In an exciting high-low collaboration succeeding Jil Sander’s J+, Undercover have paired with the Japanese retailer Uniqlo to present a capsule collection for Spring Summer 2012. The first campaign images released this week reveal the designer Jun Takahashi’s vividly surreal aesthetic boldly fused with Uniqlo’s simplicity and accessibility.

“Clothing for families of today. It is the unity of UNIQLO’s high-quality, basic clothing and the UNDERCOVER line of street-influences, high-end fashion. It represents modern family style, and seeks to inspire the world from Tokyo.”

UU hits stores in 11 countries worldwide on March 16th, 2012.
Discover more on www.undercover.uniqlo.com

Photography: Katsuhide Morimoto
Art direction: Tetsuya Nagato
Styling: Toshio Takeda
Hair and Makeup: Katsuya Kamo
Set design: Enzo

Mr. Yamamoto offered his menswear invitation as a broadsheet newspaper with red print for AW12-13, as though he was asking the world to sit up and read all about it. Upon entering his Rue. St Martin studio and show space in Paris, a chaos of green and yellow stripes across the floorboards followed the graphic theme and framed a coat-heavy collection highlighted with rich winter hues. Amidst a study of full-cut jackets and loose coats in soft checks, quirky details included contrasting double lapels, military appliques or unexpected pops of vibrant colour on leather boots and silken pyjamas. Once again the designer’s cross-generational casting lent an eclectic and reverent air to his presentation. A series of blanket-stitched ponchos worn over grey suiting closed the show, and felt like a feather in the cap of the designer’s ephemeral bohemian mythology.

Photography by Reto Schmid.

Bernhard Willhelm’s show was set to a riotous mix tape called “Malibu 1992” by Italian DJs Dorian and Death in Plains – a trashy 90s club mix matched with a bizarre, oftentimes nonsensical video claiming to be a movie and soundtrack of the end of the world.

Willhelm and his design partner-in-crime Jutta Kraus showed ripped and paint-splattered twill overalls and bomber jackets that were at times emblazoned with the word TRANSIT and a screenprinted bridge symbol. A violent orange poncho was shredded into fringes, and flimsy feather boas circled through the window-pane holes in acid-washed denims. An often top-heavy silhouette mixed the designer’s love of gymwear (think leggings and pleather short shorts) with flannelette shirting and uniform styles that were more workshop than workout. Still ever-present were the intricate, zany graphic knitwear pieces that have become Bernhard’s signature, with wave patterns and bold industrial stripes.

Photography by Reto Schmid

Quipping on the codes of militaria and uniform, team MUGLER subjected their willing audience to a barrage of hyperdrive tailoring last night, on the first day of Autumn Winter 2012-13 menswear shows in Paris. A set of identical twins opened the show, each strapped to a movie camera that continued the theme (and the broadcast) of the Mugler Live project – a 3-day live streaming event that saw over 30,000 viewers tune in to pre-show castings, fittings and styling sessions at the Mugler atelier.

As Azealia Banks hit the sound system and a backdrop encrusted in black glitter set the scene, a buff cast of new faces (cast with the Marines in mind) paraded a formal collection ruled by bold coats, capes and sculptural suits. The designer Romain Kremer proposed familiar flared and angled shapes from the house archives, in new materials like psychadelic satin jacquards, gum-coated cottons and slick patent leather. Pops of pink satin and stripes of patent leather popped in a predominantly dark palette, as did Paraboot’s buckle creepers and lace-ups exploding with glitter. Long-line backless waistcoats were elegant and sexy, while cocooning overcoats and zip blousons felt like a step forward in luxury and wearability. The third volume in Mugler menswear smells of violent success, with no apologies and certainly no prisoners.

Photography by Reto Schmid.

A BLOG invites you to tune in at 5pm GMT+1 on Saturday January 14th 2012 to experience the live streaming of the Burberry Prorsum menswear show for Autumn Winter 2012-13. Leading a digital revolution in fashion, Burberry have fine-tuned their London and Milan runway shows into a global experience, allowing users near-instant access to buy garments and accessories right off the catwalk. Fusing the brand’s classic English heritage with the contemporary flavour of the UK’s music scene, Christopher Bailey & co. have crafted an elegant proposal for uptown glamour with an artisanal twist.

www.burberry.com

Beginning as a low-key preview (timed to hit stores months before the catwalk collection), the concept of a Pre-Fall collection has morphed into its own phenomenon – prompting designers to conceive unconventional lookbook images, pre-empt the new faces for the coming season, and secure interest in their main catwalk offering just two months later.

Following in the footsteps of the womenswear market, Dior Homme has unveiled a concisely-edited capsule collection for 2012, leading the recent surge of menswear labels who have adopted this mid-season trend. Kris Van Assche has honed the label’s keystone offerings and made them his own, adding lightness and fluid volume to sportwear and tailoring. Interpreting classic wardrobe staples like the zip blouson, the trench, the macintosh and the white chemise, Van Assche lends a sense of unfinished elegance – whether it be the selvedge edge along a blazer lapel or precise leather inserts adding quiet luxury to a raglan-sleeved coat. A white cotton t-shirt finished with shirt sleeves epitomises the designer’s grasp of simple sophistication in menswear.

Experience the collection images featuring Timothy Kelleher and Caleb Trent by Julia Hetta below.

www.diorhomme.com

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Russet red, royal purple and gold brocade were the orders of the day for Giambattista Valli‘s Pre-Fall 2012 offering, a collection rich in warm textures and precious materials. Both the natural and built worlds inspired the prints and proportions of the season, with elements of petal-like draping, chevron-sculpted furs, a wool print reminiscent of Aaron Siskind’s studies of crumbling pavements and a vibrant collage of pansies strewn across silk shifts and blouses.

For his Spring Summer 2012 show in Paris last September, Cypriot-born London-based designer Hussein Chalayan collaborated with Intel’s The Creators Project and VICE Magazine to create a unique technological viewing experience for his audience. Fusing a salon-style fashion presentation with an artistic performance, Chalayan himself donned an apron and proceeded to serve champagne to trios of models, who joined him upon the white infinity backdrop that framed his show space. After  presenting their outfits in turn, the girls turned their backs to the audience and proceeded to swish and swill their champagne flutes around, causing spheres of pastel-coloured light to play upon the backdrop. Watch the film below to discover the ingenious, discreet experiment that was taking place – unbeknownst to a stern audience of editors and buyers transfixed by this bizarre light show that accompanied a succinct and sophisticated showing of Chalayan’s technical mastery of long line tailoring, cutout

Check out the documentary The Creators Project shot on the making of the show

“We are so honored that our Fra Angelico Collection from Pitti Immagine in Florence has come to LACMA Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and to see it installed amongst the museum’s masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance is an incomparable experience for us.” – Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte.

Collection on display in LACMA’s Renaissance Room until February 5, 2012.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 5905 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, California.

See the collection’s only fashion shoot “Elle Fanning by Bill Owens” for A#11 here.

Above: Polaroids at LACMA by Autumn de Wilde.

Above: “Lime Silk Georgette and Crinkle Silk Chiffon Pleated Gown with hand molded Easter Lilies, Feather, and SWAROVSKI ELEMENTS” by Rodarte.

“Happy New Year 2012. We are very grateful to you for the kindness you showed us last year. May the new year turn to be the happiest and the best for you. We look forward to your continued goodwill in the coming year. Thank you very much.” – The New Year wishes of Jun Takahashi and the UNDERCOVER team, direct from Tokyo, Japan.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012 from UNDERCOVER on Vimeo.