Luxecouture — keeping it real
The benefit of having a store presentation — as opposed to one designer's collection — is that the looks reflect something a real person would wear, pulling together items from different designers much the same way you or I would every morning looking in the closet.
So Francine Simmons' vintage-inspired dresses were paired with Tom Ford sunglasses and Badgley Mishka bags (lovely!), while a Larsen Gray skirt (by Project Runway alum Nora Caliguri) sat perfectly with a Alvin Valley blouse and Zufi Alexander bag. The whole look was cute, fun-loving and ready for a summer full of parties. Francine Simmons, whose By Francine line is sold at Luxecouture, told tabloid! about her collection.
You've been making your own line for two years now, based in New York. What's special about By Francine?
My customer can wear a top to work and then go out at night in the same top. It fits that New York City lifestyle, where you run from work to the gym to a bar. You don't have time, so you've gotta be able to grab it and go — and still look fabulous.
What inspires you?
There's some great things that have been done in fashion from the Victorian era to the '80s. I'll be really into '80s, then I'll go to '70s and then Victorian. I think it's interesting to take something from the 1900s and mix it with something from the '70s. you get something completely new.
Tell us about the spring-summer collection.
I tried to make spring happy. It's kind of depressing in New York right now. A lot of small boutiques are really suffering. I made everything a little bit cleaner, so that the customer knows they're going to get a lot of wear out of it — but I made the colours happy.
Toby — witty but wearable
Hatem Al Akeel's second collection for his men's wear line — which translates into "my thobe" in Arabic — was all about strength and elegance. Inspired by samurai, he played with the traditional kandoura shape, cutting it along an edgier line and giving it bolder, fresher colours. A few winks at modernity — a football print, the image of jeans printed on the back of a kandoura — were just enough to make the collection witty without being unwearably quirky.
Al Akeel also debuted his women's wear line, under his own name, but here the lines were a little blurred. Unforgiving satin dresses and tight silk trousers will be difficult to wear, but he stood out with simple yet strong jellabiyas and a cracking feminine take on a kandoura.
tabloid! spoke to Hatem Al Akeel after his show.
How are you feeling?
I'm very relieved that it's over because it was just exhausting, especially because it was Ramadan. We were fasting, but at the same time we were designing and being creative.
What's the idea behind the men's wear collection?
I wanted to reiterate that elegance can also be masculine. Samurai are very elegant but at the same time they're very powerful.
It's your second season for men and your debut for women. Why did you decide to move into women's wear?
Most of my [men's wear] customers are female: mothers, wives, sisters. A lot of women would come to me and ‘say why not us?' With the collection, I wanted to demonstrate that the jellabaya can come in many shapes and forms – it can be elegant, coquette-ish or chic.
How did Christian Louboutin come to be involved? (Hatem's models wore Louboutins on the runway, lucky things.)
It was premeditated: I showed him my collection and we chose the shoes. He was there himself, he was nice enough to come and it seemed like he enjoyed the collection, so I'm very happy! The show could not have been as good without the support — and the beautiful shoes. I'm flattered.
What made you redraw traditional Arabic men's wear?
My concept is about West-meets-East it's what I am. I'm Western in my mentality but I'm also Eastern in my traditions.
I think that tradition can be fresh, avant garde and high fashion. Just like we have no rules in fashion, there can also be no rules in tradition. Why can't we think out of the box?
— NL
