Mary Katrantzou's Wild 2014 F/W Collection Is A Big Departure for The Greek Designer.

When I first introduced you to fashion designer Mary Katrantzou in 2008 - 2009, she had barely broken into the fashion world. At that time her clothes had printed textiles which emulated chunky jewelry and perfume bottles and were accompanied by jewelry of her own design:


In 2011 I showed you that Mary's work had progressed to combine her digitally printed textiles with lots of embellishments and structured shapes inspired by home decor. Again, her own chunky jewelry was incorporated in to the collection:


As time passed, Mary simplified her designs in terms of silhouettes and materials, but mainly stayed with the photographic textiles as recently as her 2014 Spring/ Summer Collection. You will notice her jewelry designs seem to have disappeared from her work:


Mary is currently best known for her bright figure hugging dresses with digitally printed landscapes, like those shown below:


Now, considered one of the top designers in fashion, her work has continued to evolve.

Mary Katrantzou Fall/Winter 2014 Collection:



In a big change from her usual digitally printed textiles, the 2014 Fall/Winter collection from Mary Katrantzou is a very tactile, highly embellished and unique collection. The silhouettes are a big departure from her previous collections, fabrics are varied and mixed (even patches are woven together to create a textile) and the imagery shifts from photographic and cheerful to a darker, more serious, three dimensional style. Pleats, asymmetry, applique patches and metal hardware embellishes the collection.



Here's a look at a few of the more unusual pieces from the collection which debuted this week in London:













Mary Katrantzou

20 Pairs Of Witty Socks Give You A Leg Up On Attitude.

20 new wickedly fun pairs of cotton blended socks say what you probably can't. Sarcastic and mostly bitter, the colored socks come in designs broken into 4 different general styles, with 5 styles in each category. Retro illustrated socks featuring people with fun sayings, bright colors with graphics and fun sayings, plaid floral socks with the sayings on a hang tag, and socks that mix tools and construction items with flowers and fun sayings.





All 20 styles shown below:

Fuck This Shit:


Don't Change:


Sock Whore:


Three Days of Cramps Makes Me a Total Badass:


You're Not The Boss Of Me:


Carpe The Fuck Out Of This Diem:


I Have Mood Swings:


Love Is Being Stupid Together:


Men Ruin Stuff:


It's My Parents Fault:


They Don't Want You To, But I Say Do It:


You're Not Obsessive,You're Compulsively Awesome:


Screwing Up Is Part Of The Program:


Kick This Day In Its Sunshiny Ass:


Your Ass is Grass:


Pretty Hammered:


Perfectly Screwy:


Easy To Squeeze:


A Little Mixed Up:


Bright and Beautiful:


The socks are a combination of cotton, nylon and spandex for both comfort and to hold their shape. They come in Women's shoe size 5-10.


In addition, 1% of the sale of these socks supports the humanitarian work of Doctors Without Borders



Only $9.99 a pair, they make great gifts. Shop for them here at Blue Q

Modern Caskets For Your Body And Soul. The 2014 Equinox Collection from Camaquen.

I'm not a morbid person, despite having written about modern casket options before. No one really likes to talk about preparing for death, yet it's a realistic inevitability. That said, casket shopping is not unlike any other furniture purchase. You want one that is comfortable, reflects your design and philosophical sensibilities and is well-made without having to, well... sell your soul.

Temporary Monograms: IMPRINT Letter-Pressed Textiles.

IMPRINT is a collaborative concept by Sebastian Herkner and Zur Schwäbischen Jungfrau. As part of Passionswege 2013 during Vienna Design Week, German designer Sebastian Herkner found a more contemporary method of individualizing textiles and presented it in an installation: instead of needle and cotton, steam is used to stamp the initials on the fabric – which keep until the next wash.










project assistants: Robin Benito Schmid & Martin Hirth

photo at top of the post by Sam Dunne, courtesy of Core77.
all other images courtesy of Sebastian Herkner