BEHIND THE SCENES AT DAVID KOMA

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Polynesian tribal tattoos, the work of artist Kim Joon, Hawaiian grass skirts and Highland kilts informed Koma's show

I like David Koma. He is a very driven, yet straightforward guy. He also reminds me of how I imagine Mr Tumnus from C.S Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia  to look (in a good way). This makes me warm to him. Plus, you know, he is Georgian, partly raised in St Petersburg, and I hung out with him there in his favourite coffee shop last November, and met his friends, and he showed me around a bit and was so charming. There's nothing better than seeing someone in their manor to get the measure of them. Oh and did I tell you his MA St Martins graduate collection was worn by Beyonce and Cheryl Cole?

David Koma

So when I visit him at his studio, he picks up the thread of a conversation we started back in St Petersburg about Pearly Kings and Queens. "Remember?" he says. "Well for the Spring/Summer 2012 I've moved it on. I realised what I liked was the iridescence. So I've been looking into materials that have a pearly light quality to them. I've found a Perspex with an iridescent film coating that takes on the colour of whatever it is attached to," he says showing me the triangular pieces. You can see the pieces attached to the dress as seen at his runway show yesterday, below.

David Koma SS12, check out the way the iridescent Perspex catches the runway lights

David's work is very upscale, for a certain kind of luxury-living-and-loving woman, so it stands to reason that his fashion show demonstrated that hard-bodied silhouette, even in a season that so far is focused on lightness, looseness and layers. While his show had a weightiness to it, and kept up the bodycon silhouette, lightness came in the surfeit of bright white, and beams of bright pink and yellow in the collection and the skin-revealing silk jersey devore he used to create pieces that looked like tattoos on the body. "I was inspired by the artist Kim Joon," he explained, "I like the idea of taking the way he drew on the body, and explored how I could develop the idea of a second skin in fashion." Having handled the pieces, I can tell you they are as light as air.

David Koma SS12

Kim Joon Bird Land 2008

David was also working from a hybrif idea he had that was something between a Hawaiian grass skirt, and a kilt. You can see exactly what he was trying to do with the below outfits. It's so fascinating seeing how an idea can go from a moodboard to a runway. After his last polka dot inspired show, David Koma the business gained four international stockists. With this collection, he will keep them happy. 

David Koma SS12 - are you getting the hula-hula feeling?

David Koma SS12 - kilt inspiration

The clothes packaged up and ready for the runway.

FW11 TREND #4: POLKA DOTS

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Each season there is a graphic that feels right for now, even though it is a variation on a classic- think stars, stripes and spots. For FW11, you are going to find it hard to avoid polka dots, that's if you haven't succumbed already- this trend was a goer pretty much the moment the catwalk shows ended, but more of that later.

Marc Jacobs has been known to look to Yayoi Kusama for inspiration. Read all about the polka loving artist here, including her long-time residence in a mental institution

It is a joint effort from Marc Jacobs and Stella McCartney which brings the humble spot print into hot fashion territory this season.  The polka might not be something new but the way we wear it for FW11 is different and perhaps initially surprising for those of us who first think of Minnie Mouse when we conjure the quintessential dotty dresser. Basically, it's all about sex. You could even see this as a subversive, sub-element of the fetish trend which we will talk about another day. 

Polka dots represent a charming, playful innocence but when are they done in rubber (as at Marc Jacobs and Louise Gray) or artfully placed atop a sheer base (as at Stella) then the effect really can be a bit mind boggling- is this supposed to be fun, or sexy, or (can we take this) BOTH? Sexy fun.

David Koma FW11

The flames of this trend have been fanned by the early celebrity endorsements of Stella McCartney's collection. Kate Winslet caused a stir wearing the black sheer polka cut out dress not long after the catwalk shows, as did Liv Tyler. The ad campaign stars Natalia Vodianova. By having the dress etched in our minds from such an early stage, the high street was bound to follow in order to satiate the predictable need to emulate. If you want to splash out on a less celeb-y, but no less in your face,  polka reference then I am rather in love with Louise Gray's thigh high rubber wellies, a bit fun, a bit kinky, so I would point you in their direction (available at Harvey Nichols)

Louise Gray FW11 (style.com)

Natalia Vodianova for Stella McCartney's campaign (stylerumor.com)

Marc Jacobs' peplums and pencil skirts are made in tweedy wools but then you stick a shiny polka on top and ta da, lady becomes fun. David Koma's furry appendages have a similar effect alongside the be-polkaed body con dresses. Stella also used giant paillettes to take the spot pattern a step further, they have a slight delicacy which means they sort of hover threateningly over their sheer underlayers, as if they might drop to a big reveal at any moment.

Marc Jacobs FW11 (catwalking.com)

Marc Jacobs FW11 (catwalking.com)

Stella McCartney FW11 (catwalking.com)

 WE RECOMMEND

BARGAIN DESIGNER DOTS: Balenciaga at Matches £272 (from £545)

Wolford at ASOS £33

Marc Jacobs at Net-a-Porter £825

Topshop £38.50

Warehouse £60

ITS THE VAUXHALL FASHION SCOUT MERIT ** STAR!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

One of the huge privileges of being the Fashion Editor at Large and working with Grazia is that, for the last four years, I've sat on the NEWGEN panel for London Fashion Week. NEWGEN is about recognising and nurturing fresh new talent, and giving it a platform through TopShop sponsorhsip. When I see how well former NEWGEN designers such as Chris Kane and Erdem are now doing, the rewards speak for themselves.

But NEWGEN is not the only fashion sponsorship program in town as I discovered when asked to sit on the selection panel for Vauxhall Fashion Scout. VFS is the junior version of NEWGEN. David Koma graduated from VFS to NEWGEN 18 months ago, and indeed got noticed when his VFS show was rammed and editors tried to squeeze in to his off-schedule event housed at their permanent show space at the Freeemasons Hall in Covent Garden. In short, Vauxhall Fashion Scout is a force for good.

The most coveted sponsorship prize from VFS is the Merit Award. The recipient gains a fully sponsored catwalk show and exhibition space at Vauxhall Fashion Scout during London and Paris Fashion Weeks, and three years business support. I have to say that when I first saw the upcoming September  SS12  Merit Award winners Leutton Postle, comprising knitwear production expert Samantha Leutton, and CSM  MA 2011 graduate Jenny Postle, I was somewhat lost for words with a sense of awe at the handmade brilliant madness of the work. At first it was as if Michael Van Der Ham had taken crystal meth, but then it sinks in that this is ALL KNITTED....

Jenny Postle's Central Saint Martin's MA graduate show

With knitwear having a resurgence much in the same way print has done over the last five years, Leutton Postle have possibilities for growth and development that we can't even imagine yet.

The girls mission statement: "[our work] freely embraces riotous colour, unusual surface texture and rich pattern to create beautifully offbeat knits for women. Each piece is handmade and aims to produce truly original couture-quality knitwear by pushing the boundaries of technique and design."

Kicking off their business with a sponsored catwalk show is most fortuitous; now its over to them to design and create summer knitwear (a challenge) that will keep the Browns Focus customer (they have an exclusive AW11 deal with the above collection with the store) and hopefully others clients and retailers happy.

I know all of us on the panel of VFS are very much looking fowarsd to the Leutton Postle show in September.

Photos: Catwalking.com

THE NEW GEN GANG!

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

The NEWGEN Crew throwing some shapes for the SS12 fashion season. Lookin good!

The British Fashion Council last night announced its 17 designers, selected by a panel of judges, (of which I am proud to be one), to receive NEWGEN sponsorship to show their Spring/Summer 2012 collections at London Fashion Week this September. I'm very proud of them all, and to be honest got a bit emotional seeing them all lined up for their victory shot. I'm such a wuss.

THE RECIPIENTS ARE

Catwalk sponsorship: David Koma, Holly Fulton, Louise Gray and Michael van der Ham.
Presentation sponsorship: Christopher Raeburn, Craig Lawrence, Dominic Jones, J.W. Anderson and Nasir Mazhar.
Installation sponsorship: Jordan Askill and SISTER by SIBLING.
Exhibition sponsorship: Felicity Brown, J. JS Lee, James Long, Palmer//Harding, Thomas Tait and Tim Soar Woman.

It was wonderful to see that Natalia Vodianova had taken time out to support her fellow countryman David Koma at the Pimms and pork-pie cocktail party on the terrace at Somerset House last night. Daisy Lowe also came to support Craig Laurence. Looking at David and Natalia together, you can see that apart from their Russian bonds, they have a sweet friendship and doesn't she look utterly fabulous in his clothes?

David & Natalia

At the end of the evening, a few wags decided to play naughty with the designers names, originally displayed in correct order on an old-fashion cricket score board for the night. The anagrams are far too rude to publish here, but it was a lot of fun reading them.

Images courtesy of:

Vogue.com

Britishfashioncouncil.com

DAVID KOMA ON THE UP

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Last night  I spotted Natalia Vodianova at a Vogue Fashion Night Out party wearing this incredible dress by fellow Russian, David Koma. Seeing her in it, it struck me David is fast turning into a shooting star of British fashion.  Celebrity endorsement by a girl who doubles as a fashion icon, really is a fast-track to fashion fame.

The brilliant tailoring, worked structure and sculptural detailing look fantastic on Natalia - better, even, than when I spotted it backstage at his AW10 show in Feburuary.

 David Koma AW10

Koma has been on the up London Fashion Week since Cheryl Cole and Beyonce wore his designs shortly after he graduated from St Martins last year. Earlier this year we on the NEWGEN panel invited him onto the offical London schedule. You may remember my interview with him just over a year ago, posted here on this very blog:

David snapped at the NEWGEN party back in June

Back then he was still adjusting to life as fashion's hottest rising star, but it is clear that Koma's designs are now becoming a firm favourite with tastemakers and trendsetters alike. The goddess herself, Kylie Minogue, along with her loyal stylist Willy Baker picked a David Koma design for the opening shots of her latest video 'Get Outta My Way', and as she writhes around with laser accessories looking typically fabulous, it's obvious why she chose to work with this young designer.  

Watch the full video here:
She wore yet another custom David Koma dress (based on his current collection) for a performance on America's Got Talent.



Now it is all we can do to contain my trepidation for his S/S11 show, on the Monday 20th September. Check back then for my impressions of the show, and we will also be getting a sneal preview of his collection at the weekend. In fact next week is dedicated to previews - I have teamed up with Swarovski to get amazing access to all of the LFW designers they collaborate with.

David Koma is available at Browns

(Images: Daily Mail, Fashion Editor at Large, Kylie Minogue)

MY NEWGEN PHOTO DIARY

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Models wearing (L to R) David Koma, Michael Van Der Ham, Mark Fast, Peter Pilotto

 

I am a NewGen panellist and am very proud of the fact. The wealth of emerging talent we have in the UK is managed so well, the result is we have an envied program that is yet to be bettered in the world. The chosen group of NEWGEN winners is given the correct advice, care and cash at exactly the right time in their careers. Sarah Mower the UK Ambassador for Emerging Talent is totally instrumental in this, as is TopShop for funds and the British Fashion Council and their stellar team who impress me ALL the time.

When one is involved with an initiative like this, seeing the winners all together on the day is quite an emotional experience. This journalist certainly found herself welling up at the sight of David Koma and Michael Van Der Ham taking their position in the line up. And seeing Christopher de Vos and Peter Pilotto, who are on their last round of suport and funding before they go it alone, take their place and knowing how well NEWGEN has served them is wonderful. When you know how damn hard these guys work its nice to know talent and hard work get recognised and nurtured by our system.

 

Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos

David Koma and model wearing a Koma AW10 dress.

Michael Van Der Ham with a model wearing an AW10 dress

                 Ed Vaizey the new Minister for Culture, Communications and the Creative Industries.MP 
                                            Lady Amanda Harlech, Jonathan Newhouse (Conde Nast)
                         THE CLASS OF SPRING 2011 COLLECTIONS

Top row: Models!
Second row (l-r): Peter Pilotto, Christopher De Vos, Jordan Askill, Craig Lawrence, model, JW Anderson, model, Henry Brown (Felicity Brown), David Koma, Dominic Jones, Michael Lewis, Michael van der Ham, Heikki Salonen.
Bottom row (l-r): Fannie Schiavoni, Holly Fulton, Jo Sykes, Louise Gray, Jackie JS. Lee, Atalanta Weller, Mary Katrantzou, Chau Har Lee, Yang Du.

Photos: Fashion Editor at Large and Alistair Guy/BFC

DAVID KOMA AW10 COLLECTION IN MOTION

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Annoyingly almost all of my photos came out really badly, but I did manage to capture some of the Koma show on video. Apparently this show was much busier than last season - that'll be the celeb hype then. What do you think of the new collection?

Jeez, in the last day I've learned how to mobile blog from a brand new BlackBerry, opened a youtube account and signed up to twitter (here I am in case you're interested: https://twitter.com/fash_junior). Phew!

LFW REVS UP: KOMA & HAKAAN

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

Slow start today. Nothing much happened this morning, but I kept looking at the David Koma at 2.15 time slot, and the Hakaan show at 2.45 timeslot and breaking out in a cold sweat. How to do both? In the end I went backstage at David Koma, got what I needed and hot-footed it to Hakaan where as promised Kate Moss and Carine Roitfeld sat smiling on the front row. Here's a photo gallery.

David making final adjustments to his models before they hit the runway

David Koma models

A rail of Koma

HAKAAN

Et Voila.

What do you think of these two very new designers? For their lack of experience playing in the big leagues I was impressed at the finesse, though I wish designers would move on from their obsession with short, sexy tight, sliced dresses.

Meanwhile the fashion junior at large is at The Ones to Watch at Vauxhall Fashion Scout now; David Koma was part of that show last year so lets hope she discovers some more fresh talent.

I'm going to drinks with ACNE founder Jonny Johansson soon then onto dinner with the lovely Olivia Palermo later. Will report!

VAUXHALL FASHION SCOUT PROVE OFF SCHEDULE SHOWS ARE THE ONES TO WATCH

Posted by Fashion Junior at Large

Fashion Editor at Large recently voiced the theory that my generation – enthralled by reality TV shows like Project Catwalk and *ahem* The City – have come to see fashion as a form of entertainment unto itself. She assures me that when she was my age seats were hard to fill and the whole show-scene was a very business-like affair compared to the front row celebrities, bloggers, blaggers and show-crashers of recent seasons.

I think she’s right. Possibly because the champagne reception, the goody bags, and the paparazzi-esque street style photographers create a general air of privilege and exclusivity normally reserved for celebrities.

Of course there will be actual celebrities in attendance, and those celebrities understand how important it is to associate themselves with the right labels. Last year Beyonce and Cheryl Cole expressed a propensity for new designers when they both wore David Koma, thereby propelling him to top of the agenda in editor's meetings at the major fashion magazines. Off the back of the resulting buzz off schedule has become the new ‘on’ schedule, and Vauxhall Fashion Scout has had to move to the Freemasons Building to accommodate a 20% increase in demand for seats.

Competition for space is particularly fierce for the winner of this season's Merit Award - Hermione de Paula – whose prints look like reflections on a rippling lake.

"Hermione is extremely talented and is becoming renowned for her beautiful prints. Last season we showcased her as part of our Ones to Watch show which resulted in a huge amount of press coverage and her work being picked up by Browns Focus"

Martyn Roberts, Director, Vauxhall Fashion Scout

 

de Paula (who is of course a St. Martins graduate) will have her first stand-alone catwalk show sponsored by Vauxhall Fashion Scout as part of the Merit Award initiative. She will also receive PR and sales support through a tailored mentoring program which will help cultivate her talent and push the nitty gritty business aspects of the enterprise forward.

Judges - including Vogue.com's Jessica Bumpus, Jemma Dyas from Browns Focus, and Susie 'Bubble' Lau - look for 'creativity, quality of work, and business development' in a Merit Award winner, and the bar has been set pretty damn high by previous winners like these two:

David Koma

And William Tempest

 

But if you really want to get a handle on who the big fashion stars of tomorrow are today, get a front row, second row, or even a standing ticket to Ones To Watch. This season's geniuses in the making are ASKH, David Longshaw, Eudon Choi, and Florence Kozuch.

 

Log on to FEAL on Friday 19th and find out which one I predict Cheryl will be wearing in a few months time...