Missoni for Converse Auckland Racer debuts on Milan runway

The latest collaboration between Italian luxury label Missoni and Converse, which made its runway debut at Missoni's spring/summer 2013 men's show Monday in Milan, riffs on a '70s-era running shoe called the Auckland Racer.

Although we couldn't be runway adjacent to check out the kicks ourselves, we're told they're constructed with Missoni's signature multistitch fabric in two different versions, one multicolor (top center, above) and the other a "grayscale gradient-fade" (bottom center, above). 

Converse describes the Auckland Racer as a running shoe introduced in the 1970s that "carries a lineage associated with early pioneers of the jogging movement." 

Which is fine by us -- just as long as the '70s-era track suit silhouette doesn't plan on making a comeback.

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: Looks from Missoni's spring/summer 2013 runway show Monday in Milan, at left and right, special-edition Missoni for Converse Auckland Racers, center. Credit: Missoni 

Fashion News: Will Reggie Bush testify about Kim Kardashian?

-- Old Navy apparently wants to call Miami Dolphins' running back Reggie Bush as a witness in its defense of a $20-million lawsuit Kim Kardshian filed against it for using a singer/dancer who resembles her in its commercials. Kardashian's argument was that doing so "caused confusion in the marketplace" and violated her intellectual property rights. In other words, the only one who should make money for looking like Kim Kardashian is Kim Kardashian. Now Old Navy's parent company, Gap, is reportedly investigating Kardashian's worth, talent and reputation. Why is Bush on the witness list? Apparently because he dated Kardashian -- and later Melissa Molinaro, the singer/dancer featured in the commericals. [Hollywood Reporter]

-- The men's collection Vivienne Westwood showed during the just-wrapped Milan Fashion Week was inspired by David Attenborough’s documentary series, "The Frozen Planet."  [Los Angeles Times]

-- Jason Wu went on the "Today" show Wednesday to show off some of his upcoming collection for Target on real women. The capsule collection is slated to go on sale Feb. 5. [Fashionista]

-- Another former assistant to celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe is going to star in a fashion-reality TV show. Taylor Jacobson is one of four stylists who will be featured on "LA Style," an Oxygen show that is to air sometime later this year. Brad Goreski's "It's a Brad, Brad World," recently debuted on Bravo. [Fashionista]

-- Instead of a celebrity, Marc Jacobs features 19-year-old Chinese model Xiao Wen Ju in its spring ad campaign. [The Cut]

-- Ralph Toledano, chief executive and chairman of Chloe, is leaving to join the luxury conglomerate Puig and serve as president of John Paul Gaultier. [WWD] (Subscription required)

-- A parish commissioner in Shreveport, La., is pushing for an ordinance to ban wearing pajamas -- or anything sold in the sleepwear department -- in public. (I wonder what that could mean for PajamaJeans?) Shreveport already has a "no-sag" ordinance, intended to keep pants up around the waist. [Shreveport Times]

-- The commissioner's initiative probably won't be enough to turn the tide because wearing pj's or other kinds of loungewear out in public is a big and growing trend, especially among teens. [WSJ] (Subscription required)

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-- Susan Denley

Photo: From left, Kim, Kourtney and Khloe Kardashian, with mom Kris Jenner, at an event in December. Credit: Ethan Miller / Getty Images

For 2012, Vivienne Westwood mixes clothes and climate change

This post has been updated. See note below for details.

Vivienne Westwood never passes up an opportunity to send a message down the runway, and this season found the designer mixing clothes with climate change -- and throwing a topical reference to the Italian cruise ship disaster for good measure.

"Our collection is in support of David Attenborough’s documentary series, ‘The Frozen Planet,’ which will go to America but unfortunately without the final episode* where he explains that we humans are responsible for the ice melt," the designer said in the show notes. "So we took the polar explorers as our heroes and we love polar bears. Barack Obama never mentions the words climate change."

(It should be noted that we here at All The Rage have absolutely no idea whether President Obama has ever mentioned the words 'climate change' -- although we're pretty sure it's not his Secret Service code name -- and inclusion of the assertion here should not be construed as either a validation or rejection of same.)

[Updated at 3:01 p.m. Jan. 18: The folks at Discovery Channel emailed to clarify that despite Westwood's assertion, it is, indeed, airing the full "Frozen Planet" series -- including the final episode -- as our compatriots over at Company Town noted in December.]

Westwood's statement continues: "If our leaders would admit the fact of climate change and conduct their politics from that perspective then we might have a chance -- we have 10 years at the most to stop it.

"How impossible it is for us to imagine ourselves victims of disaster. We suffer for the poor people who were thrown into the sea from their cruise ship off the coast of Tuscany, some losing their lives. Imagine a world of accelerating natural disasters, one after the other so that nobody can help anyone else."

Westwood ends with a  an observation/call to arms: "Public opinion is the only thing that will save us."

The seven-part "Frozen Planet" series, narrated by Alec Baldwin, premieres March 18 on Discovery Channel at 8 p.m. ET/PT.

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: Looks from the Vivienne Westwood Man fall and winter 2012 runway show, which took place during this week's Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Vivienne Westwood Man 

Stars hit runway for Prada's fall-winter 2012 men's show

Miuccia Prada made sure the 2012 Golden Globes didn't have a lock on the celebrity-studded red carpet over the weekend, closing out her fall-winter 2012-2013 men's runway show in Milan on Sunday with a handful of Hollywood elite including Gary Oldman, Adrien Brody, Willem Dafoe, Garrett Hedlund, Jamie Bell, Tim Roth, Emile Hirsch, Alex Carril and Victor Carril.

PHOTOS: Milan Fashion Week Prada men's fall-winter 2012 runway show

Because I'm not attending the European men's runway shows this season, I didn't have the luxury of slipping backstage and buttonholing the enigmatic designer about why she chose the actors to walk in the show finale, but, according to published reports, the show -- and the collection -- was inspired by the notion of power and powerful men. (“Clothing is also a tool of power and a way to express male vanity," she was quoted as saying in fashion industry trade paper WWD.)

And one certainly didn't need to be in a front-row seat to pick up on the military vibe of the buttoned and belted jackets, spit-shined boots and lapel accessories that evoked the notion of military badging including boutonnières, shield-shaped lapel pins and sunglasses with red-tinted lenses tucked into jacket breast pockets.  

The images of powerful men in military-inspired greatcoats striding through a cavernous room brought to mind one of the more memorable of last January's menswear shows in Europe -- the military meets melancholia aesthetic of the Alexander McQueen fall-winter 2011 collection.

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-- Adam Tschorn

Photos: Gary Oldman, left, Adrien Bordy and Willem Dafoe hit the red-carpeted runway in Prada's fall-winter 2012-2013 men's runway show Sunday during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Prada

Fashion News: Ricki Lake focuses on 'DWTS'; Milan Fashion Week ends

Ricki Lake is waiting until after her "Dancing With the Stars" gig to select a wedding dress for her upcoming nuptials with Christian Evans. Monday night's leader says she's too focused on the show. It's not a bad idea, because so many "DWTS" contestants seem to lose weight during the competition. In fact, she's lost 12 inches in three weeks. [People]

 
Giorgio Armani and Roberto Cavalli closed Milan Fashion Week with their spring-summer 2012 shows on Tuesday. Neither strayed far from his respective line's usual aesthetic, with Armani showing soft jackets with slightly pointy shoulders, well-cut trousers, sarongs and strapless, beaded evening dresses (above), and Cavalli showing empire-line, print chiffons (at right).  [Telegraph]

Photographer Bruce Weber worked with 28 children and numerous dogs for a new promotional film for outerwear specialist Moncler, "Don't Steal the Jacket." Moncler calls the film a mix of musicals, thrillers and adventure films.  [Telegraph]

Designer Tom Ford has taken to having "secret" runway shows with either no or very limited media representation, preferring to have the word about his collections spread organically, from smitten client to smitten client. But at his recent London Fashion Week showing of his spring-summer 2012 designs, he did invite a few critics. And some unfavorable reviews are starting to emerge. [The Cut]  

Gucci, celebrating its 90th anniversary this year, opened the new Gucci Museo on Florence, Italy''s famed Piazza della Signoria on Monday. The three-story museum will showcase Gucci history and house contemporary art installations.  [WWD] 

-- Susan Denley

Upper photo: Armani's strapless beaded evening dresses at Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Alessandro Garofalo / Reuters

Lower photo: Cavalli showed empire waists and feminine touches at Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Antonio Calanni / Associated Press

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Fashion News: Gucci goes Gatsby for Milan Fashion Week

"The Great Gatsby" seems to have inspired the clothes Gucci sent down the runway as Milan Fashion Week opened Wednesday.  Glitz, glamour, fringe and dropped waists. [Telegraph]

YSL signed Emily Blunt as the new face of Opium -- by which we mean the fragrance created in 1977 by perfumer Jean-Louis Sieuzac and presented in flacon by legendary bottle designer Pierre Dinand. [Telegraph]

I find it hard to believe Lindsay Lohan has time to work, what with all the arrests, court hearings and rehab she seems to have endlessly going on in her life. But it was announced Wednesday that she'll be the celebrity face of Philipp Plein's spring ad campaign.  [Stylelist] 

The Duchess of Cambridge has been notably absent from this and other fashion blogs for the last few days. She's reportedly in princess camp, learning how to be a royal. [The Cut]

Vogue Editor Anna Wintour persuaded European editor Hamish Bowles to audition for "The X Factor." (By "persuaded," we mean that she told him via e mail she had signed him up to do it.) He went along with it -- had he a choice? -- and auditioned by singing Britney Spears' "Oops, I Did It Again."  Bowles lived to write about it for the magazine's October issue. [Racked]

Seen on the London runways: Does the look shown here  remind anyone else of Princess Leia? It was among the stylings at KTZ's show on Wednesday as London Fashion Week was ending. The show seemed to run heavily to bondage-inspired clothing, as best I could tell.

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-- Susan Denley

Top photo: A look from Gucci's Spring-Summer 2012 runway show on Wednesday.  Credit: Stefania D'Alessandro / Getty Images

Bottom photo: A model wearing a creation from KTZ. Credit: Ben Stansall / AFP /Getty Images 

 

Milan Fashion Week: Ferragamo offers effortless luxe for a private island

If there's one thing you realize when you attend a dozen fashion shows back-to-back, it's that spring and summer can be interpreted a dozen different ways. But multiply that by four days, and you start to see some overlap in locales (the Mediterranean! the Hamptons!), in motifs (anchors! nautical stripes!) and activities (swimming! surfing!), but the collection that Ferragamo sent down the runway this season was an island of blessed solitude.

In a color palette of neutrals -- white, beige and cream -- and fabrics like silk, linen and hemp, the Ferragamo man pads around that island wearing a loose jacket belted at the waist and layered over a double-breasted blazer, or a safari jacket over a sweater, trousers either flaring generously at the ankle or held close to the leg by a single button.

Back and forth across this island he carries a faded leather bag or one of canvas, and a frayed raffia hat keeps the sun from his eyes. His clothes look lived in and sun-bleached but the blazer stays buttoned, the crocheted tie stays knotted.

He came here from the mainland in the '30s -- hence the high-waisted, pleated trousers -- and communicates back by post -- and that's only when he needs to lay in a supply of rum.  His demeanor is as relaxed and effortless as his wardrobe.

It could be the Mediterranean, or Caribbean, or even the South Pacific. He has no use for labels -- except the one he's wearing. 

On his feet are a pair of espadrille slippers he kicks off only when wading into the surf to retrieve a message in a bottle.

As the company gets ready for an IPO, the expectation might be that the brand would try harder to hammer home a point, or show an over-the-top collection, but the label just continues doing what it's always done: confidently put one well-shod foot in front of the other.

-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan

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Photos: Looks from the Ferragamo spring / summer 2012 runway collections shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto /Getty Images.

Milan Fashion Week: Bottega Veneta pares down the silhouette and ramps up the prints

It seems that each season, some menswear designer or other can't resist the urge to put a one-piece jumpsuit on the runway. And no matter what it's made of, or how it's cut, it ends up looking ridiculous. (Not quite this ridiculous, but close.)

"I've always liked the idea of a coverall or a jumpsuit, of a single piece of clothing that works for a man the way a dress does for a woman," Bottega Veneta's creative director Tomas Maier explained in the show notes. "But a tailored jumpsuit is impractical. So we started with the idea of an all-in-one and related it to the suit."

The resulting silhouette is neat, precise and pared back -- sleeves are fitted, trousers are tapered, and traditional collar points jettisoned in favor of simple Mandarin collars. And in looks where the jackets and trousers were of the same color, did very much resemble a one-piece coverall.

Paring the silhouette back to its bare minimum afforded Maier the opportunity to experiment to his heart's content with what he put on it -- and he clearly had a field day layering on various prints, patterns and treatments.

Seersuckers and shirt checks were overprinted, stripes were layered on stripes, twills were printed to resemble tweeds, checks were printed on leather, and streaky, wiggly lines that looked like wood grain were printed on sweaters.

But for all the over-printing and the patch-pocket safari jackets zipped up to the Adam's apple, the best pieces in the collection were the more traditional-looking suits -- in solid colors (muted green or a vibrant blue tourmaline), with the over-print just peeking out from a jacket or cuff.

-- Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan 

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Photos: Looks from the Bottega Veneta spring / summer 2012 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. Credit: (Top) Pier Marco Tacca / EPA; (Middle and bottom) Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty Images.

Milan Fashion Week: Alexander McQueen's English rock gods work a powerful voodoo

The English rocker and his wardrobe were the stated inspiration for the Alexander McQueen spring and summer 2012 collection, the floral embroidery snaking up the pant legs and across the pleated shirts (earlier in the week, John Varvatos channeled his inner Jimmy Page, embellishing a suit with hand-painted roses), the leopard-print trousers and and a dinner jacket printed with licks of orange flame.

But the bulk of the collection was less rock-godly, with plenty of Savile Row-worthy tailored suits, some in bold black-and-white checks, there were wide-striped trousers -- some made to look as if the stripes had been spray-painted on -- waistcoats, trench coats and billowy tuxedo shirts. 

And even though Sarah Burton has picked up the torch (or in this case the flame-print dinner jacket) in the post-McQueen era for the label, it doesn't mean the namesake designer's fascination with the macabre and the supernatural has faded away, referenced by voodoo-inspired accessories including tooth pendants and cuffs and belts embellished with shells (which, at first glance, looked alarmingly like human molars.

That was no doubt why the show closed to the strains of the viciously performed version of "Voodoo Chile" by the late Stevie Ray Vaughan. But, as the last look hit the runway, something about the broad red stripes of the jacket, the slightly upturned collar framing a necklace of curved teeth, and the broad-brimmed hat made it seem like the late blues rock guitarist (who died in a helicopter accident in 1990) was back walking among the living.

And then the moment passed, the haze cleared and it was just another long-haired model in designer clothes.

Voodoo or not, one thing was certain: The collection had some magic to it.

--Adam Tschorn, reporting from Milan

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Photos: Looks from the Alexander McQueen spring / summer 2012 runway collection shown during Milan Fashion Week. (Middle) Credit:Antonio Calanni / Associated Press.  (Top and bottom) Credit: Olivier Morin / AFP / Getty Images.

Milan Fashion Week: A four-pack of fashion fun at DSquared2 [Updated]

DSquared2 didn't so much show a runway collection in Milan on Tuesday morning as it did four mini-collections backed by a rotating stage backdrop, topped off with a hilarious leather-and-sparkly-spandex dance number performed by a four-pack of male dancers sporting stilletto heels. (Later, I learned that they're a "musical-dance syndicate" that goes by the name Kazaky.)*

The first mini-collection, set against the backdrop of a Scandinavian fishing village, offered up things like roomy cable knit sweaters, scarves, mixed-fabrication light outerwear pieces and a hybrid boat shoe/derby boot.

That was followed by a brief (in more ways than one) trip to the island of Mykonos, which consisted mainly of exceedingly snug swim trunks (some emblazoned with the name of the island across the posterior) and mesh tank tops with a few pairs of walking shorts and light jackets thrown in.