Lars Nilsson, one of the earlier holders of the now-cursed Nina Ricci job, has landed himself a new position, one as un-Ricci as possible.
He’s launching a menswear collection with Mabro, an Italian manufacturer.
The Swedish designer’s actually made his way through a host of cursed houses; he worked at Bill Blass until going to Ricci in 2003 and then, in late 2007, landed at Gianfranco Ferre, taking over for Mr Ferre himself. But he surprised everyone by leaving less than a year later. If we were him, we’d be fed up with womenswear, too.
According to Nilsson, Mr. Nils, the menswear line, will make “chic sportswear with tailoring. It’s a modern and accessible luxury brand, which will be manufactured entirely in Tuscany, Italy.”
It’ll debut at Pitti Uomo in January.
Designers are falling into two very different camps these days.
On the one side, we’ve got those pulling out of the tents for Fashion Week (Vera), consolidating stores (Marc), and focusing on accessories (Olivier).
On the other, we’ve got those moving from womenswear to menswear (Roland, Gareth, Carlos, Decarnin, Ferré), womenswear to kidswear (Gaultier) and now, from menswear into womenswear.
Tim Hamilton will be showing his first women’s collection at Paris Fashion Week this March. The designer told Style.com that the capsule collection, built in Japan and Italy, is inspired by his mother’s, “avant-garde, all-black look and mid-century postmodernism.” So, very New York?
Also? Shoes! He hasn’t decided if he’ll sell them or not, but the more shoes in the world, the better.
With only one actual season at Gianfranco Ferre under their belts, Tommaso Aquilano and Roberto Rimondi - of 6267 fame - are already branching out into menswear under the Italian label’s name.
The duo will unveil the collection in Milan at Men’s Fashion Week on January 18th, and those are absolutely all of the details available at the moment.
So now that’s: Gianfranco Ferre, Gareth Pugh, Roland Mouret, Carlos Miele, Christophe Decarnin and Matthew Williamson, all making forays into boys’ clothes in the same year.
Perhaps Valentino Man will be inspired to rejoin the class for the Spring 2010 shows?
But anyway, if Monique Lhuillier announces a line of suits, we’ll know this is officially a craze.
Dear Everyone,
We get it, fast fashion is where it’s at. No one’s enjoyed Go International more than us, we’re still eagerly awaiting Comme for H&M, and we’re counting the days until another GAP shirt collection. But, as often as we’ve reported on the ins and outs of designers at Chloe, Gianfranco Ferre, Valentino; we wonder, what’s going to happen to Paulo, Lars, and Alessandra?
So we were thinking this morning, as we usually do over french toast, that it would be a really interesting proposition for someone like, say, Bergdorf Goodman, to have a Go International collection of their own, but at the designer level. Think about it. While Alessandra’s waiting for Rochas to propose, she could do a one-off collection of empire-waisted chiffon-y frocks, and Alessandra gets to remind everyone how swell she is, not to mention pick up a nice little paycheck in between gigs. Plus, the store gets a covetable collection that gets people to spend their money at a time when everyone’s just waiting for the next diffusion line to come out, and we all get amazing clothes. Total win-win.
If you need more convincing, imagine how amazing it would have been if a few years ago, Phoebe Philo had a chance to remind everyone why they love her courtesy Barneys. It might have made Anna’s job getting her the top spot at Celine way easier, not to mention an instant fan base for normally unlikely customers for Celine.
Just saying,
Fashionista (ok, it’s Brett, as if you didn’t know)
Just as we all started to get comfortable in our skinny pants, a new silhouette is officially taking over the runway.
And it’s straight out of the ’70s.
We first started to think about flares way back during the Spring 08 shows when we saw them on Stam at Gianfranco Ferre, and in crazy colors and plaid at Prada. Then, Fall 08 brought a steady stream of super wide-leg pants, and now, even Chanel’s show for Resort included a pair.
But how did this happen? We haven’t thought this look was cute since we saw it in pictures of our moms from before we were even born. And are they practical? Unless you’ve got Nadja-length legs, tall shoes are an absolute must, and even then, that’s still just a lot of material to walk around in without collecting street dirt on your way.
So what do you think, a cute look that deserves a second try? Or too hideous for thought?
—KYLE HAYES
