Monday 21 February 2011

Avarice In Westwoodland

Dame Vivienne has graced London Fashion Week with another catwalk full of new creations for her Red Label collection, and therefore I must make my new list of items to covet.

In the past I've been so breathtaken by a suit on display in Westwood that my friends had to take me outside for air before I passed out. Seriously. The mixture of art, fashion, decadence, craftsmanship and beauty overwhelmed me. ...they took me into Harvey Nics to laugh at the Juicy Couture section which quickly brought me back down to earth with a bump. Despite my love of pink, sparkly things and embelishments, JC's pepto bismol velour tracksuits embelished to high heaven make me nauseous. Or overcome with laughter. Luckily the staff in Harvey Nics found our about-turn disgust at one item on display hilarious too.

Anyway, back to Vivienne. If there is one outfit designed to cause similar knee weakening, breath stealing effects it's this black velvet suit:
At the sight of it among the catwalk pictures I felt a brief stab of pain combined with deep earth shattering adoration. Such a similar feeling to that of unrequited love that I'm now seriously wondering if I'm designed more for fashion than relationships. Anyway, I want it. I would wear it until large patches of velvet had worn away on it. And then I'd wear it some more. Vivienne would be cool with that, she's always going on about clothes being better when they're truly worn in and worn out. I love the thick lushness of the velvet, the way it flicks out where the side vent meets the cuff, and the perfection of the ankles. I want it badly. I would read poetry in it whilst lent against trees.

Next on the lust list is a frendsy of excitement over several details. First being the fabulousness of the fabric in this skirt. Then the quirkiness of the double buckle belt which is then connected to braces which fasten top and bottom at the back so that they grace merely your shoulders at the front. And the placing of the ruffle on that blouse is utter perfection. But mainly I crave one of those belts. I pray that the goddess Vivienne will supply them in a vegetarian friendly substance.
Now one of the many "that woman is a genius!" moments. I love pendants, I love charm bracelets. I tend to wear too many pendants on a necklace so that they all cluster together and keep toying with ideas to convert them into some kind of neck version of a charm bracelet. Well, she's done it. Hurrah! I've been admiring a few of these stamp pendants in her shops for a while now and find this way of displaying them perfect. I don't know if this comes as a whole piece or not, but I love the idea of constructing my own. Bravo Vivienne!
More little details. I have found the unusual construction on these trousers deeply wonderful and am hoping they will work with my body shape. Detailing around this area doesn't usually work due to the difference between my wide hips and much smaller waistline, but Dame Viv hasn't let me down yet so we shall see. Also loving the frayed style edging on these belts.Cinched in high wasited trousers are deffinately something my figure was created for. Therefore I love these gorgeous pin striped trousers. And what is there not to desire about the blouse fabric?! More high waist cinching with the first skirt on this list. No-one could realise just how much I longed to wear pencil skirts before I discovered the wonder of Vivienne's cut. I now have a few of them which make me feel elegant and curvy all at the same time. Wide hips and a bottom that resembles a bustle made everything pre-Westwood turn me into the animated character Jessica Rabbit. Which may seem wonderful, but it made me overly self conscious and had me living permanently in a-line skirts and mini kilts for years. ...which means that not only do I crave the perfection of the first skirt, but I also want the a-line velvet and giant ribbon confection. And it's about time I had a proper flirty Westwood kilt seeing as I've been wearing inferior versions since my early teens. Unfortunately I always end up spending my money on something else when I venture into her shops.
I'm also fasninated by the open fastening detail of the skirt in the bottom corner, and utterly delighted by the bold stripes and fancy back of the second skirt. But if I could only have one out of all of them, it'd still be that first high waisted pencil skirt.

The next three are very easy to explain. I love pink and black as a combination and I spent my 1980s childhood in an array of trouser suits imagining being the next female prime minister or some other such power dressing female... but obviously one who's a bit mental and flamboyant. ;) I love the shape of the gold dress but know the colour would do me few favours and I'm not sure what the cut would do either. But it's lovely to look at. The third one seems to be an all in one cross between a catsuit and a beautiful pin stiped mens suit. It's fabulous, it's beautifully made, it's entirely crazy while not overly eye catching to walk past on the street - I want it!
More little details before I finish. I don't usually crave Vivienne's adventures in socks. They're a little too crazy even for me. But these are too much like historical ladies stockings for me not to be fascinated. Goodness knows what you could wear them with that didn't make you look like a frump or a lunatic though. Maybe I'll work it out while I'm still vaguely yung enough to wear them.
The fabric in the centre of the picture is wonderful, the way it combines an old style fabric print with maunscript style wording through the background. Can't wait to see what items it appears on. Thirdly, the coat. I think it's a coat, or maybe a long jacket. I can't see it very well, but the fabric and the cut already look marvelous as it flows behind the model. It's going to be so cravable and the sort of thing that you wear to death, I just know it.

And finally, I noticed some Westwood style customisation of the Red Nose Day t-shirts under one suit on the catwalk. I've ordered mine and am therefore awaiting the arrival of a naughty Marie Antoinette styled lady, an Elizabethan Queenie and Edmund Blackadder in a ruff. As soon as I saw the shirts they cried out for customisation. I think she's designed them like that on purpose. Or am I just too addicted to attacking t-shirts with a pair of scissors? Can't decide what exactly I'll do to them until they arrive, but maybe I'll post the results on here.
I recommend grabbing one of your own and finding ways to make it more decadent and self expressive. Something like this perhaps:

1 comment:

  1. Haha, I remember that funny turn very vividly! I got a new Anglomania top recently which needs an outing; I truly love that woman and only wish I could justify buying more.

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