60 Years of Made in Italy

Looking back at Dunia Fashyon posts it's quite easy to see that I've been quite obsessed with the label 'Made in Italy' - to me it conjures the image of fine craftsmanship especially in leather-ware and even clothing items. Even though I know that it's quite a rarity these days to find anything genuinely 'Italian' - the book Deluxe: How Luxury Lost Its Luster by Dana Thomas sheds a light on the scandal of putting a premium price on all things purportedly made in Italy, when some parts of an item are actually Chinese-made and the finishing touches and labels are only then finally done in Italy. Can't help but to feel naïve and cheated somehow...

Merdeka Day like no other

When it comes to annual Merdeka (Independence) Day celebration I think I've seen it all - from the childhood/adolescent memory of attending the annual parade at Merdeka Square, watching Yasmin Ahmad's heart-wrenching Petronas merdeka adverts, to just lazing on the sofa listening to repetitive, pseudo-patriotic commentaries by TV presenters on TV1. But this time around there was something else in the book. I wasn't in Merdeka rut anymore, if you will.

Give more colours

If you read my post on my on all things colourful (or too colourful, sometimes), you could understand my apprehension on overly kaleidoscopic hues. Sometimes I do feel confident to wear gaudy colours, but sometimes I feel tired of coordinating and I want only all black wrapping my body. I envy those very disciplined fashion personae with monochromatic/all-white affinity - Ivana Carpio from Love Aesthetics, for example, is so restrained in her selection, that she owns nothing but blanc blanc blanc.  

Lacoste in action

Living in a country with tropical climate requires one the wear more often than not for comfortable, perspiration-friendly clothes. I do love me some artfully layered outfit combo and try to incorporate that but somehow it feels a bit too ambitious (and silly, frankly) to don a blazer/jacket, despite the thinness and breathability of the fabric in such unforgiving humidity. I certainly feel good about looking sharp in such look but the prospect of being drenched in sweat the moment I walk out of the overly air-conditioned malls/cinemas is, in fact, one of the pitfalls in fashion that I try to steer away from.

Candy parfum by Prada

image via Tumblr

It is always good to see an effective teamwork especially if it results in a beautiful product. In this case the genius pair Wes Anderson and Roman Coppola utilised their fantasy-like predilections in film production into a short for Prada's cult fragrance introduction as an eau de toilette, Candy L'eau.



Known to successfully work together for the Oscar-nominated Moonrise Kingdom, Anderson and Coppola have brought their best yet for this project. Starring French actors Léa Seydoux, Rodolphe Pauly and Peter Gadiot, the clip is about a playful girl named Candy, who is being tied in a three-way relationship. The film is created in four episodes, each primarily about love - one that is filled with seduction and rivalry. And with a Nouvelle Vague feeling, Candy is not just a fragrance, it is visually sweet as well.

 

Words by Hafidzudin Zainal

The Ideal House at Prada

What would one do without a good runway show or two? Even though a primary objective of fashion shows are to bring focus on the clothes, there is no denying the necessity of a captivating runway set to generate press and interest. Who can forget Chanel's runway sets for instance, that are frequently elaborate and memorable (from gigantic glacier to oversized carousel to humongous Chanel No.5 perfume bottle), or, Dior's flora-infused walls during Raf Simon's debut for A/W12 haute couture show? 

The relatively recent Prada menswear A/W13 runway set has left me (and many others, I believe) in awe, as far as runway sets are concerned. Thanks to the genius work of Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas' OMA and AMO, which have been collaborating with Prada since over a decade ago, the think tank have created a succession of memorable backdrops for Miuccia Prada's men's and women's collections. Debuting at the S/S04 menswear show, OMA first designed a series of posters to line the runway in the Prada Fondazione. The collaboration subsequently evolved into a Bauhaus-style decor for men's S/S07, a spiralling orange structure (men's A/W07), an underwater world (men's S/S08), a metal elevated stage (S/S11) and foam cars (women's A/W12).

Prada Menswear AW13 Review

Forgive us for this entry's overtly excited tone but it seems so futile to contain it. And for the risk of sounding shamelessly superficial may we exclaim, "It's PRADA!", after all. At the time of writing we are already in Paris and thanks to an overload of shopping (we had less shows to attend in Paris, boo hoo...) this post has been sitting in 'draft' mode for quite some time. Nevertheless it goes without saying that the experience attending Prada Men’s Autumn Winter 2013 collection has got to be the highlight of the week (honestly every event is a highlight but this one is monumental!).

As we were not that busy towards the end of the day (Prada show was slated to start at 6 p.m), we decided to move out from the hotel earlier just to check out the venue, plus it is a significant label as we know it; so we want to be fully prepared and avoid all those bad contingencies as Milano traffic can be very unforgiving at times.

Backstage at Prada Mens AW13

Never in a million years I would have thought to see the works of a legendary design empire taking place in front of my very own eyes. I'm grateful to think that this actually happens and it might even be a chance of a lifetime...

 We entered Fondazione Prada compound on Via Fogazzaro 36 and subsequently I was escorted to the backstage area, while Arman patiently waited outside for the show to start. The backstage is an all-white space with bare walls, except for photographs of previous Prada collections and images of bag/jacket craftsmanship in progress. The area was filled with models lounging outside the makeup room, makeup artists, stylists, crews, bodyguards and photographers like me. My maiden attempt taking photos inside the space was initially awkward due to my newness but as I started to feel at ease I could feel my index finger excitedly clicking away for photos...

Prada AW13!

Images by Hafidzudin Zainal

We are so excited to witness the Prada AW13 menswear in person! And yes, the GIF is amateurly made from my images. The experience is incredible so far.

There will be also backstage coverage and in-depth details. Hopefully you guys will be patiently anticipating our personal experiences that we'd love to share!

A Carven Virgin

Recently I've been reading the blogs about the French label Carven, that is recently revived to its former glory. Reading its history timeline is quite fascinating and, being reminded of the Russian History lectures during my former student days, these are the points that I'm highlighting:

images via Carven website

image via vintagefashionguild.org

 In May 1945 Carven (the name derived from the creator Carmen and her aunt Boyriven) opened their first shop selling Haute Couture at Rond-Point des Champs-Elysées. Having reached the international audience in the 1960's, the brand expanded into creating uniforms for airline crews, most notably for Roissy Charles de Gaulle airport, dabbled in a successful ready-to-wear line and they even created signature perfumes.

Stud me more

Just when I thought the 'studs as embellishment' trend is long over Dr Martens has made a point to turn an overtly trendy and already passé phenomenon into relevance all over again. This time around, unusual to Dr Martens aesthetics, a monk-style shoe complete with dome studs make the already "punked" up label even edgier. 

The painted studs purportedly will flake over time which gives a beautiful aging effect (but I personally prefer the studs to be shiny and glisteningly new for ever). At ￡135 a pop you can get them via Oki-ni. Perhaps this can be the more affordable substitute (but not much more) of my escaped Prada studded brogues...

Anyways, these steel toe cap shoes, also from Dr Martens, are equally interesting:

images via oki-ni.com

written by Hafidzudin
twitter: @naboonies

PRADA FALL/ WINTER 2012 ADVERTISING VIDEO

A fashion chess; OR

A fashion wrestling?

The pajama dressing, the chunky embellishment – the usual hits at Prada.

LOVE!

Written by Arman
twitter:@malaychic

Adventure in tailoring: paisley print fabrics

I've been involving myself with an experimentation on various kinds of prints lately, thanks to the Ben Thanh market fabric haul a couple of months ago.

Soft cotton black-and-white pattern shirt worn with Mexx cardigan, Zara velvet pants, H&M faux suede creepers, eBay sunglasses, Mom's doctor bag  

H&M Autumn 2012 (Part Two)

While I'm still salivating over the tailored goodness that is the Autumn 2012 H&M menswear from my previous post,  the womenswear department fares a good job as well; this time around the concept is all about maximalism / metallics combo.

The feminine side of me got a little bit too excited seeing all the rhinestones-laden harness top, skirt and sweater. This is all skilled work with painstaking effort, at an affordable high-street price.

Apart from that there's this digital print floral sweater that just begs to be worn, which screams a milder version of Mary Katrantzou; and the metallic part comes in the form of this lame skirt reminding me of Anna Dello Russo, I think, because of all the ostentatious (in a beautiful way of course) loud prints + metallics that she dons which makes her so strikingly unique...

First look: H&M Autumn 2012 (Part One)

I think most of Kuala Lumpur citizen are well informed regarding the news of H&M's inaugural opening in Lot 10 this September, thanks to the vast online spread. And obviously I'm lagging behind the coverage of its Autumn Winter 2012, which is all about metallics/ maximalism for women and tailored goodness for the men. Nevertheless I'm feeling elated over the opportunity to visit their showroom recently, which certainly gave me the chance to closely inspect the merchandises in person, and in effect, delved in to the details of the tailoring quality and tactilely stimulated by the fabrics. And of course, I get to compare the prices internationally.

In view of the possible lengthy commentary and image-laden entry (quite a rare occasion at Dunia Fashyon these days), I think it will be wise if I divided this post into two halves - both menswear and womenswear respectively.

Whimsical trend: hybrid shoes

Recently we have been bombarded with a slew of brogue / trainer hybrids and all this obviously stemmed from Prada's notorious brogue/ espadrille shoes from SS2011, and not so long after that many other labels follow suit. I've seen good experimentation (for example the ones from Comme des Garcons x Generic Man collab) but there are a few rather questionable ones, of course (J.W Anderson x Aldo loafer- sneaker ('loaker') ones are unique but I don't see many people will carry that off aside from the superbly stylish and everything-goes Susie Bubble).

I digress, however. This season two of my favorite labels have been churning out beautiful men's shoes that are both experimental in and are hybrid of some sort...

First up are these shoes from the more directional line of Burberry, Burberry Prorsum. The weaving detail on the upper is just simply beautiful and I cannot express more about how I love the cork detail of the sides of the soles. Too much design? More is more I say, in this case (Am I sounding too much like Kimora Lee Simmons here?)








 

Universal Studios Singapore

Last week I had an enjoyable trip down to the south to Singapore. The trip was more like a much needed escape from the craziness of our day jobs (oh yes, have I told you that I have finally completed my internship?).  We drove straight from Kuala Lumpur and headed to Universal Studios Singapore. The colourful buildings at replicas of New York City, Hollywood and memories from animated hits like Madagascar and Shrek made us giggling like little children over again. This meant that this is a rather image-heavy post, so I apologize if the page loads rather slowly...

New York, concrete jungle where dreams are made of,

and the signage and typehead heaven...

A need rather than a want - Paul Smith Tri-tone Brogues

The footwear fever is hardly over, especially for yours truly who have to lug low-quality leather jazz shoes from Zara to work. I wish that one of these days I could muster some gut and insouciantly wear my Prada espadrille brogues to the rounds and miraculously get good remarks from the superiors...

 Such is hardly the case when it comes to these very work-friendly (especially in those extra-conservative environments like mine) Paul Smith brogues which have three, yes, THREE tones -black,burgundy and blue. Sounds and looks familiar? They do remind me of the Prada version but obviously sans the espadrille soles. Either way I'm quite confident that they would look good on anybody's feet and furthermore the pricing is much better compared to their Prada counterparts.

With the smart look and just the right amount chunky, these Made in Italy brogues might have the potential to find their way into my shoe cabinet...

 

   

Prada foam shoes SS11

I am definitely stating the obvious over the fact that everybody in the blogosphere is talking about how Prada Spring/Summer 2011 is the most memorable collection for both menswear and womenswear this season - let it be the bold kaleidoscopic colours e.g. in the dresses, knitwear, the bright blue and pink fur stoles, psychedelic patterns (gliding monkeys and bananas - how kookier can Miuccia Prada be?), and most important of all, the footwear, which was among the other factors that stole every one's attention...

Menswear Fall 2011 trend - baggier please Yohji Yamamoto!

Fall 2011/2012 menswear shows have long ended but I'd still like to wax lyrical about them, at least about one of the trends that I think is quite prominent on the runway.

If you have been reading my blog for a while you'd probably known about my biased love towards slouchy pants. (have a look at my entry about Umit Benan)

I'm  feeling elated over the obvious fact of ubiquitous baggy/ roomy / billowy silhouettes at the shows.  There were baggy coats and lots of designers showed soft billowy pants.