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. 

quick update

There is an in-English AustrianFashion.net! Definitely going to be following this one. Check out the cool Austrian fashion guide!

I have officially test-run my black booties I talked about a few posts down, and the unbelievable thing about clog-like shoes is that they don't give you blisters on your heels because, quite frankly, there is no shoe there. Clogs keep getting more and more appealing, don't they?

Since today is a lazy day for me, I'll leave you with some cool architectural photos to inspire you.

None other than Hussein Chalayan, Spring 2009 RTW.