Street Style: Critical Mass in Milan and Paris

Stopping traffic in Paris, Italian street style star Chiara Ferragni wearing Dior. Photographed outside the Dior show at the Musee Rodin by Elli Ioannou. Cover picture at Ferragamo in Milan by Kseniya Segina

Street fashion pitstops outside shows in Paris & Milan have become alternative runways, stages for the exuberant & extroverted. The past decade has seen an explosion in both photographers and their willing subjects at fashion weeks. But it's becoming more difficult to be noticed among the crowds & to make a career from shooting them, Jeanne-Marie Cilento writes. Photography in Paris by Elli Ioannou and in Milan by Kseniya Segina.

Photographers' quarry at the Rodin Museum

ON a grey and cloudy day in the French capital at the Rodin Museum, all you can hear is the crunch of feet on the Parisian white gravel, chattering voices, the call of photographers and the incessant whirr of cameras snapping. The French police are out in force and the street has been closed off. It is the day of Maria Grazia Chiuri's ready-to-wear show for Christian Dior and street style photographers and their subjects are beginning their dance of posing and shooting that will go on before and after the show. Like the ebb and flow of the sea, the photographers, photojournalists, bloggers and TV crews wash around one street style star, who stands alone like an island in an ocean of cameras, before they move en masse to their next willing quarry.

Like the ebb and flow of the sea, photographers wash around one street style star, who stands alone like an island in an ocean of cameras.

 Winnie Harlow outside Dior in Paris

Among the scrum, are models of the moment like Canadian Winnie Harlow, Italian fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni and American Vogue's creative director Grace Coddington. Even though it is a cold, wintry day German blogger Caroline Daur's arms and torso are bare but for a horizontal sliver of Dior with thin straps and loose, high-waisted trousers. The only thing that looks warm is her fluffy, bright orange purse. Across town, another band of enthusiastic guests stand outside Indian couturier Manish Arora's show wearing his signature vividly hued pieces and their own brand of colourful maximalism. Singer Aria wears one of the designer's long, silken gowns in bright pink decorated with tiny sea animals like coloured candy. A few days earlier in Milan, the street style photographers were arriving at the Italian designers' shows waiting to shoot not only Vogue Japan's editor-at-large Anna Dello Russo, an original fashion favourite famous for her extravagant outfits, plus a panopoly of uber models including Bianca Balti, but also interesting-looking people wearing their own mix of high and low fashion. Some of the bloggers, actresses or digital influencers wear a "total look" of the design house like a walking billboard for the brand while others combine one piece from a designer's current season sith earlier pieces and cheap chic from Top Shop or Zara.

What is worn on the runway during Milan and Paris fashion weeks has always commanded attention around the world ~ today acres of pictures are also now devoted to what is worn off the catwalk.

Style star Anna Dello Russo in Milan

While what is on the runway during Milan and Paris fashion weeks has always commanded attention around the world, today acres of digital pictures are also now devoted to what is worn off the catwalk. Street style has become it's own industry taking up many column inches online and in print. The late American photographer Bill Cunningham brought street style to readers in his New York Times columns, On the Street and Evening Hours, chronicling the city’s inhabitants from the fashionable to the frankly eccentric. In his nearly 40 years working for The Times, Bill Cunningham covered New York on his bike recording a history of 20th and 21st Century dress and social mores. But the rise of the blog and the use of the internet to publish pictures really took off a decade ago. American self-taught photographer Scott Schuman set the trend with his The Sartorialist blog in 2006, shooting people who looked stylish yet natural at the same time in the New York streets ~ he wanted to connect fashion and quotidian life. The Sartorialist soon became a must read for those curious about style on the streets of the world's capital cities and those working in the industry who wanted Schuman to shoot campaigns for fashion houses and magazines.

The late American photographer Bill Cunningham brought street fashion to readers in his New York Times' columns, 'On the Street' and 'Evening Hours', chronicling the city’s inhabitants from the fashionable to the frankly eccentric.

Today, although there has been a rise and fall and rise in the popularity of street style within the

Nicole Warne in Milan 

fashion industry, every season there appears to be more photographers and more willing ~ and aiming ~ to be photographed. While The Blonde Salad's Italian blogger Chiara Ferragni and Gary Pepper Girl's Australian Nicole Warne built their careers on being street style favourites and became self-made stars within the street fashion firmament, both have moved on to create business interests from their original popularity as bloggers. Ferragni has broadened her interests to include a range of footwear and is building an extensive e-commerce website. She has broken out from the online blogger mould and has been photographed for more than 50 covers of well-known print magazines. Even Harvard University did a special report on The Blonde Salad blog and how Ferragni and her partner Riccardo Pozzoli turned it into a business. Since Pozzoli, Ferragni's boyfriend of the time, started taking pictures of her in Milan's streets in 2009, street fashion has exploded. Today, the sheer number of photographers and people wanting to be photographed has grown so exponentially it is increasingly difficult for photographers to make any money from it and for wannabe style stars to get any attention.

For anthropologists curious about the human social condition to followers of fashion, pictures of people in the street wearing both the bizarre and the banal has an enduring fascination.

However, for the readers and followers of fashion, the pictures of people in the street wearing both the bizarre and the banal has an enduring fascination. While images of impossibly slim, teenage models who are coiffed to perfection walking the runway has a distancing effect, those of people wearing their own concoctions and pictured in an urban environment still seems to offer a window into the fashion world that is much easier to relate to. Although only the very few will be able to make a viable career out of either being photographed or working as the photographer taking them, our keen interest in looking at what other people are wearing is a human trait that is unlikely to wane.


The Sartorialist's Jenny Walton in Milan

Street fashion originally emerged not from photographic studios, but from what people are wearing in cities. It began with youth culture, beginning in urban places all around the world. Newspapers and magazines began to feature photographs of people in the street wearing stylish, eccentric and individual outfits with a certain amount of insouciance. Japanese street style has been one of the great propellers of street style with many diverse movements happening all at once that are then co-opted by fashion designers for their own collections. Many of these trends have been chronicled by Shoichi Aoki since 1997 in the fashion magazine Fruits.

Since the late 19th Century, there have been pictures of fashionable ladies photographed in the street, particularly in Paris. But the modern sense of street fashion only really took hold in the 1960s. The concept of photographers shooting outside the studio and capturing what people are wearing in the street goes back to Japan again. Though the styles have changed over the years, street fashion is still prominent in Tokyo today. Subcultures have formed in large urban fashion districts such as Harajuku, Aoyama, Ginza, Odaiba, Shinjuku and Shibuya. Street fashion in Japan is created from a mix of both local and foreign labels and some of the styles are extreme and avant-garde, similar to the haute couture seen on European catwalks and now outside fashion shows.

Tap pictures for a full-screen slideshow of street style in Milan and Paris

Italian dandy Niccolo Cesari in suit and tie with a touch of flair and a burnt orange overcoat in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

 Italian blogger Chiara Ferragni is surrounded by photographers and fans in Paris at the Dior show.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Photographers in a scrum outside Dolce & Gabbana's Metropol Theatre in Milan.
Shot by Kseniya Segina

Filippo Bologni mixing classic checks and sportswear in Milan outside the Etro show.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Billowing Dior in Paris at the Rodin Museum.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Canadian model Winnie Harlow is surrounded by television cameras in Paris at Dior.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

At the Gucci show in Milan, musician Maxime Sokolinski.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Camel-hued overcoats and patterned scarves in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Black and white elegance in Paris outside of the Dior show.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Black leather, black jeans and tiny clutch at the Rodin Museum in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

On a wintry day in Paris, German blogger Caroline Daur wears a sliver of Dior to the show at the Rodin Museum.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

 Gilda Ambrosio in Milan during fashion week.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Captured looking casual in Milan, model Elsa Hosk.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Bright red flowing skirt and leather jacket at Dior in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Sleek hair and chignon outside Armani in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Cherry-red roll-neck and smooth, plaited chignon at Armani.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Vivid colour and pattern outside the Grand Palais in Paris, before the Manish Arora show. Photographed by Elli Ioannou

 Classic camel shirt and gold make for a stylish getaway in Paris at Dior.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Grace Coddington, creative director for American Vogue, in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Meimei Zhao wearing a white space age outfit with brilliant heels finished with depictions of small warning signs.
Photographed during Paris Fashion Week by Elli Ioannou  

Denim and Diesel in Milan at Armani.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Spiky leather jacket and Moschino phone case makes a sharp look in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

High and low heels and a Saint Laurent bag at Dolce & Gabbana in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

 Singer Aria in pink dress decorated with tiny sea creatures at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Butterfly high heels and a buttercup yellow dress at Manish Arora in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Seventies style cool in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

At Marni in Milan, Daria Shapovalov wears velvet flower-strewn denim.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Denim on denim with gold, low-heeled pumps at Manish Arora in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou 

Fervent fans mixing brilliant colour and floral patterns with pink-lipped shoes at Manish Arora.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Denim overalls and checked shirt at Fendi in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Fringed, yellow earrings, faux fur and denim makes a street style star in Milan at Pucci.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Nose ring and rainbow coloured jacket outside Manish Arora's show at the Grand Palais in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Black lace and white stripes at Manish Arora's show in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Bomber jacket and red-check grunge on the way to Pucci in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Black leather jacket ~ a perennial fashion favourite ~ at the Etro show in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Simone Marchetti, fashion editor at La Repubblica, outside the Dior show in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Black and white printed sweater with paisley-patterned ruched skirt in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Feminine ruffles and embroidered jacket at Milan Fashion Week.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Barbora Podzimkova at Ferragamo in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Carlotta Oddi, Chiara Totire and Anna Dello Russo and in Milan during fashion week.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Model Bianca Balti in Milan during fashion week.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

 Silky blue bomber jacket and jeans in Milan at Dolce & Gabbana.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Purple and blue in Milan make another Italian dandy at Ferragamo.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Fun at Milan Fashion Week.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Sackcloth and a white,scalloped head scarf make an eccentric mix in Paris.
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

White eyelashes and burgundy and camel at Pucci in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Roberta Ruiu at Milan Fashion Week in pale green lace.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

A single diamante is this girl's only make up in Milan. Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Photographers surround Giorgio Armani at his fashion show in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Carlotta Oddi at Armani during Milan Fashion Week RTW AW17
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Tamu McPherson wearing a check overcoat with bright blue collar at Marni in Milan.
Photographed by Kseniya Segina

Tulle and sequins with a bamboo handbag make a whimsical look in wintry Paris for the ready-to-wear AW17 collections
Photographed by Elli Ioannou

Chanel Takes Off for a Space Age Autumn/Winter 2017/18

DAM TV: Karl Lagerfeld, Cara Delevingne & Pharrell Williams:


Watch the full Chanel show and rocket launch:

Yuima Nakazato: Ignis Aer Aqua Terra

Yuima Nakazato's glinting collection Ignis Aer Aqua Terra: Fire, Air, Water and Earth.
Cover and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

Not a needle or thread were used in the creation of Yuima Nakazato's elemental show, Ignis Aer Aqua Terra. We take a look back at his second collection as part of the official haute couture calendar in Paris where Nakazato experiments with the future of fashion construction, writes Paul McDonnell. Photography by Elli Ioannou.

Glimmeringly surreal

YUIMA Nakazato works from his Shibuya studio in Tokyo, creating outfits that look more futuristic than anything featured in a science fiction film. The designer has a unique aesthetic and none of his pieces are the same, each one is custom-made for the wearer, never to be repeated.

Nakazato's latest creations are made from thousands of what he describes as 'units', these follow one of four elements: fire, air, water or earth. The collection is inspired by them and a combination of different aspects of each element. When you see them all together, the pieces have iridescent colours that shimmer as the wearer moves. Nakazato wants us to see the movement of water or fire simulated in the garment.

Voluminous sleeves in fiery hues

"By function, aesthetics, touch, form and other factors, clothing will be able to transform instantaneously," says Nakazato. "Eventually, in fashion, no two pieces will be the same." Seeing the models move under the colourful lights in Paris made the shimmering hues appear to dances over their bodies.

Nakazato has been called a neo-futurist in fashion design, one of the artists and architects who believe in the future of cities, their capacity to offer emotional experiences, experiments with new materials and new technologies to provide a better quality of life. 

The designer's latest presentation is only the second by a Japanese designer at Paris Haute Couture since 2004, as a guest of the Fédération Française de la Couture. A Japanese designer has not been on the event’s official calendar since fashion pioneer Hanae Mori retired 12 years ago.

The designer was born in Tokyo and says he learned much about the freedom of expressive art from from his sculptor father and mother, a metal carver. His family home is filled with giant art objects and made a strong contrast to strict Japanese schooling. With artists as parents, Nakazato was surrounded by art from early childhood and he says that the years of seeing and watching his parents' work, performing arts, stage design, and costumes all have influenced his work. 

Nakazato was the youngest Japanese student to graduate from the Fashion Department Master’s Course at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp. So avant-garde were his shoe designs during his degree show that they were acquired by the Antwerp Mode Museum (MoMu) for their permanent collection. He was also awarded the Innovation Award by Ann Demeulemeester for his graduation collection and won the International Talent Support (ITS) Fashion Competition held in Italy, one of the two largest fashion contests in the world.

Nakazato has dressed Lady Gaga and Fergie of The Black Eyed Peas, this latest collection will look spectacular moving on stage and it will be interesting to see which performer he dresses next.

Yuima Nakazato's show appeared otherworldly and mysterious in Paris

 Nakazato's alien-like facial encrustations, asymmetrical hair pieces and transparent platform shoes all added to the Sci-Fi sense of the collection

The vibrant and intricate materials of Nakazato's creations ~ this piece does appear to embody an earthy and fiery quality

Big volumes and shimmering colours added to the impact of the designs in a darkened space

Yuima Nakazato's models appeared to be from an unknown urban tribe that had landed in the centre of Paris

The scintillating facets of Nakazato's materials

Nakazato's new tribe of futuristic urban dwellers dressed in the creations inspired by fire, air, water and the earth

Yuima Nakazato's glinting collection Ignis Aer Aqua Terra: Fire, Air, Water and Earth.
Cover and all photographs by Elli Ioannou

The New Femininity: Diaphanous Fluidity at Ralph & Russo

A cascade of lavender ruffles at Ralph & Russo on the runway in Paris. The tulle ball gown is embellished with 3D pleated silk organza and tulle flowers. Cover picture and main image by Elli Ioannour for Design & Art Magazine

Australian design duo Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo saw a gap in the luxury fashion market, starting out in London with one sewing machine and a dream to create a haute couture house. This season they were back in Paris, showing a sophisticated and highly-polished collection that had clients ordering pieces before the models had even left the runway, writes Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Elli Ioannou

Voluminous red silk, organza ball gown

TEN years ago Australian designer Tamara Ralph had the dream of creating couture in London with business partner and fiance Michael Russo. In that short decade, the pair have had an extraordinarily rapid rise to the top of the luxury brand market. Since 2007, Ralph & Russo has gone from a single sewing machine in a tiny office to a Victorian mansion in Mayfair. Three years ago, they began showing their new collections in the rarefied atmopshere of Paris Couture Week, the only British company in more than a century to be considered skilled enough to be on the official schedule. Their growing list of global clients includes the super rich, royalty and some of the world's most famous actors and singers, such as Beyonce, Kyle Minogue, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.

Silk chiffon from the runway to Jennifer Lopez

Actress Hailee Steinfeld wore a silken, ruffled gown at this year's Academy Awards where she presented an Oscar, Jennifer Lopez appeared at the 2017 Grammy Awards in a pale pink Ralph & Russo confection while Kirsten Dunst sat in the front row at their latest couture show in Paris wearing a creamy dress with 3D pleating, next to model Arizona Muse in quietly gleaming pale, grey lace. Tamara Ralph and Michael Russo have built a strong team of several hundred at their atelier in Hyde Park with skilled artisans including embroiderers, tailors and designers who work in toile, chiffon, velvet and silk. The size of the atelier is remarkable in Britain and is even larger than Chanel's couture atelier of around seventy seamstresses. Today they have two showrooms in London and Paris, and ten international boutique openings are planned to open this year from Miami to Macau. Last November, they won the Outstanding Achievement Award for their fashion house at the Walpole British Luxury Awards. Tamara Ralph has said she believes their success is due to their personal interaction with their clients alongside the house's outstandingly high level of quality and craftsmanship. Their accessories collection sold out when it was first launched in 2015 and they have since expanded it again recently.

Silk, scallop-edged suits

Ralph & Russo's Sping/Summer 2017 collection in Paris included fifty-five new pieces, most of them dresses, except one ~ a cropped top with wide trousers finished with pearl and glass beads. Overall this season, the Australian pair presented a more contemporary collection with daywear looks mixed with their signature red-carpet gowns. Opening the show were elegant, silk crepe dresses decorated with topaz, pearl, and glass embroidery and neat suits with scalloped edges. The more practical looks included dresses with checks, knee-length belted suits and a tweed minidress with silk organza ruffled sleeves. The glamorous gowns included a black tulle strapless gown appliquéd with silk organza, a white tulle ballgown with ruffled skirt, black tulle cocktail dress with silk petals, glass beads and ostrich feathers, and a silvery, fringed and feathered dress.

The billowing evening gowns were the key to the show, finished with pearls, flowers, crystals and jewelled buttons, white feathers and pleated tulle flowers. The voluminous tiered silk skirts, some encrusted with hundreds and thousands of pearls, sequins and glass beads, shivered delicately with cascading bouquets of pleated organza that looked three dimensional.

 Alessandra Ambrosio in lace & a feathered cape

One of the most striking creations on display included a strapless red chiffon gown with a ruffled bodice and a dashingly high side slit. Another dramatic gown in lilac was made up of swathes of delicate tulle flowers. Other ballgowns featured  multi-tiered ruffled skirts with lace racerback tops. Closing the finale of the Paris Spring/Summer 2017 show was willowy supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio as the Ralph & Russo bride. The Brazilian model wore a luxurious white tulle and pale grey organza layered bridal gown, adorned with crystals, glass bead hand embroidery and appliquéd with tiny metallic flowers. Covering her shoulders was a silk organza cape adorned with ostrich feathers This creation captured the new collection's mixture of diaphanous femininity with a powerful silhouette.

Tap on photographs for full-screen slideshow

Black tulle ball gown with an off-the-shoulder bodice and voluminous skirt, hand appliquéd with silk organza frills and embellished with glass beads, sequins, crystals and duchess satin flowers

Periwinkle silk chiffon and Chantilly lace gown with a flowing cape and cascading ruffles



Metallic pink and grey tweed tailleur with structured collar and tiered pencil skirt embellished with silver rhinestones and plastic fringing



Photographers gather around the front row to shoot Kirsten Dunst and model Amazon Muse

Actress Kirsten Dunst in creamy silk with model Amazon Muse

Pale blue silk organza gown, hand embroidered with silk thread, crystals and glass beads

Petrol blue tulle kaftan embroidered with floral metallic thread-work and tulle under-layer with glass bead embellishment

 Phones raised on the runway to capture the new looks at Ralph & Russo

Pale blue ball gown with square deep-split corset, embellished with metallic crystals in tessellated design, and contrast with a silk organza skirt with geometric ruffles

Pale blue tulle gown embroidered with metallic gold thread in floral design and hand appliquéd with satin and leather flowers

Cream silk faille tailored dress with off-the-shoulder collar and wide belt, hand embroidered with black pleated organza flowers, crystals, glass beads and jewelled buttons

 A surprising split at the back of the dress gives the cream silk dress a frisson of drama

Blush tulle gown with sheer pleated neckline and tiered bodice, hand embroidered with clusters of sequins and crystals

Blush sheer tulle gown with racer neckline and overskirt, hand embroidered with sequin clusters and lines of glass beads

Amethyst silk organza robe embroidered with metallic threadwork, scallop edging and a floral Sangallo cut-out design

White silk crêpe gown with crystal pleated tiered skirt, hand embroidered with sapphire crystals and sequins in a geometric design.