Christopher Kane's thoroughly modern update on floral embroideries, Fall 2010.
Channel Christopher Kane's beautifully perverse take on classic embroideries for Fall 2010 with Vnyc's 80's era taupe leather embroidered tube. While it's color way happens to be much more subdued(read wearable), it's unique juxtaposition of leather and delicate florals combined with a lady-like peplum hits all of Kane's notes dead-on.
Imagine walking about on Spring's breezier days in this early 80's dramatic Yohji Yamamoto bib style tunic with cut-out sides.
With Minimalism back full-force, looking back at Helmut Lang's considerable archives is a safe bet. Take his slick sheath from the mid 90's with it's quiet sequin detailing, perfect for year-round wear.
Koos Van Den Akker's 70's patch skirt with it's fall friendly colorway and deco inspired patchwork is a sharp way to channel your inner boho babe-ness.
Lingerie has been a big trend for the past few season's and this sheer frothy 50's puff skirt is a fantastic piece for an endless amount of layering potential.
VagaBondnyc.com was recently featured in Antler Magazine's Special Vintage Edition, click here to read more...
Party girls the world over turned to Ungaro for his perfect cocktail numbers and ruched pieces, but it's his recognizable floral prints that are often sadly overlooked. Take this back-buttoned green silk blouse with it's bulbous floral & strawberry print, it makes a winning combination with our velvet skirt for cocktail hour, or dress it down with distressed denims for a look that's powerful yet breezily louche.
Leave it to Ungaro to update the classic quilted Chanel style jacket in a luxe metallic blue & green Chinoiserie floral print that's hyper-bourgeois yet quietly ostentatious.
The high-waist body-con pencil skirt having become a wardrobe essential over the past few years, and with velvet itself making a major comeback, this 80's era Ungaro beauty doesn't disappoint with it's sumptuous textured velvet composition and rich purple tone.
It's been reported that since Alexander McQueen's untimely death 10 days ago, sales of his line have increased as much as 1400%, which goes to show you just how far reaching his genius was. Even Vnyc's own vintage McQueen pieces were snapped up within hours with this one cheeky update on soccer shirts from 2000 remaining. Snap it up girls!
With Phoebe Philo's blockbuster debut collection for Parisian label Celine full of confident minimalism and clean, fuss-free uses of leather, our latest Smart Buy, this 90's era Gianni Versace fitted matte leather car coat, happens to hit many of Philo's movements on the dot, while it's bold yet soothing colorway will set you apart from all of the winter blacks out & about.
Go for Baroque with our latest Accessory of the Week, these gold, pearl and enamel 80's era St. John earrings. While they have a serious 80's vibe, they also happen to hit fashion's recent obsession with all things French, Baroque and Haute-Bourgeois.
Vnyc is devastated by the loss of brilliant designer Alexander McQueen, hopefully he & Mrs. Blow are together again. What a loss, life is so strange. At the moment it's making us feel totally uninterested in the Fall 2010 fashion weeks ahead.
With Valentine's around the corner, here's a look at some of our favorite pieces for your special day:
For a more demure and utterly femme feeling comes this sweet 50's era a-line dress covered with overblown abstract florals.
Channel the heady glamor of the haute 80's with these bold ox-blood red stunners.
Nab this 50's era ice-blue sequined off-the-shoulder dress for a look that's simple yet broad in it's glamorous appeal.
Ports 1961 just released this sketch as a sneak preview of it's fall 2010 collection with designer Tia Cibani stating "my collection is inspired by the relationship between discovery and invention." We like what we see so far...
Over the past few season's the pant has been given quite the spotlight with designers churning out some of the best rethought & inventive takes, and we at Vnyc are more than happy to see options that aren't in the dark & skinny realm. While we like our jodhpurs, dhotti's, pajamas and what not, at the moment we're all about variations on the classic men's inspired pleated trouser. Worn with everything from t-shirts to ultra-femme chiffon & lace blouses, they instantly give the wearer a look that's put together, strong, and yet somehow relaxed. Belted, cuffed or layered, the beauty here is that there is a myriad of ways in which you can sport such a pant, from day into night. Here are some of our shop's favorite picks:
Channel Hollywood's sartorially minded Rat-Pack with these 80's era Ralph Lauren trousers that have a wide leg and hidden suspender buttons.
These 80's era Ralph Lauren moss green windowpaine plaid trousers with their high-waist and sumptuous wool composition are a smart way to add subtle color to drab winter blacks.
Celine-(also shown above)
After a decade of over-wrought maximalism and heavy-handed "urban warrior" propositions, Phoebe Philo's clean, cool and confident outings at the once quiet Parisian house Celine are filled with the kind of pragmatic sportswear and luxe-low key essentials that have won her a bevy of fans worldwide. Mariner sweaters, laser-cut leather outerwear, smart uses of fur, who would have ever thought that classic minimalism of this ilk could once again look so fresh? Long story short, Philo is a woman designing very smart, alluring pieces for women, and we want everything.
Taking a smart departure from her arty inclinations, Vera Wang's recent outing was a take on urban-minded gear somewhat borrowed from the boys in moody gray's and standard blacks. From boy blazers to military inspired parkas and plenty of pretty 20's inspired sequined cob-webby evening looks(giving Rodarte a run for the money?), Wang's range was expansive and right-on. One of us has been on the look-out for inventive uses of fur, and Wang's gray fuss-free parka with it's Mongolian fur patched pockets may just be exactly what we were looking for.
After a few hit-or-miss seasons of tweaking her family's legendary heritage, Angela Missoni was back full force with one of the smartest winter oriented collections we have seen in a long while. The house's signature zig-zag prints were used in a variety of head-to-toe looks that looked more calm and collected than the disheveled powder faced Victorian doll of season's past. Each look was layered with multi-tasking softly structured graphic sweater coats, blanket skirts, tweed suiting and scores of layering essentials that came in a soothing color palette of warm corals balanced by various grays.
A glamorous take on 70's France and classic house signatures at YSL.
Trim English inspired suiting with a relaxed slightly 70's loucheness, Hannah MacGibbon keeps getting it right at Chloe.
Nerdy 70's era campus inspired cuties at Prada where the looks where anything but whimsical.
Some of the smartest, coolest winter layering options around, we really dig the vast variety of 70's inspired knit options.
With the end of the last decade's heady maximalism behind us, and the dawn of a new era upon us with a loud call being heard for palette cleansing essentials in a time when the economy ain't so pretty, many are looking for easy, fuss-free propositions that are not only right for the times, but right for the future even. The day of instantly recognizable runway pieces is long gone and many venerable labels are looking back at not only their own heritages, but also the fundamentals of a smart wardrobe. The urban warrior, the svelte mod, the 80's electro playboy and the avant-garde techy futuro man we've seen many times around throughout the last decade have all taken a backseat(but that's not to say things are about to get too classic). In his place comes a clever use of house signatures for Fall/Winter 2010 that epitomize easy sophistication from institutions that you can always turn to for guaranteed quality. Three stand-out collections with "investment" potential & forward thinking clarity in this latest menswear movement were Dries Van Noten, Lanvin & Prada.
For the first time ever, or at least since V can recall, Muiccia Prada showed her latest menswear collection alongside her women's Pre-Fall for 2010. Like any Prada presentation, the setting here was a statement making collage composed of mixed media from large screen installations to a printed runway illustrated to denote the political, cultural, environmental and economic climates of the decade past. Thankfully though, the nostalgia ended there. The show opened with a natty take on familiar 60's & 70's inspired garb, a beautifully cut camel jacket paired with classic navy trousers, simple yes, yet at the moment it feels fresh. And in Prada's hands, her smart suiting was met with abbreviated and awkwardly geekish sweaters in a myriad of offset dulled gemtones. Leaving much of those arty "Prada-isms" behind, the range moved on to offer a serious assortment of outerwear options that each had their own distinctive flair. They came in lean mod shapes from rubberized black peacoats to double necked toppers and parkas with updated camo prints. Most of all, it was nice to see such a forward thinking directional designer create modern riffs on timeless ideas that felt anything but timely.
Since taking over in 2001, Alber Elbaz has transformed venerable French house Lanvin into one of the most sought after, beautifully executed and delightfully wearable labels around, and that's why we have begun to reconsider it as an institution, fashion doesn't get much higher than this. The Lanvin woman is known for her off -kilter and somewhat disheveled easy take on classic haute Parisian style in couture fabrications and he's brought that relaxed luxe quality to the the house's menswear label alongside Lucas Ossendrijver. Known for sophisticated takes on Parisian streetwear and refined suiting, this fall the Lanvin man walks a fine line between the dualities of rough and refined with a tougher overall edge. Coats and outerwear, the standouts of this collection, came raw edged, some with dropped shoulders, some in dulled black leather, some nipped at the waist with a v shape and many with ingenius contrasting detachable sleeves. Best of all were shots of soothing pale pink, muted mushroom, cinnamon, cranberry, and Atlantic blue.
Dries Van Noten is a man who knows his fabrications and how to make them achieve an emotional response, after all, he is the prince of prints and a man with an eye for serious color. And this may be off the subject, but in womens wear at the moment Phoebe Philo at Celine is creating great buzz for her clothes that have an easy minimalism and a studied intellectual cool about them, and when we saw Van Noten's fall show, it felt as if he had channeled that same sensibility brilliantly. For fall, Van Noten re-imagined familiar fabrications from collegiate letterman jackets, preppy plaids, sweat fabrics and rugby stripes and collaged them with classic camel, pinstripes and windowpaine plaids with a result that somehow felt sophisticated, upbeat and undeniably contemporary all at once.
