Posts Tagged ‘Inspiration’

How to find Inspiration in Unlikely Places: An Antipodium Lesson

Monday, March 5th, 2012

Geoffrey J Finch, the creative director for the London-based label, Antipodium has a design sensibility that subverts the classics and imbues them with a fresh quirkiness. In an in-depth interview with Susie Lau of Style Bubble for Barney’s The Window, he discusses his design process.

For his spring collection, now in stores, Finch found inspiration in Woody Allen’s family drama Interiors, about an artistically-oriented family that is falling apart. The translation is easily seen in his inspiration boards (check it out below), as the most mundane household activities become loaded with meaning. For Antipodium, the thought process expresses itself in the clothes.  As Susie says, “That’s the kind of person who wears Antipodium—they’re interested in their clothes, but they’re also interested in a little story behind it.”

More recently, Finch presented his Fall 2012 collection at London Fashion Week, where he drew inspiration from an unlikely source- Vermin. But in this case, vermin does not mean creepy crawly maggots. Instead, the collection focuses on the “natural habitat of an outsider,” particularly through the lens of Finch’s favorite source of inspiration, his East London neighborhood.

Using a palette of “camel, tobacco, lilac and nude with sharp accents of verdant green and fish-counter blue”, sports inspired shapes, and a mix of fabrics from jersey to Mohair, this Fall 2012 collection embodies “clashes of class and culture, architecture and nature.” Continuing to collaborate with other artists, Finch commissioned two artists to produce exclusive prints for this fall collection, as he did with his Spring 2012 collaboration with printmaker Miriam Ivanoff.

Check out some  backstage looks from his Fall 2012 Collection below

All runway images via NYMag and check out the review on Vogue UK

Antipodium available at Barneys and Shop Bop

For sales appointments contact Fiftytwo Showroom

Meet Tooshie Designer Natascha Wittgenstein

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

In anticipation of swim market, we’d like to introduce you to the designer behind Tooshie, a swimwear line that lives up to its name, making every derriere look amazing.

What was the initial concept behind your line? Tooshie was launched with a simple goal in mind: to design swimsuits that would perfectly fit any woman’s derriere, with a timeless, elegant and comfortable feel.

What education and experience has helped shape your career? I started buying paintings and selling them at age 12. Later, I  studied at the prestigious Camondo School of design in Paris. I also worked in New York for eight years and was the studio design director at Nina Ricci, all of which were important steps before Tooshie.

What is your earliest fashion memory? My first taste for fashion, design and aesthetics came from my mother, Birgitta Af Klercker, one of the original “top models” of the 1960s.

If there was a soundtrack for your SS 11 Collection what would it be? E penso a te by Lucio Battisti.

If you had to choose, what is your favorite piece from your collection? My favorite is the Hamptons, it was born in my first collection and has now been made reversible. This season it comes in navy blue reversing to black with a gold lame edging.

If you could live in any decade, which would it be? The late 60′s, early 70′s.

Are there any historical fashion icons you refer to when you work? My mother one hundred percent.

In one word, how would you describe your label? Chic.

What has been a career highlight so far? My collaboration with APC.

What are three things you can’t live without? My daughter, my blackberry (very original) and my Smythson travel wallet.

What’s inspiring you now? The luminous, colorful works of German artist Anselm Reyle and the 1970s pop aesthetic of photographers like Bert Stern and Slim Aarons.

What is your most treasured possession? A belt that Verushka made and gave to my mother.

Of all the cities in the world, where do you find the most inspiration? I  travel a lot, every 4 days. . .  so i am constantly inspired, but one of the places that is for sure a constant inspiration is Florence, where I manufacture the entire collection.

Hamptons Reversible Bikini

Art Piece by Anselm Reyle

Photograph by Bert Stern

Photograph by Slim Aarons

 

Views of Florence, Italy

Brigitta Af Klercker

Photos by Irving Penn in US Vogue 1966

An inspiration board for the 2011 line, from Natascha Wittgenstein’s Studio

Coven

Tuesday, May 24th, 2011

No, we are not referring to a gathering of witches or vampires, though there is certainly something unearthly in the innovative designs of Liliane Rebehy. It was while studying architecture in grad school that she decided to start her own clothing line, Coven. Though the word conjures up thoughts of sorcery, its literal meaning, from the Latin “conventus” is simply, “get together; unite.”

Rebehy’s background allows her to synthesize her inspirations with an adept understanding of volume, space, drawing and construction as seen in the unique shapes and patterns  that make up her line.