Walter van Beirendonck

Walter van Beirendonck is my kind of daring & innovative designer. His first breakthrough was in London (1987) as part of 'The Antwerp Six' (with Dirk van Saene, Driese van Noten, Dirk Bikkembergs, Ann Demeulemeester and Marina Yee). I discover him as designer for W.&L.T. (Wild & Lethal Trash) where from he signed of in 1999 after 6 years of great work. Walter van Beirendonck is considered to be 'one of the main trend-setters in men's fashion by the professional press.'

Foto: 'Glow' collection - winter 2009/10
More: here

The Souper Dress

I started to read about early avant-garde Russian fashion design and now I am looking for paper dress. That is what I call diving deep into the fashion history. It seams that paper dress was the creation of Russian Constructivists in the early 20's. They made a revolutionary dress 'for an utopian Democratic-Socialist world: to be hygienic, simple, easy to wear, and industrial.' Later in 1966, it was Scott Paper Company that re-invented the paper dress in US.

Just for $1, women could buy the dress and also receive coupons for Scott paper products. When orders reached half a million dresses, the company executives put an end to the business stating they "didn't want to turn into dress manufacturers." The success was speculated by the makers of Campbell's Soup. Using their soup labels (design inspired by Andy Warhol's artwork) they sold a simple A-line dress: "The Souper Dress. No Cleaning. No Washing. It’s carefree, fire resistant unless washed or cleaned. To refreshen, press lightly with a warm iron. 80% Cellulose, 20% Cotton.” A Souper Dress, hunted nowadays by collectors, fetched over $3000 at auction. Isn't it curious how people didn't care at that moment about wasting paper?

Sources: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 /

Memorable outfit, by Viktor & Rolf

After a decent wow, I finally decided that this outfit is for my 'memorable' folder. Is it the illusion created by Viktor & Rolf that makes this dress perfect for a dramatic opening of a concert? Hmmm, I think that with a different top it would fit just great to Roisin Murphy when she will come back on stage. Right now she is in her seven months of pregnancy, but is fully active: she performed two brand-new tracks ("Royality" and "Demon Lover") during Viktor & Rolf Spring/Summer 2010 show in Paris. Check the video section from Viktor & Rolf official site. As for the entire collection, Viktor Horsting said backstage: “Credit crunch couture — the world is cutting back so we literally started cutting away chunks of the ballgowns — and with the remnants we created new clothes”. Here is what Suzy Menkes wrote for NY Times. Is it indeed, 'tulle, tulle much'?

'Cloud' dress

foto 1 [ Martin Margiela's 'Cloud' dress ]
foto 2 [ Same 'Cloud' dress, now part of the 'Paper doll' fashion story created by Arnaud Pyvka for Wallpaper ]