Kilian Kerner Spring Summer 2011: Flieg zum Mond und bleib hier.

Generally, I like to think I'm on the same wavelength as Nigella on the issue of 'guilty' pleasures i.e. that they don't really exist, that pleasures are pleasures and shouldn't ever be seen as guilt-inducing since life's going to dish you enough of that in any case. Still, the song "Fly to the Moon" from Ben Ivory which was remixed for Berlin-based designer Kilian Kerner's Spring Summer 2011 show seems to be just that; it's that little bit too eurotrash to be tasteful.

But whilst Kerner's choice of aural accompaniment might have me questioning my taste in tunes, his clothing is, thankfully, worlds apart from cheese-laden/tacky. A dynamic mix of slouchy shapes and stronger, more defined silhouettes in a palette of steely grey, matte black and pastels more masculine than those we're used to, this collection mixes its inspiration (the brilliance of the moon; the German title translates as "Fly the moon and don't go away/stay there") with Germanic pragmatism well.

^ Easily my favourite SS11 so far. All the militaristic smartness of a trench with the luxe of a kimono. Win.

 Images from Lyramag

I AM MONSTER: Tees from South Africa.

Uh oh - yet more fuel for my nautical obsession. Mathew from South African label I Am Monster got in touch recently and I've not been able to pry my eyes from the below ever since...

Founded in 2009 in a Durban basement in South Africa, the range of tees does so well that rock-infused graphic aesthetic that so many collections are aiming for right now (e.g. ASOS Black) and doesn't seek to see you penniless either; each of these 100% beauts is priced at around the v. reasonable €25 mark.

Tees are a staple for the Spring Summer season and despite having a reputation for being purchased easily due to low cost and fairly stress-free fitting, I still struggle to find ones that stand the test of time (i.e. beer stains and the washing machine) and manage to strike the balance between eye-catching/interesting and not-too-brash. I Am Monster makes deciding on where to stock up that little bit easier.

^ Tri-dye

^ Diamond

^ I Am

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Shop them here or if you're based in/visiting South Africa, you'll find them in Durban and Cape Town. OH, and stay tuned for a giveaway in the coming weeks.

Fiongal Spring Summer 2011: Fringe Frater.

Rain! For once I'm sort of glad to see it drizzling down in the January darkness. No I'm not mentally unhinged (much), I'm just excited about the harsh wintry weather fading and the milder arriving. To celebrate/dance a little rain dance, here's a SS11-themed Q+A with a menswear designer to watch that I came across a few months back.

Fiongal Greenlaw, a Middlesex grad, released his first collection for Spring Summer 2010 (The Pop Society) which succeeded in establishing his unique brand of 'dandy' i.e. not the twee and old-news-at-this-stage spiffing look (you know, that look with the colourful socks and brogues! Oh what an innovative rascal!), but 'dandy' in the true sense of the word: alluring, sophisticated, suave yet playful and mischievous.

With Fringe Frater for Spring Summer 2011, Greenlaw develops this initial attraction to the 'dandy', by rendering him in an all-American guise, mixing Ivy League prep and British cheek.

MM: Why fashion design, and specifically, menswear design?

FG: Because fashion is one of the few creative industries that marries artistic expression with craft and almost mathematical discipline (via its pattern cutting and execution). Menswear is harder to subvert, therefore it's a great challenge to be interesting and yet adhere to social and commercial acceptability. I also love the historical element in menswear which is not seen so much in womenswear.

 

MM: What inspired your Spring Summer '11 collection?

 FG: I wanted to concentrate on silhouette for this collection so I took inspiration from the oversized elements of the late '80s and early '90s suits. I thought it'd be interesting to mix overly long shapes with noticeably boxy shapes. I was also looking at Bruce Weber photographs of the same period as a stimulus.

 

MM: What sets you apart from other designers?

FG: I think my playfulness, especially with proportion, is quite unique. Plus I'm not afraid of colour; my Autumn Winter '11 collection which I've just finished is similarly bold in its approach to colour). It's something that is often missing in menswear, or it goes too much in the other direction with brash, loud palettes. I definitely want to develop the 'dandyish' side to my style; bring this out more and make it my signature, which was definitely prevalent in my first collection.

 

MM: What's been the highlight of your career so far?

FG: My very first bit of press was quite exciting. I thought, "Gosh people are getting interested in this stuff, it's becoming real and not just a hobby". It was also Wonderland Magazine that picked it up first which was a great compliment. My presentation at Jaguar Shoes in Shoreditch was also great: having all those people come to show their support, and generally an excuse to have a bit of a party after all the hard work.

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Check out the collection in action (i.e. fashion film) at Fiongal or at his Not Just a Label page.

Archer Adams' Gothic Umbrellas.

Fashion bloggers from the four corners of the globe might be cashing in on high-profile deals of late - from Swede bloggess Elin Kling for H&M to Tavi interviewing ska seductress turned pop queen Gwen Stefani for Teen Vogue - but it's not really news, is it? I mean, if you're a fashion blogger, you are - despite what several members of the fashion Illuminati might maintain - already in possession of a role within the industry.

Music industry managers, however, aren't your usual potential fashion designer fare. London-based Archer Adams bucks the trend. Having spent 12 years managing the careers of hit songwriters, record producers and recording artists, he decided to turn his hand to the management of threads rather than tunes.

And if these umbrellas are anything to go by, then it's working out pretty well for him.

 A mixture of Gothic aesthetics and luxury materials, this razzy range features silver-plated heads in the guise of various creatures (from a lion to a snake) and macabrely opulent iconography like a skull and lizard skin. What I love is the quintessential Britishness of these, that Victorian atmosphere that reminds you of Gothic novels by Shelley and and Louis Stevenson, and the penchant of the era for grotesque oddities from instruments for torture to dead animal bodies (for anatomical purposes only, of course...)

Almost all of Archer Adams' product is manufactured within the UK and the brand actively combats forced fashion cycles in an attempt to offer something that bit more unique, and undoubtedly timeless. 

These are available both online and from the Archer Adams store (2 Chiltern St, London W1U 7PR) at £148.00 each, should you conquer your fear of fondling the heads of silver snakes.

Farfetch.com: Shorts, Shirting & Seashells.

Two days since I've seen Black Swan and not sure I've actually recovered from the nerve-wracking experience as of yet. In order to distract myself from urges to go see the 107 mins of twistedness again, I'm instead concentrating on the brighter promise of the coming Spring Summer season. Probably futile, but worth a try.

Farfetch.com - despite its stark black and white design (damn...never going to get away from that incredible/disturbing film) - provides ample material for traipsing through in search of inspiration. I think, principally, I'm looking forward to shorts the most. I mean, trousers (or pants as I prefer to call them - is it weird for someone Irish/British to refer to trousers as pants?) are the obvious choice for Winter when it comes to maintaining body temperature, but purchasing a pair also invites the hair-raising stress of finding the perfect fit. Yes, you're not saved the problem entirely when it comes to shorts but they're a damn sight less complicated, involving approximately half the annoyance in comparison with trews.

Some suggested styles straight from their men's fashion section...

^ Unholy Matrimony Drop-crotch shorts - €182. Think I may be arriving at the whole zip thing a bit late. Nevertheless this shade of charcoal is - sombre, admittedly, but also - timeless.

^ S2VS cotton sailor shorts - €105 €68.25. Yes, won't lie, it's mostly because they're labelled "sailor" shorts. And boo to those that say white is to be avoided; just don't go donning these at festivals.

Right. Realise I'm subconsciously recommending Black Swan-esque clothing so perhaps time to switch it up...

^ Dsquared2 Bermuda shorts - €250 €175. For those of you that find yourselves too attached to the chinos that saw you through the colder months but don't want to drown in your own sweat from April onwards...

As for the remainder of your look, if you're like me, then you'll probably be spending most of your time in a vest when you should really be covering up the farmer's tan. If you're not, then you'll either, a) be in a vest and tanned, or b) these might be for you...

^ Acne 'Standard' tee - €77. You know that fine cotton blend that the likes of Forever 21 and American Apparel have popularised in the last few months? Yeah? Well, the Acne version's bound to be ten times sexier, right?

^ Dior Homme paint splat print tee - €150 €105. Minimal enough to become your versatile staple, interesting enough to ward off monotony.

^ Issey Miyake bib shirt - €378 €226.80. Just because it's a pool party doesn't mean you have to wear swimwear.

And a little something from the men's jewellery section to cap it all off - granted, the second option really only applies to those of you planning on spending the majority of the season on a yacht, taking the odd dip in the Dom Perignon filled sea that surrounds you...

^ Werkstatt Muenchen leather braclet - €228.

^ Black Sheep and Prodigal Sons pyrite fossil sterling ring - €809. This contains a plated ammonites sea shell fossil. 'Nuff said, really.

Any Spring Summer favourites of your own?

Thierry Mugler AW 2011: Formichetti's Fetishistic Vision.

Mediocre perfume. That's all I could associate the name Thierry Mugler with until actually delving into the history and proving myself more than ignorant. Yes, the house may - in recent years - have connoted sweet smelling perfumes like Angel and A Men, but there's much more behind the facade of easy-money fragrance deals and Beyoncé tour outfits. 

The brand, launched in 1973, became one of those labels that would come to define the 1980s and its cult of the body, penchant for graphic shapes and fervent obsession with all things sci-fi.

^ Thierry Mugler AW 2011

At the helm today is the incredibly prolific and talented Nicola Formichetti (otherwise known as stylist to avant-garde starlet Lady Gaga) as Creative Director, with menswear headed up by Romain Kremer, and Sébastien Peigné responsible for womenswear. Whoever head-hunted this team deserves a whopping Christmas bonus.

I mean, I can't really think of anyone else but Romain Kremer for this label considering his own aesthetic is based on such Mugler-esque traits as clashing colour combos, graphic cut-out details and exaggerated silhouettes. He, too, is a bit of a sci-fi nut and so really is glove in hand with Mugler. 

The Autumn Winter 2011 menswear collection debuted yesterday in Paris, and although I'm not planning on major coverage of the shows, I feel this begs exception; this is, after all, a landmark moment, and something tells me Thierry Mugler may just become the new off-key and eccentric house to watch, much like Givenchy has been for several seasons now.

The show opened with a brutalist, sex-infused fetishistic vision that Formichetti is no stranger to since forging his partnership with Gaga a few years back. A tangle of tatty leather and razor-sharp suiting in dark blues and black was presented alongside pieces which screamed Mugler's name with unbridled delight (the chestpieces and elbow-length gloves).

This aggressive opening then gave way to looser silhouettes in some looks with trousers (above) that referenced military-wear in their olive tones but kept firmly in line with the Mugler practice of taking risks, by being cut impractically wide.

Following this, Kremer and Formichetti gave us another dose of the club-clothing drug, sending models adorned in garish PVC pieces, from a classic trench in electric blue, to a biker-style transparent jacket accompanying an ensemble of eye-popping orange.

Finally, the designers' party narrative drew to a close and the solemn aftermath was heralded by the above looks which strike me as equal parts heaven-sent and nightmarish.

But would you wear it? Unless you're planning a Boombox revival or you're a frequenter of your local S&M bar, then you probably won't be all too hot on this collection as a whole, though the first set of looks are easily incorporable into any man's wardrobe. Still, I'm not ashamed to say I adore it, if only for its being a perfect blend of all involved: Kremer, Formichetti and the man himself, Mugler.

Images from Vogue (shot by Yannis Vlamos/GoRunway.com)