Last night the new Versus Versace was launched in New York with an unconventional fashion show. Creative Director Donatella Versace and J.W. Anderson were visible from backstage where they prepared the models, while live performances from Angel Haze, Dead Sara, as well as Twin favourite, Grimes, intercut the runway. The whole event was interactive, streamed live, uploaded to Instagram.
Donatella Versace commented that the event was about bringing together everything she loves. “This mix of music and fashion captures the essence of Versus Versace, a label for a new global tribe,” she says. The collection itself plays with the original Versace DNA, reworking it into new pieces with sharp silhouettes and iconic motifs. With collaborations and limited edition pieces, Donatella Versace hopes to make this a new home for fresh talent and creativity.
J.W. Anderson is just one of the first guest designers who will, in turn, show us their take on the Versus Versace spirit. “The idea behind the collection was about a modern, sharp, Versus Versace, with a focus on the shared wardrobe,” says Anderson, “a man in a woman's wardrobe, and a woman
in a man's”. The result is pieces that toy with gender and sexuality, pieces that should be worn with an attitude of fearlessness. The capsule collection will be available online from June 15, in addition to exclusive behind the scenes footage of the making of the collection.
Central Saint Martins boasts a reputation as one of the world's most prestigious art schools. Now a group of its students have launched a biannual print publication celebrating the university's exceptional talents, entitled 1Granary.
Founded and edited by Olya Kuryshchuk, the debut issue features alumni such as Katie Grand, Robin Derrick, Kate Phelan and John Galliano, as well as the most exciting new talent currently studying at CSM's King's Cross campus.
Twin spoke to associate editor Greg French about the magazine's inception, vision and future. Read on for the exclusive interview…
Central Saint Martins has had a longstanding reputation and legacy. In the age of digital publishing and university spending cuts, what made it important to do this magazine now?
I think it's incredibly important to be able to find a sense of permanent presence alongside digital publishing. There seems to be a constant conflict between digital and print, yet there needs to be more of an understanding that both can support and be used alongside each other to push concepts further than previously possible. It seemed important as it's a new beginning for the college in its new premises. We really wanted something physical to sit alongside our site, as a milestone for this great turning point in the college's history.
ork, not only in terms of the amount of work that we put into establishing 1 Granary, but also in the level of craftsmanship that is put into each garment, artwork and editorial content that we show. It's about showcasing all the amazing talent and saying that it is possible and achievable, regardless of what is or isn't happening in the education system or the economy.
How would you describe the process of putting together the debut issue, were there any surprises or directional changes?
It was actually really liberating. I've worked on magazines before, but this was the first thing that wasn't bound to anything. We didn't answer to anyone and that gave us a platform to experiment, try new things and do it completely in the way that we wanted. We have an amazing team and had so much fun putting it all together. It was exhausting at times as we were all juggling internships, jobs and college work, but at the same time it was our way of resting because we loved doing it so much.
What can we expect for Issue No. 2?
It's still very much in its early stages, but the main thing you can expect is a continuing debut of really great, fresh, raw talent and a team that isn't afraid to take risks.
1 Granary Issue #1 is available to pre-order and hits newstands on May 20.
Downsizing is difficult, whichever area of your life you target – this spring, focus on your bag contents. Miniature hand-held accessories are a key trend this season. Perfect for those credit-card-and-lipstick-kind-of-nights. Take a look at Twin’s picks…
Charlotte Olympia Pandora Perspex clutch, £625, net-a-porter.com & Proenza Schouler PS11 Mini Metallic Hologram Leather Bag, £890,
Somerset House has just announced its latest exhibition in honour of the late fashion and art champion Isabella Blow. The woman who helped launch designers such as Alexander McQueen will be honoured in the retrospective Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!
The exhibition will showcase over a hundred pieces from Blow’s personal wardrobe, famously saved from being auctioned off by her close friend Daphne Guinness, who purchased the art patron’s entire collection. Expect to see work from designers such as McQueen, Philip Treacy, Hussein Chalayan and Julien Macdonald.
Set designer Shona Heath will be creating installations for the show, which not only offers an opportunity to view extraordinary fashion pieces up close, but also to discover the life of the woman who wore them.
Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore! will run from 20 November to 2 March at Somerset House.
Karl Lagerfeld’s latest directorial endeavour stars Keira Knightley in the role of Coco Chanel.
Once Upon A Time, also starring Lindsey Wixson, Stella Tennant and Tallulah Harlech, traces back to the opening of Chanel’s first store in Deauville in 1913.
Revel in black and white film nostalgia and period costumes by watching the film below.
chanel.com
The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s latest exhibition devotes itself to the last true subculture: the safety-pinned, in-your-face-spitting world of punk.
Tracing the subculture’s path from underground youth movement to haute couture influence, the exhibition features designers including Vivienne Westwood, Karl Lagerfeld and Riccardo Tisci, as well as music icons such as Johnny Rotten, Sid Vicious and The Clash.
Take a tour of the exhibition with the show’s curator Andrew Bolton in the video below.
Punk: Chaos to Couture is on display from May 9 to August 14.
Since taking over the house in 2009, Guillame Henry has revived the house of Carven with his contemporary and feminine designs. Now the revival is continuing with the brand’s fragrance line.
The creator behind the debut scent Carven Le Parfum is industry wünderkind Francis Kurkdjian, the man who created Jean Paul Gaultier’s besteller Le Male at age 26. Kurkdjian’s creation is an appropriately floral and delicate combination of mandarin blossom, sweet pea, jasmine and sandal wood.
Fragrance is the finishing touch to any outfit and this ethereal scent is sure to become the go-to accessory for any Carven girl.
Carven Le Parfum is available to buy now exclusively at Harrods and Harrods.com, with a national release set for June 5.
Shorts are the perfect way to announce your summertime feeling. Denim may be the ultimate classic, but this season its time to make a change. Whilst leather and latex might not be obvious choices, they certainly keep you up to date. Gym inspired short-shorts may be the style of the season, but they look much better walking around town than in the bottom of your gym bag. Take a look at Twin’s picks…
The dress in this image is by Viktor & Rolf and not Rochas as previously stated.
zp8497586rq
Hyères Fashion & Photography Festival
This weekend undoubtedly belongs to twenty undiscovered fashion and photography talents at the 2013 Hyères Fashion & Photography Festival.
The four-day festival in southern France will see a prestigious jury including Lacoste creative director Felipe Oliveira Baptista, Business of Fashion founder Imran Amed and Harvey Nichols fashion director Paula Reed choose the lucky winners for awards sponsored by companies such as Chloé, Leica, and the New York School of Visual Arts.
Even if you can't personally make it to the event, be sure to check out the promising talent including Henning Jurke, Satu Maaranen, Emile Barret, Eva Stenram.
When Charlie May sent her AW13 collection down the catwalk this year, each look had its own piece from her recent collaboration with accessories designer Danielle Foster. Their capsule collection heavily features vinyl plastic on leather bags and jewellery, keeping in line with both Charlie May’s minimalist and Danielle Foster’s timeless aesthetic.
Twin spoke to May about the joint design venture…
When did you discover Danielle Foster’s accessories?
I discovered Danielle through Bengt, who was my first stockist and started seeing her bags popping up everywhere. I loved the classic design and heavy focus on hardware on leather.
What is it about Danielle’s designs that captured your attention and made you realise that your collections could compliment each other?
I love that Danielle’s bags are so raw. They’re finished in a classic and traditional way, but add in chunky gold hardware and even some human hair so you’re on your way to something unique and unusual, which I relate to a lot with my work. Classic tailoring in unexpected fabrications and cuts is something I love to do.
What was the collaboration process like? How did it differ from your usual creative process?
I loved working together, it was very easy and we both knew to keep it simple. Danielle had already been thinking up shapes when I brought in the leathers and designs for my AW13 collection. I’ve always wanted to work with clear plastic too, which matched perfectly to my icy inspiration.
What materials did you utilise in the collaboration?
The bags are mostly made from traditional thick saddle leather. The only unusual material was the clear vinyl plastic, which I absolutely love in the satchel. I feel there are lots of clear bags around at the moment but none as cool as our satchel! I think the clear against the heavy black is really strong. I really liked Danielle’s braided handles on the tote bags, to give a cool little detail on a classic.
How do the accessories accentuate your collection?
I always think bags finish off a collection perfectly, it’s like having the whole package. A lot of my AW13 collection was quite matchy. The classic satchels were great to pair with a few trouser suits to step it up a notch and also to toughen up some of the floatier silk looks.
Who in the future would you like to collaborate with?
I have a couple of super exciting collaborations for next season that I’m not quite ready to blab about, but I can reveal that it will include shoes!
Why do you think collaborations between designers are such a big commodity nowadays?
I think collaborations are amazing for young designers to get their names heard. Working with other designers, you’re effectively sharing each others fan bases and reaching a wider audience.
The Charlie May x Danielle Foster collection will be released in August on BengtFashion, The Unconventional and the designers’ respective own e-commerce sites.
Levi's is the quintessential laid-back denim brand, so what better way to spruce up your favourite cutoffs and boyfriend jeans than with some iconic Liberty prints?
Whether you choose the painterly effect of the Carlin print or the laser burnt, Pointillist-style Kerr Bandana option, the collaboration offers up fifteen casual yet stylish variations on denim jackets, jean shorts, bustiers, tank dresses and more.
Consider your summer wardrobe sorted.
The Levi's x Liberty store is available now online and at Liberty London.
Elsa Schiaparelli's innovative, Surrealist designs provided a fresh breath of fashion air in the industry from the 1920s up until her house's closure in 1954. Once confined to fashion museums and archives of decades past, the label is now receiving a revival through none other than Christian Lacroix.
The eccentric designer will be creating an haute couture collection for Schiaparelli as the first step in the house's relaunch, which will continue with annual creative collaborations. Showing in July, the 15-piece strong collection is sure to be as dramatic and unapologetically luxurious as the creations which made Lacroix a household name.
The French designer has described his vision for the label as a mix of “high and low, sophistication and naïveté, black and color, austerity contrasting with a fantasy, the luxury of high society and a sense of the people’s choice”. We'll definitely be keeping an eye on the results of this ongoing and well-deserved tribute to one of fashion's most influential female fashion designers.
Last night saw the launch of Uniqlo’s latest venture which brings together the worlds of fashion, music and art. The initiative has made its way to cities such as Tokyo, New York, Paris and Singapore, and now it’s London’s turn. The UT POP-UP is an unique concept gallery space which opens to the public today, located at The Hoxton Gallery at the Arch on Kingsland Road.
The gallery will have different art installations each weekend from renowned London-based artists Damian Weighill and Dan Freeman which look at music and art as themes, as well as a pop-up UT (UNIQLO T-shirt) store and events. There will be a private screening of the documentary on the life of Keith Haring at the UNIQLO Secret UT Cinema tonight. Other events at the concept gallery space include UNIQLO UT Sessions, a live recording session with Charlie Boyer and the Voyeurs on Friday 26th April and the UNIQLO Record Fair on Saturday 27th April.
The weather may be teasing us but spring is officially here. At least most of the time so transitional clothing is your best plan of action and there”s no better key staple than a throw-on T-shirt style dress. Worn with ankle boots and jackets, these dresses will brighten up a cloudy day, but come summer, when worn with pumps and bare legs they will keep you effortlessly cool. Twin can’t wait.
Emma Cook Printed sateen dress, £299, Net-a-porter.com & Draw In Light Pink & Red Noise Dress, £275, Coggles.com
Contrast Floral Silk Dress By Boutique, £70, & Carven Blue Stripe Jersey Print Dress, £180.00, Liberty.co.uk
Harmony Korine’s latest film, Spring Breakers, is a controversial take on the American rite of party passage. Opening Ceremony decided to bottle up the Kids writer’s latest work of social commentary into an equally wild ride of a collection.
Created by costume designer Heidi Bivens, the result is a neon-hued, sportswear casual range of sweatpants, mesh tops, wristbands, bandanas and of course, bikinis, topped off with slogans and artwork produced in collaboration with NY artist REAS.
Keep calm and party on in these laidback threads.
The Opening Ceremony x Spring Breakers collection is now available exclusively at the Opening Ceremony boutique in London and online
Ladylike handbags may be one trend the fashion pack are utilising this spring, but we still have a thing for bags of the hands-free variety. These grunge era accessories have been re-vamped for SS13 even lending themselves to the chicest of outfits. Its not just their care-free attitude that we love, its that you can wear them with essentially anything, making them our investment bag of choice this season.
Designers are creating backpacks in all shapes and sizes, but these are the four that made the Twin cut.
Deux Lux Empire State Backpack, £106.33, shopbop.com & Peter Jensen Rabbit Ear Backpack, £102, asos.com
Fashion film has emerged as an innovative new approach to the genre, but leave it to Prada to pull out the big guns. For their new fragrance Candy L’Eau – a citrus, sweet pea and benzoin-scented flanker to the hit original created by Daniela Andrier – the house decided to let Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola create their own interpretation of the scent.
French actress Léa Seydoux stars in the playful short as the coquettish and love-torn protagonist, Candy. Just like this scent is a more lightweight interpretation of the 2011 original, CandyL’Eau is a playful take on joie de vivre. And too good to miss.
Watch the film and behind the scenes footage below.
For seven years, photographer Sante D’Orazio, who has lensed the likes of the Rollings Stones and Kate Moss for publications such as Vogue and VanityFair, disappeared from the spotlight.
Now a retrospective at Christie’s featuring his 45 most iconic portraits will pay tribute to the New Yorker’s two-decades plus long career, and possibly usher in a new era of his work.
With D’Orazio’s sensual and glamourous images of seventies rock stars, eighties supermodels and nineties pop stars already having garnered a cult status, we’re definitely rooting for this comeback kid.
Zadig & Voltaire have collaborated with New York jewellery designer Pamela Love to create a six-piece collection, titled Wild Heart, that fuses the mysticism and spirit of the brand with Love’s own inspirations. Love started her own brand in her Brooklyn apartment, originally only wearing the designs herself, but her work as a stylist and art director led to her setting up the label in 2006.
Love consistenly channels the American Southwest and Native American symbols in her designs. For this collaboration she created pieces that explore the balance between good and evil. “I really like the imagery of the brand,” Love says, “these black contrasts, this rock-and-roll feeling mixed with feminine attributes. These elements add up to a strong identity which has a beautiful sensitivity that is completely in line with my perspective.” The collection itself utilises materials such as gold, copper and oxidized silver in snake rings, fang necklaces, earrings and bangles.
Pamela Love for Zadig & Voltaire launches and in store on April 3.
PREVIOUS
Twitter
Tumblr
YouTube
Facebook
Instagram
