Fashion at London 2012

The Summer Olympics will officially begin in London tomorrow, with the grand Opening Ceremony. It's an exciting time for Olympians and sports fans, but fashionistas will also have something to look forward to at the Closing Ceremony- a major fashion show will be incorporated into the final festivities.

Called "A Symphony of British Music," British models Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Lily Cole, Stella Tennant, Lily Donaldson and Georgia May Jagger will strut their stuff down a catwalk against a backdrop of music performances by Annie Lennox, George Michael, Ray Davies, The Pet Shop Boys, Madness and David Bowie. The models will wear looks by famed British designers Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen, and a few others. According to the organizers, the theme of the production is the best of British- and in our opinion, they've nailed it. 

Photo Courtesy of Fabsugar

MTV's House of Style Set to Return

There are a few things that are worth revisiting in fashion from the 90s. Aside from Tom Ford for Gucci and the Amazonian supermodels, we here at The Fashion Grid would rank MTV's House of Style as one of them. And luckily this relic will no longer be a flashback, as MTV has just announced that it will be bringing back the fantastic documentary, retitled as House of Style: Music, Models and MTV and completely re-branded, revamped and ready to influence a new generation of taste-makers. Check out the preview below, which includes scenes from the old show as well as a sneak peak of its modern counterpart. 

Get More: 'House Of Style' Collection at MTV Style

Cindy Crawford will also be returning to the show that helped catapult her to a global brand, along with other series regulars, but not as the host. MTV will be revealing the show’s new host on September 6th, the night of the MTV Video Music Awards. The show will make it’s big return only a month later on October 9th. Growing up as part of the MTV generation, there are no words to describe how excited we are about this. Now, if only MTV will also bring back more music videos!

Mohapatra Designs Costumes for Opera

In a previous post, The Fashion Grid covered Rodarte's costume designs for the L.A. Philharmonic production of Mozart's opera, Don Giovanni. It's clear designing costumes for such productions has become a popular platform for fashion designers, as earlier this summer, Bibhu Mohapatra designed over 30 costumes for the Glimmerglass Opera premiere of Verdi's Aida.

Francesca Zambello, the General & Artistic Director of Glimmerglass Opera, approached Mohapatra after attending his Fall 2011 collection. The result is a modern, but still elaborate take on the classic Verdi work, in which the Ethiopian princess, Aida, is kidnapped and enslaved by the Egyptians, whose military commander, Radames, falls in love with her. 

“It’s such an emotional story about love and country and duties. It’s almost like a Bollywood story for me,” said the India-born Mohapatra on his website. As a graduate of CFDA's Incubator Class of 2012, Mohapatra has been recognized as a force in the industry, with leading publications covering his work and celebrities wearing his designs. 

After moving to New York City from his native land, Mohapatra attended the Fashion Institute of Technology, where he was awarded the prestigious Critic’s Award for Best Evening Wear Designer during his senior year. He subsequently went on to work for J.Mendel before he launched his own label during NYFW in February 2009.

We here at TFG have been following and writing about this emerging talent's amazing designs and were excited to see him take on such an artistic fete. Check out the video below, where you can see more of Mohapatra's looks for the production and hear him discuss the design process behind the costumes. To see all his previous fashion collections, click here.

Best Looks from Resort 2013

While the resort runway shows have already passed, the collections themselve will be hitting stores in a few months. In some cases, they are already available for pre-order on Moda Operandi. Originally designed for the wealthy who can afford to jet off to warmer climates during the cold seasons, resort is now a more of bridge collection between Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer and marked by clothes that can be worn year-round. The collections tend to incorporate some of the same themes from the previous season while giving consumers a hint of what's to come in the next. Here are some of our favorite looks. 

Alexander McQueen

J. Mendel

Altuzarra

NAHM

Givenchy

Bibhu Mohapatra

Burberry

Cushnie et Ochs

Prabal Gurung

Narciso Rodriguez

Roland Mouret 

Costume National

Fall 2012 Couture

The Couture season in Paris has come to an end and we here at TFG are excited to share some of our favorite looks.  Couture represents a major artistic fete for designers.  The designs are high-fashion, hand-sewn, custom pieces, made-to-order for private clients and thus often one-of-a-kind. To design couture and to become a couturier, one must be certified by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. It is here that fashion truly becomes art. Photographs often fail to do the pieces any justice, especially the seemingly simpler designs where the high-end details often reside in the seams, fabrics, and cuts. Here are some of the looks that inspired us.  

Givenchy  

Yiding Yin

Giambattista Valli 

Elie Saab

Chrisitian Dior

Chanel

Armani Privé 

Alexandre Vauthier

Rad Hourani

Valentino

Stephane Rolland

Versace

Zuhair Murad