United Bamboo SS09

United Bamboo held their Spring/Summer 2009 show on Saturday. Designers Miho Aoki and Thuy Tham continued their artistic exploration by juxtaposing unexpected elements throughout their latest collection. Their loose fitting, feminine dresses were paired with geometric accessories (provided by designer Eugenie Huang). The beiges and pastels that appeared in the majority of the looks were interspersed with jolts of pink, orange, and green. The structured jackets and shorts, with a clear menswear influence, provided a pleasant contrast to loose dresses. Though fusing these many elements, the collection worked seamlessly, tied together with intricate details like pleats and buttons.

-Grace Edinger

Fashion V Sport

Steve Hiett for Vogue Italia

To coincide with the Olympics, the Victoria and Albert Museum organized an exhibition on the interpollination between fashion and sports. Curated by the Ligaya Salazar “Fashion V Sport” sets out to explore the ways these two major cultural and economic forces have become increasingly intertwined in recent years, with the proliferation of high-end designers working on sportswear lines (Stella McCarthy, Yohji Yamamoto) and sport stars promoting their own lines of clothing. (This is not to mention New York Ranger–cum– Vogue intern Sean Avery.) In addition to actual garments, the exhibition includes a number of films and photographs to further contextualize the work.

Exhibition View

The exhibition is roughly divided in three parts: The first explores the work of designers, such as Bernhard Willhelm and Charles de Castelbajac, who heavily incorporate sportswear in their work. Another section focuses instead on the customization of sportswear by cult designers, such as I-Saw and Nash Money, while a third section is dedicated to sportswear fanaticism, with a particular focus on sneakers’ collectors.

An accompanying book titled Fashion V Sports and edited by the exhibition curator Ligaya Salazar features essays by Christopher Breward, Sophie Woodward and Mark Simpson.

Tartan & Hair

Alexander McQueen, "Highland Rape" collecion, AW 95-96

Among the number of fashion titles to be published this year, two caught my attention most, partially because they are both focused on a single “material” or textile. The first discusses the history of tartan and its symbolic significance up to the present day.

Particularly fascinating is the book’s discussion of the traditional, yet rebellious lineage of Tartan, which was exploited by contemporary designers such as Alexander McQueen and Vivienne Westwood, as well as by artists like Matthew Barney. Written by Jonathan Faiers, it is the first in a series by Berg titled “Textiles that Changed the World” dedicated to one single textile. The next book in the series will be on felt.

Also of interest, is a collection on hair—Hair Styling, Culture and Fashion (to be published by Berg and edited by Geraldine Biddle-Perry, Sarah Cheang )—which discusses the cultural and symbolic import of hair both on and off the body, with articles ranging from “Fashionable Hair In The Eighteenth Century: Theatricality and Display” (by Louisa Cross) to “Hairpieces: Hair, Identity and Memory in the Work of Mona Hatoum” (by Leila McKellar).

Mona Hatoum, Hair Necklace, 1995

Berlin Fashion Week

Berlin Fashion Week will be running from the 16th to the 20th of this month, and, as usual, it will feature an abundance of avant-garde and experimental designers alongside cross-pollinations of art and fashion. Among the many planned events is an installation featuring a group of young designers and organized by Projekt Galerie in galleries across the city. Included are Austrian designers Ute Ploier and Claudia Rosa Lukas, jewelry designer Maria Francesca Pepe—a graduate of the prestigious CSM MA program—alongside a number of other designers, artists and photographers.

Here is a full list of events, while Coutorture will offer a comprehensive coverage of the shows.

Acne Paper on Inge Grognard

Inge Grognard for Martin Margiela

Don’t miss the current (Spring/Summer) issue of Acne Paper. Of particular interest is the interview with the make-up artist Inge Grognard, whose work often confutes traditional notions of beauty and of what falls under the category of make-up. Grognard has collaborated with a number of Belgian designer (Dries Van Noten, A.F. Vandervorst, Jurgi Persoons) and is particularly well-know for her collaborations with Martin Margiela, whose runway show often used a combination of “accessories” (such as veils and masks) and make-up to cover the model’s eyes and shield their identities.

In the interview with Anja Cronberg for Acne, she recounts her early work with Margiela, who she had met in high school, as well as of her own projects: “I use myself as a model—Grognard says—I use dolls or masks, and then my husband [photographer Ronald Stoops] documents it.”