P. Melba

The woman in the images in my last post is Jade Sarita Arnott, the designer and creator of the Australian label Arnsdorf. Myself and a friend went to Melbourne recently for a weekend and were lucky enough to come across her pieces in Alice Euphemia and various Fat stores in the CBD. Although I was aiming to buy the pink shirt Jade wears in the photo below, I couldn't pass up the chance to make this coat mine:



I'm having the black version sent over in the next two weeks. Its black cashmere with two sets of arm holes- it can be worn as a coat with the arm holes loose, tied at the front or tied at the back, or as a jacket with the rest of the coat rolled into a large collar around my neck. Can't wait. I'll post photos of it on when I geddit.

(Other highlights of the Melbourne trip: Lanvin sneakers and Viktor & Rolf at Marais, Rick Owens and Maison Martin Margiela in the flesh at Zambesi, trying on Tom Binns cuffs and drooling over Lanvin jewelery at Christine, Shu Uemura beauty counter visits, the shining beacon that was Alphaville on otherwise boring shopping strips, Claude Maus and Louise shoe shops. Oh and living off of Krispy Cremes, duck and late night bubble tea in Chinatown. Goodtimes.)

the boys, the boys.

Four things have triggered this post on people of the male persuasion.

1. Jethro Cave (model & Nick Cave's son) emblazoned throughout the internet (and my RSS feeds in particular)
2. Rick Owens' new fall 09 menswear collection.
3. Male models for Bumble & bumble (we sell B.b at work)
4. The fact that I usually get more inspiration from guys' streetstyle photos than I do girls'...


1.

2.

3.

4. 

drkshdw

This post is going out to my favourite men, Rick Owens and Maison Martin Margiela. Love those guys. They're my all-time favourite designers and have a similar aesthetic, as you will see below. That said, Owens is somewhat more grungier, comparing his work to that of a Brancusi sculpture: ”...A slab of metal on a hunk of wood, but it's about the right piece of metal, the right hunk of wood and the perfect gesture.”

Margiela on the other hand is a little more clean cut and deliberate. Although with one season came deconstructed jeans, he usually doesn't stray too far from clean and unusual cuts and fabrics such as crepe, silk and jersey. Owens favours the thought of things that are broken, rotting and worn out, yet still manages to create pieces that are coveted by grungy teens to glam Vogue editors.

It is not only the pieces that I love but the style of design and overall aesthetic and mystery that surrounds both Margiela and Owens' lines. No one knows what Margiela even looks like because no one has ever taken a photograph of him. All media contact is done through fax. His shops spring up as tiny doors in strange neighbourhoods in Tokyo and Europe, some being makeshift in old bridge toll booths, for example. The staff wear white lab coats. Below is a video of Rick Owens showing his new store in New York, very interesting...



Here are some shots of pieces from some favourite seasons of mine, both pretty recent.

MMM:









Rick Owens:








Check out their very unusual and amazingly designed websites:

owenscorp.com
maisonmartinmargiela.com