The Golden Thread – AmeliasMagazine

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011: lovers of Raggedy Grunge

Agnieszka Kowalska by Victoria Haynes.

I have learnt that grungey raggedy looks are a great favourite of Polish fashion designers. And so is grey. How they love their greys! No surprise then that this round up includes both of The Golden Thread winners.

Sabina Koryl
Sabina Koryl Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Sabina Koryl showed a 90s influenced grunge collection of deconstructed leather and rubberised garments in dark shades, more about accessorised with dangling reflectors and round sunglasses.

Dominka Naziebly
Dominika Naziebly Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Dominka Naziebly was all about the distressed denim, mangled knitwear dangling in swishing loops and my favourite piece: a fun squished fabric layered red dress that called to mind the work of Georgia Hardinge. I think the garments might have been made from recycled fabrics, for which she gets massive brownie points.

Gareth A Hopkins Monika Jaworska Golden Thread
Monika Jaworska by Gareth A Hopkins.

Monika Jaworska
Monika Jaworska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Monika Jaworska showed a military meets peasant collection with lots of highly wearable frayed louche shapes in beiges and neutrals; a clear commercial favourite that would easily translate into production. She won the Pret a Porter Golden Thread category.

Agnieszka Kowalska
Agnieszka Kowalska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011 Winner
Agnieszka Kowalska presented one of my favourite Golden Thread collections: flamboyant tea stained flounces layered in tattered circus style sent down the catwalk to a soundtrack of traditional hornpipes. Tights and socks were holey and muddy, exposing bony knees, and in the case of one particular man, way too much.

Agnieszka Kowalska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011 Winner
It was all going so incredibly well until he stepped out on the catwalk. No no no, man with chunky thighs in tights not good. Not for Fall/Winter, not ever. Despite this glaring faux pas Agnieszka Kowalska was a worthy winner of the Premiere Vision category.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday May 13th, 2011 5:20 pm

Categories ,A/W 2011, ,Agnieszka Kowalska, ,Dominka Naziebly, ,Eco fashion, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Georgia Hardinge, ,grunge, ,Lodz, ,Modus Vivendi, ,Monika Jaworska, ,poland, ,Premiere Vision, ,Pret-a-porter, ,Raggedy Grunge, ,recycled, ,Sabina Koryl, ,Szałapot, ,The Golden Thread, ,Victoria Haynes, ,Winner

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011 in Łódź

?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011

As with all the shows at Fashion Week Poland, price The Golden Thread Awards show began with a booming announcement somewhat akin to the call to board an interstellar spacecraft: Please take your seats now, information pills the mission to Mars is about to commence. That or a catwalk show.

?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011 streetstyle

Fashion Week Poland was not hot on front row goodie bags… but The Golden Thread did as good as it said on the tin: waiting on our seats were small plastic bags of sewing thread, viagra sale handy for all those crafty projects. The Golden Thread, otherwise known in Polish as Z?ota Nitka, is responsible for launching the most talented fashion design graduates into the public realm – it counts amongst its winners the well known design duo Paprocki & Brzozowski.

Golden Thread Award Fashion Week Poland AW 2011

French fashion celebrity Marcellous staged a fabulous late entrance in a fuchsia pink suit and purple ostrich brogues, carrying aloft his angel-winged Jack Russell Phaedra. Phaedra is herself a celebrity and had her very own doggy fashion week pass. Marcellous was trailed by a camera crew who obscured our view somewhat as the local dignitaries all rose for a bow, which I found most amusing.

?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011 Marcellous and Phaedra
Marcellous & Phaedra dressed down on another day.

?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011 Phaedra Amelia
Phaedra, the best behaved dog ever, on my lap.

Also on our seats was what looked curiously like a posh wine list – a line up of the competing entries for The Golden Thread award in black and jewelled red: I’d like a glass of Anya with my catwalk please.

Golden Thread Award Fashion Week Poland AW 2011 Marcellous

After a series of mainly Polish announcements the lengthy catwalk show began. This was separated into two sections: Pret a Porter and Premiere Vision – the sort of couture section, though I would have struggled to define the two apart myself. Two bum-numbing hours later Marcellous was hauled onto the catwalk to present a gift from Kenzo Takada and then we arose for a break… which mainly consisted of heading for the free Stock vodka bar in the VIP lounge upstairs.

Golden Thread Award Fashion Week Poland AW 2011

Then, round two, we had the awards ceremony, again conducted mainly in Polish so I could only really hazard a guess at what was going on. How’s this for a summary: lots of awards were basically given to the same few designers, who struggled to balance their gifts in their arms.

Monika Jaworska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Monika Jaworska‘s Modus Vivendi collection which won the Pret-a-porter division at The Golden Thread Awards, AW 2011

Agnieszka Kowalska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Agnieszka Kowalska, winner of the Premiere Vision category at The Golden Thread Awards. A/W 2011

The major prize Pret a Porter went to Monika Jaworska for her Modus Vivendi collection… sweet enough but not my favourite by a long shot. In the Premiere Vision category Agnieska Kowalska was a worthy winner for her flouncy tea-stained collection Sza?apot, definitely one of the strongest on the catwalk. If I’d been choosing winners both Dominika Piekutowska Swed and Paulina Matuszelanska would definitely have figured in there somewhere.

Dominika Piekutowska Swed Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Dominika Piekutowska Swed.

Paulina Matuszelanska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Paulina Matuszelanska.

I’d say check out The Golden Thread award website for more information, but as with many designers in Poland the website for the award does not appear to be a priority – it’s pretty basic to say the least. Business-like, it might even be fair to say. Hardly inspiring stuff given the nature of the award, which is a wonderful kickstart for creative young Polish fashion designers.

Coming up: a run down of each show, with my analysis of Polish fashion trends…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday May 13th, 2011 4:02 pm

Categories ,A/W 2011, ,Agnieska Kowalska, ,Celebrity, ,competition, ,couture, ,Dog, ,Dominika Piekutowska Swed, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,french, ,Golden Thread Awards, ,graduate, ,Jack Russell, ,Kenzo Takada, ,Lodz, ,Marcellous, ,Modus Vivendi, ,Monika Jaworska, ,Paprocki & Brzozowski, ,Paulina Matuszelanska, ,Phaedra, ,poland, ,Polish, ,Premiere Vision, ,Pret-a-porter, ,Stock vodka, ,Szałapot, ,The Golden Thread, ,VIP, ,Złota Nitka

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011: Black, Grey, Red and White

Damian Konieczny Fashion Week Poland 2011 by Fi Blog.

Black, information pills white, grey and red predominated everywhere at Fashion Week Poland. Here’s who took up the theme at The Golden Thread Awards.

Magdalena Herwich Golden Thread Poland Fashion Week AW 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou
Magdalena Herwich A/W 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou.

Magdalena Herwich
Magdalena Herwich Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Magdalena Herwich‘s collection was entirely black and red… featuring tassels, pompoms and inexplicably, gun holsters. Why?! The curled and cascading head pieces were without a doubt my favourite bit.

Monika Blazusiak
Monika Blazusiak Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Monika Blazusiak put together a very black leathery collection, accessorised with over sized bags. There were some interesting architectural shapes going on, and I particularly liked the tumbling layers of an oversized woollen coat top.

Damian Konieczny
Damian Konieczny Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Damian Konieczny featured black catsuits covered in what I initially thought were swishing tassels, but turned out to be bouncy metal threads. Some pieces undoubtedly worked better than others, with spiked trousers imitating the legs of a great hairy beast… but at least the collection was fun. And also popular with the crowd, who whooped and cheered.

Kinga Dubiel 2011 by Antonia Parker
Kinga Dubiel by Antonia Parker.

Kinga Dubiel
Kinga Dubiel Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Kinga Dubiel sent out garments that constrained the arms, befitting to the circus cabaret theme. Poorly cut asymmetric tailoring in monochrome did not really do it for me but the cascading arms on a dress (very similar to Monika Blazusiak’s coat) made for an effective silhouette.

Anya Kamarek
Anya Kamarek Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Anya Kamarek sent her models out in pairs wearing asymmetric white outfits, combined with pewter tones and outsized fluffy sleeves. The best piece was a sleeveless square backed shirt with curious shoulder flaps.

Nina Krowlikowska
Nina Krowlikowska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Nina Krowlikowska concentrated on menswear. Lots of layered black fabric and cowled heads were set to a slow and moody electro beat, a favourite for catwalk soundtracks in Poland…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday May 16th, 2011 7:12 pm

Categories ,Antonia Parker, ,Anya Kamarek, ,Damian Konieczny, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,Fi Blog, ,Kinga Dubiel, ,Lodz, ,Magdalena Herwich, ,Michalis Christodoulou, ,Monika Blazusiak, ,Nina Krowlikowska, ,poland, ,The Golden Thread

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011: Colourful Patterns

Jo Cheung_Sofie Gauden Golden Thread AW 2011
Sofie Gauden AW 2011 by Jo Cheung.

Very few Golden Thread designers really embraced colour and pattern. But these ones did.

Natalia Paliy Golden Thread Poland Fashion Week AW 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou
Natalia Paliy AW 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou.

Natalia Paliy
Natalia Paliy Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Natalia Paliy really set her own pace with a happy tune mashup and an eager parade of smiling models in summery flower prints sent straight down to the end of the catwalk in a phalanx. The styling was bloody awful but the prints were rather lovely underneath it all… who knows if she was responsible for them herself? And was this really Fall/Winter I ask you?!

Domi Grzybek by Hannah Simpson.

Domi Grzybek
Domi Grzybek Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Domi Grzybek paraded coral fitted jackets with gold sequin pants, viagra 100mg slouchy 80s influenced numbers with wide shoulders, viagra drop crotch nappy pants, plastic capes and patchwork body con dresses which had the air of Holly Fulton and Christopher Kane some seasons back. I liked the colour palette, but there was a major problem with poor tailoring: badly fitted bodycon dresses are never a good plan.

Katharina Kubiak
Katharina Kubiak Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Katharina Kubiak‘s over the top womenswear styling was a total dog’s dinner but her printed mix and match aesthetic worked well on shorts suits for men. I liked them a lot… now she just needs to concentrate on what she does best.

Sofie Gauden Golden Thread AW 2011Jo Cheung
Sofie Gauden AW 2011 by Jo Cheung.

Sofie Gaudaen
Sofie Gaudaen Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Sofie Gaudaen ended the evening with a collection of neon rave shamans: barefooted models sporting plenty of feathers and fringing. I loved the colours but it was not the strongest showing of the night to end on…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Friday May 13th, 2011 6:00 pm

Categories ,A/W 2011, ,Christopher Kane, ,colour, ,Domi Grzybek, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,Hannah Simpson, ,Holly Fulton, ,Jo Cheung, ,Katharina Kubiak, ,Lodz, ,Natalia Paliy, ,poland, ,Polish, ,Premiere Vision, ,Pret-a-porter, ,print, ,Shamen, ,Sofie Gaudaen, ,Sofie Gauden, ,Stock vodka, ,Szałapot, ,The Golden Thread, ,Złota Nitka

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011: Oversized and Bulbous

Dominika Piekutowska Swed by Lesley Barnes.

There was a lot of bold egg like shapes going on at the Golden Thread awards. Bulbous shoulders, cost plump skirts, rotund headpieces, you name it. Some of it worked, some of it didn’t. A word to the braver fashion designers of the world: make sure that your idea looks good on a moving model. It’s kind of important when it comes to clothing.

Dominika Piekutowska Swed by Alia Gargum.

Dominika Piekutowska Swed
Dominika Piekutowska Swed Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
I really liked Dominika Piekutowska Swed‘s minimal collection of carefully constructed creamy shapes that called to mind the delicate design of butterfly wings, insect scales and coral, all put together with a dash of silver leather. Very wearable in many ways but with a strong innovative edge. I’ll be very interested to watch her career progress.

Renata ‘Miyabi’ Molik
Renata Miyabi Molik Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Renata ‘Miyabi’ Molik obviously aspires to dress dear Lady Gaga. With their hands planted firmly on their hips the models paraded a series of sculptural bodies in metallic finishes with strange jutting padded scissor handles for shoulders. Fun for editorial.

Igor Galas AW 2011 by Kristina Vasiljeva.

Igor Galas
Igor Galas Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Croatian designer Igor Galas showed a predominantly brown and oatmeal collection that featured some truly frightening menswear (more burly male models with hairy thighs in hotpants. gah). For women there were some successful puffy tulip shaped knitwear garments, but in what looked like cotton they didn’t work so well – ideas that may have looked good on a drawing board were rendered far less flattering on the catwalk.

Laura Holeczek
Laura Holeczek Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Laura Holeczek is probably best glossed over as quickly as possible: this fashion nightmare was set to Bollywood music and featured a total mishmash of traditional styles plucked with random from across the world. Men and women wore harem pants, clogs and headwear inspired by Morocco and, erm, Holland. This was pantomime costume not fashion; there was potential buried in there somewhere but it needed so much more development.

Martyna Idzikowska
Martyna Idzikowska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Martyna Idzikowska sent out a great collection that featured huge egg shaped layered dresses accessorised with blood red encasing neck braces and red slashed under layers. But again, a major quibble with the way the fabric moved when the models walked. Strange lumps and bumps appeared where on a mannequin all must have looked fabulously shaped. A problem to be overcome for the next collection?

Written by Amelia Gregory on Saturday May 14th, 2011 9:02 am

Categories ,Alia Gargum, ,Bollywood, ,Croatian, ,Dominika Piekutowska Swed, ,Egg, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,holland, ,Igor Galas, ,Kristina Vasiljeva, ,Lady Gaga, ,Laura Holeczek, ,Lesley Barnes, ,Lodz, ,Martyna Idzikowska, ,Morocco, ,Renata ‘Miyabi’ Molik, ,Sculptural, ,The Golden Thread, ,Złota Nitka

Amelia’s Magazine | The Golden Thread Awards at Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011: The Pastel, Petrol and Beige

Paulina_Matuszelanska_Fashion_Week_Poland_Soni_Speight
Paulina Matuszelanska by Soni Speight.

These three designers showed collections in tones of pastels, information pills petrol and beige.

Gareth A Hopkins Marta Gos Golden Thread
Marta Gos by Gareth A Hopkins.

Marta Gos
Marta Gos Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Marta Gos had fun with holes and dangling bits. The strange armour-like silhouettes were rendered wearable in a creamy pastel and buttermilk colour palette.

Paulina Matuszelanska AW'11 by Kristina Vasiljeva
Paulina Matuszelanska by Kristina Vasiljeva.

Paulina Matuszelanska
Paulina Matuszelanska Golden Thread Fashion Week Poland AW 2011
Paulina Matuszelanska showed a very strong collection in lemon yellow, medical camel, mint green and powder blue. There were boxy shoulders aplenty, maxi length pleats and fluffy cropped jumpers – this catwalk show was a rare example of good styling, with slicked back high ponytails and chunky colour block necklaces completing the look. Definitely one of my favourites. Many of the clothes were stuff that I might actually want to wear, hurrah!

Alicja Antoszczyk by Alia Gargum.

Alicja Antoszczyk
Alicja Antoszczyk Golden Thread ?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011
Alicja Antoszczyk sent all her models out with hands slipped nonchalantly into pockets. Long rain macs and calf length skirts came in dull gold and petrol blue matt plastic fabrics. Black, powder blue and rosy red lent colour to the remaining layered pieces. A very strong and coherent collection.

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday May 16th, 2011 9:03 pm

Categories ,80s, ,Alia Gargum, ,Alicja Antoszczyk, ,Beige, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,Gareth A Hopkins, ,Kristina Vasiljeva, ,Lodz, ,Marta Gos, ,pastels, ,Paulina Matuszelanska, ,Plastic, ,Soni Speight, ,The Golden Thread

Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland A/W 2011 in Łódź: Dawid Tomaszewski

Dawid Tomaszewski by Karolina Burdon.

Dawid Tomaszewski is the prodigal son who got away… a Polish boy who studied internationally, sickness including at the London College of Fashion, order before settling in Berlin where he started his own name label in 2008 to much acclaim. For Friday’s finale he showed directly after The Golden Thread awards at Fashion Week Poland, and it was a salient reminder of what exactly is expected from world class fashion design.

Dawid Tomaszewski by Rebecca Strickson.

Strobe lights and the soft patter of rainfall were overlaid by an increasingly frantic piano as models with neat up dos and side fringes swept onto the catwalk. This was a tightly edited collection that encompassed beautifully fitted dresses with well placed ruffles, high waisted pleated tweed skirts, huge cowl necked woven knits and crystal encrusted bodices. Of particular acclaim was a bodiced body topped with a shimmering gauze dress. Earthy woollens gave way to jade green silk and subtlety dip dyed floating gowns worthy of the red carpet. It was an incredibly attractive and polished collection that had more than a hint of classic British design. There was much here for Polish fashion designers to aspire to, although I am hoping the fur arms were not real.

David Tomaszewski Fashion Week Poland AW 2011

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday May 16th, 2011 10:18 pm

Categories ,berlin, ,british, ,catwalk, ,Dawid Tomaszewski, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,Jaeger, ,Karolina Burdon, ,Lodz, ,London College of Fashion, ,Rebecca Strickson, ,The Golden Thread, ,Vivienne Westwood

Amelia’s Magazine | Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland Off Out Of Schedule A/W 2011 in Łódź: Wiola Wołczyńska

Wiola Wolczynska Lodz Fashion Week AW 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou
Wiola Wolczynska A/W 2011 by Michalis Christodoulou.

Wiola Wo?czy?ska kicked off the Off Out of Schedule on Saturday morning with a collection that was a taste of things to come… overly long and massively in need of a serious edit. There was nice styling with side swept hair and calf length socks, more about but it went on… forever… and most of the looks were incredibly similar.

Wiola Wolczynska ?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011-photo by Amelia Gregory
Wiola Wo?czy?ska A/W 2011. All photography by Amelia Gregory.

Then one model fell over due to ill-fitting shoes – which was again a precedent for other shows. But oh my was the setting amazing – all the Off Out Of Schedule shows took place in Bielnik and Elektrownia at Podsiad?o Ksiezy Mlyn – a ramshackle old textiles factory that is typical of the fantastic industrial architectural style of ?ód?. It really was a venue like no other I have seen. More photos of that to come…

Wiola Wolczynska ?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011-photo by Amelia Gregory

Whilst I liked the draping, web subtle colouring and asymmetric shapes this show was overly commercial for an Off Schedule event and some of the fabrics appeared to be of poor quality – a big no no on the catwalk. It’s a shame because there really was the kernel of something special here, and if it was more finely refined I could see it appealing to more sophisticated fashion palettes in a jiffy. It’s perhaps no surprise to learn that Wiola Wo?czy?ska is a stylist as well as fashion designer, and has participated in a workshop with Central Saint Martins. She also won a heap of awards at last year’s Golden Thread.

Wiola Wolczynska ?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011-photo by Amelia Gregory
Wiola Wo?czy?ska at ?ód? Fashion Week AW 2011.

This is just a small selection of the enormous collection. My advice to Wiola Wo?czy?ska? Edit edit edit… and have a bit more fun. Go on! It’s your chance to wow…

Written by Amelia Gregory on Monday May 23rd, 2011 9:40 pm

Categories ,architecture, ,asymmetric, ,Bielnik and Elektrownia, ,Central Saint Martins, ,draping, ,Fashion Philosophy Fashion Week Poland, ,Fashion Week Poland, ,Grey, ,Industrial, ,jersey, ,Lodz, ,Michalis Christodoulou, ,Off Out Of Schedule, ,Podsiadło Ksiezy Mlyn, ,poland, ,textiles, ,The Golden Thread, ,Wiola Wołczyńska

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