Rescu. brings you the best fashion DIY we’ve seen in years – and all you need is paper, scissors and glue…
The Council of Fashion Designers America (CFDA) awards were this week – and the big news flashes just kept coming.
Most startlingly, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen’s line The Row won Womenswear Designer Of The Year.
It’s yet another demonstration that the fashion industry has embraced the Olsens’ high-end designer vision totally, despite some press criticism of their extremely expensive handbags (a crocodile backpack earned headlines last year for costing upwards of $20,000).
The increasing incursion of celebrities into ‘proper design’ territory is a very interesting trend, with Victoria Beckham one of the most celebrated designers in Britain and Nicole Richie’s House Of Harlow accessories line winning award after award.
The CFDA awards continues this – and apparently the Olsens, who showed up in their own designs, were delighted. Mary-Kate Olsen has been in the news recently for dating the brother of French ex-president Sarkozy, a union (with a 25-year age gap) which has started gossip all over the fashion and political worlds – so she’ll be glad of the distraction.
Rising label Joseph Altazurra also won an award, and Tommy Hilfiger won a lifetime achievement gong – but most of the evening was devoted to edgy labels like Reed Krakoff, Philip Lim and Tabitha Simmons. There was also a whisper that Scott Schumann of The Sartorialist had pulled a lot of strings to be given the CFDA’s first Media Award.
The other big news of the night was comedian host Seth Meyers’ monologue- which poked fun at John Galliano’s anti-Semitic rant, usually a taboo topic in fashion circles.
Meyers made fun of the self-importance and humourless nature of fashion by saying sarcastically that “fashion and humour go together like John Galliano and bar mitzvahs”. The joke went so poorly that he ad-libbed “That joke went so badly, I think I’M going to be fired from Dior now” – which, fortunately for him, brought down the house.
The CFDAs are the most prestigious awards on the American fashion circuit – and the fashion was out-of-this-world. Check out RESCU’s gallery and select your best-dressed.
Image: Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen at the CFDAs.
If you’ve ever been to Britain, you’ll have heard of the wonders of TopShop, the high street fashion chain lauded by Kate Moss.
It’s come to Australia – and its menswear component, TopMan, has come too, and is now prepared to step into the spotlight.
TopMan is launching a celebration of British menswear designers at affordable prices, for all the fashionista men out there who long to get their hands on something a little edgier from across the pond.
The NewGen line is focussed on promoting new and exciting menswear designers who haven’t quite made their mark yet. It’s one of the best platforms to get into a very difficult industry – British mens’ fashion is dedicated to Saville Row and bespoke tailoring, and it can take a long time for new labels to flourish. TopMan, however, wants to help young labels along as much as possible.
Their new crop of designers are names to watch: James Long, Katie Eary, Lou Doulton, Sibling and Christopher Shannon. They’ve all contributed designs to a TopMan capsule T-shirt collection.
And, of course, the Brits can’t ignore the Jubilee – the theme of the T-shirt collection is ‘Menswear Rules Britannia’. Rescu. has an exclusive preview of all the looks, and we’re particularly loving the surreal mirrored leopard look, which will look fantastic on Aussie blokes.
If you have a male friend with a certain sense of style, TopMan in Melbourne might just be the place to go…
Image: TopMan’s Menswear Rules Britannia collection.
This is the best DIY Rescu. has seen in ages – and it’s cosigned by Hermes themselves!
They’ve put up a tutorial on their website to allow users to produce a paper replica of the Jige clutch, complete with Hermes logo on the clasp.
It’s not the first foray into paper craft for Hermes – they sent out a paper how-to for making your own Kelly bag a few years ago – but we’re loving their decoration ideas. They have five print schemes, including a very Hermes bicycle and an utterly splendid elephant, plus a blank version for artistic fashionistas to run wild.
You’ll need one of the Hermes templates (available at lesailes.hermes.com), a printer, suitable paper (we’d recommend something thick), scissors, glue and whatever you’d like to use to decorate your clutch.
Print it out and decorate the surface madly if you’ve chosen a blank one. You can sew your own design, use coloured paper, indulge in a William Morris print – anything to brighten up your office. Then glue together, making sure you follow the lines.
Don’t mistake those stitch-like lines for gluing areas – they’re modelled on the Jige itself, which has obvious stitching along all its edges. It’s a quirky touch you don’t want to lose.
Let it dry, and there you have it – a custom-made Hermes paper clutch for all your papers, light work or simply a fashionable way to carry around bits and pieces. If you really want it to last, use strong thick paper or other materials and guarantee the seams work.
Paper craft and high fashion? RESCU’s loving it!
Image: Hermes Jige Clutch paper versions.
