RAF SIMONS FW0910

VidFlip: 10 MEN, Issue 16

MONDBLOG VidFlip: 10 MEN, Issue 16 from Raymond Navarro on Vimeo.

10 Men improves issue by issue, keeping design and topics fresh and creative. The publication's updated their
web site to include TEN TV, a TEN blog, a showcase of all past covers and, of course, those nasty little rumours they drop. The
cover designs alter slightly about every year, which I like, because the magazine has been evolving, improving at a great pace.
The in-house writings are sometimes a little too much of that cheeky English humor for my friends and I (in America), and while
the all-Givenchy editorial is appropos, the all-Prada feature made the styling of the shoot TOO easy; we don't need to see what
we saw come off the runway again. We want you to refresh us with looks we might have not imagined. But, feature topics are what
you should be on top with if you wish to the happenings around modern menswear. I'll def be looking forward to issue 17,
my 10th issue, which has just begun to hit the shelves. 

Where Sports Meets Fashion

The blatant sportswear influence in Miuccia Prada's Miu Miu FW0809 collection — color-blocked jumpsuits, long-sleeve netted onesies and track jackets worn with cone-shaped heels and bright skullcaps — made some mixed reactions amongst friends and peers in the "fashion community," but I knew Miuccia's athletic expression in the hardly wearable clothes would serve as inspiration to me and many others.

The influence in design and function of sport is actually quite pragmatic and refreshing, two elements I'd believe to be necessary for selling clothes at a time when 1) economy's in the dump and 2) retail sales are down, way down. And while maybe none of the aforementioned designers' collections are exactly

"wearable," looks from designers like Raf Simons sleek, slim silhouettes for men, Balenciaga's austere, architectural forms and Undercover's spacey, tailored outerwear could be, has been, styled in sporty fashion in magazines. The look is more than believable, it's a reality. A sexy one at that.

And thank be to independent designers like Romain Kremer and Louis Goldin who on their own have integrated the aesthetics of sport making the surreal sleek linebacker-chic a reality on the runway. In them lies fashion's actual optimism; their exploratory trips on what's possible and "impossible" makes dreams played out in editorials and from your closets onto the streets.

Maybe you buy this, maybe you don't, but this is the first set of three posts dedicated to you finding an inspiration, or at least appreciation, for what's sporty in fashion. On the next update, find store items — new, vintage, slightly pricey and those comparatively cheap — from a list of international shipping stores.

There's so much to look to!

Bblessing 1-Day Halloween Sale, 30th of October

Best sale I've seen around — 30% off Bblessing's entire winter collection this Thursday, October 30, in-store only. From 1 to 10pm, find Raf Simons, Patrik Ervell, Rag & Bone, Surface to Air, the in-house Bblessing brand and more at great discounts at Bblessing's 181 Orchard St. (NYC) location.
Can't make it? Shop the collection (without the discount, sadly) at bblessing.com.

Shapes & Forms

From hats, belts, skirts and coats… Shoes, vests, pants...

and did you see those Louis Vuitton curved hairpieces?

Every piece of clothing has taken new and odd shapes this fall/winter season.

The truth is, the aspect in design for these striking, sometimes odd,

garments is always 'round; it’s just fun to focus on the scores of forms,

figures and silhouettes here and now.

And les’ not forget, one of the main forms for the fall was the “nude”

body itself. Bodysuits and comparable tight-figured silhouettes

ruled both the men and women’s runways for the current season.

You can’t not find a field to play in all the choices of sexy, playful,

exaggerative or structured forms all out there.

M-M-MMMargiela

A fellow fashion follower expressed about the this year’s Maison Martin Margiela fall collection with two words and one grimaced face: “It’s ugly,” she said. And while you could argue it is… “ugly,” its disputable that this same ugliness is just the right ugly we need in fashion. The designs are conceptual, dramatic, unforgettable and undeniably fresh — is that not what makes most collections successful?

Designer Martin Margiela preps us with a vision we’d probably start getting used to now, so 15 years down the line we’re comfortable with idea of wigs on our shoulders, body conscious nude bodysuits and plastic-bag bathing suits, because it’ll probably take that long for the mainstream to get pick up the fashion concepts. Today’s ragged and unfinished works can find trail sources of inspiration to 80s Margiela collections; who knows, we might owe the inspiration behind body conscious, architecturally protective wear of the future to today’s Margiela collections.

This Monday marked the 20th anniversary of the Margiela house, started up by the then 31-year old, former Jean Paul Gaultier assistant, Belgian designer of the Antwerp 6 Martin Margiela — that doesn’t mean there’s any planned celebration, though. In fact, there’s been a lot of recent chatter about Margiela actually planning his leave of the house. The New York Times article, "Fashion's Invisible Man," delves into the elusive Mr. Margiela’s actual role at MMM and troubles with creative control.

Shop MMM men and womenswear at Browns, Net-A-Porter and The Corner.

Continuing with:FW/0809 Menswear

For the past couple of years, everyone has been talking about the exciting world of menswear and while I do see publicating pushing the envelope with styling, dressing — I can't say I'm all too sure men are ready to take it to the imagined extent of designers. And with this sorta neo-dandyism arising (perhaps from conservative recession-driven dressing), who knows — things could implode on the whole thing.. menswear might not be the creative, imaginative field designers like Ute Ploier, Miuccia Prada and Mihara Yasuhiro have expanded it to be. At the same time, I've come to appreciate NY fashion week more with independents designer in menswear like The Cast, Robert Geller, Thom Browne and store brands Opening Ceremony, Bblessing. And on the other side of the globe, I don't believe there's a thing that could stop the creative momentum in modern Tokyo's menswear.. SS/09 collections leave me hopeful but for now I'd rather much look forward to the parting from the sweltearing heat and imagine all that fall/winter has to show.

End of Season Final Sales

Opening Ceremony green wash straight-leg jeans $145 $43.50
Raf Simons orange knit sweater with exaggerated length $635 $381
Petar Petrov zip elbows jacket $CAD 525 $CAD 262.50
Sonia Rykiel leather heels 55.900 Kr 27.900 Kr

Check out more sales and savings at...
Men a la Mode
Intermix
Built by Wendy

Coming Soon! — Fall/Winter Coverage

Store Spotlight: Boutique Reborn

When I think of Reborn, I recall the boutique's slim and sleek build, the personable (and good looking) staff, long-line garments leading to the all-white dressing receptacle, the stack of magazines sitting up front (the i-D with Beyonce on the cover in '06) and the two local designer pieces all my friends wished they had. Since then the world got lucky when Boutique Reborn opened up their very own webstore. 

The hidden-away boutique of Old Montreal stocks a collection of some of the best progressive local and international designer clothing. When I shopped the boutique a couple summers back, I fetched pieces from Complex Geometries and Plateau but Reborn's designer roster also includes (but is not limited to) Alexander Wang, Robert Geller, Petar Petrov, Peter Pilotto, Raf Simons along with labels Acne, Surface to Air, Preen and Darkshdw. Find anthing from a t-shirt to a coat or accessories at the webstore or boutique — Reborn's season collections carry it all. And soon we'll all have a mag to wait out for too — stay tuned, we'll keep you updated.

(all prices in Canadian dollars $$$)

Bblessing Sample Sale this weekend...

Say you live trapped in New York or you're just in the city for the weekend, it couldn't hurt to check out brands like Surface 2 Air, Raf by Raf Simons, Opening Ceremony and Patrik Ervell on sales up to 80% off at the Bblessing's Off Site Sample Sale this weekend. The event goes on April 18-19 (Friday and Saturday) 12pm — 7 pm, cash and cards accepted.

Find the store at Google Maps, here.
We'd be there if we could, so make the effort to at least check it out.

Menswear for SS/08

Details and subtle touches to basics make pieces more unique and desirable this spring. (That's right — goodbye to basics.) Graphic art and broader color swatches make t-shirts and shorts more fun to incorporate into warm weather ware. Visit Mintshop, an online-shopping store in Australia for tees and singlets with graphic art prints.
Art and broader color schemes are exactly the distraction we need from the more conservative menswear reflecting upon our... "challenging times." (Good luck trying to stretch your dollar in overseas webstores, though.)

New York menswear boutique BBlessing comes in from the shorts end with navy, "fire" and khaki cut off shorts by Obedient Sons. The shorts have a price tag of $120 at Bblessing's webstore.
Those on the other southern hemisphere moving into fall/winter, a 100% cotton Raf Simons "lime special" sweater surely pops a unique color to your outerwear; the sweater goes for $365. The Raf Simons SS/08 collection piece fits true to size and can also be found in orange and purple in the webstore.



Conservative pieces have seamed their way into spring looks. Jackets, vests, hats come together with shorts in cool new ways by Alexander McQueen, Balenciaga and Miharayasuhiro; the trickle is evident down at ASOS with trilbies and fitted jackets.

Labels, designers continue to integrate eyewear as part of the total look

Eyewear integrated into spring lines like never before, and it continues to be an accessory labels and designers are treating it as as strategic business maneuver and key element in creating the complete look.

Jil Sander has recently licensed an agreement with Marchon Eyewear, Inc. to create eyewear for the Jil Sander men and women's collections, VisionMonday reports. Jil Sander tells the optical industry news site that he is "looking forward to completing [his] vision for Jil Sander" with what he claims will be an "innovative" eyewear line. The creative director of Jil Sander debuted his own line of sporty-techno sunglasses in the Raf Simons spring/summer 2008 men's collection in partnership with London-label Linda 

Farrow. The Raf Simons group and Linda Farrow label created an eyewear line that complimented a collection "contemplating today's generation hooked on the Internet and perpetually logged online."

The Linda Farrow label has collaborated with reputable designers Dries Van Noten, Bernhard Willhelm and Christopher Kane. The label recently partnered with Chloë Sevigny for the Chloë Sevigny for Opening Ceremony line.

Raf Simons sunglasses courtesy InStyle, Under Cover sunshield courtesy Boutique Rebourn, Grey Ant sunglasses courtesy Oak

Dior Homme creative director isn't far behind Simons as he recently collaborated with Oliver Peoples to launch a limited-edition collection under Assche's label, men.style.com reports. The sunglasses will have interchangeable colored lenses to help match and personalize.

Finding either unique or playful eyewear doesn't have to come with high-fashion prices. Linda Farrow carries a line of vintage eyewear, eyewear shop Arckiv in London supplies a broad spectrum of frames to provide "wardrobe department" and shoppers "as much choice as possible." Finding a pair on eBay or a local vintage shop isn't nearly impossible either.