Vivienne Westwood Shoes at the Sursock Palace in Beirut

Vivienne Westwood's collections of shoes since the seventies have been on whats shaping out the be a world wide tour after the success of a show in London last year. You could also contribute the success to the rash of designer retrospectives. Right now the exhibition is on view at the Sursock Palace in Beirut. Vivienne Westwood Shoes, An Exhibition 1973 – 2011, which has opened in Beirut, will be followed by a stop in the north of England then on to Hong Kong, China and Japan. www.viviennewestwood.co.uk

We Are Handsome, The Memoirs

"This season, We Are Handsome takes you to the far reaches of your imagination, your minds eye, your memory. The Memoirs collection inspires thoughts of vacations past, memorable experiences and those moments in life when time seemed to stand still, just for an instant." Jeremy Somers from We Are Handsome, on the new collection for the Australian swimwear line, entitled The Memoirs. www.wearehandsome.com

[Craft, Utility and Luxury] Serum Versus Venom

Serum Versus Venom (SVSV), which was created in 2003, as a "interconnectedness of craft, utility and luxury" is re-launching after several years in hiatus.Β SVSV is built on a philosophy called Futurecraft - an "ideological framework for creating high and sustainable value in an over-saturated consumer landscape by colliding elements of hype modernity with traditional product development philosophies, techniques and values."Β www.serumvenom.com

Inspiration Dior

A this one to the list of the growing phenomenon of designer retrospectives being held around the world. Inspiration Dior, an exhibition at the Pushkin Museum in Moscow, explores the birth of the legendary fashion house.Β Christian Dior was born in the seaside town of GranvilleΒ on the coast of France, the second of the five children of Maurice Dior, a wealthy fertilizer manufacturer and his wife. Β His family had hopes that the young Dior would become a diplomat, but his artistic sensibilities would obviously prevail. Β In 1947 his 'new look' collection is established and the House of Dior is born. The exhibition explore not only Dior, but the inspiration behind Dior,Β guiding the visitor "through the Dior artistic creative sources of fashion and its links to history, nature, painting, sculpture, drawing, photography and film. It reveals how an idea, a feeling, an era, a garden, a perception or even a smell can instill an idea in the heart and mind, giving rise to a unique creation." Inspiration Dior is on view until July 24 2011. www.arts-museum.ru

 

[Primary Kolors] Ksubi Returns to Colored Denim

Cult Australian fashion label Ksubi, toast the long awaited return of their colored denim range, with a short film directed by Australian director Daniel Askill. Kolors is a fume-fuelled, slow-motion battle between three color-clad models and a trio of β€˜80s muscle cars. With the Ksubi team securing the very last sets of limited edition colored tires by Kumho available in Australia they then enlisted Askill and his team at Collider to fuse the vivid smoke with the spectral denim range. Models Bambi Northwood-Blythe, Cisco Gorrow and Heidi Harrington-Johnson act as modern-day matadors to the rumbling Ford's that attempts to hunt them down while the girls soar above the cars to an operatic soundtrack. Shot next to Sydney’s Kingsford Smith International Airport in barren industrial wasteland that car fanatics converge on after dark and with a Phantom camera, Askill captures each and every denim movement and smoke billow at 1500 frames per second. The collection is available today in stores worldwide.  www.ksubi.com

Neo Conquistador: Assad Mounser

Amanda Assad Mounser is a New York-based jewelry designer with a penchant for the prickly and ecclesiastical. Β Her labelΒ Assad Mounser makes a bold statement.Β Assad Mounser's inspiration is "predominantly influenced by the gods of the Glam Rock Movement." Β Aptly so. Β HerΒ Spring Summer 2011 collection "...focuses on a futuristic journey, one that many a rock star drenched in glitter might sing about. The collection, coined Neo Conquistador, follows a phoenix rising from the ashes of a catastrophic wave of destruction to a path of redemption and rebirth, creating a new world from the rubble. Groups within the collection follow these themes quite literally. Many pieces take on an appearance of an explosion, with shooting rods of metal juxtaposed against cracked rocks and glittering gems, meant to represent glass fragments. www.assadmounser.com

[Documentary] L'Amour Fou: The Legacy of Yves Saint Laurent

Yves Saint Laurent left a fashion legacy. He also left behind an extraordinary collection of art. In L'amour fou, Saint Laurent's partner in business and life, Pierre BergΓ©, made the choice to auction off the collection after Saint Laurent's death in 2008. It was considered "the auction of the century." BergΓ© talks about their relationship in both respectsβ€”from meeting Saint Laurent after his dismissal from Dior to starting up their fashion house and, of course, the art that they amassed. The collection started in the 1950s and included works ranging from Picasso and Matisse to Egyptian sculptures.

The art collection is impressive, but it represents more than just two collectorsβ€”they're the puzzle pieces that form a picture of a unique, half-century partnership. Carefully crafting a loving and well-deserved tribute, director Pierre Thoretton stunningly blends BergΓ©'s interviews, rare archival footage, and incredible access to their homes to make what amounts to more than a biography. He captures a love storyβ€”a so-called crazy loveβ€”of art, fashion, and the two men who loved both and one another.

L'Amour Fou is currently beingΒ premieredΒ at the Tribeca Film Festival. www.tribecafilm.com

Text by Β David Kwok

Ecce Homo: The Jewelry of Chris Habana

spring/summer 2011

If Jesus Christ were to be crucified today, Pontius Pilate would get his crown of thorns from jewelry maker Christ Habana. Custom made crown of thorns - he'd probably make a concession for the lord and savior. With a small, creeping trend in religious iconography popping up Chris Habana's eponymous label stays clear of the eternal flaw of most gothic inspired jewelry lines: taking it all way too seriously.

spring/summer 2011

There is a definitive, down to earth sensibility in all of Habana's creations. Spending his life in the Philippines and New York City, the 34 year old designer had a childhood "...rooted in fantasy and sci-fi...." and later "reveled in the 90s gay counter-culture..." - thusly merging the two worlds when Habana debuted his line in 2004. Habana's autumn/winter collection, entitled "Weird N' Kinky," is, well, weird and kinky.

www.chrishabana.com

Icon of 1940s Fashion: Ingrid Bergman

Ingrid Bergman is stunning when when she appears on the silver screen in the 1942 classic Casablanca, and the same in Hitchcock's 1946 masterpieceΒ Notorious. Bergman was not only an icon of the silver screen, but an icon of fashion in a decade when the world was at war. In the 1940s the fashion houses of an occupied France were struggling with limited resources, a fabric shortage, and the rise of competing American fashion houses. In 1940s style was anΒ experimentΒ in sartorial renunciation - an "expression of circumstances" as opposed to frivolity. In 1947 Christian Dior introduced the New Look collection - a β€˜make do and mend’ approach to fashion that didn't comprise "ideals of beauty, femininity and luxury." Ingrid Bergman was a life long fan of Dior - her fitted suits, Β pencil skirts, subtle accessories, and a slightly androgynous charm helped define the era.

A new book, Forties Fashion:From Siren Suits to the New Look, Jonathan Walford, founder of the Fashion History Museum of Canada,Β "is an essential sourcebook" of 1940s fashion; "a glorious celebration of everything from practical attire for air raids to street and anti-fashion." Β AroundΒ 250 illustrations reveal the wide range of fashions and styles that emerged throughout the Second World War, in Europe, North America, Australasia and Japan. Including period advertisements, images of real clothes, and first-hand accounts from contemporary publications.

www.thamesandhudson.com

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty

This May 6 the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York will present Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty - aΒ posthumousΒ retrospective of the late designer's brilliant career.Β The exhibition, organized by The Costume Institute, will celebrate Alexander McQueen's extraordinary contributions to fashion. From his postgraduate collection of 1992 to his final runway presentation which took place after his death in February 2010, Mr. McQueen challenged and expanded "the understanding of fashion beyond utility to a conceptual expression of culture, politics, and identity."

His iconic designs constitute the work of an artist whose medium of expression was fashion. Approximately one hundred examples will be on view, including signature designs such as the bumster trouser, the kimono jacket, and the Origami frock coat, as well as pieces reflecting the exaggerated silhouettes of the 1860s, 1880s, 1890s, and 1950s that he crafted into contemporary silhouettes transmitting romantic narratives. Technical ingenuity imbued his designs with an innovative sensibility that kept him at fashion's vanguard.

Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty:Β May 4, 2011–July 31, 2011 - www.metmuseum.org