That Japanese Label 1980's - 1990's

I HAD to boast about my latest vintage find...

I bought this for £25 in a charity shop, it was a vintage section but letting me think i found a gem amongst surplus donations is a better feeling.

"Intellectual Chic and the art of Zen". Japan opened itself to foreign trade in the 19th century, and through much filtering, that is the reasoning i got my hands on this asian creation. 'Pleats Please" was a fall collection by Japanese Issey Miyake. It only lasted until 1990 so i feel i have come into something with exclusivity. 

Trying to show detail in black is hard any day but this has so much to show! After a few years of practice Miyake founded the technique of pre sewing the garment, twisting then heat pressing to create the marvellous creases that 'Pleats Please' stands for. Almost guaranteed to be formed from 100% polyester, the fibres are easily manipulated.

The care label actually has instructions on how to maintain the details. When putting on or taking off please be careful for catching or pulling, or one that i found slightly humorous "Pleats are easily marred by heat and pressure, avoid sitting".

Quite up to date, the bondage fetish look is seen in the cut out details. These diamonds act as darts to the front, appear on the back of the neck and to the hem at the hip. Touched on in my last post this shows how fashion now is so reminiscent of the past.  Black also demonstrates this racey theme, but Miyake also experimented with brighter bases...

After studying art in his youth its not surprising he produced the black dress worn by Grace Jones above left, in 94. The pleating is exactly the same as the blouse i have photographed. Dominating the image is the pink and red above, strong use of colour is also a trademark of another Japanese Designer, Yamamoto. Regardless of colour, 'Pleats Please' will remain iconic.

cardigan: vinatge

Shaggy Furs

After seeing this on the front of the Daily Telegraph magazine a couple of weekends ago, it inspired me to pull out my very own alternative. The jacket above is  £5,000 worth of Ostrich feathers. Exceptional craftsmanship from Giorgio Armani, mine however was a £30 steal from what i think was a hippie/grunge label from the 90's.

I pulled this quote out from a retail magazine, edition by John Lewis in August:

"Fashion revisits its heritage and draws you in with the good bits".

I do find this to be quite true. One of the most common things heard to the ear about fashion is that its all about the new. False. My jacket owns a good 20 years in existence before the engineers behind Armani found inspiration. They may create beautiful wonders, but is there fall 2011 collection really 'new'? 

Much of fashion is about revitalising classic looks, varying a colour combination or placing emphasis on a different part of the outfit. The 90's number is hugely accountable for a great burst of pink and plum colour. While autumn this year is also about berry shades - renamed to Bordeaux and brandy 'boozy colours' - great delicacy is proven by Armani in their use of Ostrich feathers. Emphasis is placed on texture in the designer piece. My affordable alternative shows the influx of grunge, bright colours of the R'n'b&pop music culture and street fashion.

The advent of MTV in the 1980's cemented the link between fashion and music as the music video became as important as the record. TLC? This early 90's image of the trio shows the vibrant colour palette. In releasing four multi-platinum albums is cannot be argued they weren't a successful band. # Don't go chasing waterfalls...

Their image indefinitely helped concrete music taste into a fashion led trend: street fashion. This was an amalgamated outcome of youth cultures like music and the want to create mainstream everyday wear.

Back to the jackets. The two differ in quality and occasion. Club culture also pulled together the two strains of street fashion and high fashion as the inventiveness of nightlife dressing became influential.

So i think my shaggy yeti coat is a fancy item from the 90's casual and dressed down age, and Armani have just triumphed a high end premium version. I may be biased in that i love time-honoured fashion, but it can be proven here that designers do dip into the past for substance to create new.

jacket: vintage, gloves: h&m

Tailoring

Formal workwear like suiting is as common to the female wardrobe as denim. After again browsing the autumn/winter lookbook of Rokit vintage i found tailoring to feature, but only to mens attire. Researching designer takes on Androgyny i wasn't surprised to find the likes of Paul Smith - who regularly dips into the likes of masculinity for ladieswear - to have neat cut tailoring feature in his items to stream the runway come October. It could be argued that the classic Chanel Jacket was a take on masculinity but made feminine with tweedy fabrics.

I wore tailoring firstly with this blazer. Bought overseas its greatly representative of old fashioned and traditional masculine cuts. The buttons, collar and lapels are all satin in contrast to the polyester mix body. The shoulders are given support with padding to create a more angled and masculine shape, its also streamline with no give to the bust or darting. However it was the pockets that gave essence of hunting jackets, generally worn by males, where the pockets were placed high with no intent to be forgiving to the hips. This blazer is great and current despite being second hand.

Another i have is less sleek, this cropped jacket is navy with a grey lining, quite a box shape like the Chanel jacket previously described. The age of this jacket really attracted me to it, the label was actually a list where the material content was written, rather than printed as a component. This is possibly an indicator of it being handmade, maybe even that of made to measure. Regardless, the cuff and collar give this the great smartness of tailoring, to rival that of Celine and YSL this fall.

Celine Fall 2011 VOGUE


garments: vintage leggings: H&M

Winter Warmers

Fur has dominance this winter. Be it real or fake, winter gear (on the high street) has been given a touch of luxe.

After hearing furore of 'no fur or no show' for Fendi's fall show in Korea, it has brought to light the amazing things that can be done with subsitutes! Hats, fur lepels, fur coats, cardigans, handbags, stoles and shoes are to name a few of the things sporting the animal-esq texture. It could be argued its more fashionalbe to have the fake alternative with the great offerings from high street giants. H&M, presenting itself as leader of the pack, is the king of simplistic adverts.  The image below is a magazine advertisement needing no labels, no other extravagant item of clothing to zoom in on...just the fur.

Also a bag from them, just an excuse to add fur and follow the trend, a feisty price of £14.99.






The offerings make it hard not to avoid buying something along the same style guide. Along the vintage lines i wanted to showcase my favourite two fur textured items. The jacket photographed to commence was a fifty quid steal from a section in a favourite charity shop, it has evidence of being a coat as the seam inside is slightly uneven and half of the label has been removed at the bottom seaming. Why would someone want to remove any value to this?? Nonetheless its beautiful as a jacket, an American Coney fur.


Amaya Arzuaga is the Spanish mind behind the design of the knitted polo neck. Not owning a huge vintage label, probably from around the 90's, the top was part of an early collection of hers. Bought from The Closet Vintage store, the top was a must for me because of its statement shoulder detail. The structure filters through from the previous 80's identity where accentuated shoulders were meant to ooze notions of 'power' and 'money'. With reference to this, the shape spells vintage and also the use of fur adding to add a touch of opulence.


Showing the different ways it can be used, fur is back this winter...in more ways than one.

garments: vintage other H&M: www.hm.com