You always hear about people who work with technology to create new things… more than half the time it looks like old things… that is until I run into Seelenkleid (meaning “soul dress” in German) at the Projekt Gallerie Showroom. I had seen her collection last year, and was quite taken by her oil-like silicon drips on flowy silk pleated dresses, and this year, designer Ella Haberlach did fall into a sophomore slump by any means.  Taking inspiration from porcelain, she took paper plate forms with silicon and created these spiral sculptures sewn on to the most soft and sheer jersey dresses. She even took a marbled silicon and sewed it like a ruffle into leggings (see below). One of my favorite pieces, a shawl of laser burned printing on velvet creating a fabric that I’ve never seen before in all my days… then to top that off, the shawl includes silicon scale breast plates. Ella makes each piece by hand, truly merging fashion and art. Here she sits down and talks with us about her newest collection titled ‘blue code.’

Me: What was the inspiration behind the new collection, it really ties into your last one, but it’s gone in a new direction… can you tell us the story behind that?

Ella Haberlach: The fusing of two contrasted beings forms the inspiration for my latest collection entitled “blue code” (SS 2010). Masculine and feminine counterparts intertwine to form an unspoken dialogue; an indistinguishable shrift. Shades of porcelain reflect the lovers merged existence, their shards, indicative of the fragility of togetherness.

Me: So many of your pieces are sculptural, like works of art… how do materials play into how your pieces evolve?

At the moment I am using materials and patterns which are outside the realm of my control; in a way, I allow the work to create itself. The happy accidents often have innovative consequences.

Ella: Through my work, I like to blur the boundaries between art and fashion; I see fashion as a medium through which art becomes wearable and everyday.

I love to experiment and search for new materials, this is always the starting point for my creative process and a tool to give my clothes a soul.

At the moment I am using materials and patterns which are outside the realm of my control; in a way, I allow the work to create itself. The happy accidents often have innovative consequences. Silicone is a very viscous medium which is able be manipulated but never completely controlled. Porcelain fragments shatter how they will, and I use a brush freehand to apply the burn-out paste, all of which allows for unique imperfections in each piece.

The idea for blue code SS10 ties into broken aura AW09. It`s all about the same story. Blue code is the continuance in my visual personal diaries.

Coverings hold the ability to carry the invisible and immaterial aura on the surface, compensating for its shapelessness. Skin, in its essence, is always given an important role in this context. It is the last fine layer between the ego and the world, the “outer”. Silicone acts as another skin layer, a visible aura, able to extend beyond the body and impose on the immediate environment. Silicone is given a new meaning and purpose through this dynamic ability. Using multiple methods of application, I am able to concurrently display sharp splinters of porcelain matter, standing ajar from the body, with the delicate sensitivity of fluidic make-up, which mimics the body’s natural form. Heavily influenced by body modification, my collections also attempt to replicate various techniques, such as scarring and implantation, to undermine the cosmetic effect of fashion. The result appears as fleshy scar-jewelery, set into the surface of the textile forms.

Destruction is used as another form of compensation, that of the artificially created order, evoking chaos. The ‘glamour surface’, created and manipulated by man, is disturbed and destroyed. Burnt out fabrics relay the delicacy of humanness by exposing its figure. As an essential idea, my collections examine the female body and its function as a “living accessory”. – It is a projection screen for signs, images and statements. – The body must speak to connect itself to the mind and soul. Exposure facilitates these functions. At its crux, my collections define human interaction with the World, building infinite layers of protection, guardian architectures, that allow us to indemnify our exposed fragilities.

Me: I noticed how you paired one of your blouses with jeans and a vintage blazer, how would you recommend someone to wear some of your more elaborate pieces?

Ella: When I design, it`s always an escape through the “backdoor” in order to be able to create new silhouettes, new shapes, new appearances of a woman, – to create a kind of “alienation”. To introduce these aliens into everyday life, the woman wearing my clothes has to mix up with “basic clothing” like old denim or business jackets. I quite like the contrast, the fusion of classic elements and the extraordinary.

You can find Seelenkleid on Not Just a Label and on Seelenkleid.com

The Body Shop’s summer colors are not for wallflowers. They’ve busted out the pigment and gotten bold with their Hot Brights 2009 Make-up collection. The focus is on the eyes with shades of blue and purple – very peacockesque when worn together. I’ve been playing with the colors and love using them to create a colorful smoky eye – traditionally done with neutral colors.

The Collection

The collection includes two Hot Brights Eye Color duos ($17 each), which are silky powder shadows with lots of pigment so you can easily get good color intensity. But you can also go more subtle by dusting on a sheer layer. Violet Sunset includes a purple with a shimmery pink. Pearly Sky includes an ocean blue with a buttery, golden cream.

For cheeks, there are two subtly shimmering Hot Brights Blushes ($24 each) in pink and bronze shades (Bronze Horizon is shown in the top photo). They each include a darker shade to use as blush and a lighter shade that can be used as a highlighter. The eye shadows and blushes are  made with Community Trade marula oil and brazil nut oil.

There are also two dual-ended Hot Brights Eye Liners ($13 each). One end has a darker shade while the other has a lighter shade with pretty flecks of glitter. I like to apply the darker shade first and then layer the lighter, glittery shade on top. These come in Purple Haze (in the photo) and Sapphire Sea (which includes two turquoise blues). They’re made with Community Trade marula oil and beeswax.

Last but not least, there are two Hot Brights Lip Shine & Cheek Stains ($18 each) in pink and bronze shades (Coral Sand is shown in the photo). The stain is very sheer and can be used on both lips and cheeks to provide long-lasting color. Ingredients include vitamin E, Community Trade marula oil, and aloe vera.

I love the compacts, which are embellished with a floral design and look like they’re made with handmade paper. I also love that The Body Shop gets natural ingredients from disadvantaged communities throughout the world through its Community Trade program and the company works to protect the planet by seeking renewable resources, sustainable raw ingredients, and better ways of protecting rainforests. The Body Shop also never tests on animals.

The Look

For this look, I used the blue in the Pearly Sky Eye Color duo on the inner two-thirds of my lid. I used the purple in the Violet Sunset duo on the outer corners and along the crease. Above the crease, I used the buttery shade in the Pearly Sky duo. I used a black liner along my lid and then smudged it with the purple shadow. I lined the bottom with the dark purple from the Purple Haze Eye Liner and layered the lighter, glittery purple on top. I smudged the liners with the purple shadow. I also used black liner in the waterline (along the inner rim of the eye on the bottom).

To keep the focus on the eyes, I stuck to more neutral hues on my cheeks and lips. I used the Coral Sand Stain on my cheeks followed by the Bronze Horizon Blush. I also used the stain on my lips and topped it with the Coral Sand Lip Shine.

More for Summer

The Body Shop also created a new sultry fragrance collection for summer – the limited edition White Musk White Hot Summer, which is a special edition of their popular White Musk fragrance. To learn more about that, check out my review. There are also some wonderful summer essentials – a refreshing, peppermint foot spray that revives tired feet and a yummy, wild cherry body scrub that makes skin so smooth and soft. I’ve reviewed those here. The Body Shop is also having lots of different specials right now, including 30% off summer makeup and 75% off gift sets.

Do Tell

What do you think of the new colors from The Body Shop? Do you ever wear bold colors on the eyes? Have you tried using color when doing a smoky eye? Do tell.

Thank you so much for entering  in the We Love Colors Giveway! The winners here were picked randomly… so congratulations to Leia and Meli! I hope you enjoy your tights! So… stay tuned, if you didn’t win this time, we have some more giveaways…. really exciting giveaways coming up.

Arkadius Giesek

As if I needed to be convinced about the beauty of indigo…this ‘future is now collection’ made me want to break out my new indigo eyeshadow and wear it every day… now that’s something to go monochrome crazy about…. on a side note, don’t you love those velvet extra long leggings? Swoon!

Chantal Margiotta

This collection I deemed to be a bit more practical, but I have to admit I really loved the layering and the way the colors worked together here.

Eva Maria Bogar

Here we have hints of post apocalyptic Pollyanna going on here. I do love way the garments seemingly different pieces stitched together, and I do love the long belt. Part of me kind of cringes, but part of me digs this, after all I did do the half skirt business a while back…. and you have to know I love chunky wool socks.

Lena Pfeil

I like this… but I really don’t have anything to say about it but, more capes please.

Sam Frenzel

The winner of the competition, and while I do like the pieces a lot, I was kind of rooting for the blue. There was another collection, which I missed entirely which had jeweled skirts and leopard leggings… but I won’t go into it now because it makes me tear up a little. However, to look at the bright side, this collection does have it’s highlights, see-through trousers, chunky chunky statement necklaces, bows, textured leggings. Sam kind of hit upon all the little design elements I’ve been lusting after these days.

Summer Staples

In the midst of Summer many of us take refuge by the fan and some of us miraculously make do with the heat in all but the best ways. In this roundup we’ve got Summer Festival tips on Unfunded, Hong Kong Fashion Geeks Resort Redux, Krislyn’s chic summer essentials, Fashion Cent’s essential white jackets. And on the indie front Dramatis Personae finds eco friendly clothing for people of all sizes, and Oh Canada…Tatiana’s showcases Canadian Indie Designers. And last but not least… Twins… mode.ulation wonders if are they the modelings industries next new thing?

Links à la Mode : July 9th

• 39th and Broadway – AMAZINGLY Stupid Fashionistas?
• A Few Goody GumDrops – Look Tres Chic with Tres Sleek!
• Broke & Beautiful – ECIG: Abigail Glaum-Lathbury
• Confessions of a Fashion Editor – Beauty kills… beauty, Rant, bebo
• dramatis personae – Eco-Friendly Clothing Options For All Sizes
• Fashion Cents – Summer Staple — The White Jacket
• Fashion is My Crush – DIY Embellished Heels
• Fashion Pulse Daily – Givenchy Beauty Set Giveaway
• Felicia Sullivan – first look: leanne marshall’s bluefly collaboration
• Hong Kong Fashion Geek – Buying Time: Resort Redux
• Hot Beauty Health – Become An Elle Video Star!
• Independent Fashion Bloggers – So You Want a Review Sample
• Krislyn Diaries – DIY: how to dress summertime chic pt. 2
• mode.ulation – Model Moment: Fashion takes double
• Retro Chick – Spectacular!! Spectacular!! Burlesque Event in Cambridge
• Style Symmetry – Mix and Match Polka Dots for a Fun Retro Vibe
• Tatiana Supports the Arts – Indie Designer Spotlight: Canadian Edition
• THE COVETED – Interview with Astronomically talented Julie Eilenberger at Berlin Fashion Week
• Think Thru Fashion – A Search for the Longest Lasting Lip Color
• Unfunded – Der Festival
• Work Chic – Win a Scarf from The Vintage Scarf!

Talk about taking bangles, cuff, spikes, flesh colored plastic to a whole new level, especially since they look like they’re made of some kind of Barbie flesh. How playfully evil. I can’t get these out of my mind, I reallly can’t. The rest of the Givenchy Couture show wasn’t half bad either….  via Jak & Jil

[UPDATE] Carly Hunter’s label will be available online in September at www.fashionwa.com

This morning I had one of those, “Stop what you’re doing. Put your seats in upright position.” moments. Maybe I’ve seen this before, maybe I’ve seen alot of things… but when you’re ready to see something, that’s when it hits you. Today on Diane Pernet’s blog (a blog I wish I could just feed directly into my blog, but I think she might get a teeeeny bit ticked off by that) presented TEAMO’s AW09/10 collection. I know, I know some of you may already be sick of big shoulders… I myself can’t really wear them because of my figure… one really needs to be a stick to rock big, sculptural shoulders, but I do enjoy looking at them from a distance. And besides, these are more like wings than shoulders, maybe even pointy weapons where we could go head-to-head like deers do in the autumn (I saw it on TV once). Now, that’s entertainment.

Underneath From Above from STEFFEN SEEGER on Vimeo.

Yesterday, I talked about the things I couldn’t get to at BFW, one of them being the
BUTTERFLYSOULFIRE reception, screening of a fashion film collaboration between the designers Maria and Toas with artist Steffen Seeger. I wish I could have made it to see the collection, as it’s hard to tell from the website what it looks like, though some pieces look interesting. Anyway, the video is really cool, and  you know how much I love fashion videos.

Sometimes I wish us mortals could be blessed with the powers of omnipresence. It could really have come in handy during Berlin Fashion Week, as when I was riding bikes at Bread & Butter, 24 year old Julie Eilenberger from Denmark, was showing her magnificent galactic science fiction meets real life collection. I was going to say it’s her graduate collection, but she’s actually got two more years to go before she graduates. But before I go off sulking about our lack of theological rankings (it’s so hard being human isn’t it?) I thought I might share with you some pieces from her collection and a short interview the lovely lady….

Me: What’s the story behind this collection?
Julie Eilenberger: Its inspired by early science fiction, such as Kubrick´s 2001 – Space Odyssey, Barbarella and Logan’s run. I’m always inspired by ( old ) movies and begin my collections on my couch with my tv and pen ‘n’ paper. So the outfits are somewhat futuristic but with a feeling of history to.
Me: Sounds like my kind of evening… How did you get those shoulders? Amazing!
Julie: The exaggerated shoulders and the corsage is made by foam, which I cut out with a scissor, ( yes it took forever and I was actually blue inside my hand.. ) the rest is mainly made by chiffon and jersey, all covered with a universe print. The black crystals I got sponsored from Swarovski, and they fit perfectly into my theme.

All clothes, jewelry and shoes by Julie Eilenberger
Black crystals sponsored by: Swarovski
Photographer: Yves Borgwardt
Model: Kati, seeds