The Prêt-à-Porter welcomes Bloggers

It was only a few posts ago when I talked about Premium Berlin hosting a blogger pannel (here & here). Prêt-à-Porter Paris, the "Mecca" of fashion exhibitions, made a statement about the vital role of fashion bloggers too. The organizers see the web as a "window to the show and trends of autumn-winter 2010-2011" and thus contacted three "distinctively talented leading bloggers" to actively cover the event by doing what they do best:
Nast, a photographer, as The Eye of PAPP.

The Cherry Blossom Girl, a fanatic for looks, as The Look Tracker at PAPP.

Éléonore Bridge, a pro of reporting, as The Grand Reporter for the PAPP.

During the exhibition dates, they reported both on their blogs and the official site of PAPP, using images, interviews and clips.
A very, VERY interesting move.

Familiar at Prêt-à-Porter

It's always nice to come across familiar names and shapes at a foreign exhibition. Last season it was a brand I noticed whilst strolling the isles of the salon. This season, whether visiting the accessories section or not, there's no way one could have missed Koukos.

Being mentioned in two different sections of the press release special mag edition, the brand of Greek accessories designer Georgia Koukos was surely a favourite. In the "trends to capture" section, a photo of her delicate string necklaces is featured amongst others right next to "jewellery with fabric" forecast whereas there is also a reference to her work later in those pages, sharing that "for thirty years, Greek designer Koukos has found the art to carry us away".

Island stores, Plaka and other contemporary jewellery points may have been taken by storm over the recent years by this style. Most Greek girls already have something similar around their neck. However it's France based Koukos that's bringing it to the world, and the world loves it.

Prêt-à-Porter, the trends bag by Lovisa Burfitt

This season's Prêt-à-Porter salon was themed "Les Parisiennes 2.0" and it's creative direction was trusted in the hands of Philippe Blondez. He explains what he went for in this video.

Blondez chose to involve Lovisa Burfitt yet for another season, and this time it was much more than illustrating a smart car. The Swedish illustrator who lives in France, unleashed her amazing design skills across the exhibition space, illustrated the cover of the PAPP press release and went on to creating the lovely print for the Prêt-à-Porter "trends bag". (see last season's trends bag here). In case you haven't already done so, go a few lines up and click on her name. You are gonna love her portfolio of colourful illustrations and girly style.

The limited edition "trends bag" was manufactured once again by Kolam, a young brand strongly focused on eco-fashion. Thumbs up.

The colourful entrance of Prêt-à-Porter, Paris

This must be one of the most colourful "welcomes" the Porte de Versailles has ever prepared for us...

Inspiration: Le Creative Sweatshop

Is it me or are these shoes simply wicked? (yeap, it was a boy who made them) Have been meaning to show this to you ever since the Prêt-à-Porter . At first I noticed the shoes. Then I realised those cone-shaped papers were everywhere:

They had an out-of-this-earth space of their own, but they were spreading fast beyond that, being stuck on walls, images, handbags, even people.

They were quite simple to make, in a pre-cut coloured piece of paper. All you had to do was get one from Le Creative Sweatshop's stand, ...

...fold it and remove the tape from the small yet powerful sticker adjusted to its base:

Then you were free to go wild with it. Four simple steps: Fold it, Take it, Glue it, Spread it.

"What on earth is this?" I had to ask the Creative Sweatshoppers. "It's a virus campaign" they got back to me with a french accent. "A virAl campaign?" I was too quick to correct them. "No, not exactly. It's a virus campaign 'cause it spreads like a virus". Indeed, it was taking over the huge exhibition area, from isles to toilets, to snack bars! Genius...

The stand:
Post-it creative mayhem on the wall and more paper (possibly wearable) stuff.

So that's my 'Thursday Inspiration' for you. Not bad for a communications agency, no? Leaving you with this, borrowed from Le Creative Sweatshop creativity-boom website:

A mirror like Sunday.

I'd say this is a cool diy project, but you'd have to break one to many beautiful tea sets to recreate! I must have been the last visitor in the exhibition (nearly getting locked in) when my eye caught my reflection in Art's mirror. So big, it was a piece of furniture in its own right, sitting on wheels and occupying a great deal of space. Not sure if it was the heart shape that was still spreading love even though there was none there to share or all these pieces of China that brought to mind happy Sunday tea gatherings with friends. Somehow, this mirror felt like Sunday.

Have a great day everyone, tomorrow will be Monday all over again!

*don't forget, today is the last day to participate in this giveaway.

This brand is familiar...

...I thought and moved closer. "Celia Kritharioti - Greece". Celia may not have been there in person -she is a mother of four now if I'm not mistaken- but her new pret-a-porter line 5226 was on display, ready for ss '10.



This line is quite fresh, now running its second year. However Celia and her brother and associate Nikos decided it was time to show it to the world and there it was, in Paris. I was informed it hit it off particularly well with Spanish and Arab buyers. I was also given Kritharioti's profile which read she is "an owner and innovator of an emblematic and esteemed Greek fashion salon established in 1906(...)", House Tsouhlou that is, which brought in mind this* old sweet story of fashion success. (*sorry, it's all Greek! try this)

"5226" stands for Celia & Nikos Krithariotis father's date of birth. Touching tribute.

Last but not least, Celia Kritharioti was recently appointed to design Olympic Airlines' new uniforms, expected to look like this:

Bloggers meet

Meeting someone familiar when you are miles away from home is always a pleasant surprise. Even more so, if this someone you only knew till then through posts on her blog! Vicki from Magpie Girl (left) was at the Prêt-à-Porter too and after two days of texting we managed to meet face to face. She is really lovely and wish we had time for more than a quick coffee at the press lounge! At the moment she is also posting about that trip, you can check out how it was for her here and here. While exchanging notes and views on the exhibition, I found particularly interesting one of the brands she came to see, French HUG AN'CO. Seems like the rounded tulip shapes and sophisticated pleats and cuts they were into are going to be big next Spring:


I found the collage on their wall rather inspiring...

Finally, Vicki passed on an award to me the other day and I am ever so flattered:

Seeing the eye-lashes on the bottom of this image, Vicki's amazing Girls Aloud eye-lashes come to mind. It was one detail I didn't notice at first (looked so natural!) but were such a nice touch!! It is not easy to choose whom to pass it on to since all the blogs on my right column are daily reads to me...

I'm giving it to Life in Athens, Fashion Paths and Las Niñas y Los Niños who I also got to meet in person recently, just like Vicki...

Like it? Have it!

Oh you wouldn't think I'd come back empty handed, did you?

This bag is gorgeous (read here), it is environmentaly ethical (read here) and features a unique print and embroidery by up-and-coming designerAyumi Togashi (read here).

After a chat with the producers, the designer and the Prêt-à-Porter press people, I brought an extra one home for you.

It is a limited edition bag which was created in small numbers for the visiting press of this season's Prêt-à-Porter only and will not go on retail.

And this, is an exclusive Alecca Rox international giveaway!

To win this, email me at aleccarox@windowslive.com stating your full name. Type "less" or "excess" on the subject area, according to the type of person you are. Competition ends this Sunday, September 20th and is open to all, wherever you are!

Draw "less", draw "excess"

Ayomi Togashi must have received a brief stating exactly that, about 3 months before the opening of this season's Prêt-à-Porter. The result on the organic canvas of the press bag was stunning, and I just had to meet her. The press office gave me the number of the stand where she was on the day, spreading her art on kids organic cotton tops.

A short version of her CV goes like this: Japanese Ayumi arrived in Paris in 2003 and graduated from the Studio Berçot two years later. She has been studying fashion design and works today mainly with her illustrations and embroideries. She has been doing prints and applications for various fashion houses, e.g. Chloé, Cacharel, Sonia Rykiel and Nina Ricci.

She's a very open person, smiling effortlessly and showing genuine passion as she puts my bag on the table infront of her to take me through her print: "As you can see, on the side themed as "excess" the main figure is a woman looking stressed and frustrated. Everything around her are choices she has to make, tasks she must complete. They are taking over her so much, some birds on the top right hand corner are stealing her stuff and she doesn't even notice".

She also explains that the knots on the lettering, chosen especially for this bag by herself, are called "french knots". They are colourful on purpose, to show the saturation of the state of "excess".

She then turns the bag around to reveal the "less" side. "Here you only have a minimalistic scene from the classical fairytale "Snow-white". Colour is absent, the theme word is sawn as a long line of the same string and the heros are standing across each other".

But in which way does this reflect "less"? I ask not getting the message. "Can't you see?" she replies, "she is only one and all seven of them have to share her company and at the same time, she holds one and only apple, she has just one choice to make". It all becomes so clear...

Ayumi is probably reading these lines too. She is a very promising young designer and illustrator and her print made my brain work faster. She is original, talented, eco-sensitive and something tells me will see a lot more of her in the future. This limited edition bag is all the more special knowing the strong meaning behind her drawings....

Fashion ethics, an example

It's not so much the beauty of this bag. It's the ethical and creative bond it embodies. The ethical as in eco-friendly part was a big issue at this Prêt-à-Porter. It had it's own area of brands and they were all putting a brave fight to make ethical fashion...fashionable. Kolam, the producer of the bag was there too.

Kolam is Lise Hoffman and Aurelien Dahan. "Why ethical fashion?" I asked. "We met while studying fashion. We both come from families that raised us in such mentalities, eating biological food etc. and as like-minded people we came together and decided to bring this philosophy to fashion", Lise explained.

"However our vision was to create trendy and affordable ethical fashion because we realised that up to now, all efforts were either too expensive or compimising fashion-wise" Aurelien added to this. "Now our brand is 3 years old, we only use organic cotton and even though we are a French brand, we produce everything in India".

"Why India?" was something I wanted to ask all along. "Because India is the leader in organic cotton production and also offers all the production levels so we do not have to fly designs and materials back and forth. Producing everything in one place is cost-savvy and eco-friendly" is my answer and I like it!

Their stand is according to their philosophy too, with the grass carpet being real grass instead of synthetic fibres. Could not think of a better company to produce the Prêt-à-Porter "trends bag"...

Next stop, the creator of the print.

The special bag

This is a special edition bag that was handed out to journalists only at the press lounge of the Prêt-à-Porter exhibition. I was informed only 1000 were made. It truly is special for a number of reasons:

a) the unique print. Based on the Less / Excess theme, Japanese illustrator & designer Ayumi Togashi created some excellent work, projecting her interpretation of "less" and "excess" on each side.

b) it is so clever & functional. Since it was created for members of the press, it was designed to fit tons of paperwork and brochures and has a convenient pocket for cards and badges. Everybody's favourite part though was the little USB stick pocket, complete with a free USB stick containing info on the project and people involved.

c) it is eco. The tag reads 100% organic cotton. It was produced by Kolam, a company very respectful of enviromental / production ethics.

The "Made in India" tag as well as the complicated design intrigued me so much, I went straight looking for the creators of this amazing bag. Luckily they were all at the spot. Their work, with this bag being a small sample, is deeply inspiring. Look out for posts to follow, you're going to like this!