Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2012

 

When I was poking around for this week’s inspiration post I saw someone had just gotten around to blogging the Dolce & Gabbana Fall 2012 collection from Milan Fashion Week and I suddenly realized that I hadn’t posted it yet. I actually went into my image folders because I could have sworn I had already downloaded the pieces I wanted to post, but nothing was there. This collection is absolutely amazing, their jeweled bathing suits from Spring 2012 have been popping up everywhere so I’m hoping this collection will have the same level of popularity because I’m dying to make some collages with them. This collection is inspired by Italian baroque and you can definitely see the influence. You know how I love embellished pieces so this was an easy runway for me to fall for.

You can click any of the images in the gallery above to view them larger and click “permalink” to see them full size. This is just a tiny sampling of a huge collection, you can view the whole thing on Fashion Gone Rogue and the detail image was found via Nuvonova.

~ Brigitte

Armani Prive Spring 2012

 

When I was working on the Nippon Prive ATC series I was a bit torn, because as fun as it was to make the collages, I felt like the Japanese “inspiration” for the line was so … well lazy, honestly, that it could easily be interpreted as racist. Cultural tourism I have no issue with when it comes to Japan since they’ve appropriated so many things from the US – I still consider Japanese t-shirts with random American words the equivalent of kanji tattoos where the person probably doesn’t really know what it means. However the Armani Prive line is just extremely literal, and nothing reinforces that more than their Spring 2012 collection.

If you had guessed it was inspired by reptiles you’d be right. With every piece in shades of (primarily) green and blue with a dark gray neutral, the line is as literal is as gets. Snake skin prints, sequins that mimic scales, coiled headpieces on every model, and gowns that look like shedding skin would probably get the message across clearly enough, but then you have jewelry pieces and accents that are snakes. There’s even one where the model’s head looks like it’s popping though some foliage (it’s up top as well as in the gallery below). On the whole I like it, despite the silliness of it (or maybe because of the silliness), though I do hate that the models have such unkempt hair styles, I don’t know about you, but when I think about snakes the would “tousled” does not come to mind.

Click on the thumbnail images above to view them larger, and “permalink” to view them even larger. The runway images are via Fashion Gone Rogue, where you can view the full collection, with the detail shots culled from the always credit-devoid Tumblr.

~ Brigitte

Balmain Fall 2012

 

I adore Balmain, which you probably remember from “The King;” they hadn’t been on my radar before Olivier Rousteing took over as creative director, but now that he has they are quickly becoming a favorite of mine. The Fall 2012 collection, shown at Paris Fashion Week, was an easy pick for my inspiration post this weekend. It’s apparently inspired by Fabergé eggs and Elizabeth Taylor, which … I mean, obviously I’m going to love that. First Elvis and now this? Olivier Rousteing has got my number. My two favorite looks are above with a gallery of my top ten (of thirty-four looks) below. You can click on the thumbnails to view them larger and then “permalink” to view them much larger.

I’m giddy to see these showing up in fashion magazines, the last collection seems to have landed well in the glossies, so here’s hoping this one will too because I’m dying to snip it up. All images via my favorite fashion blog, Fashion Gone Rogue. Viva.

~ Brigitte

Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism Collection

 

For this week’s inspiration post I thought I would feature a few of the recently released photos from Illamasqua Human Fundamentalism Collection for Spring 2012. What I love about Illamasqua, aside from the fact that they make stunning nail polish of course, is their campaigns. They take makeup, something that can be critiqued as a way blend in, not offend, stay young, and tow the party line of how women are supposed to look – a real vehicle for conformity – and completely explode it. Not only do they make shocking and bizarre makeup colors (and I do want the metallic eyeshadow in the collection), but their ad campaigns are so overloaded on the products as to make it almost assaultive; even bordering on grotesque.

 

The whole campaign (of which these are just a few photos, there is also a video worth viewing) takes the dominant paradigm of femininity and beauty as perpetuated by the makeup industry and flips it violently on its head. The techno Burning Man cyber tribal aesthetic isn’t one that appeals to me personally, but I still find this campaign inspiring for how boundary pushing it is. Illamasqua generally releases beauty campaigns that come close to making me uncomfortable, they’re so challenging aesthetically, but they do it in a way that is so smart that I have nothing but complete respect for them. Not to mention that they manage to keep it fun, but never cross the line into mockery (I’m looking at you Italian Vogue).

All of these photos can be viewed larger by clicking on them, many more are on their Facebook including ones featuring men and an older woman, I chose these four photos because they were 1) my favorites and 2) the most overwhelming.

~ Brigitte