Thai fashionistas will be thrilled with the new collection of fashion icon’s Vivienne Westwood Anglomania brand, for which she was inspired by her trip to a Thailand beach.

But be warned: it was not the pristine white sands and azure seas that sparked her creativity but the pollution and destruction of the oceans and the plastic waste covering the sand.

The main print used in the collection is called “Grateful” and has been directly lifted from a washed-up plastic shopping bag found on the shore line of a Thai beach. The rose print, with the ironic words “thank you”, both in English and Thai. overlap repeatedly on cotton jersey and satin, creating the look of being engulfed in carrier bags and other plastic debris.

The print is also stamped in black across the Hope Gypsy blouse deconstructed corset, the ruffled Golden skirt and billowing Gabelle shirt dress, creating the look of indelible stains from an oil slick. Finally, the print is used across a matelot stripe jersey, referencing Brigitte Bardot, often portrayed as the shipwrecked goddess, and across pyjama stripe jersey – as if you’ve been shipwrecked at night.

Another key print in the collection is the Cold Dye Check, used across Calico suiting and emanating from the sun-bleached beams and remnants from the hull of a ship washed-up on the shore.

As part of the journey towards sustainable fashion, the new Anglomania collection uses organic jersey and hemp.

Organic cotton jersey farming is the only farming system by under which cotton is produced entirely free of chemical pesticides, avoiding the risks that such chemicals pose to human health and the environment.

Hemp, meanwhile, is one of the strongest natural fibres on Earth, three times the strength of cotton, giving it unparalleled durability as a fabric.

Hemp farming requires very little water and does not use any chemical pesticides or fertilisers. In addition, nothing is wasted in its production, the seeds being used for oil and food supplements and the stalks for fibre.

The brand is now inviting everyone to participate in this eco-friendly campaign through the “First Exhibition”, which runs until Monday at ThaiThai Zone, Central Chitlom. Curated by Note Panayanggool, the show invites celebrities and influencers such as Pearypie, Toni Rakkean, Machanot Suwanmas, Arikanta “Gypso” Mahapreukpong, and Eric Tobua to create art sculptors and installations.

While it’s doubtful that they really understand what fashion is, kids love to choose their own clothes from an early age, usually opting for gear in their favourite colour of the moment and fabric that’s soft to the touch.

Leading luxury fashion retailer Club 21 recently made choosing even easier for the little ones with the opening of its newly refurbished Kids 21 store in Bangkok, which occupies a spacious 200 square metres in The EmQuartier shopping complex and boasts an interior designed by Koichiro Ikebuchi. The boutique for stylish juniors boasts a ceiling of cutout fabric shapes that give it a cloud-like feel while animals and natural landscapes in delicate tones cover the walls.

Popular brands such as Stella McCartney Kids and Kenzo Kids, both offering outfits with simple designs and unique detail, are joined by a range of new brands including high-end fashion houses Givenchy, Neil Barrett Kids, and Emilio Pucci.

The well-known children’s clothing brand Bonpoint was launched in 1975 by Marie-France Cohen, and made its name with its simple yet timeless childrenswear. Delicate hand-embroidery enhances collars and the clothes are made from comfortable-to-wear fabrics and sport patterns based on the physical developments of children at a particular age. The quality is such that these can be passed down to younger siblings with little sign of wear. The brand also offers a range of natural and hypoallergenic skincare products.

Stella McCartney Kids recalls memories of summer British beaches – ice creams, postcards, wave patterns, and kids collecting seashells on the beach are all featured. Also available is the car racing-inspired collection to bring out the inner Lewis Hamilton in every boy or girl. As usual, Stella McCartney Kids’ line is made from organic cotton.

Kenzo Kids invites the kids to have fun with its colourful and lively Food Fiesta collection, with symbols of ice cream, croissant, and hot dogs on products for newborns to children aged 12. This collection also features familiar icons such as tiger face, the Eiffel Tower, and eyes.

Givenchy features stars as its kids’ brand logo with brightly coloured prints and plenty of red, white, and black, the brand’s signature hues.

Emilio Pucci Junior channels the elegance and sophistication of the grown-up world with dresses and separates inspired by signature styles from the women’s collection to create a “mini-me” effect.

Celebrity kids and social media favourites such as North West and Alonso Mateo have brought the name Neil Barrett Kids to the fore and the brand’s inaugural collection, designed for boys aged four to 14, includes classical menswear pieces from tuxedo suits and leather biker jackets, to classics with a twist such as its bomber jackets, shirts, T-shirts and hoodies. The label’s iconic thunderbolt motif is reproduced in many pieces in a bold colour palette to incorporate an element of playfulness and dynamism for the young gentleman.

Uniqlo has organised the design competition annually since 2005 to foster creativity and talent around the world through imaginative graphics and messages. The contest is open to anyone regardless of age, gender, or nationality. Previous competitions focusing on such themes as Nintendo and Star Wars proved wildly popular. UTs featuring award-winning entries are sold worldwide.

This year’s competition focused on Marvel, which has championed heroism for people around the world through epic story-telling and through such iconic characters as Iron Man and the Hulk. The contest attracted more than 8,500 entries that the special Marvel adjudicators and Uniqlo’s UT design team carefully screened. Marvel chief creative officer Joe Quesada was one of the judges. All winners captured the excitement and uniqueness of Marvel’s super heroes. The design of the Grand Prize winner – Zee from Taiwan –highlighted the apparel of key Marvel super heroes, while the second prize recipient – Viva from Thailand – featured a whimsical portrayal of the Hulk.

“I was thinking about the common ground of humour in Marvel movies and the Uniqlo brand while I was creating this design. I hope everyone enjoys my interpretation. As an admirer of heroes, I was so happy to be selected as the winner of such a great competition with this year’s cool theme. I feel like a real creator with unlimited power,” said Zee.

Viva added :“The Hulk was the first Marvel character I got to know as a kid. People often think that the Hulk is a character that is always angry and scary, but he’s also a hero, so I wanted to show that he can be funny and playful. I did this by positioning him into letters of the alphabet to spell his name, while keeping his face angry to represent his character.”

A special prize called Avengers was awarded to mark the upcoming release of “Avengers: Infinity War Part 2” and it was won by Avesyna from the Philippines.

To view other competition designs, visit http://www.Uniqlo.com/utgp/2018/th/

The 2,300squarefoot shop is indeed bright white, as if scrubbed for spring – and the introduction of actresssinger Jennifer Lopez as the new face of its advertising campaign.

Regarded as a brand for the young, sexy and adventurous, Guess has stocked the Bangkok store with more than 1,000 pieces of jeans, tshirts, jackets, dresses, jewellery, timepieces, handbags and other accessories.

There’s readytowear for both men and women and denims displayed according to type, wash and size. There are fully accessorised musthave looks.

Lopez says Guess cofounder Paul Marciano called to ask if she’d be the new Guess Girl and she was thrilled, having adored the brand since she was a teenager.

“When you look back at the early Guess campaigns, you see all these beautiful models and iconic images that Paul created,” she says. “It’s a tremendous compliment to have been selected for the Guess Spring 2018 campaign.”

Marciano did the artwork for the campaign and fashion photographer Tatiana Gerusova got the pictures, drawing inspiration from Lopez’s career in Las Vegas and Hollywood.

“Jennifer Lopez is a Guess Girl dream – an accomplished artist, iconic and sensual,” says Marciano. “Jennifer’s impact and influence continues to grow, and this campaign celebrates the notion that women get more beautiful and talented as they gain life experience. Her beauty and class shine through this campaign.”

Guess began as a jeans company in 1981 and has since become a global lifestyle brand, designing, marketing, distributing and licensing contemporary apparel and accessories.

As of January 2017, it had 945 retail stores around the world and licensees and distributors operating 735 more outlets.

See lots more at http://www.Guess.com.

The collection is named “Horse, Helen and Henri” and is inspired by a poem written by the designer herself, which tells the story of a young military officer and a farm girl at the end of World War II. It features ultrafeminine silhouettes, stateoftheart embroidery and signature graphic prints and includes womenswear, menswear, accessories, leather goods, jewellery and beachwear.

BALACLAVAS, headscarves, feisty feminism and the warming glow of yellow and burnished gold. – we pick out the biggest trends in the autumn-winter 2018-2019 collections as Paris fashion week wraps for another season.

 A hood-hat-headscarf combination like this creation by Agnes B is trending. / EPA-EFE

Hoods and headscarves

It used to be that if you wanted to get ahead, you got a hat. But that is no longer enough. You now have to wear one on top of a hoodie – if the Paris catwalks over the nine days of the shows are any measure – or simply pull your hood over your hat.

With Agnes b, the doyenne of French street fashion, giving the looks her imprimatur in her ever-elegant show, you know this is more than a tip of the hat but a full-blown trend.

Even before Paris, the hood-hat-headscarf combination was gathering pace in New York with Raf Simons at Calvin Klein and Gucci in Milan.

But in the French capital, everyone from Chanel with a balaclava to newcomer Marine Serre was embracing skin-hugging head-coverings. Some of hers and Lanvin’s could easily pass for Islamic.

Balenciaga tied its scarves tightly around the head, channelling both 1950s film stars and housewives, while Agnes b let some of hers trail romantically from the forehead.

The Christian Dior show for the 2018/2019 fall/winter collection in Paris was thick with feminist and revolutionary slogans from 1968.  /AFP

#MeToo, I’m a feminist

Just like Hollywood, the fashion world has been rocked of late by its own sexual harassment scandals involving some of its biggest name photographers.

In such an atmosphere, labels are keen to prove they were on the right side of history. Agitprop met marketing in Maria Grazia Chiuri’s Dior show, which was thick with feminist and revolutionary slogans from 1968.

Agnes b, who was on the barricades herself back then, did not feel the need to prove anything while New York’s Thom Browne summoned up Marie Antoinette’s proto-feminist portrait artist, Elisabeth Vigee Le Brun, to immortalise his fantastically attired “strong women who cannot be ignored”.

Hips are hip

The hips of one of those strong women –Angela Merkel –became the week’s most unlikely leitmotif. Balenciaga’s Demna Gvasalia described his new silhouette for his “Basque” jackets as “sculptural tailoring”. Everyone else called them “Merkel hips” for their resemblance to the German chancellor’s outline and very personal sense of style.

Thom Browne also accentuated the hips in his beautifully worked silver and grey fitted jackets and dresses, insisting that “the shapes evoke women’s power and strength”.

 A creation by Yohji Yamamoto takes its cue from Martin Margiela, the reclusive Belgian designer. /AFP 

Magiela mania

The influence of Martin Margiela, the reclusive Belgian designer who walked away from his label nine years ago, hung over fashion week like Banquo’s ghost. With two new museum shows opening this month in Paris, the catwalk was full of his ideas.

Stella McCartney showed dresses made from coat linings, while Sacai was a symphony of the deconstruction once practised so brilliantly by the Flemish master.

Two coats wrestled each other into submission on the backs of Yohji Yamamoto’s models – another Margiela trope – while his back to front jackets and hanging sleeves popped up at Thom Browne, McCartney and Balenciaga, where the young Georgian wunderkind Gvasalia regularly references his former employer.

Even the resurrected historic brand Poiret – which last showed 30 years before Margiela was born – quoted his duvet coats.

A model presents a creation for Dries Van Noten during the 2018/2019 fall/winter collection fashion show in Paris. / AFP 

Mellow yellow

While dark and earthy colours dominated, gold and yellows took the chill out of many collections including Natacha Ramsay-Levi’s second show for Chloe (watch out for plunging V-neck shirts and dresses).

Jacquemus used saffron yellow to conjure up a Moroccan souk while Dries Van Noten, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and Leonard used orange and yellow touches, while Karl Lagerfeld brightened his wintry Chanel collection with burnished gold boots, trousers and jackets.

The new formula contains green tea extract to create a wider range of colours and is enhanced by a conditioning blend of certified organic plant oils to nourish and condition the locks and leave them with a radiant and healthy shine. The oil blend includes certified organic kukui, sunflower, castor and jojoba. Plant derived LArginine works as a booster to help optimise pH for maximum colour deposit. The new colour range is formulated without PPD dyes, synthetic aromas, nonorganic, non plantbased conditioning agents, or any animalderived ingredients.

In addition, thanks to the improved gel based formula, coverage can be customized from a clear gloss to superior grey blending, all with a processing times of just five to 20 minutes.

This new range is a great introduction for someone who is new to colour, or who wants a lowcommitment shade.

The Moga Aveda salon is on the fourth floor of Helix Quartier, at EmQuartier.

Make an appointment at (02) 003 6190.

DESIGNER Andreas Kronthaler made a touching declaration of love to his wife Vivienne Westwood at their label’s storming Paris fashion show Saturday.

The flamboyant Austrian creator – who many including himself believe is the basis for comedian Sacha Baron Cohen’s 2009 fashion satire “Bruno” – pulled out all the stops in a joyous romp of a collection that put his spin on the Queen of Punk’s iconoclastic career.

“I don’t like looking back, it’s not my way,” said Kronthaler, who took the reins of the brand two years ago.

“But looking at our time together and how many things she has inspired in me and taught me… I just thought, how wonderful.”

His notes for the show was a love letter to his wife, citing her golden rule, “When in doubt, dress up!”

“One should never see the brain working in what you wear, and one dresses to be eventually naked… These mantras of yours and so much more became part of my life and work,” he wrote.

“I still think to this day you are the best dressed woman in any room. Love you forever,” said the designer who met Westwood as a student when he was 25 and she 50.

Westwood, now 76, cheered her husband – who she has called “the world’s greatest designer” – after the show along with American actress Rose McGowan, who helped launch the #MeToo movement accusing the disgraced mogul Harvey Weinstein of rape.

“That is what (fashion) should be. It was great,” she said.

The collection ranged over Westwood’s career from the 1970s with lots of feathers and frills to counter its gender fluid side, with three male go-go dancers in impossibly high platform boots and eight male models walking the catwalk along with 20 women.

Kronthaler said he copied two pieces in the collection, a mohair punk sweater that Westwood knitted for herself – “which says so much about you, and the other is the catsuit which you used to wear when I first met you.”

Meanwhile, French designer Veronique Leroy had earlier shown her collection on the screen of a Champs Elysees cinema.

She said her wool-rich autumn-winter range that featured Harris tweed coats and jackets was inspired by country weekends and that she shot the film in rural Burgundy.

“I have been thinking of showing my work for ages in another way other than on the catwalk,” she said.

“I said to myself I just can’t go on doing the same repetition thing… and in the end I think we showed the clothes and how I came with them better than we could have in a show.”

A technical stretch jersey that’s cut like a woven fabric but is as easy to move in as athleisure clothes, the new material is perfect for professional settings. Adding to the tactile nature of the spring-summer season are leather and suede. From statement jackets and coats with painted edges, to stretch leather and suede power jackets, these pieces are easy to wear and totally stylish.

This is also the season of the shirt, designed to look perfect with casual denim and more formal trousers. Taking a West Coast approach to styling with nonchalant cool, spring’s biggest delivery is all about the mix–everyday knits paired with denim or tailored pieces. Evocative twists on the shirt and slip dress in summer crepe and double-faced sateen usher in a new, softer way to dress for day into evening.

The shirtdress is Theory’s warm-weather must-have, a single piece that works tirelessly and flawlessly through the season.

Referencing the works of artists Sean Scully and John McKracken, Theory’s new men’s creative director Martin Andersson offers a fresh take on American sportswear for Spring.

“I was looking at the suit, and I was thinking about other traditional expressions of work wear, like boiler suits and UPS delivery uniforms,” he says. “Giving these standards a beautiful, subtle colour palette, and mixing our tailored trousers and jackets with clean, sport-inspired pieces – this is really the modern way to dress for work.”

Innovations in fit, fabric, and fashion technology inform all of Andersson’s choices, from the technical seersucker used in two-piece set that creates the illusion of a boiler suit, to the impeccable tailoring applied to everything from tapered trousers to anoraks. Exceptional, functional, and great for travel, this collection reflects on the principles that have defined Theory for 20 years, while steering the brand in a clear, decisive direction towards spring.

In 1997, Theory was founded on the simple idea that stretch fabrics in tailored clothing could change how we dress and improve the way we live.

Twenty years ago, trousers changed the way American women dress. Recognising the need for clothes that felt great and fitted perfectly, Theory developed an innovative stretch fabric that would dramatically improve performance. Fashionable and functional with minimalist design and expert tailoring, the trousers would have the power to make women feel confident, smart, and stylish.

Theory for Men was later established with similar foundation principles, and included innovative suits and shirts that made dressing for work highly functional, stylish, and considered.

Every detail is considered and close attention is always paid to the technical elements that enhance how a garment fits and feels.

Theory sources materials from the best mills in the world, and tests every fabrication for its hand-feel, durability, and design.

The collection is designed with purpose-smart, seasonal pieces cut to support all wardrobes and lifestyles. The brand prioritises the essentials customers need – versatility, sophistication, and easy to wear.

Chief executive Hiran Tanmit emphasised the chain’s growing prominence as a distributor of multiple beauty brands as the 1,000-square-metre shop opened on the second floor, complete with “smart shopping”.

There are more than 1,000 brands available in 80,000 items – cosmetics, fragrances and much more at prices unavailable anywhere else, Hiran said.

The new store has a modern design in black and pink and the concept is “Beauty is Fashion”.

There are 12 zones separated by wide aisles for more convenient browsing. Cosmetics from around the world are ready to be sampled on the spot. The fragrance zone alone has 100 brands, including Prada, Davidoff, Valentino, Chloe, Bvlgari and CK, as well as 20 and 30ml bottles exclusively shipped to Eve and Boy.

In the Luxury corner are counter brands at affordable prices and travel kits. In Skincare are moisturisers, serums, and essences for face and body. In Supplements is everything you need for nutrition, including weight-control and skincare remedies.

The Salon Professional zone is where you find hair products like shampoos, treatments and styling products.

Eve and Boy’s Celebrity collection boasts every beauty product endorsed by Thai stars, from skincare to supplements and cosmetics.

Treat your finger and toenails to 500 colours from brand both domestic and foreign. The 18-metre-long Makeup Station, found only at the Fashion Island branch, has a dressing table with a massive mirror and a Skincare Testing Bar.

On hand for the opening were Pol General Sant Sarutanond, Yuwared Sarutanond, Pimpisa Chirathivat, Silsupa Apirukthanon, Angwara Teeratantikanon, Parichaya Eiamchitr, Pornthip Collins, Nisakorn Sihanatkathakul, Nutchanunt Devahastin, Wilasinee Thunyawisetsilp, Tanyatorn Kitbamrungsart, Paneeda Prasertlum, Farung Yuthithum, Jirawat Benchakarn and Nat Mangkang.