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Posts filed under 'Catwalk'

Australians and their T-shirts

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What is it with Australians and their T-shirts? Back in May Dom Rebel put the most expensive T-shirt in Australia on display ($1000, a diamond studded skull design) and now, a beaded and frilled T-shirt featuring a print by Del Kathryn Barton is going on sale at $400 as part of Melbourne Spring Fashion Week, starting in Melbourne tomorrow.

It’s not what you expect of the average Aussie, is it? Given the national identity with grunge clothing, sport and rough-and-ready humour, this predilection for pricey T-shirts is peculiar to say the least. However there is some method in the madness. The expensive T-shirt was commissioned by Sydney label Romance Was Born as part of a ‘Limited’ exhibition of specially commissioned T-shirts which will be sold to the public after a presentation at the GPO shopping complex in Melbourne. Other designers include Alpha 60, Ksubi, Rainer and Bassike, who all contributed custom-designed T-shirts to the Limited project. One of the organisers of the event said, ‘We wanted to celebrate the humble T-shirt, because it’s where a lot of Australian designers have their beginnings … most people wouldn’t pay that much for an average T-shirt, but this one is special, it has become a work of art.’

Alexi Freeman show, Melbourne, courtesy of fashionistar


Add comment September 2nd, 2008

Can a T-shirt save New York’s Garment District?

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The area, which gave a start to many a famous name from Bernard Gant of Gant shirts through to Calvin Klein, and is home to the Fashion Walk of Fame, is shrinking fast. Fashion designer Anna Sui wants to save it, and she’s trying to do so by using fashion to save fashion – along with scores of other names in the fashion industry she’s exploiting the high profile of New York Fashion Week to get the message out. And the message itself is carried by a classic black T-shirt stating Save the Garment Center.

The problem is that new zoning laws have changed the way buildings in the district are classified and many landlords are hoping to turn what have been factories into luxury lofts and chic hotels, nice for them, with rising rents but not so nice for small fashion contractors who will have nowhere else to set up their small but essential businesses. Sui, Vera Wang, Nicole Miller and others are encouraging their fellow Council of Fashion Designers of America members to help promote the T-shirt which also bears the email addresses of New York City officials who can be petitioned to change the zoning – those rather less than stylish addresses are on the back of the fashion-statement T-shirt, by the way! And if Sui has her way, those details will be seen on the backs of many a model as she does her catwalk turn …

Anna Sui courtesy of Budjit

 

Add comment August 26th, 2008

Biker chic and T-shirt appeal

harley-davidson-jorgemejia.jpg  Karen Davidson, great-granddaughter of Harley-Davidson co-founder William A. Davidson is creative director of general merchandise for Harley-Davidson and supervises design for the company’s two decade old MotorClothes division. Since 1947, when the first Harley leather jackets appeared, the biker ‘uniform’ of black leather jacket, jeans and T-shirt has been a classic, but now things are changing – the traditional ‘leather’ has been joined by leather treated to be water resistant, and even by cottons and synthetic materials.

As bikers have aged, they have also wanted more from their clothing, like shirts that work on the bike and in the office too.  And the customer mix has changed: men purchase about 60% of the clothing and women buy 40%. This has meant creating brighter colours and new styles along the classic lines. Pink leather jackets were introduced a couple years ago and fitted Harley T-shirts are a big seller. Now the line is expanding again to include grommets and appliqués to personalise both T-shirts and jackets. 

Harley-Davidson T-shirt courtesy of jorgemejia

Add comment August 1st, 2008

T-shirt news

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A team of scientists in Portugal have designed a t-shirt that could save lives. The Vital Jacket, designed by BioDevices, continuously monitors heart rate and ECG waves so that those living with acute heart problems can be constantly updated on their physical condition.  And it’s expected to transfer to the fitness market too - especially in upmarket gyms.  There are two versions, one that stores all its heart monitoring data on an SD memory card for further analysis on a PC later on, whereas people wearing the HWM200 boasts can keep track of their vital signs in real time via a smartphone or PDA. There’s only one downside – all that complex technology means you can’t put it in the washing machine.

If you’ve had a breast cancer diagnosis, you probably spent some time feeling less than great about your appearance.  But now you can be a supermodel on the catwalk at the Breast Cancer Care Scotland fashion show. The Daily Mail in Scotland has partnered the charity to search for two truly super models - one female and one male - to represent the Sunday Mail at the show. They and eighteen others with breast cancer will strut their stuff at this glittering fundraising event. There will be two shows on Thursday, September 25, at Glasgow’s Radisson SAS Hotel. If you want to show how look and feel great, despite your diagnosis, please download an application form from http://events.breastcancercare.org.uk/server/show/nav.75  or call 0141 221 2244. Hurry up though - the deadline is tomorrow!    

Gym courtesy of combust

Add comment April 29th, 2008

UK Fashion Export Awards

fashion-show-grahammclellan.jpgAt last the shortlist for the UK Fashion Export Awards has been unveiled and womenswear labels Ariella, Bora Aksu and Orla Kiely made it onto the women’s fashion shortlist, while Baracuta, Chrysalis, Henri-Lloyd, Henry Poole and John Smedley have made the finals for men’s fashion.Avsh Alom Gur, Blaak Homme, Chris & Tibor, Knomo and Lipsy are all finalists in the New Exporter category and Ciel, Eco-Boudoir and Eribé are finalists in the ethical fashion category. The always hotly contested lingerie and beach-wear section will be decided between Amoralia, Made by Niki and Pistol Panties.

It’s an important contest because prizes for this year’s winners include free stands at various tradeshows including Pure Accessories in London, Moda Menswear in Birmingham and Pret a Porter in Paris as well as other awards including financial support and global trade advice worth £20,000 provided by FedEx. The awards will be held at The Landmark, London and presented by HRH The Princess Royal.

Fashion parade by grahammclellan  

Add comment April 15th, 2008

T-shirts, singers and international stars in Cardiff

charlotte-church-coolhawks88.jpgLondon Fashion Week is reckoned to bring over £100 million to the city, when the fashion circus arrives every two years – and the Welsh capital is now eyeing that income and wondering if it too, can become a pit stop on the international circuit. Cardiff wants the fashion media coverage, which is reckoned to be worth around £24 million and fashion orders worth £40 million, as well as the more than five thousand visitors who attend LFW each time it takes place. 

Cardiff’s own Fashion Week will be held for the very first time this March and will focus on spotlighting Welsh designers and models.  If it’s a success, there will be another event in 2009. Designers who will be taking part include: Helen Rhiannon whose dress, designed for Welsh opera star Katherine Jenkins, appears in the Cool Cymru book and exhibition; and combination music collective/clothing designers Acid Casual whose T-shirts have decorated the cover of NME, both featuring alongside major international lines such as Dolce & Gabbana, Louis Vuitton, and Armani.One of the primary features of the show will be the models – along with home-grown talent from Wales, catwalk stars from London and Los Angeles will fly in for the show  - and talent scouts from Storm, LA Castings and JBT Models will be watching intently to see if the next big model is going to be found in Cardiff. And celebrity attendees may include Welsh stars Charlotte Church and Catherine Zeta Jones.

Charlotte Church courtesy of coolhawks88

Add comment February 29th, 2008

T-shirt news

tie-dye-psd.jpgTie-dye is back – or actually, ‘ombre‘ which is the technical term that the fashion industry uses for fabric that has been dip-dyed (like batik) or colour-bled (like tie dye). Dresses, T-shirts and even bags of ombre fabric turned up at New York Fashion Week and are appearing in London Fashion Week too, with Luella, Louis Vuitton and Alberta Ferretti leading the way and Prada featuring bags with insets of tie-dye, very much like patchwork, which are tipped to be one of this year’s big hits.

Colour is also the key feature of a new range of designer T-shirts commissioned by Notify who are better known for their jeans.  They invited François Berthoud – better known as a fashion illustrator whose work appears in galleries all around the world - to create ‘Colours of Summer ‘08’, a range of T-shirts designed to work with denim.  Berthoud has produced square and circle motifs on vest, cap and long-sleeved T-shirts in bold contrasting shades like purple on beige and yellow on black.

And the colour of money features in a new promotion … Marks & Spencer and Oxfam have created Clothes Exchange.  To benefit you just have to donate some Marks and Spencer clothes to an Oxfam shop – in return you will be given a £5 voucher, valid for one month, to use with your next M&S clothing purchase of £35 or more.

 Tie dye courtesy of psd