I’ve never been keen on the sole colour combo of black and white. On me, it looks severe, harsh and abrasive. I can never help but add a touch of grey, a smidge of navy or just something to break up the starkness. Fashion 156’s Black and White issue a couple of weeks ago convinced me a little by choosing to mix black and white separates or solid white with black touches and of course Noel Stewart’s wonderful head creations also added to the sublime effect.
I guess my problem with black and white is the abundance of monochrome prints – graphic and floral – on the high street that somehow comes off looking a little…..dare I say…. cheap. There’s no rational explanation. I just can’t shake that feeling about monochrome prints, especially the floral kind. It doesn’t matter if the garment is designer either. The combination of black and white in jazzy prints just doesn’t do it for me.
But then I was inspired strangely by the Simian Mobile Disco video for ‘It’s the Beat’, as I stumbled across Nova Dando’s styling/fashion work (she’s a jack of all trades being a DJ, stylist and designer) seeing as she designed these black and white outfits. Masses of white with black trim. I’m really attracted to the way the sleek black graphic lines are kept quite separate from the white so that rather than having black and white mish mash with each other in some crazed pattern, it’s like the white is controlled by these lines.
Pierre Hardy’s bags and shoes for s/s07 immediately came to mind but seeing as I’m paying for my bacon sandwiches with coppers, I’m hardly going to be rushing out to buy them (though…Paris summer sales are tempting….MUCH better than the ones in the UK…):
Or my cheapskates version would be to go a little crazy with some black electrical tape on some white shoes or bag or grab some grosgrain ribbon and line up some white shirts and shorts, doing it Nova Dando style. Now you know it’s two days before pay day when I start talking about black electrical tape and shoes…..