New York Fashion Week: The Prints Prevail

Yesterday I said that Alexander Wang was one of the American designers I was most looking forward to showing at New York Fashion Week and having taken one look at his Fall/Winter 2012 collection, this may have been a mistake.

It wasn't terrible, it just wasn't exactly interesting. Besides some classic Wang tailoring, the fabrics and shapes looked quite clunky and unless you're of model proportions, shapeless jumpers reminiscent of smelly wetsuits just ain't gonna work. Maybe it'll grow on me, who knows, but Alexander Wang Fall/Winter 2012 hasn't quite hit the mark or the standards we've become accustomed to.

Yesterday I said how my fear of colour restricts me to a uniform of black during the winter months but that might be about to change. Enter Band of Outsiders, Christian Cota and Mara Hoffman and their colourful, outdoorsy, printed collections. 

 Band of Outsiders

Christian Cota

Mara Hoffman

These collections probably instil the fear of God in anyone with an aversion to colour but they're so chic and well-styled it's almost impossible not to like them. Floaty peasant dresses were given sheer sex appeal and slouchy printed harem-pants were teamed with super-bright blazers at Band of Outsiders; their men's collections are always great so it'd be hard not the love the women's too. Fur is always a massive trend for Fall/Winter and my favourite variation this season has got to be the long-line waistcoat also seen at Christian Cota. His ethnic inspired collection made me want to travel back to the 70s and explore South America; it seems the printed trouser is fast becoming a serious contender for the most popular trend this season. Everything about Mara Hoffman's collection is doing it for me: the hats, the snoods, the prints, the shapes. Everything. The printed trouser and white shirt combination has to be my favourite look so far - you can just tell that over the coming weeks, there'll be a million and one variations.

I never thought I would favour bright prints over classic monochrome shapes but these collections are undeniably wonderful. I absolutely fell in love with the leather body-harnesses at Hervé Léger by Max Azria (see below) so have my fingers crossed that the high-street is taking note. How amazing would they look over a sheer vest or a contrasting body-con dress?

What are your favourite trends so far and would you like to see the high-street producing printed-trousers and body harnesses next winter? 

photos from style.com

Past, Present and Future: Alexander Wang

There are a select handful of designers whose collections I genuinely get excited about each season and Alexander Wang is one of them. His ingenious ability to give sport-luxe commercial appeal, his extraordinarily collectable accessories (I defy you to attend a fashion show where a Rocco/Diego isn't present) and his beautifully deconstructed take on tailoring make him one of the best designers in America right now. If you haven't already guessed, I'm quite a fan.

In anticipation of his Fall/Winter 2012 collection which is showing later today, I have put together my two favourite ready-to-wear looks from 2009 to the present day. Think of it as an homage, if you will.

Wang's Fall/Winter collection from 2009 is still my favourite of his - I distinctly remember the biker boot/cycling short revolution that followed and, along with thousands of others, promised myself that I would one day own a Diego.

There wasn't a girl in the fashion-world that didn't covet a side-plait/develop a sudden interest in American Football after seeing Wang's Spring/Summer 2010 collection. 

Everything about Wang's Fall/Winter 2010 collection was slightly odd. The flares, the slicked-down hair, the mish-mash of textures and the unusual styling technically shouldn't have worked together but they did. Harmoniously. 

I don't like white. I especially don't like metallic pastel colours. I do, however, love Wang's take on them both for Spring/Summer 2011 (he really can do no wrong in my eyes). 

My second favourite collection, Fall/Winter 2011 spurred the masses onto wearing knitwear with a silk maxi-dress on nights out. Sexy and practical, what's not to love?

Wang's Spring/Summer 2012 offering is probably my least favourite of the bunch, maybe my fear of pale-colours is preventing me from loving this collection as much as the others? Regardless, it's still undeniably great and I have faith that for Fall/Winter 2012, he'll produce something marvellous. 

Who is your favourite American designer? And your favourite designer full stop? After years of hard-graft, I am now the proud owner of Wang's infamous Diego bucket-bag and unashamedly parade around town with it, just because I can. Is there an item of clothing, or an accessory that you one day hope to own? 

photos from style.com

New York Fashion Week: Helmut Lang AW12

Some of you may (or may not) know that last September I moved to New York for 3 months. Everyone kept telling me it was like London, only bigger; however, geographical differences aside, it's nothing like London. I could write a list as long as my arm citing the disparities: fashion, lifestyle, night-life - where do you start? During my first week there, I was lucky enough to attend a show during New York Fashion Week and it was there that I noticed a massive contrast in clothing and personal style. See, New Yorker's are very chic and more often that not, live in a uniform of black whilst rarely venturing into the world of colour. I, for one, can appreciate this apprehension of wearing colour because it scares me; what if it clashes with my hair? Do I have to co-ordinate it with my nail-varnish? The potential colour predicaments are endless.

Anyway, what does any of this have to do with Helmut Lang? Technically, New York Fashion Week and I should be the best of friends but to be entirely truthful, I usually find it excruciatingly boring. There's rarely any 'oomph' (for want of a better word) and I'm usually disappointed, even more so after having fallen in love with the city. So far this season it's been true to form and the only people I'm vaguely excited about are yet to show. With its monochrome palette, structured tailoring, luxury fabrics and clever styling Helmut Lang has thus far been my favourite show.

I'll be the first to admit that there's nothing new here: over the knee boots, cobwebby knits, funnel-neck leather jackets and leather trousers are all far from cutting edge. What I do love though is the simplicity and wearability of the collection - it is neither generic nor high-fashion and therefore suits me just fine. In my opinion, this is the best collection out of a bad bunch which is such a shame as New York has so much to offer. I know it isn't notorious for avant-garde and unwearable fashions but it would be nice to see something unique and original come out of NYFW this season, let's hope the best is still to come!

Coming out of hibernation...

It's been a while since I last blogged, 6 months in fact. This comes down to a multitude of factors (moving to New York, not having enough time/interesting content - the usual suspects) and now feels like the perfect time to rejuvenate and completely reinvent Bang Bang You're Dead: although the situation is entirely boring and demoralising, not having a job has given me the freedom to write on a daily basis again. This is good.

I wanted my first post to be massively entertaining and exciting but any notion of that clearly went out of the window when I realised I didn't actually have anything interesting to say. I'm hoping that something comes to me by tomorrow because I promised myself that I'd write everyday; I wouldn't want to bore you again with another 'I'm coming out' post so fingers crossed.

Until tomorrow, I'm constantly (somewhat obsessively) updating my Tumblr and regularly Tweeting about other useless stuff like eBay and U.F.O's so check them out, if you fancy. I'll get to work on the layout of Bang Bang You're Dead because it's looking fairly boring and crap, stay tuned!

London's Burning

If you've been paying any attention to the news over the last couple of days then you'll know that London is currently in a state of chaos. At the end of last week, a man was shot by the police in Tottenham, north London. There is a fair bit of mystery surrounding the incident and as a result, riots erupted culminating in the destruction of several homes and businesses. Over the weekend, more riots started in Brixton and then yesterday spread across the capital hitting: Hackney, Peckham, Deptford, Camden, Ealing as well as other parts of the country entirely. This behaviour is absolute insanity and is representative of a very small minority of London, mainly youths with too much time on their hands. Sadly, these events make me feel very ashamed to be British - especially as a nation that so arrogantly assumes control in other countries. 


Let us hope that these mindless yobs get their just-deserts (optimistic, given that our Prime Minister waited the entire weekend to come back from his trip to Italy, how noble). As one of my friends put it, "these guys are destroying their own ends! How long will it take for the realisation to set in?". Hopefully the madness won't continue for a third night...

If you want to keep updated, check the BBC or Sky News - there is some sickening footage that makes you realise that these people have about as much brains as a can of tuna. Here are just a few Tweets from last night - there's a distinct air of discontent, no?

The Kids Are Alright...

On Friday, I was invited to don my wellies and attend the Underage Festival in East London, courtesy of Claire's Accessories. Although I'm definitely not underage (the festival is only open to 13-17 year olds) I went along to check out a few bands and get style-envy from some of the girls there; seriously, when I was that age I was so un-stylish it's not even funny - these girls are really on it! I didn't have the chance to go to any other festivals this year so I was actually rather excited (despite being about 4 years too old).

They had everything on site that a regular festival would have (although I think they slightly underestimated their target age with a mini-carousel) but Claire's really upped their game and whacked a styling caravan in for good measure. Now, I haven't set foot in a Claire's Accessories for years, but after visiting the store and checking out the quirky little style-mobile, I have to admit I'm rather impressed.

The lovely Amy from Wolf Whistle and myself we're well on the obligatory festival uniform of hair-plaiting/face-painting that took place in Claire's caravan; I mean, when else is it acceptable to regress 15 years and actually have an excuse for drawing a butterfly on your face? Some ass nicked my favourite pair of vintage sunnies (sorry mum) from the VIP area so the Claire's girls came to my rescue with the bad-boys from the middle picture - how fun are they?? 

I only really saw a couple of bands (including an intriguing trio whose lyrics "she must be a lesbian" made us all cringe/laugh quite a bit) but the day was massively fun either way. Sadly, the sunnies aren't available on the Claire's Accessories website so I've pulled 3 of my favourite things instead, what do you think?

What has been your favourite festival style this year? Mine was (and probably always will be) the whole crop-top/denim cut-offs/Dr. Martens and coloured hair look - it never fails! On to other news, I paid for my apartment in Williamsburg today so if anyone has any 'must-see' tips for when I'm in New York then please share!

Pretty in Pink

Katy Perry is one of those celebs I just can't get my head around; sometimes I think she's really great (her music definitely falls into the so-bad-it's-good category) but then others times I think she's a right idiot (the whole comment about Lady Gaga being blasphemous in her Alejandro video is a bit rich coming from someone who 'kissed a girl and liked it'). Anyway, recently, she's kind of just fallen off my radar - until I saw this photo...

And so, Katy Perry has jumped on the crazy-hair-colour-bandwagon and is currently sporting this washed out pink look. If you've been anywhere trendy recently (East London/Williamsburg/Berlin - you get the picture) then you'll already know that coloured hair is so last season; however, I'll give Katy brownie points for trying because I actually think it really suits her. 

Having coloured hair is great (mine is currently red, original I know) until you realise how much maintenance it requires. Obviously, this isn't an issue for the super-rich but for the rest of us, well, we can't all afford to go to the salon every time we have a fading dilemma. My advice then, is to invest in bright accessories that you can wear without fear of staining your white top every time it rains. Here, ladies and possibly gents, are some fun pink things to stop you from doing a Katy the next time you get bored...

Clockwise from bottom left: Balenciaga Paper A4 bag, Alexander McQueen clutch, Swedish Hasbeens, Selima Optique glasses and Topshop blush in Pinch.

It's fair to say that colour-blocking isn't going anywhere fast so mix-and-match for the best 'end of Summer' looks. For something a bit tougher, I'm absolutely obsessed with these adorable pink Dr.Martens - how great would they look with lacy white socks and denim cut-offs??

Not so long ago I mentioned that I had some very exciting news and so, on the 4th September I'm moving across the pond to New York to build up my CV within the big bad world of PR; I'll try and blog when I'm out there so keep checking back! What do you all think of Katy's new hairstyle; does it suit her or should she leave the pink locks to trendy hipsters?