Better Late Than Never: Prada Does Punk

Images via Vogue Runway

With a mix of music from Nirvana, Nina Simone, Lana del Rey and more, Prada's punk women clad in reworked button-downs walked the runway decorated with comic book heroines by women artists. It was punk Miuccia Prada's way, a mix of menswear elements with the lady-like silhouettes, studded belts, shoes and bags slightly reminiscent of your teen years (except they're a little less Hot Topic and a little more Milan) and enamel pendant necklaces rather than pins. The comic heroines were the finishing touch, the radical comic girls blowing bubble gum, wearing devil horns and sunglasses, slapping and hexing. Prada told Sarah Mower of Vogue, “I found it inspiring that with a pencil in your hand, you can tell your life.” Storytelling is what Prada often does with her clothes; The Prada woman is always set against a backdrop that explores various areas, politics, art film and so on. There were several standout pieces throughout the collection, bags with comic girls that exclaimed "Prada", oversized jackets and pieces that mixed media, prints and accents. Expect to see Prada heroine's everywhere.

The Latest CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Nominations Features Four Black Designers

This July (I know, I'm super late) the CFDA/Vogue Fashion fund announced their ten finalists and this year's lineup featured four black designers, a record number. The competition cultivates a group of emerging designers who receive mentorship and a monetary prize for the winner and runners up. Past winners include Kristopher Brock and Laura Vassar of Brock Collection (2016), Aurora James of Brother Vellies (1 of 3 winners in 2015), Paul Andrew (2014), Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne of Public School (2013). It's an amazing opportunity for any designer and it's great to see four black designers in the running. To put this in perspective, in 2015, the New York Times reported that there were a handful of black designers at NYFW averaging at about 2.7% and Fashionista reports that a total of 4 black designers have been finalists since the fund's inception in 2003. To put it simply, it's a huge deal. While diversity on the runways is important, the diversity behind the scenes is equally important and like the number of black models, the number of black designers is quite dismal. Keep reading to see the nominees...

The beautiful @iajakdeng shines in the Malachite Bar collection ❤️❤️❤️ Available at @wsprbysylviesaliba

A post shared by Mateo (@mateonewyork) on Jun 14, 2017 at 12:56pm PDT

Matthew Harris - MATEO New York

The Jamaican-born designer launched his accessories line in 2009. Since then, the brand has expanded to include fine jewelry for women as well. The designers minimal pieces are composed of jewels and 14 karat gold and are sold at luxury retailers like Moda Operandi and Bergdorf Goodman.

SS/18 - LOOK 6 DYNE.LIFE #UNITOFFORCE #StyleDriven #NYFWM

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Christopher Bevans - Dyne

The menswear brand defines their apparel as "Fabric, Fit, and Function on a new level." The elevated athleisure brand's functional and fashionable wares are embedded with chips so that they work in a similar way to say, an Apple Watch. Bevans has worked with Billionaire Boys Club, Rocawear, Nike and Kanye West before launching Dyne.

via Vogue.com

Victor Glemaud

Haitian-born Glemaud started out as a design assistant and later worked in PR before making the leap to designing. He spent time as at Paco Rabanne and Tommy Hilfiger while working on his luxury knitwear label which he launched in 2006. His work has star power, appearing on Iman, Selena Gomez and more. His line is available on Net-A-Porter and The Line.

via Vogue.com

Telfar Clemens - Telfar

"It's not for you ― it's for everyone" declares the Telfar Global website. The unisex line launched in 2005 offers androgynous pieces that are wearable but elevated take for instance his latest venture, designing the uniforms for fast food chain White Castle. His line is available at Colette, Opening Ceremony, Selfridges and more. 

NYFW Is Changing and it's Open to the Public...Kind Of

Image via Vogue Runway

NYFW has been going through a number of changes over the years from location, (decamping from Bryant Park to Lincoln Center to Skylight Clarkson Sq and wherever else designers see fit in the city) to length and lately the designers showing. Rodarte, Proenza Schouler, Thom Browne, Altuzarra and a few more have left New York for Paris Fashion Week. While this apparently mass exodus from NYFW seems like a big deal, it's not, assured CFDA President Steven Kolb to Fashionista. The reasons behind the moves are different for every designer. Designer Thom Browne's move to Paris seemed like a natural move and a way to reach a larger audience.

The dynamic duos behind Proenza Schouler and Rodarte, who announced their moves earlier this year, debuted their Spring/Summer RTW collections in Paris during Couture Week. With lines blurring and the definition of couture becoming murkier, their collections of both wearable yet ornate pieces fit in seamlessly. Rodarte's elegance (baby's breath head pieces and tulle dresses) was offset with a bit of edge with leather jackets, pants and even dresses. Proenza's played with structure and texture, using peplums, lace, feathers and ruffles in their midriff grazing and baring looks. Needless to say the shows were a hit amongst critics and of course on instagram. The move to Paris is a risk but for some designers it's seems more like a natural progression.

As for NYFW, it will be a day shorter and will be going public, kind of. According to Glossy.co, NYFW is teaming up with IMG for "NYFW: The Experience" which will open the event to customers. NYFW will still be pretty exclusive of course, this is a paid luxury experience (with a handful of VIP benefits) and likely the participants will be consumers of the labels presenting because let's be real this will probably be a pretty pricey experience. To market it as an "experience" preserves the idea of exclusivity and capitalizes on the buzz of fashion week, the street style crowds, the glamour of the front row and of course the clothes on the runway make great instagram posts. So far there are only a few details on the program but I'll keep this space updated.

NYFW will still be exciting despite the changes. I'm particularly excited about the CFDA Fashion Fund nominees this year features a record number of black designers (oh there will definitely be a post on this) and designers that have shown at NYFW. The Spring shows don't kick off until September but in the meantime you can catch up on the menswear and resort shows.

TWIF: What Michael Kors and Lanvin Have in Common, Zigi's Vogue Cover, #Menswear and Beyoncé

Welcome to TWIF (The Week in Fashion) or my attempt to update this blog more than once a month. TWIF is a round up of the latest and greatest in fashion news. Here are a few items of note. 

Sir Carter and Rumi 1 month today. 🙏🏽❤️👨🏽👩🏽👧🏽👶🏾👶🏾

A post shared by Beyoncé (@beyonce) on Jul 13, 2017 at 10:10pm PDT

World Stop...Carry On...
As always, without warning, Beyoncé has dropped a surprise release in the middle of the night. The star took to instagram to release the first picture of her month old twins and confirm their names (Sir Carter and Rumi). The picture, which is sure to influence a million future maternity photos, featured the singer clad in a piece by Alejandro Gómez Palomo designer of the brand Palomo Spain. The floor length silk gown is actually menswear customized for the singer and it's undeniably gorgeous. And the twins? Undeniably adorable. Congrats Bey on giving birth to next best music group. 

Fashion Musical Chairs: Lanvin Edition
If you haven't been following what's going on at Lanvin here's a quick refresher: Longtime creative director Alber Elbaz was ousted in 2015 and replaced later on by designer Bouchra Jarrar. After a year and two RTW collections with the house, Jarrar was replaced by Oliver Lapidus. According Business of Fashion, sources are claiming the brand is taking a turn and is aiming to become the French Michael Kors. This probably means something more like following the business plan of the once highly successful American brand and not making monogram Lanvin bags and shoes. Vanessa Friedman and Elizabeth Paton have a really great piece on this rumor, speculating that the whole "French Michael Kors" thing could also be referring to Kors's style as "extreme simplicity in the sportswear sense with extreme luxe in the material sense and a resolute refusal to get neurotic." We'll have to wait a bit to see what it really means but with the way the fashion calendar is, we probably wont have to wait for long. 

Zigi Covers Vogue
The latest Vogue cover stars are naturally the power couple that is Zayn Malik and Gigi Hadid or Zigi, as I will lazily refer to them. Zigi wears a number of suits in interesting colors and fabrics, corduroy by Prada, a peacock feather pattern by Gucci and so on. Another Hadid with a modeling contract also makes an appearance, Anwar Hadid poses with big sister Gigi in Burberry, McQueen, Demeulemeester and more. The cover and editorial drew criticism due to the misusage and misunderstanding of gender fluidity, which many pointed out doesn't mean women wearing suits. Vogue has since issued a statement apologizing for the usage.

#Menswear
I'll be honest, I haven't had a chance to check out any other menswear show but Raf Simons, so let's talk about that. The latest collection from the designer drew inspiration from the 80s film Blade Runner. I'm by no means a movie buff so I can't tell you how accurate his take on the film is but I did enjoy the collection and the interesting choice of atmosphere, under the Manhattan bridge with the smell of fish in the air (maybe related to this movie that I should take the time out to watch?) Models carried umbrellas and wore oversized coats as they walked down the runway illuminated by lanterns and neon lights. 

TWIF: The Met Gala Edition Because Nothing Else Happened This Week

Welcome to TWIF (The Week in Fashion) or my attempt to update this blog more than once a month. TWIF is a round up of the latest and greatest in fashion news. Here are a few items of note. 

A post shared by Lara Pia Arrobio (@piaarrobio) on May 3, 2017 at 5:41pm PDT

If you're well versed in fashion events or just really like red carpets, you know that once a year, every year, on the first Monday in May is the Met Gala. You may also know about the time-honored tradition of criticizing every attendees ability to match the gala's theme. This year the gala is celebrating the opening of an exhibit honoring the legendary Japanese fashion designer and Comme des Garçons founder/designer Rei Kawakubo, so of course this was the theme of the evening. If you know anything about the designer, you'll know that she's known for her avant-garde designs, her clothes that often don't look like clothes and play with the idea of traditional silhouettes. She's also extremely elusive and often gives vague explanations behind her collections. Not to fangirl here, but she's basically a genius but I digress. Kawakubo is not known for pretty, sexy gowns and is probably not the first designer you think of when you hear red carpet, so of course this year was an exciting challenge.

first monday in may.

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A handful of attendees actually stuck to the theme, Rihanna, Michele Lamy and Tracee Ellis Ross (to name a few) were all thanked on the Comme des Garçons instagram (shade maybe? or genuine thanks probably). Then there were those who took the theme as merely a suggestion but I'm not here to judge (and who am I to judge? I caught the red carpet via social media in sweat pants) but I would have loved to see more Comme on the red carpet but this was no easy task. Check out and judge every single Met Gala look here on Vogue.com and check out the exhibit when you can.

Suggested Further Reading:

• Rei Kawakubo, Fashion Visionary, Honored in New Met Exhibition