Sophia Kokosalaki for Vionnet Collection * updated Sophia out

[DA070709]

Sophia's confirmed (British Vogue)

SOPHIA KOKOSALAKI confirmed this week that she really is about to take over at the house of Vionnet – and she's ready to take up the challenge. "It is such a great honour to be asked to work at Vionnet," says 33-year-old Sophia, who will unveil her first collection in October for spring/summer 2007. "It is an aesthetic that I completely admire and understand, and an approach towards designing that I relate and look up to. It is definitely challenging but also exciting to continue a house with such a unique heritage. The fact that her work has been a recurrent reference of designers for almost a century now is a testimony to the genius and timelessness of Vionnet." Meanwhile Arnaud de Lummen, ceo of Vionnet, couldn't be happier to have her. "Vionnet has one of the most exceptional fashion heritages and a timeless appeal," he said. "Our return on the fashion scene will not be an ordinary revival but a unique and genuine approach to bring forward the Vionnet vision. Sophia, with her technical abilities and contemporary feminine vision, will be in a rare position to honour the past of the House and invent its future." Sophia's Vionnet collections will be exclusively available at Barneys New York in New York City, Beverly Hills, Dallas, Boston and Chicago – as well as the Vionnet Studio in Paris. (July 13 2006, AM)

Dolly Jones

 

[Scott]

brilliant! Cannot wait!!

 

[Tinuviel]

now I'm really excited for the spring collections!

 

[5AvenueMarceau]

Wow, how perfect a fit, I hope the collection lives up to expectations!

 

[amor]

Bonjour Vionnet
Adieu Rochas

 

[softgrey]

...
i thought this would NEVER happen...

will def be interested to see what this looks like...
barney's exclusive...hmmm....interesting....
US only then?...will they send it to tokyo?...
do vionnet and kokosalaki have the name recognition in the US that they do in europe?...
probably not...

but i guess the barney's customer is not your average american either...
....


thanks for posting the news guys...

 

[tricotineacetat]

it's strange to see them doing a collection that is only being sold at barneys and their own shop in paris... these must be some tiny quantities they're going to produce with it... better open the books to other buyers as well, the next season. i'll definitely try to get an invite for the show, if they are going to stage one.

 

[taperjeangirl]

Not sure how much of a success it will be, remember when they tried to re launch Fath. Saying that though Kokosalaki is a whole lot better then Lizzy Disney was so we shall have to wait and see.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

it's strange to see them doing a collection that is only being sold at barneys and their own shop in paris... these must be some tiny quantities they're going to produce with it... better open the books to other buyers as well, the next season. i'll definitely try to get an invite for the show, if they are going to stage one.

I think perhaps their strategy is to market well and start small. Let their size grow with appeal and demand. They have an advantage that Rochas and Baleniciaga didn't when they brought on Theyskens and Ghesquire in that they are building the brand basically from scratch. Rochas and Balenciaga already had people designing for them when the decided to freshen up. Vionnet has a similar situation to what Dior Homme had when Slimane started. Hedi had no name (except his own) whatsoever in menswear to work with and could abstractly take from the brand's heritage. Hopefully Kokosolaki will make use of that. She has the oppurtunity to remake the label into whatever she wishes. I think it just might work.

 

[Tinuviel]

hmm wonder what happened to Vionnet this season?

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

they didn't have a show
i think there was a private viewing of the collection
i would LOVE to see some pieces

 

[Tinuviel]

from vionnet.com, 2006 December US Vogue feature:

 

[BaroqueRockstar]

the blue dress is very, very sophia kokosolaki-esque
i like it, though

 

[Meg]

^
I think that is my only concern with this collection. With Kokosalaki being heavily influenced by Vionnet's draping techniques in her own work will Vionnet shine through or will it look like every other Kokosalaki collection? How to distinguish the two.....

 

[Deleted member 7575]

I'm not blown away by those dresses, they look more like Madame Gres than Vionnet, too. Why not just make repilicas from the archive if that's all there is?

 

[kanita]

Nothing special there, the blue one looks like a SK S/S 2007 dress, only floor length.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

It should be noted that Vionnet avoiding stichings in her work. She hated to pleat, tuck, or gather fabric. Her skill was in perfectly cut flat pieces of fabric on the bias. This is a bit off for me.

 

[bart]

While I definitely agree that Kokosalaki's work, particularly her pleating and gathering, is far more Gres, I don't think she's exactly a bad fit for the house and I don't think it's fair to say that Vionnet hated to pleat, tuck and gather. While she did develop the bias cut, and was influenced by Japanese art and origami, Cubism and Futurism and much of her design theory in the late 1910s and early 1920s was based on geometric forms, she did do a lot of work with pin tucks and gathering in the mid 1920s. I remember seeing one green dress in particular that was completely made up of tiny pin tucks in a wave pattern. Her bias cutting didn't fully develop until the 1930s.

The blue dress above does look too much like Kokosalaki (or Gres) and not enough like Vionnet, though.

 

[Deleted member 7575]

While I definitely agree that Kokosalaki's work, particularly her pleating and gathering, is far more Gres, I don't think she's exactly a bad fit for the house and I don't think it's fair to say that Vionnet hated to pleat, tuck and gather. While she did develop the bias cut, and was influenced by Japanese art and origami, Cubism and Futurism and much of her design theory in the late 1910s and early 1920s was based on geometric forms, she did do a lot of work with pin tucks and gathering in the mid 1920s. I remember seeing one green dress in particular that was completely made up of tiny pin tucks in a wave pattern. Her bias cutting didn't fully develop until the 1930s.

The blue dress above does look too much like Kokosalaki (or Gres) and not enough like Vionnet, though.

I've seen that green dress, the Kyoto Costume Institute has one (or it?). Those pin tucks are more decorative, very flat, it's different kind of stichings that Kokosolaki uses. In a history class I was told that she was pretty admant against using tucks and gathers and such. The dresses I've seen in person enforce this. To me what really defines Vionnet was how simple her garments appeared, they never looked overworked. The genius was in the complexity of the cut. Maybe Kokosolaki will do great job, but to me this is a rough start. It's all about the bias. That is prejudiced against her pre-30's designs but I don't think those are nearly as iconic. It was Vionnet's allusions to classical drapery in the 30's that made the connection to Kokosolaki to begin with. Vionnet's clothes were always a bit understated, they are mesmerizing when you get close.

I'm being extremely critical but, I mean, it's Vionnet!

 

[bart]

Yeah, I think the green dress I remember was from the Kyoto Costume Institute book, and you're right, it was completely flat and the tucking was used in a decorative instead of functional manner. It will be interesting to see how Kokosalaki utilizes Vionnet-esque draping in her work as we haven't seen much of that from her. There are more examples of her work for the house on the Vionnet site in a recent International Herald Tribune article that appear cleaner that the pieces Vogue featured, but it's not the best scan. I'd post it here, but it's a PDF.

I guess Diego della Valle of Tod's is looking to relaunch Schiaparelli...