STYLE
BY JOSH SIMS
DESIGNERS TO WATCH
CHARLES ANASTASE
Anastase can count the unlikely group of Kylie Minogue, Yoko Ono and Comme des Garçon designer Rei Kawakubo among his customers – not bad, considering that he turned to fashion design only after he won €50,000 from the French Ministry of Culture. Until then, photo styling and illustration had been the French-Armenian designer’s focus, with his detailed pencil drawings winning the attention of Calvin Klein, who used one in an ad campaign. With his spring/summer womenswear, he goes for round-collar blouses, short sweaters, knee-length 50s skirts and party frocks. Anastase is fast winning a reputation for being serious about feminine classics. www.charlesanastase1979.com
DERYK WALKER
In the two years since Scottish designer Deryk Walker launched his catwalk collections, he has developed a signature piece: his panelled shirt. They’re an indication of his desire to create clothes that are essentially simple at first glance, but highly technical on closer inspection. For spring/summer 08, the Glaswegian works in transparent organdie, the pieces highlighted with lemon and blue detailing, the tailoring with mis-matched pockets. Walker is also launching his first full womenswear collection: slim-fit trousers with blazers with padded pieces, cork lettering and aluminium fringing, creating pieces that, like the Japanese designers from whom he appears to take inspiration, blur the boundary between high fashion and art.
WINNI LOK
Undyed, slashed, laddered, asymmetric, deconstructed, bleach-splattered – designer Winni Lok gives knitwear an innovative spin. She avoids the classic knitwear shapes, and uses the cutand-sew techniques of dressmaking, combined with macramé, crochet and other hand-knitting techniques, to make each of her pieces a structural marvel and a true one-off. The Chinese-Brit’s CV is a blend of the commercial and experimental: concept designer for a major supplier to Marks & Spencer, collaboration with Hussein Chalayan, film costume work and design for Claude Montana, and most recently, head of knitwear for Whistles. www.pollyanna.com
JONATHAN KELSEY
On the one hand, shoe design seems dominated by a handful of major names: Blahnik, Choo, Louboutin, Clergerie, Zanotti. On the other, female lust for footwear seems to know no bounds. That’s where Jonathan Kelsey sees his entrée into shoe domination. The English shoe designer trained at Jimmy Choo, Cacharel and Gina before selling designs to new talents Luella Bartley and Giles Deacon. But his own label is fast becoming the buzz with shoe obsessives. Inspired by the 1920s and 1950s – think spats-type platform boots and peep-toe sandals – his shoes pull off a precarious balance between the rich and clean-lined, the hard and the soft: a killer heel, for instance, is matched with dainty buckles. www.jonathankelsey.com
ROHIT BAL
Designer or craftsman? Rohit Bal’s artful one offs (many of his textiles are designed from scratch) can take months to make and sell for tens of thousands of dollars. Time magazine has called the Indian designer the ‘master of fabric and fantasy’. He graduated with a top degree in history, and employs traditional techniques to create uniquely modern garments. He is the first port of call for India’s growing numbers of super-wealthy business and media moguls, but was little known outside his native country until Liz Hurley chose him to design her wedding dress, allowing Bal to employ India’s full artisan arsenal while giving him an instant celebrity client caché. Everyone from Uma Thurman to Anna Kournikova are now clamouring for his clothes’ epic sense of luxury and detail. www.rohitbal.com
AND I
When old friends Qwok Phan and Mark Budd grew tired of not being able to find the menswear they liked, they decided the only thing to do was launch their own label. And I, the somewhat cryptic name born of a desire to keep branding out of the process as much as possible, is the result. Qwok, a trained menswear designer, and Budd, who has worked in menswear sales, offer what they call tailored ‘comfortwear’ – essentially classic styles rendered cardigan-soft and hand-finished with quirky details (such as mismatched buttons and one-off jacket linings) so that no two pieces are alike. Expect knitted trousers, jersey shirts and ‘old favourite’ T-shirts from the London-based duo.
www.and-i.co.uk
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