In addition to the ready-to-wear collections and its full range of accessories (including handbags, watches, jewellery and eyewear), the flagship will house two new concepts for the brand: a dedicated men’s accessory section and a women’s shoe salon carrying both the Michael Kors Collection and Michael Michael Kors shoe line.

The post Michael Kors to open flagship store in China appeared first on The Style Examiner.

If the collection incorporates conceptual and physical elements from faraway countries such as rare skins, geological gems, the animal geoglyph motifs from the Nazca Lines, and traditional Peruvian needle-punched horizontal stripes, the results couldn’t be more sophisticated: silhouettes are slim and clean silhouettes, garments are crafted from noble materials, and an array of stylish accessories complements the looks.
Luxurious fabrics are ubiquitous throughout the collection and include mohair and huarizo (an alpaca-llama crossbreed) in suiting; double-faced vicuña in robes; and cashmere (sometimes blended with silk) in evening double-breasted overcoats, reversible coats, blousons and gloves, or in hand-knitted strips that resemble fur. In addition, dégradé silk is used for evening suits worn over micro-checked and striped shirts, while lounge pants, T-shirts and sweatshirts feature artisan crochet stitch detailing; and a range of scarves made from silk twill incorporate subtle patterns such as chevrons, stripes, and herringbone.

As has become expected of Louis Vuitton, opulent and textured furs and leathers abound: shearling panels are used in a reversible zip-up sweater, chinchilla-lined silk is detailed with heat-sealed zippers and seams, and a windbreaker made from python skin is finished with a calf-leather hood. Equally, accessories and footwear incorporate innovatively treated and patterned skins: a Derby city shoe comes in silver-mirrored calfskin, grained nubuck or crocodile; a city ankle boot-hybrid uses glazed calf with a padded nappa ankle; and rubberized leather is used for the trimming of bags, a predominant accessory offered in a comprehensive range that includes holdalls, totes, messengers, trolley bags, duffles, folios and hybrid backpacks.

And confirming the desirable social status that Louis Vuitton commands, the collection comprises more economical objects that stress the brand’s identity in the form of accessories and jewellery pieces: every look in the collection comes with sunglasses with coloured and mirrored lenses; whereas necklaces, rings, and lapel pins inspired by South-American geology incorporate gems and stones such as crystal, quartz, amethyst, ionite, agate and jasper.

The post Louis Vuitton Autumn/Winter 2014 Menswear appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The store is divided into three main areas, each separated by portals finished in black lacquer and all including ash wood furniture finished with different colours. Men’s and women’s bags, jewellery, eyewear and fragrances are located by the ground-floor entrance in an area with silver walls and a green Persian onyx floor; a second room with gold walls and Renoir quartzite flooring leads towards the lift and staircase; and footwear and jewellery are displayed in the level above in a room with glossy blue fabric walls and South African quartzite floors.

The post Giorgio Armani opens new accessories store in Milan appeared first on The Style Examiner.

Under the curatorial guidance of Alistair O’Neill (from Central Saint Martins College of Arts and Design) and Shonagh Marshall (from Somerset House Trust), ‘Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!’ takes visitors on a chronological journey through key moments in Isabella’s simultaneously exhilarating and melancholic life, starting with a room displaying photographs taken when she was a child and teenager, family photo albums and newspaper clippings that throw some light on Isabella’s eccentric mind and passionate support for the arts.

Born Isabella Delves Broughton on 19 November 1958, Isabella grew up observing the lifestyle that she could have had but was denied to her at birth and seemed to escape her throughout her life. In spite of being born into an aristocratic family with ancestral roots that can be traced to the thirteenth century, Isabella was brought up not in the family’s Doddington Hall but in a small house on the borders of the estate and in relatively modest conditions as the family land was sold to pay the gambling debts incurred by her grandfather, the Baronet Henry John (Jock) Delves Broughton (who was famously accused for the murder of Josslyn Hay, Earl of Erroll, in 1941). Living with the awareness of her noble lineage but with no money, when Isabella was forced to work in order to make a living, she opted for a career in fashion and art.

In 1980, a year after moving to New York City to study Ancient Chinese Art at Columbia University, she moved to Texas and worked for the fashion label Guy Laroche. In 1981, and back in New York, she was hired as assistant to the editor-in-chief of US Vogue, Anna Wintour. After returning to London in 1986, she got a job at Tatler, where she was tasked with keeping abreast of emerging sartorial talent, a role that she embraced with gusto both professionally and personally for the rest of her life. She went on to work at British Vogue for a while and in 1997 she became Fashion Director of The Sunday Times Style after which she returned to Tatler as Fashion Director.

Renowned for wearing haute couture to work and for going over budget in some of the most expensive photographic editorials in the history of fashion magazines, Isabella amassed a large number of extraordinary fashion items over 30 years, many of which are now part of the Isabella Blow Foundation archives, and on loan to the exhibition. In addition to displaying personal items such as letters, notebooks, pens, business cards and even old lipsticks, the main rooms of Somerset House’s Embankment Galleries feature numerous garments and accessories by Manolo Blahnik, Hussein Chalayan, Comme des Garçons, Terry de Havilland, Dior, Escada, Fendi, John Galliano, Givenchy, Erik Halley, Yoshimi Hishinuma, Julien Macdonald, Marni, Alexander McQueen, Benoit Méléard, Alan Mikli, Deborah Milner, Cesare Paciotti, Prada, Antony Price, Sergio Rossi, Jeremy Scott, Teerabul Songvich, Jun Takahashi, Philip Treacy, Undercover, Viktor and Rolf, Louis Vuitton, Tristan Weber, and Wunderkind.
During the early 1990s, Isabella tried to revive her illusive aristocratic lifestyle at Hilles House, the Gloucestershire family home that belonged to Detmar Hamilton Blow (the art dealer who became her second husband in 1989 and whom she separated in 2004). A room of the exhibition evokes this period by re-enacting the Circular Saloon at Hilles, allowing visitors to the exhibition to meander between 11 mannequins wearing dramatic outfits.

Isabella was also known for discovering models Sophie Dahl and Stella Tennant, and for her collaborations with photographers such as Steven Meisel, David LaChapelle and Sean Ellis. To illustrate this, a section of the exhibition features large-scale reproductions of the photographs taken for ‘Anglo Saxon Attitudes’, one of Isabella’s most innovative and provocative editorials. Shot by Steven Meisel and published in the December 1993 issue of British Vogue, the photographs feature Stella Tennant, Honor Fraser, Plum Sykes, Bella Freud and Lady Louise Campbell on their first ever magazine appearance.
The final section in the exhibition displays six looks from ‘La Dame Bleue’, the Spring/Summer 2008 Alexander McQueen collection that McQueen and Philip Treacy designed and dedicated to Isabella after her suicide on 7 May 2007. Showcased in a spectacular show on 6 October 2007, the collection remains, to this day, a beautiful love letter to Isabella Blow and a most poignant and adroit way to conclude an exhibition that is a true celebration of British eccentricity and sartorial ingenuity.

The post ‘Isabella Blow: Fashion Galore!’: A passionate life nurturing British eccentricity and sartorial talent appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The store’s centrepiece is a sculpture by Jean-Michel Othoniel made from hand-blown Venetian glass which was inspired by the strands of pearls worn by Coco Chanel. The piece rises from the ground to the top of the third floor and is framed by the store’s staircases. Luxurious details abound throughout, namely glass and mirrored walls with gold ribbons, crystal chandeliers, tweed-upholstered chairs and curtains with hand-stitched pearls.

The post Chanel Unveils Largest Store in the World appeared first on The Style Examiner.

I started with the Braid Bracelet, a simple and elegant accessory that can be worn individually or layered with other Babette Wasserman bracelets. I opted for the version made from blue leather (the bracelet also comes in red, light brown, white and black), with a 925 rhodium magnetic clasp and felt that it was best worn single on one wrist. Combined with blue jeans and a white shirt, it provides a stylish and yet casual touch to a look.

As I was so happy with my first choice, I decided to also get the Demon Lobster Clasp Bracelet in black leather (although it is also available in brown). The steel lobster clasp plated in black rhodium provides a nicely understated touch to the two joined braided bracelets that make up this model. I wore this bracelet with a black cotton suit, a white shirt and contrasting white trainers and it certainly added to the urban and stylish look that I was going for as it garnered compliments by those who saw me that day.

After studying Jewellery Design at Central St Martins College of Art in London, Babette Wasserman started creating her own collections of women’s jewellery from her studio in Notting Hill. She soon added cufflinks and bracelets for men to her own label and, since she emerged onto the professional world, she has also worked for other brands such as Aquascutum, Alfred Dunhill and Kenzo. The winners of several awards, Babette Wasserman’s pieces can be found in retailers in Austria, China, Dubai, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Turkey, UK and USA.

The post Babette Wasserman Jewellery for Men appeared first on The Style Examiner.

The reapproriation of something mundane to transform it into something magnificent became the starting point for the design concept of the pavilion, which also aimed to be reminiscent of BVLGARI’s Italian heritage and fabrication methods. To this end, mass and structural rigidity was provided by stacking acrylic tubes that were given unique and elegant shapes through slicing and polishing before being sculpted into arches, arcades and cupolas.

The post BVLGARI Pavilion in Abu Dhabi by Not a Number Architects appeared first on The Style Examiner.

Bulgari joins previous Rodeo Drive Walk of Style honourees Diana Vreeland, Missoni, Iman, Fred Hayman, Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco, Cartier, Valentino Garavani, Manolo Blahnik, James Galanos, Gianni and Donatella Versace, Salvatore Ferragamo, Edith Head, James Acheson, Milena Canonero, Herb Ritts, Mario Testino and Tom Ford. Honourees are selected by an independent committee that comprises media personalities, past honourees, and academics in the worlds of fashion and entertainment.

The post Bulgari Honoured with Rodeo Drive Walk of Style Award appeared first on The Style Examiner.