WHAT'S COOL AT THE CLUB

Twin-sister actresses Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen have gone from making cute movies to making beautiful clothes, earning this year’s Council of Fashion Designers of America award with their high-end brand The Row.
Their creations are among the highlights of the autumn-winter collections available at the Club 21 boutique in the Erawan Bangkok Hotel.
The Olsen twins set out to take American women on a quirky journey wearing summer togs in winter and daywear in the evening. The result is a relaxed and timeless elegance.
Straight, elongated couture silhouettes feature tailoring stripped to the essentials. Alligator and leather appear amid box pleating and sunken pockets. “Custom fabrics” such as silk faille woven with metal, hammered cashmere and chenille knit with Lurex add a reflective sheen. The colours range from chestnut and butternut to pale rose tan, drawn from the autumn landscape.
A bowling bag and a baguette-shaped clutch made for the shoulder come along for the ride.

PHILLIP LIM

Meanwhile Club 21 has Phillip Lim’s Duality collection as well, in which illusions of form are created with shadow mapping and panelling. The outfits will appeal to the modern noir heroine, strong despite her innate vulnerability.
Lim uses tromp l’oeil effects – layering techniques that seem to alter proportion, seams and darts that suggest a collar or a waistline, and whimsical graphic effects.

CARVEN

Carven utilises medieval styling on fabrics inspired by lush greenery and embellished with velvet or leather, Clothes for the city become softer and more luxurious. Chalice shapes flatter the hips and nip the waist. The rich hues run from saffron, curry and moss to cardinal red and deep midnight blacks.
Paisley designs are plucked from ancient tapestries depicting “The Lady and the Unicorn” and prints hint at Hieronymus Bosch. Flag stripes wave in red, beige and royal blue. Hi-tech velvet and satin pop up (and out) and the neckline has warm touches of over-dyed fur. Lace and simple cotton lingerie can be glimpsed through the plunging vertical neckline slit.

DRIES VAN NOTEN

Dries Van Noten realigns garments on the body using prints, switching vertical for horizontal. Daring, unexpected colours and tribal motifs abound.
There is “virtual pleating” – shards of prints taken from photographs that replicate the pleats. The prints actually come from the archives of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

JIL SANDER

Confident femininity permeates Jil Sander’s collection in fluid fabrics with a seductive attitude and hints of nostalgia. Cups, corsets and other elements of lingerie are purified in their design, bestowing natural grace.
Ample coats are as comforting as a blanket and just as soft, reflecting the duality between undressing and dressing up as they perch atop thin knitted dresses. Many of the dresses are accentuated by the interplay of cuts, darts and volume. Wide trousers are paired with either corset-like tops or precisely outlined jackets.

MARY KATRANTZOU

As always with Mary Katrantzou, a deceptively simple concept becomes dazzling in execution. The prints always determine the garment, but here they not only dictate the colour but also determine the shape and mood of each radically different colour sequence.
No sequin is left unturned. For the first time, the French embroidery house Lesage has collaborated with a London designer, creating hand-worked, one-of-a-kind pieces. Victorian bustles, hints of Elizabethan corsetry and elaborate, intricately seamed shapes offer ample canvas for decorative exuberance.