Hoodies and robes as fashion enters the ring – Men shun conventions

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LONDON, Jan 10, (Agencies): Proving that manliness can come wrapped in a skirt, design duo Sibling on Saturday stamped their style on London Fashion Week with a bold collection inspired by boxing and 1980s pop culture.

Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust” opened the show, held in the basement of the neo-Gothic Victoria House in the heart of the British capital, a fitting soundtrack to the British pair’s punchy but light-hearted designs.

The catwalk became a ringwalk as male models paraded in thick woollen hoodies decorated with medals, inspired by boxers’ robes.

Punchbags were fashioned into fabric travel bags while the hand-strapping worn by fighters and martial artists provided the inspiration for a set of mittens.

But pop stars as-well as pugilists were a driving force behind the collection, with the dominant royal blue palette a tribute to an album cover by 1980s pop diva Grace Jones, Sibling designer Cozette McCreery told AFP.

Influence

“The other person that was a huge influence was (Jean-Michel) Basquiat,” one of contemporary art’s leading stars and graffiti pioneer who died in 1988, she added.

The designers encouraged men to shun fashion conventions, showcasing a range of skirts also embellished with medals.

“We like legs,” said McCreery. “As a girl, I’d be very happy if lots of guys showed more leg”.

Earlier in the day, Astrid Andersen presented a comfortable and modern wardrobe inspired by urban street-wear, using a variety of materials including quilted nylon, denim and tweed in a collection she said was “focussed on fabric”.

The palette ranged from grey to turquoise through to orange, and the young designer offered her own take on the male mitten, stretching all the way to the elbow.

Shows for the autumn-winter 2016 season began on Friday and will continue until Monday.

Men’s Fashion Week will then up sticks and head for Milan and Paris before ending in New York.

Also:

PARIS: Fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld is suspected of having hidden more than 20 million euros ($21.5 mn) from French tax authorities using complex transactions between various companies, L’Express weekly has reported last Wednesday.

French authorities declined to comment citing the privacy of tax affairs. A spokesman for Lagerfeld, who is artistic director for fashion house Chanel as well as having his own label, also declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

French tax authorities “suspect that in the space of six years the man with the ever-present black sunglasses omitted to declare 20 million euros” in France, wrote L’Express.

Lagerfeld, also an artist and photographer, is known for his trademark dark shades. An investigation is focusing on the 7L bookshop in Paris, which Lagerfeld founded in 1999.

According to L’Express, the bookstore houses a photo studio owned by a British-based company, which takes in the revenue from Lagerfeld’s photography work. The bookstore loses money and thus does not pay taxes.

The news weekly said French tax authorities suspect the foreign transactions allowed the “concealing of the undeclared professional activity” of Lagerfeld as a photographer.

French authorities are also interested in the activities of two property investment companies and a tax adjustment Lagerfeld received in the 1990s.

LOS ANGELES: Now sought-after for her edgy, androgynous style, actress Ruby Rose initially struggled to find her niche.

“When I first started in the industry back home in Australia at 18 there was a lot of push and shove as to how I should dress, if I was allowed to cut my hair short, if I had too many tattoos,” Rose said in an interview Tuesday. “If I didn’t get a campaign or if I didn’t get a role, they would always come back to ‘well, she dresses like a boy.’”

Times have changed for the “Orange is the New Black” breakout star, who recently swapped her Litchfield Prison uniform for distressed overalls and cutoff shorts as the face of Denim & Supply Ralph Lauren.

Rose, who counts Vivienne Westwood, Annie Lennox and Madonna among her style icons, teamed with model Hailey Baldwin for the brand’s latest social media and global ad campaign.

She credits her hit Netflix series along with Amazon’s “Transparent” for sparking a dialogue about gender identity and acceptance in the entertainment industry and beyond.

“People were waiting to start this conversation,” said Rose. “Someone had to ignite it and once that happened, it was just a snowball effect where you had celebrities and all different people coming out and saying, ‘I’m gender fluid’ or ‘I’m transgender,’ and people feeling more comfortable in their skin.”

The 29-year-old also praised Louis Vuitton’s latest womenswear campaign featuring actor-rapper Jaden Smith.

“I mean he’s so amazing but the reason that’s so special is because that’s how he dresses,” said Rose. “It’s not like they just went ‘OK, we’re going to grab a guy that’s popular, that people like, and we’re going to put him in a dress.’ It’s not done in a tasteless way. It’s just this is who he is.”

Though it has not yet been announced if her “Orange” character, Stella Carlin, will return for season four, Rose is busy with upcoming films including “John Wick 2” and “Resident Evil: The Final Chapter.”

“Acting is my life. It’s what I live and breathe,” said Rose.

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