PRADA fall/winter 2012 menswear show

          I've never followed men's fashion shows but since this one I probably will. And I don't mean Adrien Brody, Tim Roth, Gary Oldman or Willem Dafoe. It's this Third Reich men's uniforms aesthetics... It's not a big secret. I like it a lot. I always did. Some kind of soft spot of mine. What's more, Prada mixed it with dandy style. That gives us an explosive mixture. Nazi dandy? Well, works perfectly for me. 

            Ok, Adrien Brody looks really great in these clothes. Ironically. 

Haider Ackermann goes dandy. Spring summer 2012 collection.

          “We’ve been doing elongated silhouettes reaching the sky for seasons . . . there’s so much high heels and sexiness that now it’s nice to have an army of Lord Byrons coming your way!” - said Haider Ackermann.

          Well, not only Lord Byrons but also Charles Baudelaires and David Bowies from the Ziggy Stardust seventies. I like this masculine attitiude a lot. Haider Ackermann mixed all these individualities and created something with the elegance of a nineteenth century drama and nonchalance like the dandy style with a dash of wilderness of the seventies. For women.
           But that's not everything. He did it in his own special way. Every detail, colour and textile is carefully matched with another. And all these matches make this collection incredibly rich in every possible way. All brought together: the blinding colors, the brocade fabrics, the chiffons, the silks, the leather and then the asymetric cuts, the neglected shapes, the unpredictible draperies and the transparent layers. If I had to describe this collection in one word it would be "intensive". Very, very intensive.
             But it isn't exaggerated. The balance is perfectly kept. As it's always been. It's Haider Ackermann.  

Alexander McQueen spring summer 2012

              It's been Sarah Burton's third collection for Alexander McQueen, after the king decided to leave the building. It's been the third nice, feminine, unsurprising collection. I'm slightly giving up my unconditional love for Alexander McQueen. Don't get me wrong, Sarah is doing just fine, all these collections are beautiful and each part of them is nearly a masterpiece in sewing, but it isn't Alexander McQueen anymore. There's no darkness and apocalypse anymore. Everything became too mild and a little bit too predictable. There's no brilliant madness here anymore. 

        “It’s all about Gaia, the wonder of nature, the sea.” said Sarah Burton about the spring/summer collection 2012. Sure, why not, the "Plato's Atlantis", the last spring 2010 show of Alexander McQueen was about the sea, too. There were all kinds of sea creatures there, but there weren't any mermaids. Who cares about the mermaids? I'm asking, where are the skulls? Where are the demons which were hiding in the depths of the McQueen sea? The sun doesn't shine at the seabed. 

            It would be unfair to say that all of Sarah's designs are equally boring. Sure thing. This collection  has a few truly beautiful pieces. In some of them, you can still hear the echoes of Alexander's creatures. Like those black demonic dresses which twine around the models bodies. And the ones made of sharp mother-of-pearls pieces or corals which remind of the early McQueen's designs, where models were risking their lives wearing his dresses. Masks are surely in the good-old festish style, too. But Sarah is systematically changing the direction in which Alexander headed. I'm guessing that after a few more shows, the kingdom of mother Gaia will entirely overthrow the McQueen kingdom. Sorry, but you won't be my queen. I'd rather hold on to the past, with my beloved demons.  

Beautiful backstage photos by Kevin Tachman

Runway photographed by Marcus Tondo/gorunway.com
You can see complete collection here: Vogue UK

nümph jumper

              I'm lucky not only to have awesome second-hands in Białystok, but also great outlets with really low prices. For example I can buy Danish brands like nümph or RÜTME, whitch are mostly unreachable here in Poland. What's more, some of these clothes are sale samples. So it's like double fun to buy and wear them. Sometimes they make clothes which are a little bit too abstract (especially RÜTME), but some other time I simply fall in love with their design. Below you can see the nümph jumper I've recently bought. It's really light and I love how it "flows" as I walk. All these frills are wave gently and make this impression that the whole jumper is "moving". Underneath I'm wearing H&M Trend top. 

              Photos by Mad Alice. 

My small exhibition.

          I have my very own photographic exhibition! You can see it Alkierz Club in Supraśl, Poland. The opening of the exhibition was this Saturday. It includes fifteen of my works. It will stay there till the beginning of October. The place is small and cozy, have a tasty Polish Borderlands and Russian cuisine and it's really nice place to spend some time. Feel invited!

          www.alkierz.pl (unfortunately the site is only in Polish)

          Yeah, I'm mainly a photographer: Mad Alice Photography

Folk Costumes of Slavic People

          Some time ago I went to see the exhibition called "Folk Costumes of Slavic People" in the State Etnographic Museum in Warsaw. It wasn't big. It included only seventeen pieces but I spent almost two hours there. It's nothing new that I am a clothes maniac. I'm not only interested in the recent trends, like all those fashion victims - I'm maniac of a all kinds of clothes. I like the history of fashion. The past, when clothes were much more meaningful. When every single piece, every lace or embroidery symbolized something. The ethnology isn't my strong point but I think I know enough to guess some influences which you can see on each costume. It makes this exhibition even more fascinating.

          All of them are beautiful but my favourites are definitely the Russian ones. The richest, covered with gold and made of heavy materials. I also like the Ukrainian and Belarusan ones, with this specific embroidery on the sleeves. Polish ones aren't bad too. 

          I really tried to fight the glass reflections but I failed. Well, someone who was responsible for the lighting should be hung because I could barely see the costumes sometimes. Hope you enjoy it anyway. Read the exhibit description below. You can enlarge the photos if you want to see more details. 

          All photos by Mad Alice.

Hutsul woman's costume, Ukraine, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój huculski kobiecy, Ukraina, połowa XIX w. 

Ukrainian woman's costume, Poltava Region, Ukraine, early 20th c. 

Strój ukraiński kobiecy, obwód połtawski, Ukraina, paczątek XXw. 

Belarusian maid's costume, Klimovitchi Region, Belarus, late 19th c. 

Strój białoruski dziewczęcy, region klimowicki, Białoruś, koniec XIX w.

Slovakian man's costume, Podivin, Slovacko Region, Moravia, Czech Republic, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój męski ze Slovacko, Podivin, region Slovacko, Morawy, Czechy, połowa XIX w. 

Polish woman's costume, Kujawy Region, Poland, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój kujawski kobiecy, okolice Włocławka, Polska, połowa XIX w. 

Cracovian man's costume, Proszowice village, Małopolska Region, Poland, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój krakowski męski, Proszowice, region małopolski, Polska, połowa XIX w.

Russian woman's costume, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój rosyjski kobiecy, obwód niżnonowogrodzki, Niżny Nowogród, Rosja, połowa XIX w.

Russian woman's costume, Oloniec Region, Russia, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój rosyjski kobiecy, region ołoniecki, Rosja, połowa XIX w.

Russian man's costume, Tula Oblast, Russia, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój rosyjski męski, obwód tulski, Rosja, połowa XIX w.

Russian woman's costume, Voronezh Oblast, Voronezh, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój rosyjski kobiecy, obwód woroneski, Woroneż, połowa XIX w. 

Bulgarian woman's costume, Tyrnovo Region, Bulgaria, iddle of the 19th c. 

Strój bułgarski kobiecy, region Tyrnowo, Bułgaria, połowa XIX w.

Macedonian woman's costume, Smilevo village, Bitola Region, Macedonia, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój macedoński kobiecy, wieś Smilevo, region Bitola, Macedonia, połowa XIX w.

Montenegrian man's costume, Montenegro, middle of the 19th c. 

Strój męski czarnogórców, Czarnogóra, połowa XIX w. 

Serbian man's costume, Bukovica village, Dalmatia Region, Croatia, middle of the 19th c.

Strój serbski męski, wieś Bukovica, Dalmacja, Chorwacja, połowa XIX w. 

Croatian woman's costume, Karlovac Region, Croatia, middle of the 19th c.

Strój chorwacki kobiecy, region Karlovac, Chorwacja, połowa XIX w.

Slovenian bridesmaid's costume, Carinthia Region, Austria, middle of the 19th c.

Strój słoweński dziewczęcy, strój druhny, Karyntia, Austria, połowa XIX w.

Slovenian best man's costume, Carinthia Region, Austria, middle of the 19th c.

Strój słoweński męski, strój drużby, Katyntia, Austria, połowa XIX w.