8 March, 2015

THE DRG STYLE INDEX: CARVEN, UNIQLO X LEMAIRE, DAMIR DOMA, ANOTHER MAGAZINE

Here’s the latest weekly DRG STYLE INDEX ranking, a round-up of the brands currently buzzing on my radar…

1. ALEXIS MARTIAL TO CARVEN Carven aw15
I loved what Alexis Martial did at Iceberg so I’ll be interested to see how he develops Carven. This week we heard that Martial and Adran Caillaudaud (most recently at Givenchy) are the new co artistic directors at Carven, with Martial focusing on RTW and Caillaudaud on accessories. Although Martial has only been at the label for a matter of days, we got a peek of their overall direction for the brand. First impressions? The ladylike ingenue has gone slightly cooler and streetier, which is no bad thing…

2. UNIQLO X LEMAIRE Lemaire creates collection with Uniqlo Meanwhile, what’s Christophe Lemaire been up to since leaving Hermes? Firstly, he’s dropped the ‘Christophe’ and is just operating as Lemaire. Secondly, he’s hooked up with Uniqlo to launch a men’s and womenswear collaboration for AW15 under its ‘Lifewear’ umbrella. We haven’t been told much about what it will include other than some vague allusions to stylish everyday-wear. The only other Uniqlo collab I really rate is the Ines De La Fressange one, also part of the Lifewear line. Clearly the everyday Parisian look resonates just as much with the Japanese…

3. DAMIR DOMA HAS PRE-COLL FATIGUE

Small brands struggle with the increasingly-packed fashion calendar so it’s no surprise to hear that Damir Doma is over pre-collections. He’s decided to roll pre-coll and runway into the same twice-yearly collections, cutting down on production hassles and show costs. It’s a sensible solution that will keep buyers happy while keeping him sane.

4. ANOTHER MAGAZINE LAUNCHES SCI-FI MOVING IMAGE COVER

Love magazine may nail the pop culture zeitgeist, but Another Magazine has truly nailed the digital zeitgeist. For its latest issue it has created a futuristic magazine in which a video of Rihanna is streamed to an LED-screen-slash-magazine-cover. (Watch Suzy Menkes’ Instagram below for the full experience…) Understandably, these feats of tech wizardry won’t come cheap – the special collector’s editions will go for $125 apiece…

Rihannah, body writhing in her Alexander McQueen outfit, moves across the cover of AnOther magazine. WHAT! The first moving digital cover of a glossy magazine that I have ever seen is in the hands of Jefferson Hack – who envisages it as an addition to cool furnishings – and the future of luxury magazines. Liam Casey. Founder of PCH spent just four months creating what he calls something ‘ambitious, creative and unique’. Is it a fad? An LED toy? Or the future of blending art, fashion and technology? Over to you.
A video posted by Suzy Menkes (@suzymenkesvogue) on Mar 5, 2015 at 1:44am PST

WORDS: Navaz Batliwalla/Disneyrollergirl
IMAGES: Carven via Dazed/Virginia Arcaro