SS10 Round-Up: Fendi and Lingerie

Fendi SS10 RTW
All photos thanks to Style.com

Throughout the 20th Century trends in underwear seem to have reflected the social climate and the role of women in that social climate. Whether the 1920s, where a post-First World War generation threw aside corsetry and foxtrots in favour of cropped hair and the Charleston, and squeezed into a ‘flattener brassiere’ or ‘bandeau’ to fit the androgynous straight lines and unfitted dresses of the period. Or the ‘New Look’ of the post-Second World War generation, where society embraced the corset as a historic form of luxury following years of rations and deprivation, and with this a celebration of the most womanly of shapes, the hourglass. Or during the rebellious years of the 1970s, a time rife with political demonstration and a new rejectionist counter culture, where the mass abandonment of traditional “undies”, namely the corset, suspender belt and stockings, signified a rejection of ‘ritualistic seduction’ as women declared ‘our bodies belong to us’ and women in the US famously burnt their bras.

For SS10 underwear has similarly been used by designers as a way to express their differing opinions on the women they dress in this current social climate. Jean Paul Gaultier liberated and empowered women, Dior celebrated sexuality as an object of admiration, and Dolce and Gabbana embraced the discourse between femininity and masculinity. Karl Largerfeld’s SS10 collection for Fendi displayed yet another aesthetic, where again underwear as outwear took centre stage.

Largerfelds’s romantic collection, all delicacy and fragility, showed Parisian lingerie along with the seasonal whimsical and wispy fabrics and colours. ‘Hyper-sexy’ was certainly not the attitude, even with the most revealing of underwear. Open jackets, sheer chiffon blouses and full length dresses revealed delicately feminine bras and little pantaloons. Shawl collars, ruffles on shoulders, scalloped edges, floral appliqué, vintage lace-edged bras, frill-edged bras, fringed trims and feathery collages of leather were Largerfeld’s details of choice. These details, and the use of sheer and roughed up fabrics and frayed edges, created a softness that felt very much more elegant than any other interpretation of the trend. The pale, almost washed out colours and the rough-hewn elements combined with the incredibly luxurious Fendi craftsmanship and attention to detail was the perfect balance of characters to keep the underwear perfectly ladylike.

SS 10 Round-Up: Dolce and Gabbana Looking Back

Dolce and Gabbana SS10 RTW

Dolce and Gabbana SS10 RTW

All photos with thanks to Style.com

Dolce and Gabbana produced their first full collection in March 1986 with the presentation of their "Real Women" show. From here on the Dolce and Gabbana look, inspired by their Sicilian roots, became synonymous with overt lingerie ('the Latin temptress'), pinstripe suits ('the Sicilian gangster') and extravagant prints. It is the friction between these opposites - masculine/feminine, soft/hard and innocence/corruption -that has made Dolce and Gabbana so exciting for the past three decades. With the propensity for corsetry and sheer fabrics appearing on catwalks everywhere, underwear as outerwear has been the main trend to emerge for next summer. So it was no surprise that Dolce and Gabbana, for whom this style has always been embedded in their aesthetic, reclaimed the look, and, as Dior and Jean Paul Gaultier did, stamped their vision onto the world of lingerie.

The Dolce and Gabbana show, a 'tribute to the Sicilian way of life', saw the designers playing up their strong points featuring underwear and their signature corset, tailoring, print and elaborate lace. Sexy Sicilian women with tumbling bed hair pinned up with crystal barrettes squeezed into black lace corsets and bras. The camisoles, dresses, silk slips, skirts and shoes were all transparent, and crochet designs exposed traditional bodices and corsets beneath. Either body-con tops and waistcoats were cutaway at the front to reveal bras or bra straps peeked out from the top of dresses. Knee length and long sleeved lace dresses were worn sheer over black body stockings as though the model was caught halfway through getting dressed, or lace peeped from the hem-lines. Vintage style solid panelled corsets and big pants in black, white and nude, silk fringing and romper suits with pantaloon short shorts took you back to early Dolce and Gabbana. Their trademark red leopard print reappeared on a frilled flamenco dress which was slashed to the thigh, or mixed with clashing satin floral prints. So called ‘modern matadors’ walked the catwalk complete with shoelace ties, short hair, black jodhpurs, white shirts, cropped jackets and loafers, and of course the pinstripe masculine suits made an appearance.

In a final tribute to underwear, they replaced their traditional finale of ball gowns with a runway thronged with models in corsets as their dresses were whipped away to reveal 1950s style shape wear underneath. These were clothes that celebrated the hourglass figure, even if none of the models had them, and the eroticism of curvaceous women like Sophia Loren for whom the pair originally designed for. Their tried and tested mix of masculine tailoring with feminine corsetry ensured that the show achieved a modern reinterpretation of the Dolce & Gabbana woman and aesthetic.

SS 10 Round-Up: Jean Paul Gaultier's and SS10 collection 'The G-Spot'

Jean Paul Gaultier SS10 RTW

Jean Paul Gaultier is a designer who knows no boundaries, and who has, according to Charlotte Selling (The Century of the Designer 1900-1999), ‘done more to extend the concept of beauty than many an artist, and has been a better spokesman for tolerance than most politicians’. It was to him Madonna turned for her 1990s Blonde Ambition Tour stage costume, for which he produced the iconic exaggerated conical breast bodice. In this move, he liberated the corset from the myth of its being a tool for the subjugation of women, and instead delivered a provocative display of Madonna’s free spirit, dominance and desire to be different. So, considering he practically invented the concept of underwear as outwear back in the 1990s, you couldn't’t expect this man, named by Dazed and Confused ‘the master of lingerie exploitation’, to ignore this season’s lingerie theme. “I wanted to get away from the increasing bourgeois understanding of fashion,” Gaultier told reporters after the show. “When I started there was a real desire to be individualistic and to mark our difference from one another."

This ethos can be seen in the collection. Where in comparison to Dior’s interpretation of underwear rich with femininity and romanticism, which bound and constrained the model both literally and figuratively with an image of sexuality for the man’s pleasure, Gaultier freed the woman to be wild and independent. His models had attitude and a rough and tough edge, with tribal and military and workman themes, often sending models down the catwalk in flat utility boots and workman caps. The conical breast bodice returned in a number of guises throughout the show: as the bodice of satin overalls; under green military skirt-suits and black trouser suits; as the bodice of a long peach dress and of a striped flowing maxi; paired with suspender belts and stockings and striped tights mimicking stockings; and in it’s most creative guise, as a tribal stomach piece.

Jean Paul Gaultier’s interpretation, as always, was entirely unique. Vogue.com comment that ‘to the initiated who've been following Gaultier since his Madonna days in the late eighties, it felt like territory he's explored many times before, and with a heck of a lot more subtly’. And to an extent this is true, the shape hasn’t changed, and neither has the ethos behind his work. But where I see the excitement of this collection is in how he dared to be different, and put his individual stamp back on underwear.

What Katie Did, who I posted on earlier this year in Vintage Undies, have been creating underwear inspired by these classic 1950s shapes for many years. I would highly recommend a trip to their Portabello Green shop, or Liberty where they are also stocked, if you want a more affordable route into this trend for SS10. Prices start at around £27 for the Harlow pointed bra. Whether you want to wear underwear as outwear as showcased by Dior and Gaultier, or just want something beautiful hidden underneath What Katie Did really gets the old-school vibe.

Madonna Blonde Ambition Tour 1990sMadonna Blonde Ambition Tour 1990s

Thanks to Style.com for all the catwalk pics

New Work: Run for a Million Music Video

Noush Skaugen hit a million twitter followers today and to commemorate the moment we made a celebration renegade music video. The track, 'Run Baby Run' is the lead song on her forthcoming album Dr System, which we're hard at work on right now, but hope this bit of comedy wets your appetite!

'Run for a Million'

SS10 Round-Up: Christian Dior and Vintage Lingerie

Dior SS10 RTW

Respect is owed to John Galliano this season, as it was he who entered the subject of lingerie at the top of the fashion agenda. Thanks to him, what was supposed to be one single article has rapidly expanded into a mini-series, examining the use of underwear in fashion.

Back in July, Galliano’s Dior AW09 Couture collection saw a full-circle back to Christian Dior’s first collection of 1947. Shown in a setting inspired by the original Dior salon on Avenue Montaigue, AW09 saw half-dressed models with one half of their body revealing stockings, suspenders, pointed bras, Basques, girdles, lace-trimmed slips and petticoats in pretty 1950s flesh tones, and their other half encased in waisted jackets, bubble skirts, padded-hip coats and full skirted evening gowns in an array of fantastical colour and print.

Christian Dior, whose first collection in 1947 emerged out of the rubble of the Second World War, and who remained the ‘dictator’ of fashion for the next decade, revived Haute Couture with his, as it was coined at the time, ‘New Look’. This oddly named ‘New Look’, which was more of a counter-revolution as women found themselves once again (as during the belle époque) dressed as sex symbols for men’s pleasure, demanded extraordinary foundations to reach this desired silhouette. The wasp-waisted silhouette was created by a construction of tulle and bone bustiers, cupped bras, shoulder pads, bust pads, hip pads, and taffeta slips with rosettes and rouches, all to enhance the curves. Dior became famous for this construction of heavy and constricting undergarments. Therefore, it only seems fitting that underwear should become as key to Galliano as it did to Christian Dior.

Where Dior AW09 Couture was strong, sharp and bright with a 50s movie starlet glamour, SS10 was 40s film-noire, probably finally capturing the real romantic essence of historical Dior. Where Galliano’s earlier collection was all tiny waists, structure, strength and vivid colour, SS10 focused on a more vulnerable femininity. The French lace trimmed petticoats and shorts, cami-knickers and satin teddies, baby doll dresses, fragile flowered chiffon dresses, vintage-esq full-length cascading satin, pleated silk cocktail dresses and transparent delicate fabrics with romantic adornments all brought this new aesthetic to the collection. Galliano’s dramatic edge is undoubtedly still on show, and his distinct creative aesthetic is conveyed through his use of contrasts (of texture, colour, fabric). For example, a structured corset is attached to a chiffon blouse and paired with delicate lace trimmed shorts, or dresses with lace uppers fall into lamé trains, or corseted uppers descend into waterfalls of chiffon ruffles or a lamé wrap dress is finished with lace trim. Galliano said he found the film-noire inspiration for the collection while thinking about Lauren Bacall, American actress and model, “[who] was a great Dior client; there are amazing photos of her in the salon with Bogart”. With this historical impetus he designed the wardrobe for his 40s femme fatale, complete with her side parting and red lips. Thus underwear arrived on the fashion platform.

Revisiting the original aesthetic of Dior’s ‘New Look’ Galliano has found the true Dior essence, fitting for the modern woman. Sometimes only by looking back can you move forward with a fresh outlook, and rediscover what your purpose is. Despite how it is commonly treated and understood, fashion is certainly not an a-historical phenomenon.

Dior AW09 Couture

All pictures with thanks to Style.com

SS10 Round-Up: Viktor and Rolf, Credit Crunch Couture

A show is going to particularly grab my attention if a flamboyant, showstopping design duo claim to be making a commentary on society and its economic concerns. Viktor and Rolf say of their Spring/Summer '10 collection “it's all about cut-backs... Everyone has a response to the belt-tightening and recession. This is our version...We took out a chain saw and hacked away at excess, starting with the tulle." This ethos created a remarkable show of contrasts; we see beneath a frothy and whimsical exterior to a sombre wearability.

Finely gathered chiffon panels hold vertical shelves of tulle bursting out in bright purple or green. Gravity defying cut-out horizontal and diagonal slices reveal black and muted body skimming simplicity. Circular bites removed almost carelessly reveal rough layers beneath. A sombre tuxedo jacket or dress and city shorts appear behind girly and flamboyant tulle shapes shining over the top. Sharp V shaped black tux lapels, ever pervasive throughout, cut through softly flowing silk, chiffon and tulle in an array of pastel colours. Every piece represents a dialogue between extrovert joy and pared back sophistication, and so the show holds a dramatic conversation, where ultimately, for me, neither could exist without the other.

The mix of hard and soft, flirty and strong, light and dark, muted and bright, structure and free flowing, grown-up and childlike, and sharp and soft is utterly alluring. It takes some time to understand what you're really seeing, and even then you feel you don't quite know what this duo is saying. Is fashion imitating life in a vibrant discourse, or are they just having some fun?

I can, however, safely say SS10 is the season of some rather attention seeking celebrity endorsement. Emma Watson for Burberry, Lily Allen for Chanel, Madonna for Louis Vuitton, Pamela Anderson for Vivienne Westwood, Lindsay Lohan for Emanuel Ungaro and now Roisin Murphy for Viktor and Rolf. Always one to grab fashion headlines, she appeared wearing a pink tutu falling from her shoulders to her hips, (maybe to hide that she is heavily pregnant) and provided the live soundtrack with the debut of two new songs 'Royalty' and 'Demon Lover'.

Roisin Murphy for Viktor and Rolf SS10, Paris

The final most dramatic dresses showed great skill in construction, a mastery of creation, but I rather imagine, in the credit crunch collection, little expense was spared.