IRINA SCHROTTER SPRING/SUMMER 2017

This week I have stumbled upon an article announcing a very interesting exhibition which will be hosted by The Museum of Modern Art in New York, entitled Items: Is Fashion Modern? . In this article, its writers reference an older exhibition, bearing a similar name (Are Clothes Modern?) held in the same museum, curated by the architect and designer Bernard Rudofsky. In the exhibition’s press release, while trying to explain the importance of such an exhibition for the understanding of modernity, he states: “It is strange that dress has been generally denied the status of art, when it is actually a most happy summation of aesthetic, philosophic and psychological components. While painting, sculpture and dance have very definite limitations, dress at its best not only comprises notable elements of these arts, but its sovereign expressiveness through form, color, rhythm – it has to be worn to be alive – its intimate relation to the very source and standard of all esthetic evaluations, the human body, should make it the supreme achievement among the arts.”

The Romanian brand irina schrotter, since its rebranding, five years ago, when Lucian Broscățean became the designer of the brand, had as main focus the exploration of femininity through a constant questioning of what modern means for fashion. In the spring/summer 2017 collection, presented last week at MQ Vienna Fashion Week, the irina schrotter team, composed of Lucian Broscățean (who is now the Creative Director of the brand), Carmen Cherecheș and Diana Flore who are the designers, offered us a well-constructed exploration of femininity. The dress, which represented the central focus of this exploration, was deconstructed in such a subtle manner that it made me reevaluate its importance. Often times the dress is seen as a piece of clothing, embodying the fragility and the preciousness of a woman, but a dress can be much more than that. Its versatility and its aesthetical power were impeccably rendered in irina schrotter’s collection. Meticulously designed details were subtly placed on new types of silhouette, flattering volumes, and asymmetric shapes. The color pallet dominated by white, powder pink, ivory, and pearlescent shades was a very tricky choice made by the designers, because they tend to overwhelm the viewer, and can easily seem repetitive and flat. The fact that it did quite the opposite is an achievement in design and craftsmanship. I very much liked the laser-cut accessories made out of plexiglas, veneer and transparent foil, a very fresh attempt to introduce the logo of the brand in the styling of the collection.

The reason why I referenced Bernard Rudofsky’s quote at the beginning was not at all random. Although I don’t fully agree with his point of view on the matter, I find his approach interesting, and although his exhibition dates back to the 1940’s, his discourse is still very relevant today. His attempt to reexamine the importance of clothing in the artistic discourse seems to me similar to irina schrotter’s attempt to rethink the importance of the dress in the discourse about femininity/feminism in the 21st century. As clothing still struggles to obtain its autonomy in the art world, the dress still struggles to become more than an accessory of a romanticized view on femininity, when in fact it is much more than that.

Creative Director – Lucian Broscățean
Designers: Diana Flore & Carmen Cherecheș
Technical Department Coordinator – Aurora Gongescu
Fashion Show Stylist – Ovidiu Buta
Make-up Artist – Alexandru Abagiu
Accesories – Diana Flore în colaborare cu Woven Atelier
Shoes – Ego
Music – Blanilla
Photos – Raluca Ciornea

UAD GALA 2016: THE NIGHT WHEN CREATIVITY SAVED THE WORLD

Over the years The UAD Gala has established itself as a platform whose aim is to promote young graduates of the UAD Department of Fashion Design. Through the graduates’ fashion show, which involves very complex logistics, innovative collections are presented to specialists and representatives of the creative industries. The collections always try to be relevant for the 21st century fashion landscape, through themes that are focused on specific issues of contemporary lifestyle, a thorough study of volumetries and clothing morphologies generating novel interventions on textile surfaces, the relationship between body and garment, and an elaborate styling.

The implication of the Department of Fashion Design in the educational process of their students is rewarded by their professional achievements. Thanks to scholarship programs, the UAD students were able to apply and be accepted in internships at international brands such as: Ann Demeulemeester, Craig Green, Ann Sophie BACK, Nasir Mazhar, BLESS, Erdem, Marios Schwab, Meadham Kirchhoff, Barbara i Gongini, Ashish, Michael Sontag, HAAL, H&M. Two of last year’s Gala graduates have obtained important results: Andreea Castrase now works for the department of creation at H&M, and Ancuta Sarca was one of the finalists of the international competition, Designer for Tomorrow.

This year’s collections were living proof of the educational and professional development that takes place within the Department of Fashion Design. With the didactical support of Elena Basso Stanescu, Lucian Broscatean, and Anca Pia Rusan, the students designed versatile, functional, and modern collections. There were collections that stood out immediately, and collections that were more subtle in their artistic approach. But each and every one of the 27 collections had something particular, something creative, and personal. The 10 collections I chose to analyze represented, for me personally, aspects of the fashion universe that interest me. The way they were portrayed in these collections offered me the chance to explore those aspects from a different perspective.

RAMONA MANGHIUC

Ramona finds inspiration in Romania’s recent past, and delivers a collection that is nostalgic in a playful manner. During the communist years, the uniform played an important part in people’s lives. From kindergarten, until employment, the uniform gave its wearer a social identity. Ramona Manghiuc reinvents the notion of the uniform by playing with its characteristics. She uses simple shapes, primary colors (referencing the colors of the Romanian flag) in order to orchestrate contemporary ensembles that revolt against an oppressive system, whose days are over, but whose cultural repercussions are still present. The styling of the collection uses symbols of bravery, badges of honor which she transforms in simple embellishments, esthetical objects without any historical meaning for those that did not live during the communist years. Even the title of the collection speaks of a loss of meaning, a blissful historical amnesia: Ceau, an abbreviation of the fearful communist leader’s name, becomes a cordial form of greeting.

BOGDAN DRUTA

Bogdan Druta’s revolt is also connected to the idea of identity, but in his case it is a physical, not a social one. He seeks freedom in constraint, acceptance in discrimination, vulnerability in intolerance. The designer’s unisex rendering of shapes reveals his desire to blur the physical boundaries between sexes. The garment’s earthly tones represent his visual statement against contrasts. His protest is a subtle one, but his clothes are powerful enough the stand alone.

LILIANA TIMIS

The road to self-discovery is paved with ambiguity. Liliana Timis invites us on her personal journey of identitary exploration. Her monochromatic visual composition is an introspect reflection on the concepts of androgyny, identity, and the ambiguity of such concepts. The rigid surfaces of the black garments are invaded by unexpected transparences. The play on surfaces and textures is sometimes intriguing, and the consistent styling communicates harmoniously with the musical arrangement of the collection, Bernard Herrmann’s composition for Hitchcock’s Psycho.

ADRIANA TIMOFTI

One has to re-tie the knots with tradition from time to time, and Adriana Timofti felt this need, so she transformed it into a subtle reinterpretation of ethnicity through her collection. By using traditional symbols, she designed well-tailored minimal pieces that evoke an archaic world in such a way that it looks contemporary. Her combination of different textures, bound by zippers, and accessorized with geometric- shaped designer objects seemed to be a smart approach to the symbolic signification of the knot.

NICOLETA BOTNARU

The auditive enhancer that first caught my attention, a track from Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut soundtrack,  was part of Nicoleta’s device to lure us into a world of utopia, decadence, narcissism, and illusions, a world that might seem a little too similar to the world of fashion. Her well-tailored garments are not simple pieces of clothing, but personal statements of opulence and social status. They are revealing the body, but are protecting the wearer by communicating her belonging to a privileged group. Though the intangibility is only a mask, the frailty of what’s behind it is always intriguing.

ANA MARIA PUT

Anamaria Put delivered a clean and functional collection, composed of desirable modern pieces. The woman who would wear her designs, her future client, surely is someone who knows who she is, she wants her clothes to be versatile, and offer her freedom of movement. She likes her clothes to be subtle in order to enhance her personal aura of mystery. She is a traveler, collecting new meanings in each journey she takes, as her clothes do.

CARLA PUT

An “all black” collection is mistakenly considered by some as something easy and safe. A monochromatic collection can become repetitive, boring and pretentious really fast. But not Carla’s collection. Her non-color statement is emotional, bearing something eerie within it. The smartly placed brooches, and necklaces makes one think of ritualic objects which, if positioned accordingly, have the ability to offer access to its wearer into an imaginary space, a supernatural realm where the conscious intertwines with the subconscious. But despite this visual metaphor, the clothes are strong enough to function on their own. They are well tailored, wearable, and functional.

LUIS DRAJAN

In our present times, the existence of subcultures is a subject up for debate. The short life of trends, the uncontrollable desire for what’s new, and a predisposition for scrolling through social groups makes the process of consolidating a subculture almost impossible. If today’s culture is focused on individuality, then maybe the subculture that derives from it is that of an individualism of excesses. Its members are those who cultivate a lifestyle of hedonistic excesses. Their weapon of choice is narcissism. Luis Drajan’s collection offers us a glimpse into such a subculture. The clothes that he designs may well function as uniforms for the sympathizers of a radical narcissism. Always ready for party, seeking attention through self-irony, they prefer to detach themselves from reality and live their augmented lives within online social platform. The “nostril bleeders” as the designer nicknames them are aware of their addiction, and because they expose it in such a detached manner, they make us uncomfortable, and question our own hidden addictions.

SABINA POP

Sabina Pop’s collection is inspired by women who have influenced the art world. Artists such as Judith Chicago, Louise Bourgeois, and Vanessa Beecroft were her muses, their art functioning as background for Sabina’s exploration of the idea of emancipation. Throughout her collection she experiments with different patterns, textures, in a colorful juxtaposition. The woman she envisions finds liberation in reappropriation. The way she uses color blocks and geometries communicates, at a visual level, the daring nature of the wearer and her preference for a modern wardrobe. Like her muses, who succeeded in liberating themselves through their art, Sabina offers us the possibility to dare and experiment with our wardrobein a liberating manner.

EMESE BAKO

Like your favorite scene from a movie, or a song that you like so much you play it on repeat for two days, a memorable fashion collection haunts you. It sticks to your retina and travels with you until it becomes a memory, and a benchmark for future aesthetical references. But like memory, fashion can sometimes play tricks on you. Because it is such a powerfully visual medium, in many cases the image can be more powerful than the message, but not in the case of Emese Bako’s collection. Her inspiration comes from the idea that “attitude becomes form”. Her aesthetical analysis of this idea becomes an in-depth exploration of the transformation of concept into object. For her, fashion is a trickster, the crystal embellishments she applies on the garments play with our perception, their movement and sparkle seduce us, and trigger our imagination. The purple velvet used in some of the pieces induces a dreaming state, and the shiny surfaces, elegantly reveal the transparencies. Her understanding of fashion is mature because her designs are not artistic experimentation with form; they are functional objects of desire. Together with the styling of the collection and the haunting soundtrack (Skeeter Davis – The End of the World), Emese Bako’s collection truly stands out.

Our present is governed by rupture. It exists in the enormous differences between social classes, in financial inequalities between countries, in the way media communicates different events, in the way we communicate with each other. Current socio-political events force us to find ways of escaping reality, hoping that this way all that’s bad will go away. But nothing good can ever come out of such an approach. What we can do is find ways of fighting against these ruptured times. Together, with their own means, within the walls of the University of Art and Design from Cluj-Napoca, the department of Fashion Design, composed of students and their professors managed to find the perfect “weapon” for fighting against troubled times: creativity.  Fashion is not a secluded domain; it does not rely on solitary elements, it is dependent on communication, collaboration, and interdisciplinarity. It may not solve diplomatic conflicts (although I’m sure that it helps in some ways), or stop world hunger, but it will keep on asking questions and try finding answers through creativity.

Photo credit: Emil Costrut, powered by QSmile, Claudia Corega

 

WHAT IS THE SUBCULTURE OF LUXURY?

In the last couple of blog posts I have been blabbering about Hedi Slimane and Saint Laurent, about Alessandro Michele and Gucci, about luxury, without really explaining what I had in mind when I introduced the notion of “subculture” within the realm of luxury. Is it a little bit confusing? Let’s clear things out, then.

As history has shown us, subcultures appear when a current culture becomes, for a group of people, dogmatic, too traditional, and out of touch with current events. The cultural group that develops within a larger culture causes a rupture, a shift within the culture, because its beliefs and interests are oftentimes at variance with those of the larger group. In the case of luxury culture, we have the traditional luxury houses, such as YSL and Gucci which have managed to build a solid and recognizable brand culture. Due to the massification of luxury, such brand cultures were no longer perceived as generators of desire. By using established notions of luxury, such brands were no longer appealing to the group of people seeking exclusiveness. Their old clients were looking for items that reminded them of the “old masters”, while their new clients weren’t able to identify themselves with what the brand was offering them. So they had to rethink their strategy.

And this is where Slimane and Michele enter the conversation, and through different means, they manage to introduce a new kind of luxury. What they did is they played with the concept of exclusiveness by connecting it with the concept of the outsider where the outsider is the group of alternative/indie kids (Saint Laurent), and the group of nostalgic geeks (Gucci).  But these kids brought with them a shift within the culture of luxury. While the Saint Laurent gang hangs out in music studios, in bars, clubs, concert halls, skate parks and deserted beaches, listening to music, and drawing occult signs on their impeccably made leather jackets, the Gucci gang hangs out in secluded mansions, or abandoned underground stations, deciphering Deleuze, discussing the influence of surrealism in cinema, and dancing to the noise made by their numerous embellishments, each one bearing an interesting story. What both groups have in common is their sexual ambiguity, their constant ennui, and their need for escapism. There is also a certain hedonism which defines both groups. Clothes are for them pieces of memory: “the dress I wore to the prom”, “the shoes in which I walked her home”, and this attachment to clothes gives them timelessness, thus revealing to those that wear them the importance of valuing quality, not quantity.

This new type of luxury, which I referred to as the subculture of luxury is composed of a group of people who differentiates itself from the old culture of luxury by accepting change. This subculture of luxury finds inspiration in the world outside luxury. Its members seek luxury for its ability to function as a form of escapism, as well as a platform for experimentation, and expression of authenticity.  The subculture of luxury is capable of resuscitating the world of luxury by introducing a new type of client who has the financial capital, as well as the aesthetic know-how able to re-imagine luxury.

THE SUBCULTURE OF LUXURY: MICHELE’S GUCCI

At Gucci, things were a little different. After Frida Giannini left the brand in 2015 due to several years of mixed reviews, decrease in sales, and conflicting relations between her, her husband who also resigned from the position of CEO at Gucci and the Kering Company, a total makeover was needed. The new appointed creative director was a relatively unknown figure in the fashion industry by the name of Alessandro Michele. Despite his presumed anonymity, Michele had been working at Gucci since 2002. While Slimane’s approach on rebranding Saint Laurent resembled that of an architect, strategically restoring the brand, Michele’s approach resembles that of a cartographer. As Tim Blanks described him in an article, he is “a cartographer, mapping emotion”, his collections – “a moving topography of desire”.

Michele works in Rome, at the Gucci’s headquarters in the Palazzo Alberini in a room “layered with a patchwork of antique Persian and Oushak rugs”, as it is described in an interview for Vogue. His work environment is his retreat from the everyday reality. In today’s world we sometimes seek to escape the insecurities, the pollution, the noise, the political and economic worries, and what we escape into is often sometimes that we connect with luxury.

What he did first was to reflect on the idea of femininity and beauty in today’s world. If Tom Ford’s success at Gucci in the 90’s was due to his understanding of women’s desire to be empowered by the freedom to reveal their sexuality, Michele’s success has to do with the creation of a new Gucci woman. Light make-up, uncombed hair, wearing clothes that seem to have been taken out of her grandparent’s closet, and embellished with brooches and patches, and scarves found in the local flee market, the new Gucci woman has a Lolita mixed with Simone de Beauvoir attitude. Her sexuality is subversive, wrapped up in a romantic veil. She is an underground bourgeois, trying to find connections between semiotic theories and snapchat. What Michele succeeded in such a short time is to infuse coolness and desirability into a brand whose identity is so widely forged that it’s only remaining power was to mimic the illusion of luxury. Michele’s “remapping” also regarded the brand’s logo, its accessory line, the menswear universe, and also the stores display. After only a few seasons since Alessandro Michele has been appointed creative director at Gucci, the brand’s sales started to improve consistently, proving that his eclectic and gender bending aesthetic resonates with today’s luxury consumers.

 TO BE CONTINUED

THE SUBCULTURE OF LUXURY-HEDI’S SAINT LAURENT

During his tenure as creative director of Saint Laurent, Hedi managed to raise a series of questions inside the fashion industry; he started controversies with his collections among critics and clients alike, as well as with his whole approach on rebranding the YSL universe. Despite the lack of appraisals from fashion journalists, Hedi’s collections were instant favorites of the public, and of the members of the Slimane “cult”. Since 2012, Saint Laurent, the rebranded ready to wear line, has doubled its sale revenues, becoming one of the most profitable brand of the Kering Luxury Group. But how did he do it? What were the ingredients of Slimane’s success at Saint Laurent? First of all I think it was Hedi Slimane’s name; but in the words of Shakespeare’s Juliet – “what’s in a name”? Well, in Hedi’s case, his name is linked to the success he had at Dior Homme (his first Reform project) with his adoption of a skinny silhouette that ended up changing the landscape of menswear, his connections with the art world and with the intricate and exclusive world of celebrities, and his intimate and visually delicate portraits from his photographic era.

But why the need to change the name of the brand? At the beginning, some people felt that dropping “Yves” from the label was a sign of disrespect. But in fact this was merely going back to the original branding that Yves had used when he first introduced ready-to-wear. The return to the original name was also a part of Hedi’s strategy which included the transition from a loud branding strategy focusing on logo to a more quite one focusing on subtle tailoring details, and the launch of a permanent collection composed of signature pieces that are available season after season. He managed to reintroduce timeless products in an era governed by seasonal “IT” items. And isn’t this what luxury is supposed to be about? Hedi’s intention was to protect the name of Yves Saint Laurent which will be used for the Haute Couture line Hedi envisioned, which should have been launched this year, but with Slimane departure from the brand a few months ago, the future of this project is currently uncertain.

Another interesting thing Hedi did, which yet again resembles Yves understanding of modernity, was to find inspiration for his collections on the streets, thus questioning the exclusivity of luxury. He also launched a series of projects which aimed at reigniting the brand’s relationship with rock stars, and the music scene (the collaboration with Daft Punk, the Saint Laurent campaign in which music stars such as Kim Gordon, Courtney Love, Marilyn Manson, and Ariel Pink were shot by Hedi himself).

As a matter of fact, all of the visual campaigns for the Saint Laurent collections were shot by Slimane in his recognizable black and white style. Such collaborations have been at the core of the house since its earliest days, when Yves Saint Laurent was dressing the likes of Marianne Faithfull, David Bowie, and Mick Jagger.  Saint Laurent at the Palladium was the creative director’s last show, and what a show it was. Held at the Palladium concert hall on Sunset Boulevard, the 2016 Fall/Winter collection was a parade of sleek and polished rock and roll ensembles, with a touch of youthful ennui wrapped up in vintage nostalgia. For the designer, L.A. is a perfect observatory of popular culture and of inspiring sub-cultures which have influenced every one of his collections for Saint Laurent.

Slimane designed for Saint Laurent a universe for the type of customer who desires perfectly executed, impeccably made and literally ready to wear clothes which offer a glimpse into another kind of luxury.

 

TO BE CONTINUED

 

THE SUBCULTURE OF LUXURY

In order to define and understand luxury, one must experience it. For an outsider, luxury has more to do with a state of mind, an intangible lifestyle constantly generating desire. While in the past, luxury was easy to identify and to define, due to a clear division between social classes: if you were poor, you couldn’t afford it, if you were rich, you could, first with the creation of the middle class, and then with the ongoing democratization of luxury, its exclusiveness was deteriorated. It became accessible; a masstige luxury is the contemporary equivalent of luxury. If we think about it, a middle class family (from an economically developed country) nowadays has access to such a range of high end goods that it could easily stir up the envy of a nobleman from the 19^th century. We have restaurants where we can be served all kinds of special dishes, we can afford to drink refined wines, we can buy designer items, and travel the world. But by being able to access luxury, which becomes a part of our everyday life, we contribute to the disintegration of its aura of mystique. Luxury stops generating desire, or a sense of belonging to a certain elite group, it is simply taken for granted. This is one of the reasons why the importance and relevance of luxury has been questioned in the last few years. The same dilemma lingers in the realm of high end fashion, where all of the big fashion houses were built on the exclusiveness of luxury. How did they approach the challenge of rethinking luxury in order for it to still be relevant today?

The concept of luxury can be hard to explain because it has such a wide variety of implications in our society, and our consciousness. So in order to analyze it I invite you to bear with me while I investigate the reinvention of luxury as seen in the cases of two international luxury brands: Gucci and Saint Laurent.

UNSPECIFIED LOCATION – OCTOBER 2012: (EDITORS NOTE: This image was provided in B&W, a colour version is NOT available) In this handout image provided by Yves Saint Laurent, Hedi Slimane, Yves Saint Laurent Designer poses during a portrait session in October, 2012. (Photo by Yves Saint Laurent via Getty Images)

 

TO BE CONTINUED

Dress like a painting

Somewhere in the 1960’s, Duke Ellinngton visited the Fondation Maeght in St.Paul de Vence, France, where some of Joan Miro’s works were exhibited (they still are). The two artists met for the first time on that occasion and the encounter was caught on film by Norman Granz, who was then working on a documentary about improvisation in jazz music. Miro takes Duke on a guided tour of his sculptures while chatting away in French and Duke responds to the artist in English. After that, Duke sat down at his piano and improvised a song later known as “Blues for Joan Miro“. The two men couldn’t understand a word the other said, but they weren’t bothered by that. They were just enjoying themselves and each other’s art form.

I have to be honest with you; Miro is one of those painters who I never really understood. Although I visually enjoy his art, if I were to explain it to someone else, I don’t think I would know how. So reading about Miro and Ellinngton’s encounter made me realize that maybe not everything needs to be explained in order to be understood, maybe you just have to enjoy it beyond the restriction of language.

I chose this particular painting by Miro because it is one of his earlier works, when he was experimenting with different styles, trying to create his own visual language (trying to understand himself, as I am trying to understand him now). Although it is different from his famous works, what I like about this particular painting is the visual power created by the juxtaposition of such different surfaces: we have the wavy surface of the dress which gives you the impression of an optical illusion, and then there is the geometric background, and the lyrical presence of the flower on the dress. The composition of the model’s face seems to somehow combine all these dramatic contrasts becoming the central focus of the painting.

And what better choice of clothes that reflect these dramatic contrasts than a Dries van Noten item, combined with a pair of Marni shoes, and a beautiful brooch from Peta Kruger. If you can’t afford them, I guess you can always improvise 🙂

Joan Miro – Portrait of Juanita Obrador

Marni fringed leather brogues

Dries van Noten coat

Peta Kruger brooch

Fashion Rhymes – Prada Menswear a/w 2016

Turmoil bubbles all around us

Is there someone who can save us?

There’s uncertainty in the contemporary

So let’s take a trip through history!

Let us all meet in a square

And watch Sigmund and Simone

Wrestle with mythical gods

Drawn on deconstructed cloths

Worn by a new kind of sailors,

Who went on a journey seeking some wild roses,

But they brought back only sorrowful stories.

Can other people relate to these stories,

To the challenges that they confronted?

Is Prada’s updated historicism

Just another consumable “ism”?

“Don’t be serious,” she giggles

Image source:

• first set of images: … ‘dis-dressed’ ,special project by Willy Vanderperre
• second set of images: … Virginia Arcaro

Povestea unei transformari de look / The Story of a Makeover

Schimbarile, mai ales cele radicale, nu au prea facut parte din viata mea de pana acum. Din diferite motive, sau poate doar din comoditate, am ales mereu sa urmaresc si sa analizez schimbarile din jurul meu distantandu-ma de ele. Treptat, mi-am creat un spatiu privat in care ma simteam in siguranta, cu care ma identificam, in care puteam sa ma dezvolt in ritm propriu. Acest tip de spatiu cred ca e mai cunoscut sub denumirea de  „zona de confort”.

Astfel ca, invitatia din partea echipei Vestige de a deveni noua lor imagine a insemnat pentru mine o provocare, din mai multe puncte de vedere. A fost o provocare din punct de vedere estetic (aceasta e prima data cand ma despart de culoarea mea de par naturala, e prima data cand am ocazia sa experimentez atatea tipuri diferite de machiaj si de coafura), a fost o provocare din punct de vedere al modului in care comunic si ma comunic exteriorului, si nu in ultimul rand, a fost o provocare din punct de vedere personal (am avut ocazia de a-mi deconstrui „zona de confort”).

Am acceptat aceasta provocare in primul rand pentru ca a venit din partea unor profesionisti in care am incredere. Daca cititi acest blog, stiti foarte bine ca am urmarit inca de la inceput activitatea salonului Vestige Atelier des Beaux Arts. Vestige este un proiect conceput de cei doi fondatori ai sai, Simina Cheteles si Raul Tisa din pasiune, dedicare, si dorinta de a impartasi celor interesati o altfel de viziune asupra frumusetii, o frumusete privita ca un atribut al personalitatii. Este de asemenea primul salon din Cluj care a fost alaturi de tinerii designeri clujeni oferindu-le un spatiu in care isi pot expune creatiile vestimentare spre cumparare (showroom-ul a fost inaugurat odata cu salonul Vestige Atelier des Beaux Arts, iar acum s-a mutat in cel de-al doilea salon Vestige, Vestige Centre Ville). Aceasta fiind doar una din multele colaborari frumoase dintre salon si zona designului vestimentar. Printre colaborarile de seama ale sale se numara colaborarea cu Gala UAD, cu Festivalul de film TIFF, cu cele mai de seama reviste de specialitate, ELLE si Harper’s Bazaar, participari la concursuri nationale si internationale workshop-uri tinute de experti din domeniul modei.

Al doilea motiv pentru care am acceptat provocarea de a deveni imaginea lor a fost transparenta de care au dat dovada in promovarea acestei imagini. Daca alte saloane aleg sa apeleze la modele profesioniste, Vestige a riscat de la inceput si a preferat sa reinventeze frumusetea neexplorata a unor femei obisnuite. Astfel ca, schimbarea de look devine ceva mai mult decat o simpla schimbare de look, ea implica o schimbare de atitudine si induce curajul de a explora diferitele ipostaze ale propriei feminitati. Cu ajutorul Siminei Cheteles care mi-a compus frumoasa nuanta de blond pudrat rose, al Lidiei Gligor care mi-a scos in evidenta feminitatea, prin machiaj,  purtand creatiile talentatului designer Ovidiu Pop, accesorizate de bijuteriile unicat create de Raluca Buzura si gentile semnate INDEE, am intrat in pielea unor diferite tipologii feminine. Pe parcursul acestei transformari am avut ocazia sa joc diferite personaje, realizand in final ca fiecare dintre ele contribuie la construirea propriei mele identitati. Pot fi seducatoare, romantica, gingasa, rafinata, creativa, sofisticata. Descoperindu-mi aceste noi ipostaze, am realizat ca feminitatea poate fi cea mai subtila arma a unei femei, pentru ca ea confera frumusetii puterea de a deveni atemporala.

(scroll down for the english version)

 

Concept and Hairstyling  – Simina Diana Cheteles

Make-up – Lidia Gligor

Fashion Designer – Ovidiu Pop

Jewellery Designer – Raluca Buzura

Bag Designer – INDEE

Photographer – Emil Costrut

Changes, especially radical ones, have never been an important part of my life. For various reasons, or just out of convenience, I always chose to follow and analyze the changes around me by distancing myself from them. Gradually, I managed to create a private space where I felt safe, a space in which I found myself, and where I was able to grow at my own pace. This kind of space I think it’s better known as the “comfort zone”.

So, the invitation that came from the Vestige team, to become their new image represented a challenge for me, from different aspects. It was a challenge from an aesthetic point of view (this was the first time I changed the color of my hair, the first time I experience such a wide range of hairstyles and make-ups), it was a challenge for the way in which I usually communicate my identity to the world, and last, but not least, it was a challenge from a personal point of view (I had the opportunity to finally deconstruct my comfort zone)

I accepted this challenge first of all because it came from a team of professionals in whom I trust. If you are followers of my blog, you already know that I have been following and supporting the activity of Vestige Atelier des Beaux Arts. Vestige is a project conceived by its two owners, Simina Cheteles and Raul Tisa, out of passion, dedication, and the desire to share a different vision of beauty, a beauty regarded as an attribute of personality.  It is also the first beauty salon in Cluj which supported young designers by offering them a space where they could showcase their designs (the designers showroom was open at the same time as Vestige Atelier des Beaux Arts, but it was recently moved and rebranded inside the second Vestige beauty salon,  Vestige Centre Ville). This is just one of the many special collaborations between Vestige and the fashion design domain. Among the most notable collaborations there is the collaboration with the UAD Gala, with the TIFF Film Festival, with ELLE and Harper’s Bazaar, participations in national and international competitions, workshops organized by the salon in Cluj, held by experts from the fashion field.

The second reason for which I accepted the challenge of becoming their image was due to the transparency they have shown in promoting their image in the past. If other salons turn to professional models for their campaigns, Vestige chose to take a risk, even from the beginning, and preferred to reinvent the unexplored beauty of an ordinary woman. Thus, a makeover becomes more than a simple change of look, it also implies a change of attitude and gives you the courage to experiment the different aspects of your own femininity. With the help of Simina Cheteles, who dyed my hair in this beautiful shade of powdered pink blonde, and of Lidia Gligor who highlighted my feminine features through make-up, by wearing the design pieces created by the talented Ovidiu Pop, accessorized by designer jewellery made by Raluca Buzura, and INDEE handbags, I managed to portray different types of feminine beauty. Throughout this transformation, I had the opportunity to play with different characters in which I discovered bits and pieces of my own character. I discovered that I can be seductive, romantic, delicate, refined, creative, sophisticated.  By discovering new facets of my own femininity, I realized that femininity can be women’s most subtle weapon, because it offers beauty the power to become timeless.

Into the Woods with Juergen Teller

Juergen Teller is unsettling us with each new photo, collaboration, campaign. His latest, the F/W 2015 Ad Campaign for Sonia Rykiel is another proof of his ability to twist our preconceived ideas of what beauty is. And for this, he teams up with the new artistic director of Sonia Rykiel, Julie de Libran who has previously worked with Louis Vuitton and Prada. Since she took the artistic helms of the brand, she has managed to handle Sonia Rykiel’s large legacy and to infuse it with modernity and a little bit of edge.

What I particularly like about this fashion film, besides Georgia May and Lizzy Jagger, is Teller’s clever play on image and sound. If you watch the video on mute, there is a kind of a dark sweetness emanating from the images, but if you turn on the sound, composed of the looped laughter of the sisters, the whole scenery turns into an eerie visual composition where the fantasy of luxury and the fascination of the natural unknown come out to play.

Images: …

How Not to Get Bored (of Fashion) on Weekends

For me, the best way to relax on weekends is to watch movies. Sometimes, they can be the best remedy for fatigue, stress, boredom, sadness, and other such feelings that accompanied you throughout the week. So I’m thinking of sharing with you, each week, one movie that helped me detach from reality, and helped me enrich my visual repertory.

For this week, I chose Air Doll, a movie directed by Hirokazu Koreeda.

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

As in many Japanese movies, the plot synopsis is either hard to put into words, or (if you manage that) the words don’t do it justice, so please bear with me.  The movie is about a sex doll, named Nozomi, who is the sole companion of a middle aged man. He treats her as a human being, and one day, as he is away at work, the doll starts to come to life. And from here on, the weird delicate beauty of the movie unravels, but you will have to experience that on your own.

WHY DID I LIKE IT?

Air Doll is a tender visual metaphor about the unbearable lightness of life, and love, and human connection. Koreeda’s dreamy visual style captures Nozomi’s coming to life, her discovery of love and suffering in a world where people are so afraid to experience such emotions that they isolate themselves. They replace humanity with inanimate objects so they can protect themselves from pain. The director’s camera is floating through typically Japanese settings at a leisurely pace, mostly observing, sometimes even wandering, and it allows us, the viewers, to rediscover reality through Nozomi’s eyes. The soundtrack is composed by World’s End Girlfriend and it goes so well with the atmosphere of the movie that it merges you deep into Koreeda’s magical realism.

IS THERE ANY FASHION IN IT?

The female character of the movie, impeccably interpreted by Bae Doona, has a limited wardrobe, composed mainly of fetishistic costumes (housemaid costume, nurse costume), due to her initial nature. They reminded me of Marc Jacobs collaboration with Richard Prince, way back when Marc was designing for Louis Vuitton, and of Murmur’s “Roleplay” collection.

Nozomi’s outfits, when she starts coming to life, become innocent, resembling a young girl’s wardrobe, in pale colors and fluid materials. Her style can easily be described as eerie, and fragile, as her existence.  

Dress Like a Painting

If you are tired of dressing like a celebrity, or like a fashion icon, if your everyday fashion ensembles are too normcore, if you are tired of trends, or just tired of fashion people telling you how you should dress….dress like a painting.

Write in Google a painter whose name you’ve heard on the news because his paintings were sold in an auction for a surrealist sum of money, go to “Images”, and select your favorite painting based on color, shape, and on how pretty and interesting you consider it to be, and start composing your outfit.

For today, I chose Pablo Picasso’s painting called “Women with Yellow Hat”. It depicts one of his muses; I think she was also his last. For those of you who are interested in finding out more about the girl in the painting, her name is Jacqueline Roque and she appears in more paintings than any other of Picasso’s muses. A strong, and sort of strange woman, isolating herself and Picasso in the villa Chateau de Vauvenargue, is depicted in this painting as a tender, yet sinuous being. Her face is half covered in an almost burning light, half covered in darkness. I like the toughness of the lines that define her features, and I enjoy Picasso’s use of primary colors.

My designer choices for reinterpreting Jacqueline’s portrait would be:

– a jacket and a  bracelet by Celine

– shoes by Stella McCartney

– hat by Eugenia Kim

A little bit of toughness, a little bit of playfulness, and a little bit of tromp l’oeil romanticism.

Let’s Talk About … Fashion Week

Hello, it’s been a while since my last article. I am not really sure why this keeps on happening, so I am going to blame it on autumn, on the weather, on the stars, and I am going to tell you all about how I used this time to reflect upon what really grinds my gears about fashion lately. The Fashion Week season has just ended, and while I tried to keep up with the shows, the articles and the discussions generated by these events, I found myself overwhelmed by a feeling of “whatever”. I blamed it on autumn, on the weather, on the stars, and even on my seasonal ennui, but still there seemed to be something missing. I am not trying to be an arrogant prick who does nothing else but complain, just for the sake of it. Because there were shows that I really liked, trends that resonated with my personal taste, changes in the industry that seem exciting, but somehow, there was something unsettling. And it didn’t necessarily have to do with the collections, but with the whole idea of the fashion week. Do we still really need them?

Fashion weeks, like all other inventions of capitalism, function as a generator of profit. They generate profit for different kinds of businesses (hotels, restaurants, clubs, event venues, rentals,…) which are happy to answer the demands of all types of customers (from celebrities, to fashion insiders, to simple onlookers who happen to visit a city) during fashion week. They generate profit for the main partners of the event, for all the brands and financers involved in all the events taking place during fashion week. They promote celebrities who reinforce their social status and their fame by participating at different shows, parties and after parties, launches, and. lunches. They generate content and revenue for bloggers, street style photographers, fashion magazines, gossip columns, Instagram accounts and tweeter feeds. Even the fashion designers, brands or houses which display their collections during fashion week invest in these events so they can promote their talent, their business in order to gain future profit, or to maintain their importance and relevance in the international fashion system.

According to the all-wise and ever-growing Wikipedia, the first fashion week was held in New York “with one main purpose: to distract attention from French fashion during World War II, when workers in the fashion industry were unable to travel to Paris. This was an opportune moment, as “before World War II, American designers were thought to be reliant on French couture for inspiration.”” After more than 70 years, what is fashion week still trying to distract us from? Maybe it’s from the fact that the amount of talent proportional to the growth of the fashion industry is the same as 20, 50, or 70 years ago, so maybe New York Fashion Week should stop accepting to include in their schedule all those who afford to pay. Maybe it’s from the fact that fashion weeks should be about fashion, not about first – row gossips, parties, cocktails, or debates on whether Kanye West is or isn’t a fashion designer. Maybe it’s from the fact that fashion is ugly on the inside because underneath the taffetas, the embroideries, the pleats, and ruffles, it is still exploiting people, animals and the environment. Or maybe it’s trying to distract us from the lack of innovation, inspiration, and excitement of fashion as industry. I am not denying the talent, wit, and determination of the designers who still manage to use fashion as language, as medium, as philosophy, as protest, I am just trying to figure out if fashion weeks are the proper venue for them, and if not then what is?

Architecturing Collaborations – Irina Schrotter spring-summer 2016

Last Friday, the Romanian brand Irina Schrotter presented its spring – summer 2016 collection during MQ Vienna Fashion Week. This is the third consecutive season in which the brand’s collection is showcased on the official schedule of this event. A soothing feeling of accomplishment transcended this collection because Lucian Broscatean succeeded once again to reinforce the brand’s identity. Relevance, consistency and emotion are the three concepts which represent the basis of Lucian Broscatean’s reconfiguration of the brand since 2012 when the Romanian avant-garde designer started his collaboration with Irina Schrotter.

There is a sense of easy at the heart of this collection. This may be due to the cleverly orchestrated play on textile surfaces, the use of a relaxed pallet of colors such as beige, ochre, white, navy blue, or the predominance of one – piece outfits which can function as standalone pieces or can be easily combined with other garments existent in ones wardrobe. By just looking at the collection one can easily identify the characteristics of the woman envisioned by Lucian Broscatean, together with his two assistant designers – Carmen Chereches and Diana Flore. She is sensitive and sophisticated, discreetly powerful, unapproachably sexy. She knows that clothes can have a functional side, but also an aesthetical one, that is why sometimes, when she is complimented on her outfit, she mentions the cultural and artistic references that her clothes carry within them: “I love this dress; it’s so functional, like a Bauhaus project”. The geometric cuts, the asymmetries which reshape the silhouette and the patterns which can be reconfigured through styling could be related with the Bauhaus movement, but more than a literal reference, it is the idea of a creative collaboration which may link Irina Schrotter’s collection to the movement. There were the shoes designed by Mihaela Glavan which is a long time collaborator with Irina Schrotter, and the two models promoting the collection in the campaign images – Larisa Citea (one of Irina Schrotter’s favorite model) and Fica Balancan (one of Lucian Broscatean’s favorite model), and the consistent input of Carmen Chereches and Diana Flore that have succeeded in creating a coherent and relevant collection.

Photos – Emil Costrut

How to Have Fun with Trends

I have never been a fan of the color red when it comes to my personal fashion choices, but I have always been intrigued by its use in different visual compositions. Be it paintings, posters, videos, or movies, the powerful presence of this color always caught my attention. REDRUM, REDRUM, REDRUM, keeps coming to my mind, and it has a lot to do with how I perceive this color on a symbolic level. Love and death, sex and violence can easily be associated with the color red, and can infuse it with the power of subversion. And when it comes to subversion and the many facets of the color red, one must simply mention Kubrick, one of the movie directors who succeeded in transforming movie frames into enigmatic visual narratives. Kubrick’s use of primary colors which carry symbolic significance represents one of the main characteristics of his work. Thus, red underscores varying levels of meaning in his movies: physical and psychological violence in A Clockwork Orange, and The Shinning, sexuality and temptation in Eyes Wide Shut, humanity and lack of it in Space Odyssey.

Some of this season’s collections bare a scarlet sign, and as I was browsing them I came up with an idea: to select the pieces which resemble characters from Kubrick’s movies. I chose them based on the atmosphere of the movie, on the psychological characteristics of the characters, but also based on their fashion choices as they were revealed in the movies. It’s a fun creative game which you can play while watching your favorite movies.

Alice Harford (Eyes Wide Shut) dressed in Alexander McQueen

(Full Metal Jacket) The uniforms worn by the soldiers designed by Thomas Tait

Wendy Torrance (The Shinning) dressed in Hermes

Lady Honoria Lyndon (Barry Lyndon) dressed in Simone Rocha

The Cat Lady (A Clockwork Orange) dressed in J. W. Anderson

Any female character (2001: A Space Odyssey) dressed in Christopher Kane

Lolita (Lolita) dressed in Fendi

Image source: …

10 Ingredients for a New Generation of Designers

The current state of fashion was described by some as overabundant, redundant, and obsolete in a way. These words weigh heavy on the designers and challenge them to come up with a plan to resuscitate the curiosity and excitement of the fashion crowd. Some have focused on the story, some on the heritage, some on innovation, some on product. A similar mood and a desire to refresh the “current state of fashion affairs” was felt during this year’s UAD Gala, an event celebrating its 21^st edition. From the unconventional venue where the event was held, to the soundtrack of each collection, every little detail was smartly orchestrated and managed to infuse a sense of optimism and ease.

26 collections belonging to this year’s graduate students of the Fashion Design department walked down the catwalk, a catwalk specially designed for the event on the halls of the modern Sala Polivalenta in Cluj-Napoca. The BA collections were coordinated by Prof.Univ.Phd. Elena Basso Stănescu and Lect.Univ.Phd. Lucian Broscățean, while the MA collections were coordinated by Prof.Univ.Phd. Elena Basso Stănescu and Prof.Univ.Phd. Anca Pia Rusan.

As in every year since I’ve been attending the UAD Gala as fashion aficionado, supporter of the event, or as member of the Henkel jury (from which I had the pleasure of taking part this year), my first reaction after watching the collections was one of admiration towards the talent of the graduate designers, but also towards the collective involvement of those who guide, and support their talent. What follows next is a period of a few days in which I revisit my first impressions of each collection. I look at the photos, I read my notes, I try to make up stories that can narrate what some of the collections managed to convey. But this year, thinking about what I told you at the beginning of the article, I felt the need to try a new approach and think of the “ingredients” that made this year’s UAD Gala an invigorating event.

1. Optimism

Aliz Simon – Nouvelle Ere

Mixing with ease the minimalism of colour combinations and experimentation with shapes, Aliz Simon managed to portray a personal view of a new age, as the title of the collection announces. The association of hard and soft materials reveals a modern type of femininity. The woman she envisions belongs to present times, is not afraid to experiment, and manages to maintain her innocence through a sophisticated play on details. Her optimism and wits when it comes to the reinterpretation of symbols and sophistication convinced me and the other members of the Henkel jury to reward her with the Perwoll Young Designers Award.

2. Interdisciplinarity

Diana Ilea – Untitled

Blurring the lines between art and fashion, Diana Ilea plays with the concept of abstraction. Inspired by modern art, her collection reflects the search for meaning through simplicity. The minimalist lines of the garments are destabilized by violent strokes of red and abstract insertions of ‘untitled” doodles. The association of materialities infuse energy into the designs.

3. References

Linda Szabo – Parallels

Referencing the feminine lines characteristic of Dior’s “new look” and combining them with the hardness of elements belonging to military apparel, Linda Szabo’s collection reveals her interest in the historical investigation of fashion. The softness of the colour pallet is contrasted by the toughness of the harnesses, the asymmetric tailoring, and the wadding volumetries. A certain metaphorical struggle can be sensed in Linda’s investigation of the parallels between war and peace, austerity and aesthetical indulgence.

4. Reinterpretation

Bianca Negrea – Fuse

The story of a collection is composed of separate points of reference and it takes a skilled narrative tailor to sew them together. Bianca Negrea found inspiration in a zoomorphic folkloric ritual which takes place in winter in some parts of Romania, and is known as “Fools Day”. This ritual implies dressing up in a bear suit, people covered in mud and lard, so it seems kind of crazy of Bianca to choose such an inspiration for her collection. But this is where her collection stands out, due to the designer’s ability to reinterpret a story and infuse it with new meanings. By extracting only the relevant aspects of this story and filtering them through her own esthetic perspective, Bianca Negrea managed to present us a very cool, urban and extravagant collection…which is a long way from lard and mud.

5. Social commentary

Regian Frolich – “Rising Weapons”

Besides their aesthetic function, the purpose of clothes is to protect the wearer from the aggressions of his surrounding environment, be it climatic, social, or human aggressions. Regian Frolich’s collection, entitled “Rising Weapon” seems to tackle a sensitive aspect of our present: the impending threat of war generated by the ongoing conflicts from different parts of the world. Inspired by military attire, his clothes are designed to shelter our physical body from the destructive social nature. The pieces composing the collection are layered through styling in order to resemble a textile shield which renders the feeling of safety, without ignoring the functional aspect of such attire.

6. Deconstruction and Reconstruction of Folkloric Heritage

Nadejda Iacubina – “Marita-ma mama!”

When it comes to deconstructing Romanian folklore, many would roll their eyes and tell you that nothing new can be said or done about the subject. Nadejda Iacubina begs to differ, and I salute her for that, because I think that in order to consume ones curiosity regarding a certain subject, one should revisit it, deconstruct and reconstruct it until you assimilate what you were meant to learn and discover. It is a kind of ritual of self-discovery, and the idea of ritual stands at the core of Iacubina’s collection. From a spiritual perspective, the ritual of marriage represents a union between two individuals, who become one. Focusing on the reinterpretation of traditional male attire, the designs symbolise a renunciation of all preconceived ideas regarding gender differences and reveal a visual union of the couple. The clothes were made out of raw cotton, leather, and wool with graphic insertions of gold, harmoniously combined. The accessories were inspired by dowry chests, revealing the designer’s attention to details.

7. Meditation

Magdalena Butnariu – “Spirit Amara: “an harm it none, do what ye will”

The fragile nature of creation offers it a unique beauty. Magdalena Butnariu’s collection investigates this kind of beauty attributing it to nature, celebrating its ability to detach itself and those that embrace it from a mechanized existence. As the models came down the runway in their perfectly starched ensembles, I couldn’t help imagining them as members of a cult, a secret society living in a dystopic reality which has lost its contact with nature, carrying on their backs the remains of a lost world. Eager to save the last traces of humanity, they carry in their wooden and glass backpacks the last specimens of plants, hoping they will find a way to save them. They also hide between the perfectly cut and pleated folds of their garments, as in a herbarium, their favourite flowers which still bare the smell of grass, and trees, and rain. The detached beauty of the garments bore a kind of nostalgia which invites you to meditate on the importance of nature and memory. Through her story, designs, accessories and the mood her collection generated, she managed to impress the Henkel jury and was rewarded with the Perwoll Young Designers Award for best MA collection.

8. Eclecticism

Ancuta Sarca – “Eleganza”

One of the reasons I enjoyed this year’s UAD Gala was the fact that I got to see some of the BA graduates from two years ago, who were now presenting their MA collections. One of those designers is Ancuta Sarca whose funky “Ghetto Superstar” collection from two years ago made me think of running away to join the La S.A.P.E sartorial gang in Congo. During these two years Ancuta had the chance, through a scholarship offered by the University, to work as an intern in the Meadham Kirchhoff design studio in London. This experience did not change her aesthetic approach, but enriched it with a pathological desire to experiment. Her BA collection entitled “Eleganza” is an eclectic composition mixing 18^th century opulence with 20^th century subcultures. For me it had a New Romanticism feel which certainly had to do with the uninhabited joy and decadence of mixing colors and textures. Ancuta Sarca had fun designing her collection, from her rollercoaster ride through history and aesthetics, until the styling details like the shoes which were hand-made by her, or the abstract print strokes that covered some of the garments which were painted by Andreea Tivadar. ”Eleganza” can easily function as fashion manifesto for a youth subculture whose members enjoy contemplating the thought of drinking tea and eating cake with Marie Antoinette in a Candy Crush castle.

9. Irony

Alina Morar – Fara Numar

Alina Morar chooses to explore the manele subculture focusing on the fashion choices of those embracing it in order to raise questions regarding prejudices, differences, and the aesthetical value of kitsch. The distinct features of the manele fashion style are opulence, an attraction for oriental embellishments, logo display, western affordable luxury clothing brands, and flashy jewellery. Alina uses all these elements of a distinct fashion style and reinterprets them in such a way that it tricks us into liking a style which we despised for its lack of consistency, refinement and good taste. But how does she manage to do that? She uses elements from the manelist wardrobe such as suits, flashy jewellery, robes and sportswear and reinterprets them through different tailoring techniques to give them a modern and unconventional edge. Her irony is subtle and witty.

10. Introspection

Andreea Castrase – Rites of Passage

Having as sources of inspiration myth, ritual, ceremony, transition, Andreea Castrase’s collection distinguished itself through a certain detachment. Her introspective approach on the analysis of concepts allowed her to create garments which carry with them the beauty of ideas while being able to stand alone as functional and wearable items of clothing. The designer uses natural fabrics which she embellishes with lace to create the illusion of dimension, and metallic buckles to give weight and offer closure. Clothes can sometimes function as intimate symbols of personal transformation, and Andreea Castrase understands that. The items composing her collection have the ability to become timeless pieces, carrying with them  the stories of many rites of passage.

For her creativity, the use of concept and modern sewing and cutting techniques, Andreea Castrase was rewarded with the Syoss Award for innovative design.

Photos by Emil Costrut

Every Cloud has a Silver Lining

Despite the rain and the mud which turned the first day of Electric Castle in a post-apocalyptic scenery where its inhabitants were forced to abandon their festival apparel (flowers, spikes and everything nice) and struggle to find a pair of rubber boots and a raincoat in order to blend in, and not sink in, the party spirit survived. The electric vibes managed to stop the rain, and during the last days of the festival the rubber boots turned from necessity into a fashion trend.

And speaking of fashion, there was plenty, and at the heart of it was the Fashion Unplugged space. For those who didn’t fancy the raincore trend (rubber boots + raincoat), for those who wanted to pimp their boots with colorful stencils, or for those who wanted to experience a total make-over, the Fashion Unplugged area was the best place to be. Throughout the festival, the Electric Castle “inhabitants” were able interact with designs signed by young Romanian designers from Cluj-Napoca. The price tags were friendly, and those interested in the clothes and accessories were not at all shy about buying them. The constant flow of visitors turned the Fashion Unplugged tent into a vibrant area of the festival. I am glad I had the chance to experience fashion in such a fun and youthful way.

Styling sessions

Some of the Fashion Unpluggers 

A Sneak Peek of the UAD Fashion Design Collections @ Expo Transilvania Exhibition

A long title for a short blog post, but the fact is I want to save all my fancy words for a long blog post with a short title in which I will tell you more about my favorite collections from this year’s UAD Gala. Until then, I have some images for you from the UAD Exhibition at Expo Transilvania which opened this Sunday and includes the graduation works of students from every University department.

This year, the Fashion Design department chose to present the works of the students through a photo editorial shot by Emil Costrut which was displayed on the walls of the exhibition hall. The photos represent stylized outfits of the graduates collections and offer us a glimpse of what the designers were trying to reveal through their designs. Some of my favorite collections were:

Aliz Simon

Bianca Negrea

Nadejda Iacubina

Alina Morar

Ancuta Sarca

Andreea Castrase

Magdalena Butnariu