny fabrics in architectural shoes. There was a certain dark twist in the show that made me think the scarf tops, with crossings high on the chest, were representing Pilati’s feelings towards the problem that keeps the Parisian fashion world awake at night. Which designer will be Galliano’s successor at Dior? Will it be someone new or someone familiar like Pilati? But focussing on the now. As long as Pilati is able to deliver collections like this there is no rush to go anywhere else.  

TEXT BY MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

HERMES SS/12

Christophe Lemaire takes us around the world as a tribute to the core of what Hermès is. A luxury travel goods company, specializing in leather and lifestyle accessories.

For his second collection for the French fashion house Lemaire took us on a trip around the world. From the mountains of Marocco to the plains of Japan via the natives of America back to the Mediterranean sea. When one travels great distances one doesn’t want to be a heavy traveller. Mr. Lemaire showed minimal travel fashion. Refreshing, clean and crispy. There were pleated looks of course, a major trend for spring 2012 and rich dark colored suedes. Handy for those chilly safari nights.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

HUSSEIN CHALAYAN SS/12

Do you want modern? You go Chalayan. Do you want avant garde? You go Chalayan. Do you want something never seen before? You go Chalayan. Do you want simple timeless pieces? You also go Chalayan.

One of the most conceptual fashion designers of our time is British/Turkish Cypriot Hussein Chalayan. He has always been the fashion designer of the avant-garde. His vision is ahead of time with and works with an outstanding quality. His currently traveling exhibition is mind blowing and takes you to places you have never been before.

His latest collection consists of some pleated pieces, a few minimal jackets, draped and asymmetrical and extremely clean cut dresses, floor-length and short. Besides the wearable clothes there were parts of the collection dripping with avant garde. I was shot by the black sun hat with a white veil in the back. A pleated top on a short in techno fabric topped by a white asymmetrical cut out, or the black mini dress with wiped out print are even more representable for the conceptual nature of the house of Chalayan.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

RICK OWENS SS/12

Certainly one of the biggest moments of the last Paris Fashion Week had to be the brilliant show of Mr. Rick Owens.

There was a certain divine intervention during the show. Virgins in floor sweeping white dresses were sacrificed to the Gods above. Rick Owens way of pleasing higher powers to let them open the doors to heaven. This gateway to heaven was meant for the dangerous woman. The so called martyrs from the mids of the last millennium. An all captivating experience that will last is our memories for a very long time. If there was such thing as a perfect collection, this would be it.

The architectural hairstyles with graphic make-up were the perfect compliment for the outfits of the martyrs. Owens shows his visionary fashion design by distracting elements of couture and combining them with his own signature. This results in a most interesting collection. The leather tubes with metallic appliqué, Art Deco patchwork and sack backed smocks topping pillar skirts were following the pure and untouched all-white looks. The out-of-worldly elegance left us in a state of surrealism.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI  FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

STELLA MACCARTNEY SS/12

The Beatles daughter dropped her goodie-two-shoes act and tried to live a little. Fresh ideas, happy models and an enthusiastic collection.

She brought cutting edge materials and techniques and infused them is a rather sporty way using lingerie fabrics. This way you wouldn’t be stereotyping the looks as sporty, but it will make you think twice.The catsuit and jumpsuit in one, using a cut like a man’s pajama and topped it with a waistcoat shows her understanding of the female body. She used a rococo edge to fuse different ideas together. It doesn’t take much to make a look amazing. This idea has always been a gene of her British DNA. Fabulous simplicity.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM.

[martinobidotti]

ALEXANDER MCQUEEN SS/12

We already knew Sarah Burton was the right successor to the McQueen throne. This couldn’t be more of Alexander McQueen’s handwriting. The spring 2012 collection had Alexander written all over it.

The fantasy is the life aquatic of Alexander McQueen. This marvelous fairy tale celebrates the oceanic wonders in dresses that float like a jellyfish, pleated skirts and liquid-like jacquard with collars that move as a sea-anemon. There are queens in floor-length partly translucent armoured gowns and princesses in stunning cocktail dresses. If there is a romantic underwater life still to be discovered by men, we want it to look like this.

Headpieces, inspired by the Alexander McQueen exhibition at the Met in New York, were part of a couture-like uniform of an army of mermaid goddesses. Happily living and perfectly adapted to life below sealevel. Based on the three G’s, Grès for all the pleats, Gaudí for architecture and Gaia for the oceanic theme, this show ticked every box of creativity.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

VIKTOR & ROLF SS/12

Dolls, dolls and dolls is what was on the mind of Dutch fashion designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren. All the models in girlish sihouettes-they are quite familiar with dressing up dolls. Is this a sign of a new Viktor & Rolf exhibition? We can only hope.

The eye catchers of the show were the giant stitching, as a mother would do for a daughters’ broken doll’s dress, times five in size. The laced pieces in happy bright colors were beautifully made. A favorite would be the black dress with butterfly shoulders Bette Franke was rocking.

One could wonder how to integrate something of the collection in their wardrobe, but let’s face it, we are talking Viktor & Rolf here. What we see up on the catwalk won’t turn up in stores. What will be hanging in ours closets is a distillation of the magnificent Viktor & Rolf fantasy. Thank God there are still designers living up to their imagination instead of the retailers wishes.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

ALBERTA FERRETTI SS/12

The show was about the effects to life of chaos and speed happening to us with an urban lifestyle. Alberta Ferretti successfully shows her bohemian signature within this theme by the means of her graphics in lace and sheer fabrics symbolizing the overwhelming confusion of the paste of every day life.

Black lace dresses were accompanied by floor-sweeping handbags to show that your personal luggage can be too much sometimes. It was an elegant collection and nicely put together show. Ferretti upscaled her fashion vocabulary with her next spring summer collection.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

DOLCE & GABBANA SS/12

Dolce & Gabbana already proved in their former shows that Italy is a very inspiring place to be. But their latest was slap-in-your-face Italian. The story of a small village party in the south of Italy in the 1950’s.

An Italian party, like the show, starts with food. Where last seasons happy fruit prints took us by surprise, vegetables took over for next spring summer. Onions, eggplants, garlic, zucchinis and tomatoes were put in prints and collages for floaty dresses, bathing suits, airy blouses and knee lenghts skirts. “Food like fashion is a sensation.” said Stefano Gabbana after the show. Inspiration for the silhouettes was Miss Italia in the fifties. When women were curvy, healthy, with a air of grace and luxury. That’s what the show was all about.

The show was complimenting of the collection in every possible way. You really felt you were there at the time. From the soundtrack of Sophia Loren’s ‘Mambo Italiano’ to the Italian street festival lights hanging from the ceiling. As like every season the theme is perfectly translated into the jewelry as well. Have you ever seen such a gorgeous garlic cloves dangling from earrings?

After the dinner it was time for the models to take a siesta and digest the vegetables. In order to fit the overwhelmingly stunning lace cocktail dresses or their signature drop-dead gorgeous corsets encrusted with crystals. This had to be the most Italian Milan Fashion Week show ever. With all the economic stress evolving around Italy these days, it’s good to see such a positive energy by the masters of Italian fashion.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

GIANFRANCO FERRE SS/12

Since the death of Mr. Ferré, also known as the architect of fashion, in 2007 there already has been a shift in designers. Where Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi couldn’t make it happen, Stefano Citron and Federico Piaggi are now trying to make up for it.

The new designers firmly tried to hold on to the legacy of one of Milan’s grand fashion houses. Suits in all kinds of shapes, where Ferré is well known strutted down the catwalk. Citron and Piaggi couldn’t resist playing with some of the them. It is clear to the eye that these new star designers have made their job out of what they do best. Some looks had some architectural elements going on like the one-sleeve white dress cinched at the waist with a metal belt or the white floor-lenght dress with a high collar attached to it on one side of the dress. Evening gowns in sheer fabrics with long feathers were the highlight of the collection. Even so was the petit robe noir, although very short, it was deliciously Italian. Totally red carpet proof.

It is hard to follow up someone like Mr. Gianfranco Ferré, who is seen as one of the founding fathers of Italian haute couture. Nevertheless, knowing you are in his footsteps, living up to such a high standard isn’t for the weak. Citron and Piaggi proved to be strong enough.

TEXT BY MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

MARNI SS/12

A trend seen throughout Milan’s fashion week was the Italian take on a chic housewive from the 1950’s. At Marni we see a deranged housewife in her way home from a day of hard work. A lady at large.   The messed up hair tells us she is done with today. And this woman doesn’t have a man waiting at home for diner. They will have a reservation somewhere. Marni’s take on an elegantly dressed and properly turned up woman of the world is good for the eye. The loss of the impeccable hairdo is a reality known to women with big hair.  

Pale colors, prints typical of those years, big earrings and plastic embroidery. The peek a boo underskirts makes sure there is a sexiness to all dresses-we see a collection that was layered. There were pure, clear lines but within those lines, themes were evolving. It tells us the Marni woman in that era is growing. Moving onwards to a better future. It was an appreciation of the refinement of decades past.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

DRIES VAN NOTEN SS/12

“I hope you can see that I had fun doing this collection. Hopefully the pleasure is what you can see.” said Dries van Noten after the show. And the sentiment couldn’t have been more true of the collection.

The fantastic prints, a huge trend for spring summer 2012, of nightscapes were the result of a collaboration between the Belgian designer and young Brittish photographer James Reeve. For this collection he took Reeve’s project ‘Lightscapes,’ beautiful pictures of cities by night, stripped them down to visual referrences and combined them with 18th century botanical scetchings, 17th century technical drawings of butterfly wings and 21st century pictures of jungle scenes and seascapes.

Inspired by the Cristobal Balenciage exhibition in San Francisco, we see couture-like shapes and silhouettes in relaxed wearable fabrics. Boleros, bows, swingbacks all with an air of Spanish couture. One skirt was embroidered with stones to recreate the windows of the buildings of the nightscapes of James Reeve.

The unique Mediterranean proudness and chicness of 50’s haute couture in a very modern way is mouthwathering, especially with the mindblowing collaged prints. The way Van Noten uses inspiration and collaborations is due to a high artistic and academic level of intelligence. This was definitely one of his best.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

GIAMBATTISTA VALLI SS/12

For this season, Giambattista Valli was searching around him for a starting point and found his mental souveniers as source of inspiration. Memories of him and his friends travelling to foreign countries were the inspiration of a real Valli collection.

His jetsetting friends that go to places like Pisa, Rajasthan or go on a luxurious safari influenced the collection. Skirt with trimmed marabou or a due piece in zebra print. Floral prints from an English country house. The Greek islands were to be found in a fluffy sheekskin waistcoat. Lovely python heels under a couture like onesie. The metallic layered looks are a big highlight due to the fabulous daisy cut-outs.

The major trend this season is of course haute couture. Fact is Giambattista Valli was always borderlining haute couture in his prêt-à-porter collection-couture will always be his biggest love.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

HAKAAN SS/12

Not only are the Hakaan women chic and fierce, they are dangerously sexy.

Hakaan Yildirim showed a black and white collection with touches of yellow and gold, exposing the designers’ desire for a little bit glam. The theme Futuristic Africa was seen in the arrowhead motif on a black halter dress.

The women of this Turkish designer are sophisticated but naturally sexy. At night. she turns femme fatale in a black laced knee-length skirt and long sleeved top exposing all there is. I can imagine her holding the whip at night from her goodie closet, in a white high waisted miniskirt with a sheer organza shirt on top of it.

Praise the designer that’s able to manifest fashion and fetish in a tasteful collection.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

MAISON MARTIN MARGIELA SS/12

When the news of Martin Margiela’s exit at the Maison in October 2009 hit the news, the fashion world was sceptic about it’s future. Would the team be able to continue the avantgardistic fashion statements of the Belgian designer? The answer is Yes.

No disappointment there after a couple of seasons. The collection for Spring 2012 shows enough creative energy to believe the house will continue it’s existence.

This time the team uses very rich looking edgy fabrics. Some looked picked of the floor pieces of carpet, wrapped around the legs of a model. But looking again you see it’s breathing a conceptual fashion design ahead of it’s time. I adored the floorsweeping leather skirts that were complimenting the sleeveless tops but the true highlight was a leather jacket with couture shaped sleeves with decorating zippers. Those zippers fortunately kept coming back through the collection. The conceptual nature of MMM is clear to the eye in the look with skirt consisting of strips of leather. We love Margiela.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

COMME DES GARCONS SS/12

The couture trend of next Spring has also reached the Japanese label Comme des Garçons. There was a hint of Balenciaga in the volumes of the clothes. Influenced by the horrors of the 11th of March 2011 designer Rei Kawakubo shows a collection about life and death.

The progression taken by us like birth, marriage and death. Kawakubo’s interpretation of each came strutting down the catwalk, in the lovely avant garde Comme des Garçons style we came to love. Cloud-like headpieces made by three artists were presumably an honor to those parished in the devastating earthquake and tsunami.

Normally Comme des Garçons’ Rei Kawakubo is known for creating questions rather than answering them with her themes. But this collection was all like cards on the table. The all-white collection was very literal, from the choice of fabric to the white plastic boots worn by the technicians of the Fukushima prefacture.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI for MYKROMAG.COM

[martinobidotti]

DAMIR DOMA SS/12

When a designer is known for draped silhouettes, a collection with looks from ancient Greece wouldn’t be far off. Paris based Croatian designer Damir Doma infuses emotion in a poetic ready-to-wear collection.

The draped pieces would be the link with Greece. Maybe he went on a cruise to the Greek isles, maybe he just opened a history book. Whatever the origin of his inspiration is, it’s mouthwatering. But with Raf Simon as a mentor during his training in Antwerp he couldn’t become less than a master in fashion design.

The strappy Gladiator sandals pushed the looks into ancient Greece territory. Even though it’s a trend of few seasons ago, it would be weird not having them. We see lace in earthy tones. Cloaky tops and skirts, some cinched in the waist. The oversized grey overcoat with black leather sleeves just loosely hanging on the shoulders, topping high-waisted trousers under a silky blazer, buttoned in the neck exposing a bare chest, was a look to remember.

Text by MARTINO BIDOTTI FOR MYKROMAG.COM