A Sneak Peek at Madewell’s Spring Catalog

Meet your new "prints charming." A preview of what Madewell has to offer this spring has been released, and let’s just say the looks won’t stay on this J.Crew spin-off’s shelves too long. The lookbook’s appropriately named “Mix Master” section featured polka dots, stripes, and florals on everything from signature scarves to playful socks, which were cheekily shown with flats and heels. This season, Madewell took a twist on classic patterns by toying with scale, as shown in the pointilized to oversized polka dots on the dress pictured above. We’re dying to get our hands on their dizzying take on a pinstripe pant, which looks like a delightful a bar code.

These pieces will be available both in-store and online on Tuesday, March 6, but you can start plotting which printed pieces you’d like to mix and match now. Hey, it’s okay to break that cardinal rule about mixing stripes with polka dots. After all, you have Jenna Lyons' permission.

Text Kara Solarz
Images Lucky Magazine

The Fabric Works

It was not only Hauser & Wirth that was proud and enthused to announce the inauguration of its new space at 23 Savile Row with a solo exhibition by the late Louise Bourgeois, For those lucky enough to stumble upon this new space and the Bourgeois collection, it was a rare find and the the most delectable of delicacies. As the most important female artist of our time, for seventy years she transformed thoughts and emotions into beautiful works of art in radical, complex, intense and excessively influential manners of work. This collection, 'The Fabric Works' are abstract and geometric drawings deriving from the juxtapositions of patterns printed on materials. In 2002, Bourgeois to weave thin strips of her garments together and from this developed later polygonal strips, which would read how different patterns of printed materials would compose when stitched together. Fabric for Louise Bourgeois must, in many ways, have been like returning to a long lost friend having played an important role in her life. Her parents owned a tapestry restoration workshop and from the age of twelve she began helping out by drawing in the sections of the missing arts that were to be repaired. In time as the thinking and creativity of Bourgeois was to develop and grow it would play an important part in her work. ‘I always had the fear of being separated and abandoned. The sewing is my attempt to keep things together and make things whole’. This beautiful collection is only showing until Saturday the 18th of December at Hauser and Wirth Savile Row, so run!

Text Katriona Flynn

J.Crew RTW S2011

Though I’ve been less than pleased with J.Crew’s sudden spike in prices for trendy items that can be purchased for about $15 at Forever21, I am reluctantly starting to realize that the brand does in fact have high fashion potential. In the past, I’ve scoffed at the lace camisole being sold for over $300 and the sequin sweatpants for $600, but as I flipped through the Spring 2011 look book, I found myself swooning. The only thing wrong with this collection is that it doesn’t hit stores for another few months.

The vision: Jenna Lyons has always tried to incorporate her own personal style into the vision she has for the J.Crew collections. This season, she focused on a creative play on minimalism, a stark contrast with the billions of brooches presented on the fall collection. Lyons creates looks that may seem mundane if she followed suit with many other designers and used a strictly neutral palette. However, in typical J.Crew fashion, the line is filled with bright colors and dazzling patterns. With several different shades of hot pink, bright orange, burnt red, sea foam green, and cyan blue, it’s hard to imagine why the industry is so dead set on such a basic color palette.

The outcome: Bravo! Each look successfully masters the art of pairing several pieces of color together without looking insane. One look had three different pieces all in different shades of hot pink, while another played with color and texture using chambray, cashmere, and sequins. There honestly isn’t one look within this collection that isn’t completely wearable, whether you’re going to class, to work, or an after hours party. Hopefully, J.Crew’s RTW line will cause its customers to begin experimenting a lot more than they have in the past. After all, these looks will be sold as deconstructed individual pieces, so it will be difficult not to play around a bit and develop new, but equally fun outfits that fit a myriad of different styles.

Standout pieces: It’s hard to say which pieces deserve the standout title, because there are just so many of them. However, after careful consideration, I’d like to nominate the magenta paper bag shorts, the white and gold striped sweater, the pleated khaki skirt, and the sequined maxi skirt used in the final look. Though I love the way each piece was used in the collection (especially the skirt being paired with a chambray button up and leather waist belt), I can clearly envision at least 3 different uses for each one- which makes them well worth their estimated prices.

I’m still not ready to start adding J.Crew to my list of favorite high-end designers, but this collection has definitely stolen the prize for most anticipated spring collection. Perhaps this is because it is so on point with my own individual style, but I can totally see mothers and daughters alike purchasing (dare I say) the same pieces and using them in completely different ways.

By Ali Antonucci

Mixing Prints

It seems as though lately many of the hard and fast rules concerning fashion dos and don’ts we’ve previously upheld as laws are being overturned. Need I remind you of the resurrection of the clog or our newly minted enjoyment of denim on denim? I didn’t think so. So in the perhaps old but rather indomitable tradition of giving the ugly duckling a fierce makeover and sending her out into the world to bag the most popular boy at school, comes the mixing of prints—as in wearing a blouse in one print and a skirt in another. It comes as no surprise that, as a rather reliable portent of the next big thing, Proenza Schouler was one of the first brands to feature the look in its Resort 2011 collection. Although I am overjoyed by the thought of mixing but not matching, I am also of the opinion that it will take a particularly discerning fashion eye to pull it off. While your chosen prints do not have to match, it is of the utmost importance that they compliment each other; and therein lies the difficulty. One thing’s for sure, this look should make for some very amusing failed attempts.

By Jessica Best