Blouson Noir by Melanie Ward & Graham Tabor S/S 10 Showroom

[Scott]

it's inspired by tea towels

It seems for every apprentice taking the designer seat, there’s a stylist doing the same. Andrea Lieberman, Tabitha Simmons and Rachel Zoe recently launched collections; now Melanie Ward is getting in the game. The Harper’s Bazaar fashion editor and stylist is in town launching Blouson Noir, designed with Graham Tabor, a former knitwear consultant at Karl Lagerfeld’s blink-and-you-missed-it New York-based collection, where Ward was creative director.

To anyone who questions a stylist’s ability to seamlessly transition to designer, Ward says: “There’s no reason why you can’t be an editor, a consultant and a designer. You can wear many hats, you just have to have integrity.” And it doesn’t hurt to have a major résumé like Ward’s to back things up. Prior to her time at Lagerfeld, Ward spent 13 years as creative director of Helmut Lang. “I’ve been making clothes since I was 13, but I’ve always done it for other people,” she says. “It just felt like the right time to do something on my own.”

Still, Ward has brought distinct notes from her past to her new venture. Like Lang and Lagerfeld, Blouson Noir has a cool, citified quality, but done with a light, fresh eye. Spring, for example, was inspired by tea towels, their texture and classic patterns. “I opened up my kitchen drawer and saw all these tea towels,” said Ward. Their soft, laundered look and blue and white ticking stripes looked great on crisp cotton linen jackets and wrap skirts with nylon raffia edges. There’s a clean spirit to the clothes countered by a few tribal effects, such as detachable feathers on a simple white cotton dress. Still, Ward stresses that “our girl is very much an urban girl.” Thus, edgy black hardware, zipped perfecto jackets and cropped leather bustier tops added subtle sex appeal.

Ward and Tabor are positioning the 35-piece collection, which includes scarves with prints by artist Miguel Villalobos and opened for sales on Sunday, at entry-level designer price points. They’re targeting department and specialty stores such as Barneys New York, Browns in London and Pool in Munich, though none had been confirmed as of press time. The line is produced in New York, where Ward and Tabor are based, and Italy, and will retail from $550 to $1,400.

As for how her styling background comes into play, Ward sees it as a practical tool. “Often, a designer will draw something without vaguely thinking about how it will look on the body,” she says. “During my years working with Helmut, he would start with an art reference, but for me, I think about the body. I would take a tea towel and wrap it around myself.” Pants and skirts with detachable waistbands, so women have both high-waisted and hip-slung options, are prime examples of Ward’s styling experience put to use.

Ward and Tabor, who started on the collection in May, say they’re open to investors, but for now they’re on their own. It’s quite a cutback from the resources, human and otherwise, at Ward’s disposal during her Lang and Lagerfeld days. “[Back then] you had someone to Xerox for you or run to the button store,” she said. “Now, I’ve definitely seen a lot of the garment center.

i don't really like that they're comparing melanie to rachel zoe...melanie has more a substantial fashion background whereas rachel is celebrity.

*wwd.com

 

[Scott]

it's also worth pointing out too,recently in fantastic man magazine,melanie admitted that she was in fact the designer of the womenswear at Helmut Lang.

i like this a lot and look forward to seeing more in the coming seasons. we all know melanie's strong personality and vision but also graham tabor is a brilliant talent in his own right.

 

[gius]

tea towels.. interesting.. :-) it would be nice to see the idea if applied to the white ones too, very summery

thanks for posting scott !

 

[tricotineacetat]

it's also worth pointing out too,recently in fantastic man magazine,melanie admitted that she was in fact the designer of the womenswear at Helmut Lang.

That was in fact Alexa Adams, one half of Ohne Titel, who was doing a lot of the actual design work. As the creative director, it would have been Ward's part to work with Helmut on the conceptual aspect of his collections, as well as obviously finally putting them together - His' were really some of the few collections that actually needed and lived from the styling to have runway and/or editorial impact, that's where she was such a genius at. She might have had a lot to say in issues like 'We need some more strappy harnesses here', that's what you could see also in the one season she was with Lagerfeld, that it really had the same 'layered' feel as with Helmut (interesting enough, that's where Alexa and her Ohne Titel partner, Flora, also used to work).

Other than that, I am quite unimpressed by the pieces I can see here. For a collection by Melanie Ward, this is really missing on the cool, urban, intricately layered feel that her styling always embodies - I don't think that 'themed' collection inspirations work that well with her style, I am thinking that she would do a lot better at focussing on something where it was more about how the clothes were to be worn than to follow such a narrative (especially when the clothes then end up having a very arts-and-crafts-y/cute-sy feel).

 

[skot4mc]

Thanks for posting this Scott.

Also, thanks for the additional information tricot. It's so fascinating to learn about how people within the industry are interconnected etc, and how that influences their work.
I actually very much agree with your assessment of this collection. Especially in taking the approach of how to wear as opposed to a narrative.

From this selection of looks (are there more?) I certainly don't get a "urban girl" feel, its far too light and weathered. And the lacing is very ineffective.

 

[wheneveriwakeup]

I like the look in photo 1 and the skirt in the last photo....

But yes, this is definitely not up to par with Melanie Ward's finesse as a stylist. Some of the looks fall entirely flat and I do think the corset-y aspects would be quite restrictive in terms of versatility. It is very cute though and I'm interested to see what comes from this....

Thanks, Scott....

 

[Scott]

but you guys are forgetting too that she's working with graham tabor whose own sensibilities are very much craft-oriented. i agree it's not as complex as one might expect from melanie,but perhaps the line is more a range of simpler things?

it actually brings to mind some of the aesthetics and attributes of a.f. vandevorst and bernhard willhelm's earlier collections. in fact i think bernhard once worked around elements of tea towels in his spring 2000. but i think this is much simpler in its approach.

perhaps though,it will begin to evolve more into a more distinct aesthetic the next seasons.

you're welcome everybody.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

That was in fact Alexa Adams, one half of Ohne Titel, who was doing a lot of the actual design work. As the creative director, it would have been Ward's part to work with Helmut on the conceptual aspect of his collections, as well as obviously finally putting them together - His' were really some of the few collections that actually needed and lived from the styling to have runway and/or editorial impact, that's where she was such a genius at. She might have had a lot to say in issues like 'We need some more strappy harnesses here', that's what you could see also in the one season she was with Lagerfeld, that it really had the same 'layered' feel as with Helmut (interesting enough, that's where Alexa and her Ohne Titel partner, Flora, also used to work).

You know, I'm not so sure that that is all Ward did. The feeling I got was that she was more of a design director rather than just creative consultant. I know a lot of stylists will give input and have designers make pieces that they they need to style with, but I think she actually directed the line. And I'm almost certain it was Ward that brought Alexa with her to Karl after Helmut closed down.

 

[tricotineacetat]

You know, I'm not so sure that that is all Ward did. The feeling I got was that she was more of a design director rather than just creative consultant. I know a lot of stylists will give input and have designers make pieces that they they need to style with, but I think she actually directed the line. And I'm almost certain it was Ward that brought Alexa with her to Karl after Helmut closed down.

She most certainly did exactly that, leading the design direction (conceptually and styling-wise) with Helmut and then distributing the execution of those concepts with the design team under Helmut (and later, Karl Lagerfeld). Therewith being just as much a creative director as Riccardo Tisci is at Givenchy (there are other designers executing ideas for him then after either his raw sketches, fabric ideas or other inspirations etc.).

Let's all agree that Melanie Ward's competence and experience far exceeds that of other stylists and that it did so far lead to a very recognizable signature. To be completely honest, I'm not too sure how well this collaboration with Graham Tabor actually lends itself for either one of them, it does not come up as being very precise, something you kind of expect when an industry heavyweight as her debuts a line of her own. Maybe it's also got to do with the fact that the two of them are stating this collection to be a side project besides their others - That, along with the fact that they are already talking about the possibility of investment feels to me as if they would rather go for an entirely different collection format than this.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

She most certainly did exactly that, leading the design direction (conceptually and styling-wise) with Helmut and then distributing the execution of those concepts with the design team under Helmut (and later, Karl Lagerfeld). Therewith being just as much a creative director as Riccardo Tisci is at Givenchy (there are other designers executing ideas for him then after either his raw sketches, fabric ideas or other inspirations etc.).

Let's all agree that Melanie Ward's competence and experience far exceeds that of other stylists and that it did so far lead to a very recognizable signature. To be completely honest, I'm not too sure how well this collaboration with Graham Tabor actually lends itself for either one of them, it does not come up as being very precise, something you kind of expect when an industry heavyweight as her debuts a line of her own. Maybe it's also got to do with the fact that the two of them are stating this collection to be a side project besides their others - That, along with the fact that they are already talking about the possibility of investment feels to me as if they would rather go for an entirely different collection format than this.

I can't say i'm in love with all of this. And no, it's not what I'd expect fom Ward. But it's just the first season, i'll be keeping tabs on it.

 

[hellimaria]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qebs9r6gNsw

 

[hellimaria]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmY1SqjCHpY

I wanted to post this version of a short clip, you can hear melanie speak french without english voice over ..