PARIS S/S 2010: TIM HAMILTON, WUNDERKIND,  SHIATZY CHEN, INGRID VLASOV, PAUL AND JOE

TIM HAMILTON

Drawing his inspiration from the Catherine Deneuve movie “The Hunger”, Tim Hamilton’s SS 2010 women’s collection featured draped tailoring and body-conscious dresses that were themed after elements from early eighties menswear. The all white three piece suit was a perfect example of a well executed masculine outfit slightly modified to give a light feminine look. Hamilton is already well established as a menswear designer and we won’t be suprised to find him making a name for himself in womenswear.

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WUNDERKIND

Designer Wolfgang Joop presented his Spring Summer 2010 Wunderkind show “Hurt and Heal” at Les Caroussels du Louvre.  Layered flowing blouses and futuristic knits over graphic patterned body stockings created a very modern aesthetic of hard and soft edges.  The color palette was hard neutral tones of red, white, black and blue, with large yellow arrows signaling the eye to various body parts. There was a rather medical approach to the unitards which streamlined the figure, combined with metal back braces over the clothing, creating a futuristic robotic effect that was equally  romantic.

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SHIATZY CHEN

Shiatzy Chen presented an abstract collection inspired by Chinese calligraphy. She combined fabric and sewing in a modern style to reinterpret ancient cultural treasures and present them to the world through her designs. Clean lines, well tailored pants and tops with bold black lines streaked throughout individual pieces; the show was a great take on ancient chinese culture and still offered functionable pieces that could be worn by women from ages 20 through 70.

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INGRID VLASOV

Overall one could say Ingrid Vlasov’s Spring Summer 2010 collection was feminine minimalism.  She presented a completely neutral palette of blacks and whites, aside from a dramatic yellow creating a shock of color in the collection. Mixing semi-transparent matte fabrics with embroidered details with shiny silks, her collection was elegant in it’s approach and feminine in it’s form. Her evening looks were loosely draped, yet body conscious.

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PAUL & JOE

As the movie screen opening started the Paul & Joe show, first thing we noticed were the supermodels not clothing or accessories. Unfortunately most of the cowgirl inspired collection was lack-lustre and after a while not even the biggest of supermodels could salvage this one. With supermodel after supermodel on an extra long catwalk dressed in the same cowboy hat, broderie anglais, tassled fringed bags, chambray and lace patterned boots we were starting to get de-sensitised to it all and everything became a boring blur. The only exciting pieces were the ones cut in perforated leather, we were left wondering why anything else was on a catwalk.

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Reporting by Indira Cesarine and Wil Ariyamethe ; photography by Earnest Aregail Salgot exclusively for XXXX MAGAZINE, 2009