Bita Rad

Here is your first look at what you can be expecting from Matthew Williamson for H&M. The first shipment hits (a limited) 200 H&M stores on April 23, 2009. The second delivery, which will be sold at 1,700 H&M stores, is scheduled for mid-May.

Williamson has kept true to his love for fabric and colors, utilizing expensive silks and sequins to bring his prints to life. As expected, the quality of  his fabric choices have not been compromised, hence the price point which is on the more expensive side of H&M’s usual prices. Here are some key looks!

Jedidiah is a collaborative lifestyle clothing line that first caught my attention at Magic Tradeshow in Las Vegas this past Febuary. What they do as a brand is new to me and I thought it to be sort of groundbreaking in the industry of apparel design. The essence of their brand is to create a revenue stream to assist those less fortunate through increased awareness, financial contributions and service projects, - ultimately using creativity as a tool for fundraising.

The web platform that they have created on their website allows users to submit personal stories that relate to each month’s humanitarian organization. They then use those member’s stories as inspirations for designs that are voted on by the site’s users and eventually produced and sold to raise money for Jedidiah’s non-profit partners.

They also managed to raise big bucks at Magic Tradeshow to go to Stand Up for Kids, a nationally acclaimed organization committed to the rescue of homeless and at-risk youth. Six artists - Blaine Fontana, Joshua Clay, Tommii Lim, Kelli Murray, Serge Gay, and j.shea, collaborated on a mural that was sold for $15,000!

Everyone loves a brand with a great aesthetic. Check it out at www.JedidiahUSA.com.

Every once in a while I come across a brand that rocks my world. I was recently introduced to Nice Collective and I just can’t get enough! The San Fransisco based brand was started by Joe Haller and Ian Hannula, neither of whom come from any design background. Although it was founded in 1997, Nice Collective only premiered at New York Fashion Week this past week with critics raving about the fall 2009 menswear collection. Described by Style.com’s Josh Peskowitz as “post-apocalyptic” and “post-erotic”, the juxtaposition between the hard utilitarian details and your grandfather’s checkered wool seems to work with a fluidity that’s hard to come by. Plus, combat boots, long johns, and hooded scarves…just my cup of tea.

Joe and Ian have recently been named among the top American designers by GQ Magazine and provided clothing for Coldplay, Nine Inch Nails, Smashing Pumpkins, The Police, as well as celebrities like Gavin Rossdale and Brad Pitt. See what all the rave is about at their website and marvel at the Fall 2009 collection here.

From a music producer named Braxton Nations, and a vintage store owner named Turya Nations comes the new LA-friendly clothing line called Guy Baxter. It offers vintage silhouettes with a modern twist on fabrics, and reintroduces the free spirit of the 80’s to the refined ladies of today. Described as the “burgeoning L.A. cult line” by Elle Magazine, this brand was only launched in the Spring of 2007, and is already aiming to open its store doors on January 15th. I’m eager to see how it does..

Check out the Guy Baxter site here.

I was introduced to Romp by a friend of mine.  The flagship store at 7928 West 3rd Street is something to see. Upon entering the iron gates in front of the store, you are thrown into this beautiful shop where fur rugs line the floor and seductive mannequins lay around in sexy raw silk gowns.  Everything down to the scent of the shop has been accounted for, and everything from the clothes to the furniture, luggage, and shoes has been exclusively designed for the brand by the statuesque owner Nina Morgan-Jones.

This organic lifestyle brand offers men’s and women’s super fine lamb suede and leathers, and natural dyed raw silks in rock & roll and biba-esque fashions.  The company also has a “traceability” program, which traces the complete lifecycle of its leather goods, including the names of all those involved in the creation of a garment from start to finish. But the best part about this company? The clothes fit like they were tailored to your body.

Romp will be holding an in-store event on Thursday December 18th from 7:00pm-11:00pm to view its fall collections. See you there.

British designer Matthew Williamson was just announced as the successsor to Rei Kawakubo of Comme des Garçons, as the next talent to partner up with H&M.  Exciting! Matthew Williamson’s bursts of colorful patterns and prints are a great way to juxtapose Comme des Garçons’ dark solid pieces. Williamson used to be the creative director of Pucci, and is a huge fan of Eastern influences ie. Indian batik and embroidery. My favorite collection of his was for Spring 2008 RTW where he merged Indian, African, and Mayan trims flawlessly. . . and a certain special someone was spotted strutting the runway!

click here to see footage from the show.

Thursday November 13th, Comme des Garçons for H&M hit stores. LA Times’ Max Padilla calls it “avant garde for the masses”, and that’s exactly what it is. Why is this collaboration so awesome? Because Rei Kawakubo, design director of the high-end Comme des Garçons collections, is infamously anti-fashion and has made her collections to symbolize just that. If it’s trendy, popular, in high-demand, or up-and-coming, she is not into it. Padilla says, “She’s known for head-scratching runway shows, the kind that make you feel like you’re the only one not in on the joke (women in hunchback pillow dresses and men in skirts), as well as for opening temporary “guerrilla stores” in gritty neighborhoods such as downtown L.A.”

What category of fashion design does Comme des Garçons fall into, you ask? Deconstructed shapes and nontraditional lines and techniques. Stuff that you just don’t understand, and shouldn’t even try. Rei Kawakubo prefers to consider her designs as conceptual art rather than practical pieces. So how would she manage to mesh the impracticality of Comme des Garçons with fast-fashion powerhouse H&M?  Behold:

See the full mens and womens collections here .

See how supermodel and Cali girl Erin Wasson styled herself in the November 2008 issue of Nippon Vogue in pieces from the Comme des Garçons for H&M collection here.

I was recently introduced to Grai, a phenomenal brand by head designer Maya Yogev, an Otis ‘02 alum and former Rick Owens designer.  I’ve fallen in love with the aesthetic of this brand and the execution of its draped design. Those who design know that leather is an extremely bold medium to work with. Yogev’s designs for Grai make a striking statement but are careful not to cross the line of being overly designed. Her gritty silhouettes are eye-catching but manage to remain in the realm of wearable, “real” clothes. She also manages to (surprisingly) successfully blend the lines between Victorian and goth,  giving her customers a taste for her idea of the aristocratic punk rocker.

www.GraiScale.com