Aymeline Valade

I have been desperate to post about this new face! I'm not sure why I've left it so long but I just had to share, as she has the most captivating look. Aymeline Valade, represented by Women model management and FM Models in London made her major debut at Balenciaga S/S 11:



After her appearance, things got a little quieter but then the Pre Fall collections came out and she only made an appearance for Balenciaga and Alexander Wang. If there were two brands to ever make a models career these are the ones to appear with:

(Balenciaga Pre-Fall & Alexander Wang Pre-Fall)

She has such an intense look, that photographs beautifully. Then she appeared in the first Alexander Wang mainline campaign (shot by Craig McDean)


And today her appearance in Interview Feb/March (again shot by McDean) has been published on models.com:




(models.com)


Aymeline really rocks the tomboy clothes, and doesn't get lost in Karl Templer's exquisite styling. For a new face, she photographs in such a confident self-assured way. I'm so intrigued to see what the next runway season brings for her, whether she will appear everywhere or just walk a select few blue chip runway appearances.

NYFW (Part 2)

Uhm. How can I put this? Alexander Wang was a mess. Back in June I blogged about his wonderful resort show, it had evening wear that wasn't just a short sexy party dress and the grey top and beige 3/4 trousers were such a new direction for him. So it was with great confusion I looked at style.com this morning at the pictures from his latest show:

It's a leather jacket, with a white bikini top, a skirt made out of a shirt, grey footless socks and leopard print boots. This would all be passable but Alexander said after the show he wanted "We want to create clothes that are timeless and classic". The only thing classic about this is the leather jacket and even that's not great.

If a collection even manages to make Natasha Poly look bad...

...then it has real problems.

However, NYFW this far has been about the newer brands: United Bamboo, ADAM, Ohne Titel, ADAM and Jason Wu had some really interesting looks:

(First Row: ADAM, 2nd row: United Bamboo, 3rd Row: Ohne Titel, 4th Row: Jason Wu)

Alexander Wang Resort 2010

I've always been a fan of Alexander Wang's work, especially when Erin Wasson did the styling for his shows. Since winning the 2008 CFDA awards in Womens' wear his label has really reached new heights; he has launched his diffusion line (T by Alexander Wang) as well as becoming a constant red carpet favourite for the like of Rihanna, Michelle Williams and Diane Kruger.
So I was particularly intrigued to see the Resort 2010 show. He's already carved out his mark on the short, sexy party dresses but now it was time for him to move forward and design some very wearable clothes (for people who don't have a figure like Erin Wasson).
The line featured the ever present dresses perfect for New York party girls:

As much as I love these looks, I feel that Alexander has already proved himself to be a fantastic party dress designer but what I found really interesting were these looks:

The muted grey colour, the great use of draping makes this dress look fantastic on the divine Abbey Lee, but wouldn't it look great on someone like Kate Winslet? It'd be perfect for a move premier and dripping in diamonds. I think it really points to Alexander's desire to expand the brand and it's clientele even further. This continued into other looks:

This is such a cool look, I want it for running around London in the sweltering heat - preferably with a straw hat. The cut of the trousers keeps the look from being boring and although the shoes are a little much (It'd be interesting to see with metallic brogues) there are some great basic wardrobe staples in that look.

This is a very Proenza Schouler look to me - the rounded cut of the shoulders reminds me of their Fall 2009 collection, and I think Alexander is a stage that Proenza were at a few years ago: They too won a CFDA award in 2003 and have become a red carpet staple, but is also getting alot of coverage in the major glossy magazines - something Alexander is enjoying right now. Looking at Proenza in 2009 they have done an affordable range for Target (2007) and are currently producing a shoe line.
I really hope Alexander takes a similar career to Proenza, and I eagerly await his S/S 2010 range to see where his vision is for the brand.