La Garçonne / Blog

A Sparkling Presentation

2012-02-27T18:44:00.000-05:00

We've always been intrigued by Hussein Chalayan's presentation of his collections, like the film of his Spring 2011 collection inspired by Japanese culture, directed by the designer himself. His Spring 2012 collection, also had the same hand-on approach - with Chalayan dressed as a waiter to the side of the runway, serving the models flutes of champagne rigged with tiny cameras which flashed what images they captured as the girls came down the catwalk. We wanted to share this video documentary about the making of the show, by the Creators Project:

See the new Chalayan styles that we've just added to the site here...

Easy Spirit

2012-02-21T19:00:00.000-05:00

The idea of comfort is often thought of as contrary to the idea of chic when it comes to shoes. But we love the Dr. Scholl's inspired footwear from Rochas Resort'12 collection. Thought we would share some images from their lookbook - loving the mischievous grin on the model's face...

See the collection of Rochas shoes on our site here...

New Menswear

2012-02-11T10:17:00.003-05:00

Our love of menswear doesn't just show itself through clothes with a masculine bend (our favorite Robert Clergerie oxfords for example!). We also love menswear for well, men. In addition to our favorites that we introduced last season like A.P.C., Comme Des Garçons Shirt, Comme des Garçons Play, and R13, our new Spring 2012 roster of menswear brands has expanded to include Acne and Maison Martin Margiela accessories and shoes. Check out some of the looks from our menswear shoot with our new favorite model Conrad from Next....

See all of our menswear collections here...

Presenting

2012-02-08T16:22:00.001-05:00

See our latest installment of Ensembles...

Moonlighting

2012-02-06T18:48:00.000-05:00

Vanessa Bruno - Moonlight from Vanessa Bruno on Vimeo.

Kate Bosworth in the new Vanessa Bruno Spring 2012 campaign video entitled "Moonlight", wandering through scenes in a surreal dream-like world of Vanessa Bruno looks and white horses...

Introducing Marsell Shoes

2012-02-02T12:02:00.000-05:00

Our latest shoe obsession comes from Italy (as most noteworthy shoes do!). Soft, slightly distressed leather, beautiful finishing and interesting riffs on shoe staples - the oxford without laces; a boot with a cut-out toe. A personal favorite: the soft leather slipper, reminiscent of a Moroccan babouche, presented in a perfect shade of worn chalk.

Check out the Marsell collection here.

New Arrivals from Etoile Isabel Marant

2012-01-26T18:30:00.001-05:00

Haca Jacket / Imad Elastic Waist Skort / Kelan Crew Socks / Handy Wedge Sandal

Cola Long Gauze Dress / Kelan Crew Socks / Handy Wedge Sandal

Jaz Gorgeous Flower Dress / Kelan Crew Socks / Handy Wedge Sandal

New arrivals from Etoile Isabel Marant....

Swanlights

2012-01-26T18:10:00.001-05:00

Tonight! Antony and the Johnsons with Symphony Orchestra, commissioned by The Museum of Modern Art and performed at Radio City Music Hall!

Round Trip

2012-01-14T10:11:00.001-05:00

Finding inspiration in all things circular, black, and charmingly imperfect, the A Détacher Felt Ball is our latest object of obsession. Like Malevich paintings based on a simple palette and fundamental geometric forms, A Détacher's collection of home objects are the kind of pieces that one would imagine sitting in the home of both a chic grandmother, a museum collection, and most importantly - our own apartment.

In our studio with A Détacher's Felt Ball

Black Circle (Malevich, 1913)

White on White (Malevich, 1915)

Black Square (Malevich, 1913)

A Détacher / Flower Pillow

A Détacher / Hairy Pillow

Pretty Paysages

2012-01-02T16:17:00.002-05:00

We love the landscapes explored in French artist Rosemarie Auberson's collages made of photos of rolling fields of grass and shots of natural environs. Check out how print-partial Rachel Comey has incorporated these themes in these images from her Resort '12 lookbook, below. See why we eagerly await the arrival of Comey's Spring 12 collection, which bears Auberson's prints on the designer's draped dresses and cheery color-blocked tops....

collage by Rosemarie Auberson

look from Rachel Comey's R'12 lookbook

Rachel Comey Spring 2012 runway

Channeling Meryl

2011-12-26T00:00:00.001-05:00

We always look forward to Danish designer Peter Jensen's muse of the season - geeky chic Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek, etc... this season's muse, 1970's era Meryl Streep (think Kramer vs. Kramer, and Manhattan), embodies her trenchcoat-n-trousers no-nonsense understated glamour. Some photos to inspire....

Ikeliene Stange modeling Peter Jensen R'12

Meryl in Kramer vs. Kramer

Meryl and Woody

Authentic Tropeziennes

2011-12-23T17:07:00.000-05:00

As we prepare for our warm sun-soaked holiday ahead, our thoughts turn to the perfect sandal - the authentic K. Jacques tropeziennes, the same hand-made styles born in the 1930's French Riviera.

Normal Luxury

2011-12-13T15:28:00.011-05:00

Image from Isaac Reina's W11 Collection

It's notable when we come across a manifesto from a luxury leather goods designer that reads more like a page from the Muji manifesto of "Back to our origins, into the future" rather than the usual showy verbage used by design houses to sell their latest It Bags. In the inspirations that Reina lists on his website, he name drops architects and industrial designers like Jasper Morrison (who's book with Muji designer Naoto Fukasawa "Super Normal Sensations of the Ordinary" we LOVE) instead of the usual fashion suspects. That's not to say that Isaac Reina doesn't know luxury - he spent years at luxury leather giant Hermes, and has also collaborated with Maison Martin Margiela. It's just that his version of luxury relies on what is not said, knowing when to use luxury elements (in his impossibly gorgeous double calf leathers which only continue to look better with age and imperfection), and when to not (in his conspicuous lack of hardware and embellishment).

And for those reason, we covet Reina's carefully curated bags and small leather goods.

Read on, from the Isaac Reina website:

Product

Bags and small leather goods. all of them made in Paris.

General concept

I'm trying to make very simple goods, so normal, without any pretention. Almost industrial, mass market shapes... but handcrafted, giving priority to the quality. I'm trying to forget the traditional iconography used for luxury. A beautiful material, a beautiful manufacturing and the right proportions! (so elementary principles, essential ones, but too often forgotten) Only the details we need. Nothing else. (the hard task to always simplify, again and again) Maybe a non-design concept, almost invisible. (like taking time to get some rest, to take a breath of fresh air) No innovation at any price. (trying to avoid too much effects, to keep the essential: the fonction) Looking for a type of natural and unsophisticated beauty.

General inspiration

Industrial aesthetics, basic packaging, die-cutting, paperboard folding. And some architect and designer masters (for me) influence: Arne Jacobsen, Charlotte Perriand, Jonathan Ive, Jasper Morrison...

Isaac Reina Standard Weekend Bag

Oh Lordy Won't You Buy Me a Night On The Town

2011-12-04T21:30:00.000-05:00

We love ourselves a straight up gentleman's loafer to ground any look. Our loafer of choice these days is the Lordy Loafer by Dieppa Restrepo, a shoe made for both both ladies and gents. Check out this movie of "Dancing Shoes" featuring the Lordy and others kicking up their heels....

http://www.diepparestrepo.com/site/_sources/_imgs/_video/DIEPPARESTREPO.mov

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2011-12-02T11:56:00.001-05:00

That's right, sample sale season is upon us and this year, rather than being the dedicated shoppers braving the crowds, we are playing host with our very own Warehouse/Sample Sale.

From now until this Sunday at 7:00, we welcome everyone to come by and shop at 60-80% off original retail prices.

See you all there!

Loom Craft

2011-11-14T18:18:00.004-05:00

We love Tamaki Niime's one-of-a-kind Banshu-ori shawls. We love even more the fact that she weaves them herself by hand on a set of vintage looms in her workshop in Nishiwaki City. See the collection of Tamaki Niime pieces by visiting us here.

Rei + Binky

2011-11-08T07:01:00.000-05:00

What do Rei Kawakubo and Binky from Life in Hell have in common?

Rei Kawakubo

Life in Hell's Binky

Comme des Garçons Play Border Print T-Shirt

See the collaboration between Comme des Garçons Play x Life In Hell here....

Hope on Film

2011-10-14T18:05:00.005-04:00

Hope - The Cap of the North from HopeSthlm on Vimeo.

Just wanted to share a video from Hope that we came across. Entitled "The Cap of the North", a ship's crew members wander through the cabin up onto deck, clad in the Autumn/Winter 2011 collection.

These thoughts of glaciers mingled in the background while we shot the latest delivery from Hope for the site. Our model, Edythe, looked ready to leave behind life ashore, and bask in northern lights at sea...


Hope Smart Coat, Byronesse Striped Tee, Lab Trouser, and Lace-up Field Boot

Introducing: Margaret Howell

2011-10-11T15:03:00.010-04:00

Dree Hemingway in Margaret Howell's F11 Campaig

Some designers you just can't help but feel a kismet affinity for.... we feel this with the latest addition to our designer index, Margaret Howell. Launched in 1972 from a kitchen table in South East London, Margaret Howell designs the kind of clothes that have an androgynous uniform-like quality, riffs on staples of British wardrobes - the shirt, the trench, the duffle coat.

On her Fall 2011 runway, models wearing various incarnations of these staples reminded us of past cinematic and literary heroines, looking like chic Mattie Ross's and Badland's Sissy Spaceks. No wonder her clothing has popped up in unexpected movie moments - Jack Nicholson wore his own Margaret Howell corduroy jacket in Kubrick's The Shining. Howell's photo campaigns, black and white portraits of Margaret Howell girls and boys, convey this mood of cultural history, using models like Dree Hemingway (Ernest progeny) and Alana Zimmer working a Shelly Duvall awkward beauty. Maybe it's this sense of history that led to a commission from the Victoria & Albert Museum - if you've ever found yourself being coveting the Howell-designed uniforms of the museum's staff that's why.

To introduce the line on the site, we shot the collection on our gamine of the moment, Taylor Warren (who we think has a very Audrey Horne aura about her, speaking of favorite cinematic heroines...)

Taylor wearing Margaret Howell Boys Shirt and Full Pleated
Skirt with Jil Sander Lace-up Oxford

Taylor wearing Margaret Howell Pull-On Shirt and Cropped
Pleated Trouser with Jil Sander Lace-up Oxford

Sherilyn Fenn as Audrey Horne in Twin Peaks

Models in Margaret Howell campaign

Alana Zimmer in Margaret Howell Campaign

Margaret Howell Photo Campaign

A look from Margaret Howell's Fall 2011 Runway

Click to visit Margaret Howell and MHL by Margaret Howell at La Garçonne...

la garçonne moderne

2011-08-31T13:14:00.001-04:00

We'd like to introduce our latest in-house project, La Garçonne Moderne. Designed by Kris Kim, the company’s Founder and Creative Director, La Garçonne Moderne is a style response to the needs of Garçonnes living in the modern world. The collection of ready-to-wear demonstrates a mannish spirit - an effortless style that is suited to gamines of a gentlewoman’s sensibility.

Streamlined and deliberately free of excess, the collection is composed of classic silhouettes reinterpreted with new textural elements and form. This exercise in design results in an assortment that is anonymous and luxuriously layered in cultural cues. Key to La Garçonne Moderne is the exploration of nuances in a neutral palette: Black exists in several faded forms; Navy is a deep Marine; White appears as Chalk, Oyster, and Almond, representing a spectrum of restrained color. Fabrics have a washed appearance. Classic men’s sweaters are re-shaped. Dresses and outerwear are simplified. The modern suit is introduced. And the idea of dual function is explored with tunics that double as lab jackets. The result is a curated wardrobe of essential modern pieces.

The debut collection of La Garçonne Moderne is exclusively available at lagarconne.com.

Take a look at the collection here...

Introducing / ISABEL MARANT at La Garçonne

2011-07-19T18:55:00.006-04:00

Click to shop Isabel Marant here...

Introducing MENSWEAR at La Garçonne

2011-07-06T18:49:00.001-04:00

Browse the selection of menswear styles from Comme des Garçons Man, Patrick Ervell, Zero + Maria Cornejo and others here.

Coco

2011-03-23T18:08:00.004-04:00

Model Coco Young, the New York-born, Marseille-raised gamine is the subject of our March Spring 2011 editorial which she entitled "Personal Things".... See the rest of the story here.

Coco Young portrait by John Currin

Ryan McGinley, Coco, 2010

Louise & Helmut

2011-03-09T21:28:00.001-05:00

Images from a 1997 Helmut Lang ad featuring Louise Bourgeois, photo by Bruce Weber.

Helmut Lang
I was inspired by Louise Bourgeois’ work and always wanted to meet her. When the Vienna Kunsthalle approached me to select an exhibition, I thought it would be the moment to ask if she was interested in collaborating with me. She said yes. I met her for the first time on the steps of her townhouse in New York. She said: “Bonjour Helmut – welcome!” and kissed me. It took only this one moment to know that we probably had similar souls, and that this would be the beginning not only of a project but of a friendship. Since then I have valued every moment spent with her.
We went on to do a lot of collaborative work. In 2003 we used a reproduction of a silver choker she designed in 1948 in our spring/summer séance de travail [working session, Lang’s term for the presentation of a collection] in Paris. We then collaborated on t-shirt and scarf designs and used the soundtrack from recordings by Brigitte Cornand with Louise singing for two following shows. We exhibited her sculptures in the store in Paris on a rotating basis, and in the studios in New York we had The Cell, the installation shown at the Vienna Kunsthalle. We also did advertising featuring Louise. One advertisement was photographed by Bruce Webber, while another used an archive image by Robert Mapplethorpe. She made me one special sculpture, which took about two years, and insisted it be displayed for a while in the window of the then perfumery for the public to see.
Louise is French, so she knows how to be a woman and how to use lipstick without over-thinking it. Naturally, as all her senses are very refined, so is her idea of how she wants to look. When I moved to New York, I was happy to be an accomplice in providing things that she would like from my work. When I met her she didn’t leave her house anymore, so she had comfortable clothes she would wear everyday, such as a long-sleeved t-shirt with six pocket eyes. She likes to keep the extravagant pieces for special occasions such as photo shoots or when she has company she cares about. Secretly, I always liked the idea that she would cut up one of these pieces and use it in her work. A few years ago she gave me an ethnic coat in pink and white striped silk which she used to wear the last few times she went out in New York. She thought it could be an inspiration for something and was sure that she wouldn’t wear it again.
I have a very strong emotional and unconditional bond with Louise, maybe because, as she once said herself, we are both runaways. Her impact on my life is both reassuring and animating, and of course knowing that one has found a similar soul is really what counts for me.

-Helmut Lang on Louise Bourgeois, excerpted from Tate Etc. http://www.tate.org.uk/tateetc/issue11/dearlouise.htm

Ensembles / Spring 2011 No.1

2011-03-08T09:58:00.002-05:00

Click HERE to view all the Spring 11 looks....

Dressing Up in Rodarte

2011-03-03T12:06:00.009-05:00

Rodarte for Opening Ceremony / Tom Petty Felt Hat

Rodarte for Opening Ceremony / Roy Orbison Sunglasses

Check out this VIDEO of artist Jane Moseley and friends play dress up in Rodarte's new collection for Opening Ceremony.

Eva Forever

2011-02-27T18:04:00.009-05:00

Eva Hesse circa 1959 [Stephen Korbet]

Eva Hesse, Atelier

Portrait of German-born American artist Eva Hesse (1936 - 1970) as she crouches beside one of her sculptures, September 14, 1968. (Photo by Fred W. McDarrah/Getty Images)

Eva Hesse. Untitled or Not Yet, 1966.

Year of the Cat

2011-01-21T18:00:00.012-05:00

Couldn't resist posting some photos from United Bamboo's 2011 Calendar featuring their collection modeled by feline friends...

Leaving Dreamland

2011-01-03T16:26:00.017-05:00

Came across a video look book from B Store, called "Leaving Dreamland".... very Gus Van Sant "Drugstore Cowboy"... hazily drifting through a 1970s West Coast deserted landscape...

Moving Pictures

2010-12-27T17:50:00.003-05:00

With New York in the midst of a white blizzard, it's hard not think about activities that allow us to stay in and cocoon in warmth, watching movies being a key winter pastime. We'll be watching two new movies from a couple of favorite gamines - Sophia Coppola's "Somewhere" and "Blue Valentine" with Michelle Williams. See the trailers here....

Chemise

2010-11-23T12:59:00.005-05:00

We pay homage to the clean simplicity of a classic white shirt paired with mannish attire in our new editorial CHEMISE.

I Love You Magazine

2010-11-20T10:02:00.009-05:00

A cute video from I Love You Magazine's blog, showcasing pages from the first printed issue of I LOVE YOU Magazine....

Issue No. 4: The Superwoman and Issue No. 5: The Princess Issue can now be picked up here at www.lagarconne.com.

Introducing / The Gentlewoman Magazine

2010-11-11T13:58:00.029-05:00

The world according to Penny Martin is inhabited not only by Fantastic Men , but by Gentlewomen - the name of an inspirational reference guide to a new way of stylish, thoughtful, and modern living. The Gentlewoman magazine seeks to define “Modernisms” through conversations with a certain breed of women - think Yoko Ono, Phoebe Philo, illustrator Julie Verhoeven, and the current issue's covergirl Inez Van Lambsweerde.

It is a magazine that does not act, sound, or look like any other current fashion publications. Using a kind of formal language that is charmingly direct, it conveys a genuine enthusiasm for fashion, reflecting what real women think and how they express themselves in the modern world.

The Gentlewoman Magazine issue 2 is available for purchase at La Garçonne.

NY Art Book Fair

2010-11-08T17:10:00.001-05:00

photo from http://baddaymagazine.com/index.php

photo from http://www.studio-alabaster.com/

The Moma PS1 was host this weekend to the 5th annual NY Art Book Fair, a showcase of the best of what's new in the printed world. So many inspirational publications.... some noteworthy exhibitors included London's Studio Alabaster, Toronto art magazine Bad Day , and local favorite bookseller Dashwood Books.

Ensembles Fall/Winter No.2

2010-10-18T12:42:00.002-04:00

Take a look at Ensembles Fall/Winter No.2.....

Ensembles / Fall/Winter 2010

2010-08-26T13:06:00.002-04:00

Browse the first of the Fall/Winter 10 Ensembles at La Garçonne.

Coin Collection / Comme des Garcons Luxury Fall/Winter 2010

2010-08-24T09:52:00.008-04:00

Check out the Comme des Garcons Luxury Fall/Winter 2010 collection, a new addition to designer's line of signature, minimal small leather goods that can be found tucked discreetly in many a Garçonne's bag. The new Luxury collection features a diamond-embossed design and gold hardware. We love the subtle tonal texture the design imparts on the leather, and the classic colors. Shop the collection here.

Ensembles / Pre-Fall 2010

2010-07-09T10:19:00.003-04:00

The new Ensembles Pre-Fall 2010 look-book is now available for viewing. Visit La Garçonne to see our edit of the latest looks of the season.