January 19, 2012

N O V E L T Y / LaLa Berlin

Photobucket

Photobucket

Light blue boxy leather motorcycle jackets just arrived in Acne stores, similar monochromatic light pink ensembles have been in American Apparel window displays for years, the flowy long skirts with a dove print are a downright Ann Demeulemeester rip off and the metal cuffs have already been exploited by H&M and ASOS ever since they appeared on a Damir Doma runway a year ago. Lala Berlin isn't really what you would call a pioneer in fashion.

The collection was very aimed at the now, it was a cohesive mixture of today's trends. Trends that will get bigger and will be fully accepted by the mainstream by the time that these pieces hit stores. Not trying anything new and sticking with what's already popular is a safe and smart thing to do in this economy if you want to make money. But is it necessary and relevant to build a fashion show around these already available styles?

My first answer to that question was NO. But after giving it a second thought I realized that this style of dressing has been around
for a few seasons. Perhaps this age will be remembered for it like the 80's were remembered for their shoulder pads. Perhaps fashion is finally slowing down a bit.

Vanessa Friedman from the Financial Times came with some facts in a recent column that support these thoughts: "Indeed, the last major aesthetic change I can think of was more than a year ago, when Phoebe Philo’s rigorous minimalism at Céline sent her audience gasping and running to fill their wardrobes with men’s trousers and tailored cloth coats. As a colleague said the other day, “Indeed, the last major aesthetic change I can think of was more than a year ago, when Phoebe Philo’s rigorous minimalism at Céline sent her audience gasping and running to fill their wardrobes with men’s trousers and tailored cloth coats. As a colleague said the other day, “There’s nothing I feel like I need to buy in order to feel current, no ankle boot will fix all my problems.” Put another way: Polyvore, the do-it-yourself “fashion inspiration” website wherein members create and widely share their own collages built around specific items, just released its Year in Review report, which analyses user behaviour over the past 12 months, and the top five trends were: “prints, minimalism, monochrome, florals, men’s wear-inspired.” The sixth was ... trousers."

Conclusion: A collection that I would be happy to wear today, but which didn't contain much originality. It gave some food for thought and discussion about more long term trends. It was beautiful, styled impeccably, nonetheless for an independent designer to present Ann Demeulemeester skirts with another name on it is just not done.(sorry had to be said)

26 comments:

Benjamin said...

oh my god. you're at the berlin fw?
i would give everything to meet you. but i'm not there anyways. still in the southern of germany :(
in sommer maybe?.. you're my blogger-idol ivania

Mary said...

WOOOW...YOU'RE AT BERLINFASHION WEEK? ....OHH... :)



MUCH LOVE FROM ITALY
Maria Onorio
www.thelastillusion.blogspot.com

hannahalehandra said...

Good evening, Ivania. An interesting opinion that you got there, and after studying your photographs I must say that I agree with you wholeheartedly. The styles have clearly been done and seen many times over before, havn't they? So glad that you are always proud to say what you think. Inspiring. Much love, from England.

http://hannahalehandra.blogspot.com/

Unknown said...

this is so very true when you think about it. i never thought about it that way but maybe your right, who knows?

simone

http://jippedbyss.blogspot.com/

x

Fashion is for idiots [like us] said...

Wow. you're at Fashion Week? Haven't spotted you yet! I am a huge fan so I'd be happy to see you :)
x

fashion is for idiots [like us]
fashion is for idiots [like us]

Ruby And Siel said...

Interessant punt :)
And man, you should need a column!

Anonymous said...

Very well written, I want to read more. I appreciate your honesty and opinion. To say it was a refreshing read would be cliche, but in the fashion 'blog-o-sphere' an opinion that is not blind or continuously praising of every designer is... truely awesome.

Gabby said...

As the number of brands is increasing rapidly, along with the positive response for the emerging designers--the one you can see immensely growing, not limited only in London and Berlin, but also in many emerging countries (like here in Indonesia), the concept of originality is the one that is less and less implemented. It is then up to the designers, whether to create something that will surely be sold out or take risk by presenting something rather outrageous, a breakthrough. However, as the fashion world is something that keeps on revolving, the term "inspired by" is pretty much inevitable, especially when designers are required to create pieces that sell. I am on the same page with you on this :)

Cheers,
curled

Unknown said...

Love the soft structured sweater in the first photo.

http://www.designers-artists.com

Unknown said...

This Fashion week is so not the same around Paris something definitely changed -
I like your say about this collection and I could not agree more ...
Nice post !
http://www.desperatelyseekingpegase.com

Jasmin said...

Goed punt! Ik ben het er helemaal mee eens. Echt zonde als ontwerpers denken dat ze 'in' zijn als ze de trends volgen, maar als ontwerper ben je degene die de trends hoort te 'maken' door origineel te zijn. Het doet me erg denken aan Acne van deze winter vooral het jasje in de eerste foto heeft zelfs ook die leren veters aan de rits zoals de jas van Acne. Ik vind de kleren wel mooi maar niet echt een fashion week show waardig als ik eerlijk ben.

Domonique Wilson said...

Into the first image with the beanie hat's I like the boxy styling!

http://lilylovelock.blogspot.com/

x

Six Feet From The Edge - Debbie said...

Mooie post! Ik ben het grotendeels met je eens, maar vind het ergens ook altijd wel weer irritant dat mode altijd maar zo 'forward' moet zijn. Heb ook wel shows gezien waarbij ik het gevoel kreeg dat er maar apart gedaan werd om in ieder geval maar niet het stempel 'geweest' te krijgen.. en dat vind ik dan weer zonde.

Aan de andere kant; de foto's die je hier showt: deze stukken lijken wel keihard gejat van de designers die je al noemt, dat juich ik dan ook weer niet toe.

Goed, mooi onsamenhangend antwoord van me.

Fijn weekend! ;)

x

Chuck said...

This is really interesting to read, thank you. Am definitely going to check out Vanessa Friedman's column now!

fashionisaparty.com said...

heel erg mooi om je (genuanceerde) gedachtegang erbij te lezen!

Andrea Antoniou said...

love the colours :) xxxx

Maria said...

The fastening fashion has its ups and downs. You rarely see originality anymore, a cliche that is sadly true :)

Anonymous said...

I think that this year's trend doesn't aim necessary to be original, it looks like people want to find a "new" classic through long lasting products that they can wear for several seasons.

Anyway, hope you're enjoying Berlin!

Virginie/
http://www.virginiepeny.com

laura said...

second you on that, it's great you didn't write a sell-out praise just because you get to access the shows. its sad that most the high streets and even higher stages of design go for that one and only style especially now.

Rhino said...

I share virginies opinion. Most of the collections have a really similar shape and color range this year. Its all about minimalisam. People do think about cost per wear and spend more money on classic garments. So its logical that if u wanna sell your clothes to a biger audience, u have to go with the mainstream. And besides, lala berlin was never that inovative label anyway. They had always a "solid" modern collections with nice details.

Still I hope u had nice time here in Germany :-)

LOVE AESTHETICS said...

The point of my blogpost is exactly that of Virginie too... it´s nice that fashion is slowig down and that collections from differens seasons can be combined. You can keep it all in the same color skemes, the same silhouettes, same minimalist aesthetic...

bút there were a few rip offs in this collection, exact copies, plain plagiarism. And thát should also be mentioned. There´s a difference between making a long termed collection and just copying other designers.

Anonymous said...

plain plagiarism?

LAZY BEE said...

Deeply insulted by your ''a dove print are a downright Ann Demeulemeester''.
As long as I did the prints.
Never saw the ones from Ann. Though when i am now, i agree its similar (and it flatters).
But in this case you should not acuse so easily,and rush into conclusions.
I am also having certain knowledge of the prints retrospective. and i see so many exact copies done by very beloved and ''innovative'' companies as Celine, and no one ever mentioned a thing!
Sometimes it happens by mistake, sometimes not exactly.
This particular time its a bit of an awkward co accident.
If it makes any difference i used falcon photos ,and can send you the whole bunch of the development folder with different sizings and colors.


P.S. My comment relates to the Print only.

Ksenia.

LOVE AESTHETICS said...

Thank you for commenting Ksenia. I'm sorry if you were offended by my blogpost. I just meant to publish an honest review about what I saw.

Yes, sometimes people come up with similar ideas without having copied it from eachother. But in the case of these skirts it wasn't just the print ("the flowy long skirts with a dove print") it were also the colors, the fabric and the shape. (also, Ann Demeulemeester did similar cut tunics in that dove print which were also on the Lala Berlin runway) The fact that all these elements were combined just makes it very hard to believe that it was a coincidence. Shouldn't this be mentioned?

Laura said...

Thank you for this post. In the german media, this label is always used as an example for extraordinary creativity and uniqueness - it is really overrated. And I don`t know why, maybe there is a lack of innovation (in the german design scene), maybe the designer has or is just a very good PR-person (she did work in media before) or the label attracts the "right" persons?

Charlotte said...

Amazing pictures! It must be great to be at the Berlin fashion week :)

www.birkinsandbargains.blogspot.com