Archive for March, 2009

Economic problems are encouraging men to smarten up their look; Mpdclick identifies a return to tailoring where the sharp well cut suit is the staple of power dressing. According to Selfridges’ director of menswear, David Walker-Smith, there is a need to look more authoritative in the workplace. Selfridges have responded by expanding their suiting shop to include a larger floor area and more than 25 collections each with made to measure options. The offer includes Savile Row standard bearers Gieves & Hawkes, classic tailoring brand Ermenegildo and the more fashion led D+G and Etro.

Source: The Telegraph Style Magazine

Image: Etro

The current economic climate has lead consumers to reassess their values, adopting a lifestyle where sustainability and longevity is fundamental. With consumers opting for investment products over disposability, brands are beginning to cater for these demands by providing timeless classics that offer a sense of well being.

Embracing a more considerate lifestyle, consumers are enriching their lives by adopting not just social but ethical responsibility. With an increased global awareness the rise in the popularity of ethical goods is well documented, and the negative preconceptions of the undesirable designs usually associated with conscious fashion, have been dissolved.

New ethical footwear brand, Olsen Haus, encourage considered behavior by offering super stylish vegan and environmentally friendly shoes, sandals and boots. Their dedication to protecting the rights of both animals and humans are at the heart of the business, however the aesthetic qualities are never compromised.

For s/s 09, Olsen Haus have provided us with a quirky, contemporary collection that is the perfect fix for day time casual or evening glamour. Their values are reinforced with the use of natural linen in subdued tones, which serve as a clever contrast to the artistic paint brush splatters and bright block colours prominent within the collection.

Olsen Haus exude creativity, from their core values to their individual style, proving that ‘ethical’ and ‘on trend’ don’t have to be worlds apart. They are definitely one to watch! 

To visit the Olsen Haus website click here 

On Saturday 28th March 2009, Earth Hour saw hundreds of millions of participants from all over the world switching their lights off for a full hour. Beginning in the Chatham Islands in the southern Pacific Ocean and finishing in Hawaii, Earth Hour marched across all 25 time zones, observed by over 4,000 cities and towns in 88 countries.

Earth Hour first began in Sydney in 2007, when 2.2 million people switched off their lights in a mass comment on the issue of climate change. It has grown exponentially since then, with 2009 being the biggest year yet, and with good reason – the Global Climate Change Conference will be taking place in Copenhagen in December. The conference will see political leaders and heads of state coming together to form policies to combat further climate change, policies that will eventually replace the Kyoto Protocol.

The success of this year’s Earth Hour is a reflection of mankind’s growing awareness to the problems facing the environment and a willingness to help rectify them. To many people, ignorance of global warming is highly unethical, and although scepticism abounds as to the causes of climate change it is still obvious that mankind’s use of natural resources needs to be somewhat curtailed to ensure sustainability for the future. Sustainability in particular is a main feature of Cleanse, one of Mpdclick’s key trends for a/w 10/11, and as such it is something that we will be seeing a lot more of, both in fashion and a wider cultural context.

Image source: Flickr.com/earth hour global

Lakme Fashion Week kicked off on the 27th March in Mumbai, with international supermodel Naomi Campbell stealing the show and helping to celebrate the 10th year of the event.

Campbell took to the runway to co-host the ‘Mai Mumbai’ show, on behalf of her charity ‘Fashion for Relief’, to benefit the victims of the 26/11 blasts in Mumbai. Campbell strutted her stuff in creations by the likes of Dolce and Gabanna and Manolo Blahnik; Bollywood was reported so impressed that the model was bombarded with film roles all night.

A host of India’s film and TV personalities, including Deepika Padukone and Rahul Khanna attended all week, with India’s elite designers showcasing their latest autumn/winter 09/10 collections.

The week also saw Indian celebrity Katrina Kaif named as the inspiration for a new Barbie doll created by Mattel, while creations by 20 of the country’s leading fashion designers were unveiled in the ‘Dress the Barbie’ competition. The winning design, by Nishka Lulla, and modeled by Kaif concluded the show at Mumbai’s Grand Hyatt Hotel.            

Image source: Rex Features

We discovered the latest edition of ‘look of the week’ on the sunny streets of Sydney. Taking clear inspiration from the likes of British style guru’s Agyness Deyn and Kelly Osbourne, this stylish lady experiments with an edgy and androgynous look. She combines a shapeless cotton smock dress with bowler hat, black patent Dr Marten’s boots and Ray Ban Wayfarer shades, more than reminiscent of London’s signature East End style.

For more Sydney street style click here.

“Twisted-bodied girls with a melancholy attitude” is how Finnish Laura Laine describes her current style of hauntingly beautiful fashion illustrations. She has just created a fabulous editorial for Italian fashion & art magazine Muse; incorporating her sketched girl’s in to new product shots.

Her stunning ladies peek out from behind sculptural designer heels and swing from bag straps, creating a truly innovative and rather unexpected spread. For more click here

The precisely talented, 24 year old Miss Laine already has a pretty impressive resume, working with Tommy Hilfiger and featuring in the New York Times and Elle Girl. Here at Mpdclick Laura has definitely inspired us, especially when it comes to graphic inspiration for our forthcoming forecast trend Escapism. Stay tuned to the Trends area for the release of these trends this spring.

Image source: cyanatrendland.com/Muse magazine

Further viewing
cyanatrendland.com
lauralaine.net

The infamous Liberty of London, the vast boutique renowned for its selection of high end and highly covetable goods, has marked 2009 the year of change. Proceedings began with the appointment of Frenchman Geoffroy de La Bourdonnaye (pictured left) as chief executive and an entire store refit.

The Liberty brand is deep set full of heritage and carries an established global brand identity that is well respected within the world of retail. The concept of the refit was to look back to the original vision that founder Arthur Lasenby Liberty hoped to achieve, “to have beautiful exclusive things that you cannot find anywhere else… a little avant-garde, but importantly affordable and accessible.”

The new shop fit keeps many of the mock-tudor features, retaining the original history and character of the store. Inside, floors are divided into clear sections including, Avant Garde, International, Creative and Essential, creating an unclutted environment and clear navigation around the store. Liberty also redeveloped their line of designers and brands, choosing to hold less labels but investing deeper into the chosen ranges, providing more concise, untangled collection of garments.

As well an in store re-vamp, Liberty’s management has also seen a drastic overhaul, appointing a new company buying director, menswear buying director, and director of internet, supply chain and retail merchandising. De La Bourdonnaye is a strong believer in “new products means new people, and fresh visions.” The fashion emporium that is Liberty is now open, situated at its flagship location on Great Marlborough Street, London.

Image source: rex features

In a bid to excite and enthuse the reluctant consumer, retailers Joseph and Selfridges on London’s Oxford Street are declaring at full voice, that the circus is most certainly coming to town!  As if mannequins clad in the latest statement collections weren’t enough, window dressers upped the theatrics with an assortment of installations and special effects, completely immersing observers in a fantastical world of colour and amusement.

In keeping with Mpdclick’s autumn/winter 10/11 Escapism trend direction, shop windows are filled with harlequin cut out figurines, subverted Pop Art clown prints, surrealist pop up landscapes and flashing ‘circus’ slogan light concepts. Emulating a distinctively Parisian feel, can can girls feature alongside vintage posters and life size swan sculptures, whilst the hustle and bustle of the amusement park is recreated through a cardboard rollercoaster, fully functioning miniature carousel and floating ducks. Take inspiration from Selfridges and Joseph’s successful use of their shop windows to capitalise on the growing trend of consumer escapism.

Mpdclick cites New York based conceptual artist Peter Coffin as key inspiration for a world of fictional escapism. Coffin’s current exhibition, ‘The Curve’ at London’s Barbican gallery, explores and challenges society’s notion of space by combining sculpture, video, installation and photography to create an unwary atmosphere that provokes distorted realities.

For ‘The Curve’ Coffin primarily looks to traditional Japanese garden design which encompasses shifts in scale and multiple points of focus, in turn distorting ones perspective and sense of space. A 360-degree aerial view of a Japanese garden is projected onto ‘the curve’ which is combined with a sound installation to further alter space and sense definition.

Coffin has a strong interest in the theories of mythological UFO sightings and how these sightings increase in times of anxiety, for example the present day credit crunch and how this could translate into multimedia installation. The idea of the UFO’s as a uniting symbol of wandering consciousness creates a thought provoking installation.

Coffin’s ongoing series ‘Aura Portraits’ further explores his personal interests in mythology in which Coffin explores the idea of telepathy and how photographs can steal ones soul. ’The Curve’ is open until 10th May 2009 at London Barbican gallery.

Image source: flickr / jon & alison

Twitter, the newest social networking website to add to the myriad of existing online phenomena, has ostensibly gone from strength to strength within the public domain in recent months. It has acquired fans all over the world and cemented itself firmly within contemporary popular culture, with the help of some celebrity endorsements from the likes of British personalities Stephen Fry and Chris Moyles. However, since the initial burst of interest things seem to have died down somewhat, which begs the question: was Twitter really as destined for greatness as many would have us believe? Furthermore, what does the future hold for online social networking?

Advances in technology mean that the Internet has revolutionised the way many people, particularly youngsters, communicate and share information. We are no longer bound by prohibitive long-distance telephone costs or even time zones – the immediacy and convenience of the Internet allows us to communicate, in real-time, with people all over the world, at virtually no cost. Social networking sites represent the latest evolution in online information sharing, and while they may not be for everyone, it is hard to deny the overall impact of websites such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Whatever your opinion, it is fairly obvious that online social networking heralds one of the first fundamental changes in the way ordinary people use the Internet to facilitate their day-to-day lives. Twitter, for example, has become de rigueur for many companies, particularly those in the creative industry, as a quick and easy way to inform clients and customers of new products.  In years past, this would have been the forte of a clunky mailing list, which in many cases would be quickly regarded as spam and junked by the recipient. Twitter allows the discerning consumer to ‘follow’ only those whose updates they are interested in, cutting the wheat from the chaff and providing quick access to the desired information.

Social networking as a business model remains one of the most lucrative around – access to reams of profitable marketing information gained from content voluntarily uploaded for free by its users, not to mention the huge advertising potential – and when this is combined with human beings’ basic need to interact and communicate, the resulting push-pull dynamic ensures that as a society, it is almost certain that we will be Facebooking and Tweeting for a long time yet.