designer : hussein chalayan fall 2011

It isn't very often that coats impress me, possibly because I don't yet know the work that goes into tailoring or because I am not a coat person myself.  But while on WGSN and trying to gather inspiration for tailoring in the fall, and after getting some ideas, decided to hop onto Style.com and check out some fall collections which heavily include coats and jackets.  I looked at more of the experimental designers, and remembered Henry mentioning Hussein Chalayan over and over again for me to familiarize myself with as inspiration.  Henry, as always, was right.

Quite simply amazing.

Now I have to make a difficult decision: do I make a coat that is wearable, something that I might be able to use myself? 

Or maybe conceptual Rachel might take over.  My fascination for experimental design has been reignited after the McQueen exhibit, and I dare say if I could design conceptual things for the rest of my life I'd be a very happy person.  Maybe I can create a happy fusion of the two.

That being said, my inspiration for tailoring at the moment is the cocoon.  Whether to take that to the extreme and do something engulfing the human body (or build irony into the package by making something huge and snuggly but horribly restrictive to movement, as butterflies, after all, are stuck inside) or something more along the lines of comfort is to be decided at a later time. 

trend : cocooning

My teacher brought up something interesting today regarding trending - that every decade or so, immediately following the decade, is a "cocooning year" - making 2011, the year after a new decade, one of them. Cocooning years indicate wanting to stay in, dress cozy, and wrap yourself with gigantic knitted things.

Obviously one of the biggest trends in cocooning is the infinity scarf - especially the oversized long versions that hug your neck and chin and keep you very warm. They are very comforting to wear. Something I have been noticing with sweaters lately is silhouetting in a literal interpretation of a cocoon - a circular shape in the back, loose slouchy sleeves, and an open front that dips back to form a "cocoon" shape around the body. The effect is very beautiful, actually. And I just bought one today in a light heather gray! Can't wait to snuggle up in it.