zaidd'or

By Zaid Taji Farouki

Tag: Women

Born In A System

Considering how to present our collections from this day forward as an artist and the creative designer for the brand I have decided that we will not abide by the fashion system of showing months before the collection is ready in the atelier, or even the necessity to have a 6 month interval between each collection. As my creations will have pieces that will go with the season it will be presented in. As an artist that uses fashion as his medium the emergence of a new theme for my creations will appear once I feel that I have presented everything that I have. And a new distinct theme and circumstance have taken over my conscience and it becomes what I notice every minute of every hour of every day.

Inspired by Claude Monet’s fascination with Water Lilies and painting over 250 oil paintings of them until his death. I knew I had to follow his art of obsession. I Imagine my creations with every breath and living moment, I envision my woman in her surrounding moving to the sound of her own drums. Then one day my eyes encouter a beautiful subject across a pond, allowing me to forget the past and move forward wandering and studying her art of seduction, it’s features, and its ever growing beauty in my eyes and therefore a new muse and theme arise.

أصمم مجموعتي بنظره مستوحاه من أفكاري و معتقداتي الفنية ، فاقدم الأزياء من بعد أن أتخيل و استلهم من ما يدور من حولي ، مع كل نفس و لحظه في يومي لاخرجها بصبغه فنيه فأنا أعامل تصاميمي كمجموعه فنيه كامله و أقوم بإصدارها وتنفيذها و إنتاجها تباعا، حتى أشعر بإكتمال لنظرتي الفنيه  ولفكرة العمل و تقديمها بما يليق بها حتى وإن إمتد الأسلوب لأكثر من موسم فأنا لا أعتمد أسلوب العرض التقليدي و النظام المتبع له. أستهوي اسلوب الفنان كلود مونييه في التعبير عن إبداعاته الفنيه بإستمراره بإستنفاذ كل أساليب الرسم لزهره الزنبقه المائيه حتى وصل إنتاجه إلى ٢٥٠ لوحه فنيه فأرى نفسي أقرب إلى إنتهاج دربه في التعبير الفني عن نفسي.

أتخيل إمرأه تتواجد في بركه ماء تجذبني تسرقني من ما هو حولي لأنسى نفسي معها وأتقرب إليها لتغويني فأرى جمالها يتزايد في عيني و ينشاء في وجداني و عقلي عشق جديد و تسآئل أكبر يشغل عقلي فتترآى لي أفكاري و يبدأ إستلهامي.

En ce qui concerne la façon dont nous allons présenter nos collections a partir de ce jour : En tant qu’artiste et Designer de la marque, j’ai décidé que nous n’allons pas suivre le système classique du monde de la mode, qui consiste a montrer la collection avant que celle-ci ne soit prête à l’atelier, ou encore avoir six mois d’intervalle entre chaque collection. En effet, mes créations contiendront certaines pièces qui seront en harmonie avec la saison où ces dernières vont être présentées.

En tant qu’artiste qui considère la mode comme une inspiration, la naissance d’un nouveau thème pour mes créations n’apparaitra qu’une fois que je sentirai avoir tout donné et présenté. C’est à cet instant que ma conscience peut être envahi par un nouveau thème distinct. Ainsi, celui ci deviendra mon obsession, chose que j’observerai chaque minute de la journée.

Cependant, inspiré par la fascination de Claude Monet par les Nymphéas et également par les 250 peintures à l’huile, qu’il a produites jusqu’à la fin de ses jours, je savais que je devais suivre son chemin et m’inspirer de son art pour l’obsession.

Chaque instant de la vie et chaque souffle contribuent à l’imagination de mes créations. Effectivement, j’imagine chaque mouvement de la femme : de ses gestes au son de ses propres battements.

Et puis un jour, mes yeux se posent sur une créature divine traversant une rivière, qui me permet d’oublier le passé et me consacrer à l’avenir, pensant et essayant de comprendre son art de séduction, ses traits et sa beauté qui ne cesse de croitre à mes yeux.

Ainsi, une nouvelle muse et un nouveau thème prennent place.

 

Dolce & Gabbana Abayas

We kick off of the year with one of the worlds largest fashion brands launching a line dedicated to the Arab and Islamic worlds. During an interview with the national UAE Stefano Gabbana mentioned “I’m really fascinated with the Middle East and we’ve just completed a prêt-a-porter collection of abayas and sheylas.” he said “Pieces have some lace, embroidery and some prints – but not too much.”

Sources: The National UAE, Dolce & Gabbana, & Pictures from style.com/arabia

LV & ME

Looking for a last minute gift to buy a special person during the holidays? Well Louis Vuitton made it easy for you if the person your gifting loves initials. With a design enriched with screws reminiscent of iconic Louis Vuitton trunks, these necklaces, bracelets and earrings make a perfect gift. With the initials advertised to Amanda Lear’s “Alphabet” its hard not to realizing the subtle ode to the 70’s and the Disco Era.

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Daily Obsessions

In celebration of a the founder’s 100-year dream journey Ferragamo has launched “100 years 100 days”. With new features, stories, pieces, and movies being launched everyday for 100 days. In collaboration with Edgardo Osorio the acclaimed young shoe designer, he produced masterpieces  that playfully channel Ferragamo’s iconic designs from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. As always I had to share my obsession with one of the pieces the “Winged Sandal” if a woman would pass by wearing these I assure you no one would be looking anywhere but on her feet.

Pictures taken from ferragamo.com & ferragamo.tumblr.com

Pirelli 2016 Calendar

Pirelli the Italian tire manufacturer has produced these calendars for over 50 years – most notorious for their pin up girls and on rare occasions, featured women in clothes – this year it has taken a turn. The photographer behind this year’s calendar is Annie Leibovitz and for the first time the attraction of the subjects is in their résumés, not their measurements. To say that these women are the usual subject of the Pirelli calendar is an understatement. This calendar shows the women who define modern life, not the sexy girls who are too young to have accomplished anything.

In The New York Times written by Vanessa Friedman discussing the calendar. She spoke about an interview she had with Antonio Achille, a partner and managing director of the Boston Consulting Group. He mentioned:

Female income worldwide totaled $18 trillion in 2014 within the luxury car market in the United States, 50 percent of vehicle purchases are decided by women, and 75 percent are “influenced” by them. Beyond that, Mr. Achille said: ‘Women are superb brand ambassadors. Women share a positive car experience with more than 20 people on average, while men share experiences with only two.’

And as Ms. Zimmerman said: “Women have a disproportionately loud voice compared to their male counterparts. And for those women it is no longer socially acceptable to walk into a high-end garage that sells Pirelli tires and see a calendar with naked girls on the wall. You’d drive right out again in that Mercedes you came in with.”

 

 

Pictures owned by Annie Leibovitz & Pirelli.

The Golden Globe’s Best Dressed

Whenever I watch an award ceremony my eyes aren’t glued to the TV when the awards are being handed out. My main focus is the red carpet, the moment where the celebrities walk in posing in the most glamorous outfits which are specifically designed for them by the biggest names in fashion. If the celebrities look their best and designers go all out with their designs, then why wouldn’t the red carpet be my favorite part? Here are my favorite outfits from the evening.

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Images were taken from Jason Merritt/Getty Images and The NY Times

Alexander Wang For H&M

In a collaboration that’s meant to hit stores on the 6th of November, Alexander Wang and H&M gave us a preview of what is yet to come. In an interview with Style.com Wang explained the idea and motive behind the collection “H&M has done a great job in the past with archive-based collaborations, But I wanted to create a collection where most of the pieces have been designed from scratch. There are only a couple of items that are updates from past designs. Rather than creating affordable versions of expensive items, I wanted to design true performance pieces that are within the natural price points of sportswear of H&M, so we were able to create the best version of these pieces, through our vocabulary.”

Pictures taken from WWD and Style.com

The Iconoclasts Celebrating Louis Vuitton’s Monogram

In 1854, Louis Vuitton founded his House. In 1896 his son, Georges Vuitton, created The Monogram in honour of his late father.  The initials of the company – LV – are interlaced in such a way as to remain perfectly legible. Then a diamond. To give a specific character to the shape, he made the sides concave with a four-petal flower in the centre. Then the extension of this flower in a positive image. Finally, a circle containing a flower with four rounded petals.

Delphine Arnault, daughter of LVMH chairman Bernard Arnault, and artistic director Nicolas Ghesquière initiated a project, dubbed ‘Celebrating Monogram,’ inviting six of the world’s design pioneers to interpret the LV monogram for a new series of bags. The six pioneers are: shoe designer Christian Louboutin; performance artist Cindy Sherman; architect Frank Gehry; Karl Lagerfeld creative director of Chanel and Fendi; product designer Marc Newson and Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons.

Karl Lagerfeld shot each of the iconoclasts and their finished products for Harper’s Bazaar’s upcoming October issue.

Information and pictures taken from LouisVuitton.com & Businessoffashion.com

The $55 Million Watch

Graff unveiled the $55 Million at the 2014 BaselWorld fair. It is made out of 110 Carat watch made of rare diamonds and thousands of hours of craftsmanship, design, and research to create “The Hallucination Watch”  The concept of the Graff Hallucination came directly from Laurence Graff. He commented on his work saying; ” The Graff Hallucination is a sculptural masterpiece; a celebration of the miracle of coloured diamonds. For many years I have thought about creating a truly remarkable watch that illustrates our consuming passion for diamonds. The Hallucination has made my diamond dream a reality!”

Graff $ 55 million watch Hallucination

Graff $ 55 million watch

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DKNY’s Ramadan Collection

As the Arab & Islamic world make headlines around the world, whether its about the new radical ISIS taking over or the recent ban of bruqa’s in France. nevertheless, the actual society is trying to incorporate themselves more and more into this globalized world. The ability to grow but still maintain their customs and traditions. This collection proves the point as designers are gearing up and creating specific collections for this target customer, which happens to be one of the main markets for the fashion industry, due to the regions great consumer purchasing power. The 12-piece collection features different, interchangeable looks from long flowing dresses, skirts and jumpsuits. While always keeping in mind fluidity, layering, and conservative necklines. The looks were styled by Yada Golsharifi the fashion editor of Styles Magazine and Tamara Al Gabbani a fashion designer in Dubai.

Enjoy!

Milan Men’s Fashion Week – Throwback

Here are some images from Milan Men’s Fashion Week that I haven’t managed to share with you. They were taken on the first day of the fashion shows. I hope you enjoy them as much as you enjoyed the previous ones!

Milan Men’s Fashion Week – Day 2

The second day of Milan Men’s Fashion Week and it can’t get any better! Here are some images I took today, Enjoy!

 

Milan Men’s Fashion Week

So fashion week finals kicks in and Milan is going crazy as usual. Endless parties, endless outfits, and endless good looking people. Here are some images from today’s street style! Enjoy!

SHISEIDO Event

To kick off the world cup in style and fashion I was invited to the Shiseido event in Sephora in Milan. The theme of the event was “Brazilian Summer Party”. Everything there was perfectly setting the mood for the first game of the season! The music, the drinks, the fruits being passed around, and not to forget the scorching heat! (Yes Milan has been having an abnormal heat wave, where two showers a day won’t even cool you down). Here are some images from the event!

Also an update on my life I just got to Rome today! I will update you about my first day here in Roma tomorrow! But for now I better start getting ready for dinner! Arrivederci!

P.S. It looks like I am doing some sort of a dougie but trust me I wasn’t. I was just rocking some great harem pants (shirwal), a top from Zara, a shirt from Ralph Lauren around my waist, and my favorite Dolce & Gabbana shoes.

Manolo Blahniks Under A Burka

Today was one of these relaxing saturdays, waking up at noon I rolled out of bed and read texts from my friends that they are planning on going for lunch later in the afternoon asking me if I would like to join. After meeting them for lunch, off I went to the gym, for a much needed workout. Spontaneously afterwards, I decided to end up at Parco Sempione, I texted a few friends if they wanted to join, bought magazines, and off I went for a relaxing day at the park. Yes as relaxing as it gets, forgetting the fact that mosquitos somehow find their way to a place where the sun don’t shine, or the fact that I am probably allergic to 70 % of all plants, or how irritated my skin gets from the sun because of how white I am. Well lets put all these beautiful things aside, and focus on the few hours of relaxation I ventured out to get. None of my friends showed up so by the end of the day I had 4 hours of me,myself, and I. See we are always punctual to any plans I have thats the good thing about this friendship or lets put it that way companionship.

After going through many pages of Times, Vogue, I finally stumbled upon an article at L’officiel Hommes that grabbed my attention “Modesty” by Glenn O’Brien. Glenn O’Brien is an American journalist that writes about art, fashion and culture. He is best known for being “The Style Guy” for GQ magazine. And in this article he had a subtitle called “Manolo Blahniks Under A Burka”. He argues that no longer are high heels and thongs sexy “on a contemporary beauty there is nothing more alluring, except Manolo Blahniks under a burka. Modest fashion is made to be removed, layer after layer. Trying to look sexy is so f*&^ing out”

I will leave you to wrap your heads around it, as I still haven’t stopped thinking about it for the past few hours. It reminded me of a verse from Usher & Ludacris’ song Yeah “I want a lady in the streets, and a freak in the bed.”. I’ll leave you to this and some images from throughout the day. 
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