Fashion Invasion

Just before the DaRousso show on AXDW, we did a wonderful photo-shoot. When I say we, I mean Fenia Lampropoulou, photographer and a dear friend, and also Marina Koutsoumpa, make up artist and a friend. We were shooting with an excellent model Tyrin Achiele from Fashion Cult.

It really was hard to shoot in the rain in the cold that day. And we just couldn't call it off because it was 2 days before the Show and we needed the material for the show.

The styling of the shoot was the alien woman look: hair was shaped into the elongated profile of the extraterrestrial head shape. The face was matte and pale with flesh color rouge lips and dramatic, super eyes. Eyes had a deep distant look, somehow calm and indifferent - clean! The characteristics of the face are in the second plan, the make - up brings out the superior, strong and indifferent physics of a creature from another planet. The move and the feeling of the whole shoot was different.

I didn't wanted to follow a fashion shoot cliche. That was easy. We tried to move the philosophy behind the collection trough the actual mood of the shoot. This is why the general expression of the model is observatory, relaxed and powerless, and finally upset and angry. Just like I really picture a felling of facing the human degradation, natural destruction and economical crisis that we all witness today, and which inspired me to design this collection.

The shoot took place in nature, no industrial surrounding (been there- done that), because the nature gave the perfect frame for the whole story.
If anyone would notice that each landscape has something....... that just spoils the picture of a perfect nature balance: the cloudy sky, land erosion, metal sticks in the beach, the dry broken bamboo like plants, the tree that has dramatically shaped roots and it is growing from the side of the hill, dry, naked roots......

It is all a message to be passed, the message that fashion is not just being pretty, its not just about beauty, it is about passion and awareness, it is about passing a message. This is my fashion, right now that is how I feel. This time I designed not consulting the trends or fashion forecasts. I let myself free and I designed consulting life and world around me.
Hope You take the message.

Ethno trends in modern fashion history

Ethnic fashion has been and still is an ultimate source of inspiration, coming in and out of fashion countless times. Starting from the 19th century and later Jaques Ducett and Paul Poiret, the oriental Japanese style came into the fashion. Names like Jeanne Paquin, Callot Soeurs, Charles Frederik Worth, Mariano Fortuny, Madeleine Vionnet, Jeanne Lanvin, Madame Gres and others followed the early 20th centry ethnic frenzy. Even before, trough the conquests of India and Africa and the American Natives, the European culture had been influenced by the flamboyant style, new fabrics, colors, shapes, forms and motifs that opened a new chapter in prestige and luxury. Trough trade and exchange the influences mixed to create an amazing and magical fusion.

Ethnic fashion has Indeed always been extremely rich source of inspiration to the creative minds in fashion. The second half of the 20th century brought Japanese ethnic fashion to Europe trough designs of Kenzo, Myake, Kawakubo and Yamamoto translating the ethnic into modern trend.They had stirred the Paris fashion scene with their fusion collections incorporating futuristic modern vision and ethnic.
The famous Yves Saint Laurent with his exotic and wild ethnic style revolutionized the modern couture by braking out of the 60's modernist style and was the first to create the ethnic "back to nature" 70' style. In the 70's every type of ethnic image set a trend. The ethnic influence was so strong that it revived craft skills from past times and distant places. Ethnic fashion and style trends became popular due to the broader travel experience. 80's ethnic style was represented mainly in jewelery, accessories and fabric design. We all remember New Romantics and icons like Boy George and Cindy Lauper. 90's bring Chinese collars and prints, motifs for inside of garments and affordable embroidery and beedwork.

The last 10 years, fashion witnessed many ethnic inspired collections. The ethnic revives itself in fusion with other influences as fusion itself and it ranges from very light application of ethnic details to the total look as the culmination of the ethnic frenzy. After the gourmet fusion of tastes, the trend definitely passes over to fashion and the fusion of ethnic as its basic ingredient.

DaRousso in CHEW Magazine

One big apology for being late to let You know whats going on. I've been in a terrible mess with my dissertation.... But that doesn't stop things from rolling. And I'm proud to announce that our work has been published in CHEW Magazine, The red issue under the title THE PRINCESS OF THE RED KINGDOM on pages 86-91. Check it on http://www.chewthemagazine.com/. Its easy and free, just register and sign in, and believe me its spam free. It is a serious on-line magazine for fashion and art.
The Shooting took place in Greece actually tree months ago, but we couldn't announce it before the magazine was out. Even the clothes are DaRousso, not all the designs are a part of collections but were specially made for the shoot and are available upon request. The rest are mainly from the fall-winter 2009-10 collection Papermoon.

Congratulations to the whole team for creating THE PRINCESS OF THE RED KINGDOM. Thanks to Marina for wonderful Make - Up, thanks to Fenia for being patient and bringing her soul in everything she does, thanks to Liss for being so inspirational and wonderful. It was such a pleasure working with You guyz!