Showing posts with label Sotheby’s. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sotheby’s. Show all posts

Sunday, 6 March 2011

LFW Diary AW11: Felicity Brown

A designer whom I’d heard great things about last season through Fashion East’s talent platform; Felicity Brown is certainly ‘one to watch’. Her inaugural collection for SS11 featured a plethora of hand-dyed silks and ruffled dresses, inspired by Japanese origami, Bedouin women, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec’s paintings of showy girls in disheveled, provoking dresses, as well as her own study of flowers – creating an overtly feminine collection with layering at its core.
Repeating her signature design aesthetic for AW11, the NEWGEN sponsored designer really caught my eye during LFW, incorporating what looked to be subtle tribal prints to great effect. First spotted during her Royal College of Art graduate show – from which the collection was selected to be exhibited at Sotheby’s of London - Brown went on to design for Alberta Ferretti, Loewe, Mulberry and Lanvin before setting up her own label based in Brick Lane. Highly influenced by tribal designs from around the world, Brown told Vogue.com: “I like looking at tribal costumes from all over the world and the way tribes mark themselves. I find that much more fascinating than minimal tailoring. I made each individual piece that forms each dress separately. At the last minute I smashed it all together and that was it.”

Friday, 21 January 2011

Garment of the Week: Partimi

As the old adage ‘third time lucky’ rings true, this week I’ve successfully narrowed down my selection to just one solitary garment, the mesmerising Dieu Bleu T-dress*. Created by Eleanor Dorrien-Smith in 2009, the Partimi label got me rather excited at LFW back in September, with its eye-catching prints, luxe fabrics and cold, sleek colour palette.
Image courtesy of Partimi shot by Nicole Maria Winkler
A woman after my own heart, Dorrien-Smith’s approach to fashion is one of sustainability. Having recently launched Partimi’s first full ready-to-wear collection (back in September), Dorrien-Smith is a fantastic advocate for ethical and responsible fashion, which saw her awarded runner-up in the ‘Design for a Thriving Fashion Industry Award’ category at the Fashioning the Future Awards back in 2009 – a ceremony I was privileged to attend and review.

Inspired by and designed in homage to costumes her grandmother collected from a sale of Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes costumes at Sotheby’s in the late 60s, the SS11 collection entitled Dieu Bleu utilises organic fabrics and yarns to great effect, creating a fresh and contemporary collection of elegant dresses and separates. With simple silhouettes and stunning digital prints at the fore, I’m tipping great success for both Dorrien-Smith and the Partimi label in 2011. *The Dieu Bleu T-dress is soon to be available at YBDfashion.