10 Of The Best Fashion Looks From 2017
By Something CuratedLooking back at 2017, Something Curated highlights ten of the most inspiring outfits, distinctive pieces and memorable fashion moments of the past year.
Martine Rose AW17
British designer Martine Rose often explores masculinity by examining its influences and expressions, drawing inspiration from London’s punk and queer subcultures. Rose’s AW17 collection featured an array of middle-class professional characters – bankers, bus drivers, etc. – warped through an androgynous lens, influenced by the Bret Easton Ellis novel American Psycho and its subsequent film adaptation directed by Mary Harron.
Christian Stone Graduate Collection
Central Saint Martins’ graduate Christian Stone’s collection memorably featured backpacks engineered onto the bottom of trousers and boots. “The starting point of this collection came from the idea of reviving the obsolete and the dead,” Stone told Something Curated, explaining, “After seeing a cult sci-fi zombie movie called Re-animator, I got inspired and launched an imaginary corporation … it has expanded its range of products into a clothing line specifically designed for ‘the walking dead.’”
Shanelle Nyasiase in Gucci, Styled by Haley Wollens
New York City native Haley Wollens launched her fashion career through the music industry, working with popular musicians on styling and creative direction. Working as a freelance stylist and creative director, Wollens regularly contributes to Double, Man About Town, Purple, Numero Homme, Dazed, V, and other titles. Her frequent collaborators include Brianna Capozzi, Harley Weir, Eloise Parry, Tyrone Le Bon and Johnny Dufort, as well as video directors Ricky Saiz and Grant Singer.
Moncler C by Craig Green
For AW17, the French-Italian brand Moncler launched a new collaboration, conceived by British fashion designer, Craig Green. The line focused on duvet-like, oversized pieces in high density, ultra-light down proof nylon, accentuated by bold quilting. Macro-tag bands, a regular element within Green’s own designs, were integrated into the collection, allowing the tightening and shaping of the volume and silhouette of certain pieces, including the pictured trousers.
Arca in Charlotte Knowles
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbFEgw1jzRE/?hl=en&taken-by=arca1000000
Making her LFW debut with Fashion East, Charlotte Knowles’ SS18 offering took its queue from lazy days at the beach, imbued with a sense of summertime melancholy. The Central Saint Martins graduate’s MA collection featured elements of corsetry, bringing together silicone details and elegant shirting in a discerning palette. Earlier this year, the designer created a series of looks taking inspiration from the collection for Venezuelan musician Arca.
Ib Kamara, Items: Is Fashion Modern? at MoMA
Creating arresting visuals imbued with diverse references, London-based stylist Ibrahim “Ib” Kamara champions equality and freedom of expression through his work. The cultural osmosis present in Kamara’s output is shaped by his formative years; born in Sierra Leone, he grew up in Gambia before moving to London aged 16, where he later studied at Central Saint Martins. Whether he’s styling the youth of Nigeria for Kenzo or working on a short film with Sampha, Kamara’s narratives always uphold a strong sense of cultural and sexual empowerment.
Aitor Throup for Wayne McGregor’s Autobiography
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZ8_DsbjJlc/?hl=en&taken-by=aitor_throup
Versatile maker and designer, Aitor Throup’s multi-disciplinary studio traverses the fields of art, film and fashion, developing conceptual clothing under the label New Object Research, whilst concurrently collaborating across various industries. Premiered at Sadler’s Wells, Throup unveiled his collaboration with the eminent choreographer Wayne McGregor earlier this year. Developing garments for McGregor’s Autobiography, Throup created a modular layering system which allows each dancer to wear the same costume in completely different configurations.
Jazzelle Zanaughtti in Dilara Findikoglu
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbzUVsDnzKk/?hl=en&taken-by=uglyworldwide
Discovered by photographer Nick Knight on Instagram, model Jazzelle Zanaughtti wore a glistening metallic dress by Dilara Findikoglu to a British Vogue event earlier this year. Findikoglu’s SS18 collection took inspiration from many different eras; Victorian silhouettes presented themselves throughout the collection with an emphasis on cinched waists, undergarments and ruching. Her design focus is very much in the detail, featuring safety-pin trimmings, graphic patchwork, and intricate embellishment.
Balenciaga SS17 Campaign
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPEr3f-lbSR/?hl=en&taken-by=balenciaga
“An exploration of the intimate relationship between couture and fetishism runs beneath the surface of the Balenciaga Spring Summer 17 show,” the show notes read. Frequent Demna Gvasalia collaborator, Harley Weir, the fashion photographer known for her refreshing visual approach to female sexuality, shot three of the house’s muses, Alek Wek, Shujing Zhou and Eliza Douglas, against a striking red curtain for the season’s campaign.
Adwoa Aboah in Conner Ives
Influenced by the debutante balls of the American South, the hand appliquéd sequin and silk gown worn by Adwoa Aboah propelled Conner Ives into the spotlight with eyes sure to be on his imminent graduate show. Ives explained to Vogue: “The white show is your first making project at CSM, and is constrained by the limitations of fabric and colour. Each student does a look and is required to make it from either white felt or cotton. So the look that Adwoa wore at the Met was actually inspired by a school project.”
Feature image: ‘Items: Is Fashion Modern?’ by Kristin-Lee Moolman & Ib Kamara © 2017 Kristin-Lee Moolman & Ib Kamara. (via The Museum of Modern Art, New York)