So it was probably good that Blogger was down yesterday (though it still has a few bugs crawling around), as NJAL's relaunch resulted in me coming across a veritable gold mine that needed some time to absorb. Not to mention just a lot of time in general, as the two websites I was trying to get photos off of would not play nice. Anyway, first off, the 2011 BA fashion grad student whose work first caught my eye on NJAL was Noëmi Frey from the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland's Academy of Art and Design Basel - Institute for Fashion Design. Imagine writing that out on job application forms. Anyway, Noëmi's pieces don't entirely mesh with my normal style choices, but I was interested enough by the shoulder detail of that great jacket seen above and the calculated slashed aesthetic throughout her collection to at least check out the website that was linked in her NJAL page. And my goodness. With the quality of work coming out of this school at just the undergraduate level, I'm both very surprised I haven't heard of it before, and I'm wondering why these grads aren't being included in a major fashion week. At least they aren't to my knowledge, anyway. While I will be writing a couple more posts devoted to individual students, here are a few favorite pieces from some of Noëmi's fellow BA graduates. If you see anything you particularly like, I suggest you click on their name (well, the portion of their name after any letter with a diacritic - another Blogger bug methinks) and click on the 'Presentation link' to see a (possibly very slow loading) video with that student. They're not all in English, but you'll get to see the pieces better and at least guess what the inspiration behind the collection was via hand gestures and quasi-English words.
Let's start with the least work-friendly look (warning: sheer clothing), from Noëmi Anna Tina Ceresola. Sheer material just lends itself so well to draping. Add a comfy jacket/sweater and huge hat, and you have one sexy beekeeper outfit.
I didn't like the lookbook version photo of this piece (with very dramatic hell's windows) by Senta Amacker, as the model was facing slightly sideways, making that underbust wallet look like a giant leather bow. I still would rather have a coated canvas version, but I think incorporating a wallet into a harness is a very practical way of keeping your hands free to hold on to your hem, producing instant one-off draping.
This sweater by Miriam Andrea Stöcklin has got to be the comfiest thing I've seen since Dori Tomcsanyi's grey outfit. And it even looked great on the runway.
Karin Wüthrich's digitally printed pieces instantly made my jaw drop simply because of the visual effect the prints are intended to produce. Karin's video (which is in English) is also quite interesting, as she describes the look of the collection (particularly the high neckline/partial face coverage) as multi-cultural and about 'the closeness of the city'. I wouldn't have gotten that from just looking at the pieces (and I'm not sure I get that now), but I sure love listening to people speak English with an accent.
And, lastly (for this post anyway), I am intrigued by this piece by Jean-René Wyss. I've seen bodysuits and I've seen long sheer dresses, but never have I seen both elements in one garment. Normally the bodysuit is not for the body conscious, but when presented in this way, many shapes/sizes/body images could wear this given endless styling options. If you have some time, take a closer look at the shoes in Jean-René's collection.
Tune in tomorrow for some more great stuff from the school whose name knows no end.
(Photos via doingfashion.ch. The runway photos are by Shoji Fujii, whose name you might recognize from ASOVF.)
