La Parisienne

The Fashion Spot (naya)

The Fashion Spot (naya)

The Fashion Spot (naya)

The Fashion Spot (naya)

The Fashion Spot (naya)

The Fashion Spot (naya)

According to his official site, in 2006 Maxime Simoens was the top graduate from the Chambre Syndicale de la Couture Parisienne and pursued his learning process in couture houses such as Elie Saab, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior and Balenciaga.

March 3, 2013 PARIS By Maya Singer It's been a big couple of weeks for Maxime Simoens. Late last month, LVMH announced that it had purchased a minority stake in his label, and today Simoens unveiled his first ready-to-wear collection, following several seasons of only doing couture. That's heady stuff for a young designer, but judging from Simoëns' manner backstage after his show this afternoon, he was handling the pressure with aplomb. The looks on the runway, too, revealed very few jitters: If this wasn't a groundbreaking collection, it was one that was executed with a lot of finesse. Simoens' inspiration this season was Swan Lake, a theme he extrapolated in a few literal ways, including short, flared skirt silhouettes redolent of tutus, and plumage-like textured fur. But the most intriguing work here found the designer making the sideways leap from the ballet's opposition of black swan and white swan to houndstooth checks with an interlocked opposition of black and white. He followed the idea through by extracting a single check, and using that shape as a graphic motif in clothes that were vibrantly colored. A group of evening pieces, with the check shape etched in metallic embroidery, was particularly well done. The show could have used a tighter edit, though. On the one hand, you sometimes felt that Simoëns was working his houndstooth theme a little too insistently, and on the other, there were more than a handful of pieces that seemed off-topic, like gowns and cocktail frocks scattered with marble crystal. More generally, the qualm here had to do with Simoens' silhouettes, which weren't daring enough to make much of an impact. That tentativeness was made up for, to a degree, by the designer's nervier use of materials—the standouts were his featherlike fur and sparkly blue and black velvet. But on the whole this collection came off a little bit shy. Perhaps there were a few jitters, after all. Source: style.com

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

vogue.co.uk

Thank you, gustavozepedaa.

March 2, 2013 PARIS By Alex Veblen Ann-Sofie Back designed her Atelje collection around the graphic impact of road signs and police tape. Proceed with caution—no subtext there. But proceed we must (and please proceed to chuckle at the idea of workwear chaps in nubbly faux shearling—indisputably the most random piece among the nine looks). Back continues to stage a runway show for her commercial Back line during Stockholm fashion week. Here in Paris, she presents the Atelje range, her edition of extreme, editorial looks. This season she signaled her construction message with the color scheme—black, yellow, and asphalt gray—as well as a surfeit of snap-on utilitarian pockets. Like oversize envelopes, they flapped forth from the chest of a cropped jacket and the seat of a skirt that combined gray suiting with leather. Sure, the pockets could be snapped off, but that would be missing the point. If a shirt covered in yellow and black holographic sequins conveyed the glitzy potential of roadwork, a gray down vest with open vents conveyed the… conceptual? Its chief purpose to block the cold no longer applied. The collection made a statement of sorts, but its relevance wasn't entirely clear, and it seemed like it might resonate more with club kids than collectors. Still, overall the pieces were wearable, from the black buffalo leather motorcycle jacket lined in yellow shearling (real this time) to the jacquard knitwear that mimicked the ridges of a steel road plate. These ridges were also interpreted as metal beads that clung to a net vest trimmed in silk cord binding. The collection made a solid case that these are unmistakable codes, as strong as the Chanel camellia or the Vuitton damier check—we simply don't associate them with fashion. For Back, this represents shock value (perhaps even more than the chaps).

style.com

style.com

style.com

style.com

style.com