Luella Goes Under
Comments (0) 
Not quite, but the English-eccentric label has ceased trading with long-term financial backer Club 21, which pulled its support for Luella. VSQ, a Club 21 subsidiary, decided “not to invest further in its relationship with Luella Bartley Limited” after Luella’s ready-to-wear manufacturer, Carla Carini, closed unexpectedly last month, leaving Spring/Sumer 2010 orders unable to be fulfilled.
“This is a very disappointing situation for everyone involved with the brand,” designer Luella Bartley said in a statement. “I very much appreciate the support that VSQ has given me, but it is upsetting not to be able to protect jobs in this difficult economic climate. I love the Luella character and hope that after we have survived this challenging time the Luella girl can have an exciting future ahead of her, whichever incarnation she takes on next. We have a number of options open to us, and are considering these over the coming months.”
With an estimated $16 million turnover and glowing reviews for its last collection, not to mention legions of celebrity fans including Alexa Chung, Zooey Deschanel and Lily Allen, we’re sure Luella is down but definitely not out.
This attentive, affectionate portrait, by Matt Tyrnauer which traces the final year of the designer’s career, shows that it’s good to be the king. Valentino is the creative wellspring, the man whose intricate demands have to be satisfied. And he is not easily satisfied. One of the last designers whose couture was handmade — his assistants, one of his backers noted, never touched a sewing machine — he relies on his invisible artists, the seamstresses of northern Italy, for the anachronistic grace of his frocks. He designs the dresses; they make them. Antonietta de Angelis, the head seamstress of the house, has some of her boss’s imperious temperament. She knows that anything less than perfection is unacceptable, for a master who keeps wanting to improve on it. After designing a perfect white dress, a symphony of subtle movement, he ponders his creation and announces, “But some sequins can’t hurt.” Says Valentino Garavani “I know what women want,” “They want to be beautiful.” But the question any couturier must answer is, What kind of beautiful do they want to be?
Nicolas Ghesquière has decided send out an urban collection that proclaims the beat of street athleticism: the hoodie (done here as a highly structured paneled leather vest); skinny, vertically patchworked jeans; complex tanks; and sporty kilts. Take it as read that we’re not looking at generics. Every silhouette, each garment, every extraordinary tubular-ankled, open-toed boot is an uncopyable meld of futuristic technique and art craftsmanship. The quality defines Ghesquière’s Balenciaga as unique.Take the “jeans.” What looks, at a distance, as if it might be gray-blue denim is actually vegetable-dyed leather. The “hoodie” is engineered from molded leather, woven jersey, and nylon foam. The ankle sections of the boots are either hand-loomed fabric or a meltdown of blue, white, and green strips of leather, laser-compressed into a striated amalgam that looks, as Ghesquière joked, “like Play-Doh.” (
He likes a toy reference in a shoe.)In the collage of elements, there were recycled fabrics and natural-looking hemp weaves, and a sidelong tribalism in the urban-warrior eye makeup and footwear. The street element had some of the flavor of the hit “student” collection of Fall 2007, and it will certainly give license to young women—and the vendors of fast fashion—to look at sweats and gym skirts in a whole new, highly commercial light. It’s a sign of a designer’s influence when his work is knocked off as fast as the mass market can run. But Ghesquière’s métier is one that can’t be simplistically rendered down. His collection also involves infinite subtlety. It segued into chic coat-dresses—patched with streaks of lemon and green—against textured beige spiraled leather togas contrasted with painted suede. The collection also has minute but mind-bending latticework skirts that shivered like porcupine quills, flashing shots of green and maroon in movement. That kind of work can’t be replicated anywhere else but in this house, and if there’s still an argument for high fashion versus low, this is one of the strongest defenses that exists.
Paul Smith is a busy man he has an outstanding 12 different collections; Paul Smith, Paul Smith Women, PS by Paul Smith, Paul Smith Jeans, Paul Smith London, R.Newbold (Japan only), Paul Smith Accessories, Paul Smith Shoes, Paul Smith Fragrance, Paul Smith Watches, Paul Smith Pens and Paul Smith furniture and ‘things’. Paul Smith rugs, china, spectacles and fragrance are made under license. Designed in Nottingham and London, the Paul Smith collections are primarily produced in England and Italy while the fabrics used are mainly of Italian, French and British origin. Paul Smith managed his first boutique in Nottingham and with the encouragement of his girlfriend Pauline Denyer (now wife) and a small amount of savings, opened a tiny shop in 1970. Paul started to take evening classes for tailoring and with the help of Pauline (an RCA fashion graduate), Paul was able to create what he wanted. By 1976 Paul showed his first menswear collection in Paris under the Paul Smith label. Within 20 years of his introduction to fashion Paul Smith had established himself as the pre-eminent British designer. It is often said that Paul Smith has the ability to anticipate, and even spark off trends not only fashion but in the wider context of popular culture. He manages to transmit a genuine sense of humour and mischief mixed with his love of tradition and the classics. Paul Smith is global – the collection is wholesaled to thirty five countries and has fourteen shops in England. Paul Smith shops are found in London, Nottingham, Paris, Milan, New York, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, the Philippines, Korea, Kuwait, U.A.E. – and over two hundred throughout Japan. Paul remains fully involved in the Japanese business; designing the clothes, choosing the fabrics, approving the shop locations and overseeing every development within the company. Paul Smith also has impressive and diverse showrooms in London, Paris, Milan, New York and Tokyo. Paul Smith continues to be an integral part of the company; he is both designer and chairman. Paul Smith is continually involved in every aspect of the business and as a result, Paul Smith Limited retains a personal touch often lost in companies of a similar size. Not bad for a boy who at the age of 16, had no career plans or qualifications, and who started his working life in a menial job at the local clothing warehouse in his native Nottingham.
Its a known fact that fashion is transient and in my opinion, its influence is cyclical, what do I mean by this. Well one scene in one part of the world can totally influence another and vice-versa. I saw the Paul Smith 2010 ready to wear Summer/Spring collection and what struck me was a particular piece, the pink suit there was a collection of photographs done about Les Sapeurs, a group of ostentatiously dressed guys from Congo, so outlandish where their outfits, that they represent a form of street haute couture and will serve as an influence on many creative endeavours, this can be seen most vividly in the pink suit on the left by paul smith, the image on the right was taken a while back and is one of the pictures from a book entitled the Gentlemen of Bacongo by 
Basso & Brooke, with thier Ready To Wear collection seem to be behaving like artists with a palette filled with the colours of the rainbow and all the different combinations they can conjure, wow, what a splash of colour they can single handedly bring on summer early with this mix of colours, but we love them for this, this a seductive collection but with a playful edge executed with a precision that does not show how difficult it truly is to combine these colours in an outfit that looks so simple, its not everybody’s cup of tea but its love them or hate them you will have to notice them. This was one of the most interesting shows of the London Fashion Week 2009.
Vlisco the Hollandais brand has many admirers one of the more creative ones is Lisa Folawiyo a Nigerian fashion designer. In less than four years Lisa has perfected the art of wearing Ankara, being the first to embellish the fabric with sequins, swarovski crystals, beads and the like, she turned Jewel by Lisa into a coveted luxury label. She is also not afraid to mix ankara with a wide range of fabrics such as taffeta, linen, cotton, chiffon, chantilly lace, and silk. In 2008, Jewel by Lisa featured in the This Day Africa Rising Festival in London, and was one of only 3 designers chosen for the catwalk show at the M-net Face of Africa modelling competition. Most recently, the label showcased a highly raved 40-piece collection at the Arise Africa Fashion Week in Johannesburg, South Africa. Subsequently, another equally successful collection was revealed at the Mercedez-Benz New York Fashion Week Spring Summer 2010 collections. Jewel by Lisa has been featured in several publications such as Arise Magazine, The The New York Post, Style.com, Wom
en
’s Wear Daily (WWD), Glamour (South Africa) True Love and Genevieve magazine
offering called frozen dreams, some of the prints are in keeping with what was shown on the catwalk this year in the summer, alexander mcqueens kaleidoscopic patterns (right), only with vlisco they are more colourful in keeping with the style that predominbates on the continent. But nonetheless there is an assortment of prints that will be the delight of many a designer and tailor. the beauty of these fabriques is that with the richness of the colours and the complexity of the patterns there is a limitless 
array of styles that can be conjured, from frills to oregami folds. 