zaidd'or

By Zaid Taji Farouki

Tag: Women’s Clothing

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

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.

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

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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The Resurrection of The Denim Overalls

A few weeks ago while window shopping I spotted these pair of denim overalls at Zara and I convinced myself that I shouldn’t buy the, because I wouldn’t wear them. But a few days ago I was walking next to Zara and they were still on my mind and I knew I had to go buy them. They reminded me of the 90’s (the child in me wanted to wear them with a Disney shirt) they reminded me of the matching denim overalls me my brother used to wear and to the time where they were the coolest thing. But I didn’t get the chance to wear them until last night where I was invited to an event by Michael Kors and ELLE here in Milan in the Michael Kors boutique on Corso Vittorio Emanuele. We got to see his new summer collection as well as try them out. I can officially say, go buy yourself a pair of denim overalls again! They are comfortable with so many ways to wear them. You can go from wearing them on the streets of Milan to wearing them while farming, all you need is a cowboy hat with it (No don’t ever wear that unless its for an editorial or costume). Well anyways here are some photos from last night!

Today I am off to an event by 1177 so stay tuned for what happens tonight! ImageImageImage

Outfit details: Zara Overall; GAP lenin shirt; Dolce & Gabbana shoes; Italia Independent sunglasses; Hermes, Omega and Fendi bracelets.

Valentino X Net-A-Porter

Rouge Absolute is a collaboration between Valentino and Net-A-Porter for a charitable cause. A percentage of the profits go to three nonprofit organizations in Africa. The product line includes leather jacket, a clutch, bracelet, and ankle boots which will all be in red.

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Picture taken from Vogue.

Graduated!

So a few days ago I can finally say I am done with fashion school. I know this may sound cliché but this year taught me so much about myself. After graduating from university I wanted to pursue my dream so I decided to apply to fashion schools and I ended up in Milan at Istituto Marangoni. The first few months I would describe as the hardest. The stress, the uncertainty, the learning curve- tough demands which can only be met by working through the nights. With all these factors I can definitely say I learnt more than I expected.The sleepless nights & anxiety attacks paid off eventually and I couldn’t be happier, with three collections in my portfolio.

This year wasn’t all about the academics, it was also about growing as a person and facing actual competition among peers. Previously in business school we were very competitive, but we somehow worked together in classes on projects, papers, etc that elevated us all together it was team work. But sadly in the creative world it is everyone for himself and having to constantly watch your back and work. Yes, people always managed to say snarky comments about your work  just to diminish you. A great example was a fellow student that on more than one occasion mentioned that my final painting on my garments was was awful. The first incident was when he said “it’s not the fabric that didn’t work, its your painting which is bad” or the other time where he said “you should hire someone better than you to paint the outfits!”. These comments were not even called for and he wasn’t asked for his opinion in the first place. Others claimed that they were fed wrong information for them to fail the exam. Let’s say we needed a reality TV show, I would love to pitch the idea to Bravo TV.

Some may think why am I sharing this sensitive information with the people reading my blog, well these moments were a new highlight in my life. For the first time in my life, I didn’t wish a person for the best in their lives. It was a new marking point, was I going to be one of those people that were ruthless? Did I loose my personality? Or was it just amplifying something hidden inside of me? But after much thought I realized it wasn’t any of the above. Anyone that knows me, knows how I wish the best for everyone and I would always be there if anyone needed assistance. But this time I had gotten to the point where you are welcome by my side where as friends/acquaintances we inspire each other and grow simultaneously. If that wasn’t the key factor and their main factor was to diminish me, as is I am already a harsh critic on myself so I don’t need their assistance. Although I will need their assistance in one thing, they further encourage me to prove them wrong.

The day after I graduated I had to put on my professional look and head out to try to figure out whats the next step I need to take in order to leap onto my next goal. During my final exam I submitted my Spring/ Summer 2015 collection, but we also submitted finished look from our Fall Winter 2014/15 collection. I hope you like it!! Every piece was hand painted by me after the pieces were sewn to create customizable pieces that the wearer views as a piece of art rather than an average piece of clothing.

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The Met Gala Deconstructed

So a few days ago we watched as celebrities and fashion designers walked down the red carpet for one of the most important events of the year, The Met Gala. As always Anna Wintour’s themed charity event always attracts the wealthy and the famous and we cant help ourselves but analyze and decompose every single outfit after all the event was held by one of fashion’s most important figures, if not the most important person of them all. We all may have been at awe with some of the outfits, but to me I really appreciate people who do stick to the theme of the party. So lets see who stuck to the theme the most? 

As we all may know the theme for the gala was ‘White Tie and Decorations’ in coordination with the new Met exhibition dedicated to Charles James, which is nicknamed “the first American couturier”. Not many may know Charles James’ legacy but if anyone has ever worn down jacket, a wrap dress, or the strapless gown—all of those were his innovations.In 1932 he also creates a “Taxi” dress which its said it is so easy to wear that it can be worn in the back of a taxi. Below you will find images of his creations and how he inspires many designers today. You can see how he has influenced Marchesa and Zac Posen. Here are some of his designs:

(click on the images to enlarge them)

Also on a side note today Harvey Weinstein announced that he will relaunch Charles James’ brand. Harvey Weinstein is the husband of Georgina Chapman who manages to be Marchesa’s co-founder and designer. He also specified that Georgina Chapman along with her brother CEO of Marches Edward Chapman will be consultants to the brand. Weinstein licensed the brand from the late couturier’s estate.

But now lets see how the celebrities went to this event last night! Some may not have sticked to the theme but we can never stop appreciating a beautiful dress. I am loving Dita Von Teese’s Zac Posen dress!

(click on the images to enlarge them)

 

All pictures above were taken from metmuseum.org, vogue.com, Getty Images, EPA, & Reuters.

Inspiration

I am currently designing a Spring Summer collection and I would love to keep you up to date with all the work I have been doing. My inspiration for this collection is taking the fabrics in religious representations (such as crochet and chiffon) and transforming them into modern geometric pieces that incorporate prints and fabrics specifically designed by me to create a wearable avant-garde pieces. As I will keep the actual pieces and illustrations as a surprise. Here are a few images that I have drawn inspiration from. Although it may seem that I was inspired by religious figures, but the truth is that I wanted to take the feeling of the delicate, “untouchable”, femininity and transforming in a way to create the allure of the woman that I would see wearing my clothes. Here is just a small amount of images from my research. I hope you enjoy it!

Statement Piece

Is it possible to just talk about how obsessed I am with this shoulder piece by H&M? This shoulder piece is part of the new sustainable collection which will be in stores starting April 10th. This collection will be made out of organic fibers and from sustainable sources. This is a statement piece and I would love to see it worn by people its a great addition to a simple dress or even a shirt. It can make your whole outfit and I love how easily attainable it is as well!

Milan Men’s Fashion Week

Today is one of these days where I can go to bed and say “it was a great day”. Like a typical Sunday, I got up early but forced myself back to sleep. I was woken up with a call from a friend of mine informing me that she had just seen the Ferragamo fashion show and they are planning on going to see Vivienne Westwood’s runway show as well. I got out of bed, got dressed, and ran out like a maniac. We met up and off we went on our crazy fashion show adventure. We got to see the Vivienne Westwood show, as well as Missoni, and sadly we couldn’t get into Prada but we got to see the street style there.
During the fashion shows we got to see many style icons. The first people we actually met actually work in fashion and they live in Washington DC (Represent!) and then we met a Marangoni alumni Yu Lee who is a stylist, fashion blogger and reporter she runs the blog theyutopia.com (she can be seen In between the images below, wearing a blue fur jacket while mixing it up with red.) Then at Missoni we got to meet Angela Missoni, Mariano Di Vaio as well as Riccardo Pozzoli.
While I was waiting for the Prada show I saw Anna Dello Russo, Brian Atwood and his partner Jake Deutsch, Olga Rink, and Suzy Menkes.
The images below are a mix of street style as well as famous people. Hopefully tomorrow will be as crazy as today was! Enjoy!

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Color Inspiration

I am obsessed with this yellow shade, a statement color that can be seen in many upcoming collections. Here is four clothing articles that I am obsessed with. The floor length dress by Cédric Charlier, short dress by Valentino, shoulder bag by Valentino, and the necklace by Ek Thongprasert.

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Pictures taken from Moda Operandi, Valentino, and Barney’s

Daily Obsessions

I am crazy for asymmetrical clothing, and this jacket by Helmut Lang shows the exact silhouette that I love.
This is a sweater by Helmut Lang that I would love to see on someone!
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Pictures taken from Helmut Lang