If there is one message Falls designers Leong Ong and Phillip Leeming want you to take away from their Fall 2010 collection it is “being one of the boys.” Falls’ latest not only incorporates menswear shapes but also has the spirit of pioneering, liberation, and making a mark as a lady amongst men. High-waist shorts and forties style trousers styled with oxfords and work boots reflect the influence of their muse: Lee Miller. Miller was a model turned combat photojournalist for World War II and the Falls presentation is inspired by her story and style.

Contrasting the menswear styling are silk chiffon, light dresses, and feminine detailed sweaters. Some pieces include ivy and oak leaf prints in shades of silver, pink, and plum. The updated floral prints were custom-made by the designers after seeing photographer Nick Knight’s book “Flora” and his use of shocking pinks and contrast in his images. The bright and feminine palette combines well over neutral greys and black to present a cohesive Fall collection.

Also combining both the masculine and feminine styling of Falls is their capsule collection of shoes. Three styles will be available for Fall 2010 in their first endeavor into shoes and in collaboration with Heutchy. Leather lace work boots, half biker boots, and classic oxfords are definitely borrowed from the boys with feminine twists including colors to match their floral print palette.

See photos below of the Falls Fall 2010 collection. For more from Falls, check out Shopbop.com, specialty department stores and boutiques across the U.S., or their website.

Future of Fashion: The Virtual Runway

Legendary fashion photographer Nick Knight has teamed up with fashion designers Alexander Wang and Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy to live stream their upcoming New York Fashion Week Fall/Winter 2010 collections on his fashion forward website, SHOWstudio.com.

Alexander Wang’s show will be live Saturday February 13th at 5pm est. Rodarte will be live on Tuesday February 16th at 12pm est. Mark those calendars! These are two of the most innovative designers creating in the American market today. And  your invited to watch front row! Between Alexander Wang’s sportswear and Rodarte’s awe-inspiring knits I really can’t wait to see what comes next from these designers.

Perhaps the hottest ticket that the world is invited to is the Marc Jacobs show. That goes live Monday February 15th at 8pm est on marcjacobs.com. President of the label and PR genius, Robert Duffy, recently joined Twitter and has been offering all kinds of insider info. From asking for ideas on set design, sharing pictures of the MJ design studio, and twitpics of Marc sketching, he gives an honest behind-the-scenes look at the inner makings of the fashion world. He claims he will stop tweeting after the show on Monday. Sure hope not, he is so much fun to follow!

With bloggers sitting front row and posts going up ten minutes after a show has wrapped, fashion is moving at a much faster pace than ever before. Blogging and live streams are a useful tool for widening an audience and allowing the fashion faithful an opportunity to connect with an industry that was once exclusive to editors and clients. Noted Nick Knight:

“I see the future of fashion weeks around the world as not only a physical schedule of shows, but also as a digital calendar of fashion experiences online, which bridge the industry and consumer experience,” said Nick Knight, Director of SHOWstudio. “When the industry talks about the ‘future of fashion weeks’ this is ultimately where they will arrive.”

Do you see the Virtual Runway as a good development in fashion? Does fashion lose its exclusivity through the rapid pace of the internet?

This Just In: Alexander McQueen Commits Suicide

Celebrated English fashion designer Alexander McQueen, 40, was found dead in his luxury flat in Green Park, central London; days after the death of his mother, Joyce.

It is believed that he hanged himself and paramedics pronounced him dead on the scene. The news was confirmed today by his office, however they are not making a comment at this time in respect for the McQueen family.

The death of McQueen comes just three years after the news that Isabella Blow, his longtime mentor and friend who bought his entire graduate collection committed suicide by drinking weed killer after she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She had attempted suicide several times prior.

After being discovered by Blow, the fashion director of Tatler known for her extravagant hats, McQueen was dubbed the ‘enfant terrible’ of fashion. Over the years he continued to influence the world with his avant-garde stylings and shocking theatrical runway shows. His Fall 2006 show, Widows of Culloden, featured a life-sized hologram of supermodel Kate Moss, dressed in yards of rippling fabric floating above the stage. The Spring/Summer 2010 show, Plato’s Atlantis, was one of the first to be live streamed on Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio website, garnering so much traffic that the website shut down as the show was about to start! Plato’s Atlantis featured futuristic elements like prosthetics on the model’s faces and backs, and tightly wound hair, borderline grotesque, yes, but the overall effect of a McQueen show was always that of undeniable beauty and impressive craftsmanship.

He has boutiques in New York, London, Los Angeles, Milan, and Las Vegas. A cult following and now with news upon his death there is no doubt that Alexander McQueen will be revered as one of the best to ever work in this industry. His point of view was otherworldly and his sublime collaborations with milliner Philip Treacy will forever remain as some of the best runway moments of all time.

McQueen’s death will be felt throughout the fashion world as this comes days before the start of London Fashion Week and weeks before he was due to unveil his new collection at Paris Fashion Week on March 9.

Alexander McQueen was the youngest of six children. He attended Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. He got his training tailoring in Savile Row making suits for Prince Charles. He was awarded British Designer of the Year four times, awarded the CBE, and International Designer of the Year at the Council of Fashion and Designer Awards.

Openly gay he married his partner, filmmaker, George Forysth, in the summer of 2000 on a yacht and Kate Moss served as a bridesmaid. He has stated, “I was sure of myself and my sexuality and I’ve got nothing to hide. I went straight from my mother’s womb onto the gay parade.” I hope that leaving you with that can make you smile, because truly, this is a tragic loss.

SHOWstudio’s latest fashion project covers the behind the scene’s making of Nick Knight’s cover shoot for Vogue UK’s March featuring Lily Donaldson. The film, Fringed, is a flirty, fun celebration of fringe – so imagine lots of leaping, jumping and hip-shaking. As fashion is turning to film as its media of choice, Nick Knight’s SHOWstudio is definitely leading the pack. View Fringed below.

Agent Provocateur always does a great job at bringing their collections to life through their ad campaigns and they recently made a Valentine’s Day “PSA.” I must say, this is not my favorite, their newer campaigns haven’t come close to last year’s White Wedding campaign starring Kate Moss, and shot by Nick Knight. Their newest video, Love Me Tender . . . Or Else, is definitely amusing, but unlike their other campaigns that highlight the lingerie in an artistic way, I felt this video was made by boys for boys. Nonetheless, the lingerie is sexy as ever and with Valentine’s Day so close, you may want to start saving your pennies for some new A.P.

Edward Steichen Fashion Photography Exhibition at the International Center of Photography.

The International Center of Photography is hosting yearlong series of exhibitions, “The Year of Fashion,” focusing on fashion photography from the 1920s to the present. The series sets out to highlight the relationship between art and fashion and will feature the works of Richard Avedon, Nick Knight, Steven Meisel, Mario Sorrenti, Steven Klein, Paolo Roversi, Michael Thompson, Edward Steichen and Miles Aldridge. Upcoming shows include “David Seidner: Paris Fashion, 1945,” and in May, Richard Avedon’s photos will be the central focus on an exhibition.

The first exhibit opens on January 16th and features the photography Edward Steichen. A few months back I saw the Vanity Fair exhibit at the LACMA while I was visiting LA and my favorite photos were those taken by Edward Steichen. He was Chief Photographer for Condé Nast Publications so his work was regularly featured in Vogue and Vanity Fair. The exhibit was quite amazing because it included videos of photo shoots that Steichen conducted and what made it so impressive what the kind of photography that was popular at the time.  You know those old accordian-type cameras where the photographer covers himself in black velvet cover to take the picture?  Each individual slide/negative is inserted before each shot:   It was a very tedious and painstaking process, but watching a master of light such as Steichen, he made the process look very easy, with cigarette in hand the whole time, of course.  The show opens on January 16th and includes 175 photos by Steichen, with many of the photos from the Condé Nast archives from 1923 to 1937.

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Back in August, we let you in on a little rumor about a possible M.A.C. x Hello Kitty collaboration.  We’re happy to say that the rumors are true and this collection is a reality!!  The new collection will release on the M.A.C. website on February 10th, in U.S. stores on February 12th and overseas in March.  There’s an expected high demand for these products and M.A.C. will begin taking preorders on the items beginning January 7th on the M.A.C. site.   The collection is split up into 2 subcollections: Hello Kitty Colour Collection and the more high-end Hello Kitty Kouture.  The collections include eyeshadow quad palettes, blush, lip glosses, eyeliners (with glitter of course!), as well as non-cosmetic items like a tote bag, cosmetic bag, Hello Kitty plush doll, mirror and make-up brushes.  The in-store visual displays were shot by none other than Nick Knight.  I can’t wait to see his images, they are always so amazing!  And, I can’t wait for this line to drop!  I think I’ll be putting in my pre-order on January 7th . . . the early bird gets the worm!

Image & Info

Agent Provocateur, puts together some of the most innovative, beautifully made interactive experiences from White Wedding (created by Nick Knight) to their new collection, Pirate Provocateaur.  Inspired by pirates plundering booty at sea, the Pirate Provocateur collection features lingerie pieces in black with splashes of red.  The collection leather hot pants, to structured corsets and lacy slips.  The website was updated, complete with mini interactive film where you get to choose your way throughout the story.  It features naughty pirates clad in sexy Agent Provocateur lingerie.  Kate Moss is not the face of this campaign, instead, Helena Christensen is playing her “wicked games” for AP this season.  The collection is beautiful, and as always, I want it all.  I also really admire the way they market each campaign – it’s more than just pretty pictures.  They find great models and celebrities to be the face of their campaign, and AP always pushes the edge of technology.  View the Pirate Provocateur story here and check out a preview of the film and my favorite pieces after the jump.

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We’ve been following Nick Knight’s impressive work for some time now from his “White Wedding” campaign for Agent Provocateur to Nike’s “Art of Football” competition.  Knight’s most recent work includes shooting the new Autumn/Winter 2008-09 campaign for Bottega Veneta, a brand known for working with artistic photographers including Annie Leibovitz and Philip-Lorca de Corcia.  When asked how Knight was chosen as the campaign’s photographer,

Bottega Veneta’s creative director Tomas Maier chose Knight for his “sense of adventure”, explaining that: “Nick emphasises the process of creating images, which is similar to the way I approach design.”

As Nick Knight is known to do, the images are “digitally manipulated to create a striking composition that hints at a narrative” and can be see online this fall along with a short video.

Image & Info

The worlds of music and fashion have always collided and SHOWstudio and Swarovski have teamed up to present Fashion DJs.  For three days, July 9 through July 11, from midday to midnight you can expect to hear the likes of Naomi Campbell, Stephen Jones, Gareth Pugh and Giles Deacon on deck.  The guest DJs will play their selections at the Abbey Road Studios where there will also be live art and music performances.  In true SHOWstudio fashion, Nick Knight will be filming and you can catch the broadcast live on SHOWstudio, swarovskisparkles.tv and via radio for London listeners on 87.7FM.