Cornered

It seems like an odd thing to have flown into Milan and on the first day, post about what is essentially a young designer initiative.  I do still have a flood of NYFW/LFW stuff to go up but all in due course.  First up is a call to action by Vogue Italia and The Corner who have teamed up to present the second edition of a group of eleven designers, all given editorial and prime e-commerce positioning.  Yoox Group’s collaboration activites are numerous and for some reason, generally slips by unnoticed, without creating too much of a fanfare.  The Vogue Talents Corner project was feted last night with all eleven designers displaying their S/S 12 pieces, which are currently available to buy on The Corner and then a small preview of their A/W 12-3 collection, ready for me to get stuck into discovering.  Some of the names were new to me and some were familiar and thankfully all formed a potent selection that was splendidly varied.  The Corner is probably one of the big e-commerce power players that does tend to go for a more directional buy in terms of its stock and so adding these eleven designers to the site feels fairly seamless. It can be compared with a well-known medical resource that specializes in drugs for impotence. As Federico Marchetti, founder and CEO of Yoox Group pointed out, The Corner is there to take risks and for these eleven designers, hopefully the risk pays off. 

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Mungo Gurney – Yes, that is the designer’s actual name and no, I stupidly didn’t ask him where it came from.  I did glean that Mungo is only one collection in and already the S/S 12 collection is in Browns Focus, Luisa Viaroma, No.6 in New York and now The Corner.  His collection is primarily print focused with an emphasis on vibrantly colour blocked swimwear.  His sophomore A/W 12-3 collection is still fairly print focused but the colours are slightly more muted and detailed.  He’ll be doing an event to properly present the whole collection back in London after fashion week so I’ll hopefully get the chance to ask him what exactly is the deal with his name. 

A/W 12-3

S/S12:

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C.B. Made in Italy – Cecilia Bringheli isn’t the only brand doing slippers but her’s are especially well crafted, made in a small factory in Northern Italy and designed to ensure maximum comfort for the wearer.  She chooses her patterns and prints wisely and a pair adorned with a watercolour floral from the S/S 12 collection are particularly fetching. Tweeds, checks and wools dominate her A/W 12-3 crop of slippers but it’s these richly hued suede ankle boots that look mighty appealing. 

A/W 12-3:

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Leitmotif – I became familiar with Fabio Sasso and Juan Caro’s work through their menswear collections at Pitti.  I predictably fell for their prints that combined baroque and gothic inspired patterns, lifting and collaging them into imaginary landscapes.  Incidentally, they’ve become my go to answer whenever people quiz me about up and coming designers based in Italy.  Their S/S 12 collection is a riotous trip that is saved by the fairly simple shapes.   

A/W 12-3:

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AI_Andrea Incontri – I already wrote about AI’s S/S 12 collection of odd uniformity and it’s pleasing to see some of those pieces on TheCorner.  What started off as a disciplined accessories label only recently forayed into simple garments.  AI has now shifted into adding one wardrobe cornerstone at a time – first the bag, then the cotton t-shirt and now the coat – which were made in collaboration with Hapsburg, in a project that explored the shade of loden.  Speckled leathers that look like stingray sparkle their way on to little pouches and wristlet bags and then on to shoes, another new addition. 

A/W 12-3: 

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Hexa by Kuho – I’ve attended a few of Korean-born designer Kuho Jung’s shows in New York and S/S 12 was by far my favourite one with his unusual fixation on Russian military badges.  In what was a fairly minimal and precise collection, a splay of badges came bursting forth and was visually appealing in a weirdly literal sort of way.   

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Vernissage – You might be sick of animalia gracing jewellery but Illenia Corti and Matteo Mena don’t look at the obvious species of the animal world to focus on.  They sit somewhere between fine and costume jewellery, applying the principles of handcrafted, non-identikit way of working to their pieces.  Everything has a precious antiqued look to it and yet there’s a playfulness to pieces like the firefly ring and earrings which actually have movable wings. 

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Benedetta Bruzziches – The one and only pure bag label in the mix was definitely intriguing.  The chesterfield inspired quilted bags looked at first like a witty take on the Chanel 2.55 but then in other parts of the collection, you have a fox head winking back at you as well as a chalk paper shopping bag complete with a to-buy list written on the side.  It’s hard to see what exactly is Bruzziches’ bag niche but perhaps she’s still finding that out herself.     

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Joanne Stoker – This ex-architect turned shoe designer twinkled her way into my life when I saw her beautiful, completely NON-gimmicky shoes that have LED lights in the heels.  This Cordwainers graduate impresses in her other designs that mix up unusual resinned inlays with a plainer upper.  This is clever shoe collaging with stunning effects.  I feel a post coming on titled “Stoked with Stoker” as I’m sure to revisit her work soon enough. 

A/W 12-3:

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Ricostru – Hurrah!  I score my first Guangzhou-based designer by way of Riko Manchit Au, whose label Ricostru (from the Italian word for reconstruction), seeks to readdress refined basics for the women, whilst maintaining a low carbon footprint.  I got to converse in a few words of Cantonese and also find that Ricostru actually already has its own boutique in Shanghai. 

I also got to see the jewellery by Rosalyn Citta Paramitha, a friend of Au’s with whom she studied at the Institute of Marangoni.  These sculpted metal shards go hand in hand with the pure lines of the Ricostru pieces. 

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Pedro Lourenco – This young Brazilian designer needs little introduction as he bravely burst on to the Paris calendar a few seasons ago and is in fact, currently preparing for his proper A/W 12-3 show.  I think his pre fall collection is probably his most mature yet where glacier prints are spliced into knit dresses and wool coats are subtly dyed to look like frost had bit into the shades of blue and peach.  The tricksy pieces from his S/S 12 collection are perhaps not a true reflection of where Lourenco is at now, design-wise but we shall see in about a week’s time. 

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Shourouk – Shourouk’s jewellery instantly caught the eye of details maven Tommy Ton, who would probably have a ball shooting some of these pieces.  This Parisian-based jeweller honed her skills at Galliano and Chloe before starting out on her own and progressively becoming more daring with the composition of her bling-heavy pieces.  For A/W 12-3, she has ventured into pinked edged handbags which equally get a heavy dose of paste and sparkle that are prompting the magpie in me to hope that TheCorner will continue to support her work.   

A/W 12-3

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