SteelVelvet

Retrospect: Japan Fashion Week Tokyo [Part Two]

Posted by StaceHolland in Uncategorized on April 17, 2011

Leave a Comment

Retrospect: Japan Fashion Week Tokyo [Part One]

Posted by StaceHolland in Fashion on April 15, 2011

AW 2011/2012 Collections

Fri 18th March- Friday 25th March 2011

JFW in Tokyo aims to strengthen Tokyo’s functions as a hub for fashion business…www.jfw.jp

Aguri Sagimori

Hidenori Kumakiri

Keiichi Muramatsu

Steven Hall, Yurika Ohara

Kazuaki Takashima

Aguri Sagimori, beautiful people, Everlasting Sprout, Hidenori Kumakiri, In-Process, Japan Fashion Week, Kazuaki Takashima, Keiichi Muramatsu, Steven Hall, Tokyo, Yurika Ohara

Leave a Comment

D&G Men’s Winter 2012 Collection

Posted by wadie.M in Fashion, Mens Wear on April 11, 2011

Proportionally Creative!

The use of proportionality in the colours, fabrics, layers and designs are what make this collection so edgy. Notice the striking blends and contrasts that are created by the mixing and matching of different textures, the layering of longer fur coats on oversized prints; fitted, shrunken wool knitwear on corduroy skinny’s and rounding this funky look off are some bold, colourful ankle sneakers! Check out a few of my favourite looks from the collection! Just the fresh breeze of funk we need before the winter chill.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Till next time… wadieM

D&G Menswear Winter Collection 2012;

Leave a Comment

Kanye West Continues to Push the Boundaries….

Posted by StaceHolland in Music Culture, Uncategorized on April 8, 2011

In late November 2010, the ever-controversial hip-hop artist, Kanye West, released his fifth studio album, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. You would think the name says it all, however the album covers say even more: dark, twisted fantasies are not beautiful.

George Condo, the artist commissioned to create the album artwork, revealed that Kanye desired an album cover image that would be banned. According to some sources, the artwork of the five album covers follows theme of the music, as well as West’s music film Runaway. Condo and West spent a few hours listening to the album after which Condo made between eight and nine paintings for the album. A month prior to it’s release, Kanye announced on social networks that the album had been rejected by some stores due to its cover. I can see why, one in particular is rather explicit. For that very reason I have not included pictures of that particular album cover artwork.

Inspired by the artwork on the album , acclaimed graphic design and art direction duo M/M (Paris) have designed a new range of scarves. According to nowness.com, M/M’s Mathias Augustyniak and Michael Amzalag were commissioned to create an “illustrative letterset for the album’s liner notes as a complement to its cover art series of five bawdy paintings by American artist George Condo. The duo then approached West with the idea of fusing the artistic factors into a collection of limited-edition silk scarves, creating a multi-faceted combination of their baroque-style lettering with Condo’s imagery. The scarves measure almost a square meter in size. According to Augustyniak and Amzalag, who have worked extensively with other musicians such as Björk, working with West was indeed a form of erudition: “a complex exploration of power.”

Photos: www.nowness.com

George Condo, Kanye West, M/M (Paris), Mathias Augustyniak, Michael Amzalag, My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy

Leave a Comment

Dame Vivienne Westwood Turns 70 today!

Posted by StaceHolland in Fashion on April 8, 2011

Vivienne Westwood(née Vivienne Isabel Swire on 8 April 1941)

Avant-garde, crazy, a creative genius…these are a few of the many words used to describe the design style of Westwood who turns 70 today. Seventy, 70, 7-0…think about that…what an incredible fashion legacy!

“I didn’t know how a working-class girl like me could possibly make a living in the art world” Vivienne Westwood

According to Wikipedia at the age of 17, Vivienne and her family moved to Harrow, London, where she studied at the Harrow School of Art, taking fashion and silversmithing. But she left after only one term at the school! It was only till much later in her life that Westwood started creating clothes inspired by bikers and the punk-rock era of the 1970′s. She presented her first catwalk show in 1981.

Harrow School of Art, Vivienne Westwood

Leave a Comment

Fashion Engineered

Posted by StaceHolland in Fashion, Footwear on April 1, 2011

Lucifer Bow Stiletto

As seen on CNN online:

Christian Louboutin reveals science

behind perfect high heel

(By Lianne Turner, CNN and Laura Allsop for CNN)

“The heel is engineering in itself,” said the sought-after designer in his Paris atelier. “This little thing that supports the human weight has to have a precise balance.” -Louboutin-

Pigalle Heels

“The materials needed to create the perfect shoe include wood lasts — a shoemaker’s mould in the shape of a human foot — and supporting metal stems that are inserted into heels, which can measure up to 6.5 inches, to ensure that the wearer doesn’t topple over.”

“If you just look at the heel, you are immediately going to see that if there was not the (right) engineering), it would break.”

I’m throwing on my Louboutins…

Watch these Red bottoms,
And the back of my jeans.
Watch me go, bye baby…. Jennifer Lopez…Louboutins

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/europe/03/24/paris.louboutin.shoes/index.html

Christian Louboutin, Jennifer Lopez

4 Comments

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond “Liz” Taylor (February 27, 1932 – March 23, 2011)

Posted by StaceHolland in Movie Culture, Uncategorized on March 28, 2011

A true woman of glamour…One of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age…SteelVelvet takes a look at the fashion moments of the darling of National Velvet…

If ever there were a real-life Helen of Troy—a woman whose beauty could move political borders, or launch those thousand ships—it was Elizabeth Taylor.