Like It's Your Birthday

All photos by Rob Sheppard 

I found out today that my toddler nephew Charlie has taken to rejecting the outfit choices laid out for him by his Mom, sending back his practical playground attire, and demanding "Happy Birthday clothes." I can only assume he's referring to the more formal outfits he wears for Birthdays.  Who can blame him for wanting to dress like it's his birthday everyday?  If I had to dress like it was my birthday everyday, Belle Sauvage might be a good option. Designers Christian Neuman and Virginia Ferreira consistently present collection of riotous colors and clashing prints, in unconventional silhouettes and shapes.  This season, the collection took a romantic twist, with plenty of cascading digital print florals and rococo elements mixed with tufts of tulle and floor length hemlines.  I think Charlie would approve.

-Tiffany

The Transformer

Although Rad by Rad Hourani's Spring 2012 collection was saturated with the designer's go-to favorite color black, this season was actually meant to be a study of the color blue.  Ranging from the brightest light blue of the sky, to the darkest black blue of the night, the clothes were meant to be a medium to convey the positive vibrations associated with the color: health, lightness, intuition.  As always, the garments themselves were created with Hourani's signature unisexy approach, and many of the pieces had adjustable beltstraps that transformed the shape of the silhouette, often for very pragmatic purposes.  By allowing the wearer to adjust and change the shape of their clothes, Hourani allows them the freedom to change their attire according to their feeling and moods, and gives them permission to forge a new identity.

For more images, see my coverage of the show on Filep Motwary. 

-Tiffany

Good Vibrations

If I wrote down a checklist of all the things that I currently obsess over in fashion, Timo Weiland's Spring collection would somehow manage to hit a fair amount of them all at once.  It has a decidedly  feminine side, with plenty of flouncy, pretty dresses, yet also has an edgy tomboy feel that comes in the form of cropped sweaters, bandana printed jackets, and mesh tops.  Add to this a set of colorful prints, and you have a collection that I was essentially in love with at first sight.  While Weiland and his partner Alan Eckstein worked with digital prints, rather than printing sleek and photo-realistic images on fabric, they chose to do a clever reworking of classic fusty florals, spiked with a technicolor twist.  The Timo Weiland florals are giant lilypads, or coastal florals flecked with little birds, and you can almost feel the sea breeze drifting off of the garments.  On one strikingly adorable dress, a layer of printed sheer chiffon dances over cotton fabric in the same print, creating a dreamy and semi-hallucinogenic effect. I feel like Langley School's cover of Good Vibrations serves as the perfect soundtrack, encapsulating the ethereal and coastal cool that is built into these clothes.

-Tiffany