My first article for Fashionotes.com

EMERGING DESIGNER: KIRSTY WARD

By magel on October 13, 2011

 

Vogue.com named her one of their ‘Designers To Watch’ in 2011, Elle.com.uk labelled her a ‘Rising Star of 2011’ and Selfridges selected her as one of their ‘Bright Young Things of 2011’. FASHIONOTES thinks it’s time you got to know a little more about Britain’s emerging designer Kirsty Ward!

Born in Oxfordshire, England, Kirsty completed her B.A. in Womenswear in Manchester before going on to undertake the prestigious Masters in Womenswear course at Central Saint Martins. It was there that she developed a strong preference for unconventional structures and her emphasis on form. Graduating with distinction, Kirsty was quickly hired to design for Alberta Ferretti in Italy. A year and a half later, Kirsty launched her own label in 2010.

And how do you recognize a Kirsty Ward design? A merging of jewelry and clothing are at the core of her collections. She loves “huge metallic, sculptural necklaces with contrasting elements” because “they mix everyday hardware with precious items such as crystals and silks.” Contrasting yet complementary luxuriously sheer fabrics form the eclectic nature of Kirsty Ward’s designs and this is what really makes her stand out from the crowd.

Her S/S 2012 collection was showcased at London’s Somerset House during London Fashion Week last month, and by the looks of it, we haven’t heard the last of Kirsty Ward yet. Better keep a close eye on this one!

Karl Lagerfeld introduces affordable line

Big news concerning Mister Karl. The fashion mogul has decided to open the gates of his golden Empire to the common people. Say what?

Yesterday, Herr Lagerfeld announced to the world that he would introduce two new lines in the upcoming year.

The first one, cleverly named 'Karl Lagerfeld', will be a mix of city and evening wear. Karl told fashion magazine Women's Wear Daily that he'd wanted to start up a label like this for a while now, but that his business partners wanted to stay close to the likes of Fendi and Chanel. Poor, poor Karl. The rock 'n roll inspired line will contain about a hundred pieces, ranging from silver jeans to LBD's and will be available at prices going from 60 to 450 euro. From January 25th, the collection will be available at net-a-porter.com and later at karllagerfeld.com. Let's rock!

The second line, 'Karl Lagerfeld Paris' will be produced and distributed by the Italian Ittierre SpA and will be available in stores in fall 2012. More news about this second line will undoubtedly be unveiled in the near future.

Tick-tock-tick-tock ... Is it January 25th yeeeet?

x Magel

CLIO GOLDBRENNER

I read about her for the first time in an article in the September issue of the Belgian Marie Claire, titled 'Young Talents to Follow'. The article wasn't at all about the products that she designs, but about the woman behind the brand, and I was immediately captivated by her inspiring story. 

Born in a family that owned a leather shop, Clio studied commercial sciences at university and specialized in finances. Not long after having graduated, she found a job at L'Oréal, a company for which, I assume, most young girls would want to pull each other's hair out.

Clio, however, felt differently about that. 'I had just bought myself a new hat', she explains. 'A big, furry hat. I loved it! And I could see people staring at me in the streets like I was some sort of crazy woman. It was wild!'. It was then that Clio discovered the power of accessories, and that she decided that that was the industry she really wanted to be in. Using her leather knowledge from when she was little, and her financial specialization from University, Clio started up her own brand: Clio Goldbrenner. 

Today, she has over twenty points of sale.

As I said, I felt really inspired by the article on Clio and felt even more passionate about fighting for my own dreams after reading about Clio's switch from the marketing business to the designer business. Luckily, I read that article on my way to a job interview, so, as far as motivational speeches go, I think that was a pretty good one.

About a week later, I bought myself an all new batch of fashion magazines (yes, I have an addiction). 

And flipping through all the specials covering ' the fall/winter must-haves', '12 new trends for 2012' and 'you NEED this in your closet NOW', I noticed a very elegant, very signature style brand, not coincidentally called 'Clio Goldbrenner'.

The Clio Goldbrenner logo is derived from her last name. 'Goldbrenner' is the German word for 'goldsmith', so it was a logical decision for Clio to choose a gold sign as her signature mark. As she didn't want the logo to be all bling bling, she went for a simple golden rectangle. Pure elegance.

Her inspirations? 'I tend to think back to the ancient greek myths and their beautiful women when I look for inspiration. I, myself, was named after the daughter of Zeus, so I enjoy looking at back other greek muses and try to translate their style into a modernized look. Terpsichore, for example, the muse of dance, was my inspiration for the sophisticated evening bags.'

Polymnie

Clio

Erato

Caliope

Terpsichore

So, whaddayathink? Let's get Goldbrennerd? No, let's think of a new catch phrase first. 

But FIRST, let's get our fashionable selves to a Clio Goldbrenner point of sale as quickly as we can! See you there!

x Magel

ESSIE

O.P.I. better watch out, 'cause there's a new nail polish queen in town! 

She calls nail polish the new lipstick, because, on your nails, you can still enjoy the colour after you've applied it. She says there is no cheaper form of therapy, as you can change your mood along with the colour of your nails. She has a basic collection of one hundred shades and launches four collections annually to make sure our nails stay on-trend throughout the year.

But who exactly is Essie again?

Essie has been famous in the States for quite some time - she launched her first nail polish collection in 1982 (in Vegas, where else?) and her colours have been seen all over the fashion runways during New York Fashion Week. Sadly, in Belgium, the Essie bottles were only available in nail salons and selected stores, so, with us, they weren't very famous yet.

BUT! On Monday, October 17th, Essie came to Belgium to introduce herself and her fabulous line to beauty bloggers and journalists from around the country. After showing all her pretty colours and being the sweetest lady in town taking her time to talk to everybody, Essie announced that she would launch her 100 most popular colours in Di and Ici Paris XL from November 2011. Yay!

You can take a sneak peek of her 2011/2012 collection here, and if you wanna continue tripping on your Essie high, you can visit her website by clicking on this link!

Enjoy that therapy! ;-)

x Magel

So so pretty...

Monday Evening Ritual

Painting my nails in a new 'Colour of the Week' while watching the latest Desperate Housewives episode.

This week: OPI's Color So Hot It Berns / Desperate Housewives S08E03: Watch While I Revise The World.


To watch free streaming episodes of your favourite tv shows, visit http://www.free-tv-video-online.me/internet/.


Woopah!


x Magel 

Hot child in the city!

Okay, I know that I've already made a name for myself as a SERIOUS Isabel Marant-addict (and it's sad, actually: I want it but I can't have it), but I have to say: the S/S 2012 that I.M. showed in Paris last week was, once again, a sight for sore eyes. Why, oh why, Isabel, must you be so pricy??

 

 The most eye-catching items in the 2012 Isabel Marant collection are soft pastels, knitted dresses, glossy high heels and slouchy boots. Yum!

A message that Isabel OBVIOUSLY hasn't gotten yet, has made its way to the Balmain house. Because yes, oooooooh yes, the fabulous Parisian brand is launching a second line: Pierre Balmain. And guess what: it's rumoured to be a lot more affordable than its older brother.

The brand is being very mysterious about the new line, though (childish, is what I'd call it!), and doesn't want to give away too many pictures of the collection yet. 

They did, however, release a smokin' hot video showing pieces of the collection. Actors/models are none other than the members of Our Mountain and lead singer Matthew Huntchinson's girl slash supermodel, Abbey Lee Kershaw. Check out that video pronto! Here!

And staying on the topic of cheaper lines of designer brands (yes, there's more than one), it's almost time for the Versace for H&M launch! Yay! As we're marking our calendars and counting down to November 17th, Vogue Russia kindly went and offered us a sneak peek of the upcoming collection. Wanna see? Yea you do!

Okay, I'll admit, I don't understand a word of it either. But an image speaks louder than a thousand words, njet?

And finally, I urge you to get your butt to the store and get your hands on OPI's limited edition Pink of Hearts - Pink Shatter. 

For every bottle of this bubbly shade that's sold during the month of October in one of the Planet Parfum shops, one euro gets donated to the fund of breast cancer research.  I don't even need to say more, you should be there already!

If you're not really sure how the shatter polish works, you can visit this website to watch a simple tutorial.

Enjoy those goodies!

x magel