Sneak Peek At Armani's Costume Designs For Lady Gaga and Her Upcoming Asian Tour.

Giorgio Armani is pleased to be collaborating once again with Lady Gaga. The designer has created a select number of looks for the artist’s Born This Way Ball tour, which kicks off in Seoul on April 27th. The Asian tour will then move to Hong Kong (May 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th), Tokyo (May 10th), and Singapore (May 28th). The tour will culminate with performances in Australia and New Zealand.



The custom Giorgio Armani wardrobe created for Lady Gaga is characterized by extreme forms and futuristic materials – latex, metal, studs, PVC – crafted with couture savoir-faire. Each outfit is completed with detailed, other-worldly accessories.



The first design includes a black bodice made of tubular PVC elements connected with metal studs, with mirrored metal inserts to define a curvaceous design. The ensemble is highlighted by a matching headpiece, robotic thigh-high boots, and exaggerated gloves ending in mirrored nails.



Another look is created via a shiny black grid-patterned PVC bodice with matching headpiece and embroidered ankle boots. Highlights include shoulders outlined by a play of sharp spikes, black Swarovski jet crystals and flowing fringe, creating a moving architecture.




On the third black bodice, transparent Plexiglas, black crystals and luminous studs create a Cubist composition of abstract guitars. The matching headpiece follows in the shape of a keyboard; the boots are black vinyl.




The final design is a long tunic with leg-o-mutton sleeves made of skin-toned latex. Luminous PVC elements create flashes of synthetic light inside the garment. The same avant-garde lighting is featured on the triangle decorating the chest, on the headpiece, and on the platform of the matching latex ankle boots.




“Collaborating with Lady Gaga is always an exciting experience for me. I admire the way she uses fashion as a scenic element and as a means to build a character," says Giorgio Armani."She is an artist of many talents and great intelligence. Creating stage costumes for her is a stimulating and creative exercise."

Giorgio Armani began his collaboration with Lady Gaga on the occasion of the 2010 Grammy Awards ceremony, when the artist wore a series of outfits specially designed for her. Subsequently, he dressed her in select looks for the Monster Ball tour in 2010, as well as for a number of red carpet events and other special occasions.

all images and information courtesy of Giorgio Armani

Buy Lady Gaga downloads and CDs here

My Little Pony + Origami = Fred Butler's Womenswear for Autumn Winter 2012.

Accessories designer and prop stylist Fred Butler just showed her latest collection at London Fashion Week. Crazy and colorful, it pushes the envelope with fashions and accessories I'd never consider wearing, but might make great props and styling for an editorial or event. With wacky origami-like structured textiles and colorful knitware, it's a bit like My Little Pony meets Fractals.








The following designer profile and interview is courtesy of London Fashion Week

Designer name: Fred Butler

Origin: Colchester, Essex, England.

Career highlight: “Winning New Gen sponsorship!”

Design background: Fred studied at the University of Brighton and worked with Shona Heath and As FOUR (New York), before setting up her own label.

What are your design signatures? “Wearable sculpture, intricate textures, material manipulation, graphic shape and pattern, strong colour contrast with black and white highlights, iridescence and metallics.”

How would you describe the Fred Butler woman? “Anyone who enjoys enhancing their look with an exciting addition to an outfit.”

Three autumn/winter 2012 inspirations: “Getting cosy, quilting and layering.”

What does 2012 hold for your brand? “Spreading the colour further.”

What is your favourite decade in fashion? “The sixties.”

Where do you go in London to seek artistic inspiration? “I go to my yoga class because it's a chance to switch off; that's when I find my inspiration.”


above: fashion and accessories designer Fred Butler (photo by Mishkin)

www.fredbutlerstyle.com
83-84 Berwick Street
London
W1F 8TS

Couture & Contemporary Air Conditioning. Duvelleroy, The Fan Maker to The Queen.

Hand held fans are one of those accessories you don't readily associate with today's fashion. But as the Fan Maker to the Queens in the 19th century, Duvelleroy is the only Parisian house of fans having survived to this day, now being run and contemporized by Eloïse Gilles et Raphaëlle de Panafieu. Formal to fun, their fan collections are unparalleled in terms of design and quality.


above: Eloïse Gilles et Raphaëlle de Panafieu resurrected the brand in 2010

Duvelleroy fans have always been conceived as fashion accessories. Duvelleroy's Couture fans use the finest materials. The Guards and sticks are made of materials such as ebony, carbon fibre, mother of pearl, horn, or bone. Hand laid inlays, copper and furs, silks and feathers (marabou, ostrich, peacock), sequins, laces and brocades embellish the centuries old accessory.



Horn, ebony, mother-of-pearl are cut up in the raw material to obtain layers only 9/10th mm thick, which are then cut in the shape of the frame.



The losses are important but this is the indispensable condition to obtain frames of 14 sticks that lose nothing of their lightness. This requirement is the characteristic trademark of French fanmakers.

First, a little history:
During the XIXth century, DUVELLEROY opened a boutique in Paris at the prestigious address of 15, rue de la Paix as well as an affiliate in London on Bond Street. The ‘Rive Droite’ anchorage of DUVELLEROY was to be consolidated throughout the House’s different addresses in Paris, up until the 1980s.



Under the conduct of the second generation of the Duvelleroy family, the House met with a modern artistic current, which it was about to epitomize in its fans : Art Nouveau. Among the artists who worked for DUVELLEROY during this period, Gendrot, Leloir and Louise Abbéma were the most emblematic of this new era.



above: details of vintage Duvelleroy fans

The fan was metamorphosed into sinuous curbs, venomous flowers and fabulous creatures such as peacocks, snakes and dragons. During this Art Nouveau period, characterized by great inventiveness for DUVELLEROY, two House emblems were born: The “balloon” Fan, named after the aerial shape of its leaf and the daisy as a signature, stamped on each rivet. The two icons can still be found in DUVELLEROY’s contemporary fan collections.



above: The "Balloon" shape and the daisy shaped rivet are two icons still found in Duvelleroy's collections

During the XIXth century, DUVELLEROY published the language of the fan, a small booklet explaining the coded gestures used by women since centuries to say “I love you”, “follow me” or “you are cruel”, with a simple manipulation of their fan.

Official supplier to the Queens, starting with Queen Victoria, DUVELLEROY created the fans given to the Spouses of Statesmen for their official visits in France, for example the Empress of Austria, the Queen of Sweden, the Queen of Denmark and the Queen of Bulgaria.

The House also created Eugénie de Montijo’s fan for her wedding with Napoleon III, and the white ostrich feather fan worn by the Queen of Egypt.

DUVELLEROY specialized itself in “trophy” fans, intricate artworks of feathers assembled from a single bird, sometimes even integrating a bird’s head on the guard.



above: A 1890's Duvelleroy Trophy Bird Fan (images courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum)

In parallel with its Couture collections, DUVELLEROY also developed as early as the 19th Century an offer of promotional fans, collaborating with artists such as Paul Iribe (see illustration below), to accompany some of the great names in luxury to advertise differently their brand and products.


above: Fan design by Paul Iribe, who was also known for his sketch of a mother and daughter which inspired Lanvin’s trademark

Numerous fragrance & champagne houses, palaces and couture houses have turned towards DUVELLEROY for original advertising fans.

In 2010, two young women partnered with DUVELLEROY’s last heir and threw themselves into resurrecting the house. One is passionate of brand heritage, the other has worn fans since childhood. When Eloïse and Raphaëlle met, together they forged a dream : to resuscitate couture fans, by redeveloping one of the most important Parisian fan house. They became partners with the inheritor of the DUVELLEROY house, to give a second life to the brand by launching contemporary creations.

Duvelleroy Couture Fan Collection:


















The ultimate expression of Duvelleroy’s Couture spirit is embodied by sequined fans. Each sequin, the thinness and shape of wich are designed solely for fans, is hand embroidered once the leaf of the fan is mounted, so as to avoid any risk of overlap with a pleat.



Contemporary Duvelleroy Fan Collection:
A less expensive irreverant collection with fans by such designers as Jean Charles and Louis Marie de Castelbajac, Lovisa Burfett and Zoulikha Bouabdellah which are available through their e-boutique.






New Bridal Fan Collection:
Most recently they've launched a new Bridal Collection featuring a white ostrich fan for the bride and "Oui" fans for the Bridal Party:

Couture Fan (made to measure). Leaf in white silk & ostrich feathers, frame in white mother-of-pearl:

Price: 2000 €.

Duvelleroy
Duvelleroy e-boutique

all images © Duvelleroy and the Metropolitan Museum