Over the past year Eastpak has collaborated with the likes of Raf Simons, Rick Owens, Christopher Shannon and Gaspard Yurkievich. The latest of these high end collaborations, sees the backpack maker working with Kris Van Assche.
The Belgian designer first established himself in the fashion world as Hedi Slimane’s assistant on the Rive Gauche Homme line for Yves Saint Laurent. He continued to collaborate with Slimane at Christian Dior for the launch and development of the Dior Homme collection. In January 2005, Assche presented his own men’s collection for the first time in Paris during Men’s Fashion Week. Today he heads his own label, KRIS VAN ASSCHE, and is the artistic director for Dior Homme
The collaboration with Eastpak see’s Assche bringing his expertise to the line of bags set for release in June. Based on early promo shots we can expect backpacks and oversized shoulder bags in materials such as parachute cloth, leather and rough cotton.
Kris Van Assche, creative head of Dior Homme, and luxury sunglasses label Oliver Peoples have already put out successful collections of their collaborative designs but this week has seen the launch of the Spring/Summer 2009 collection.
The sunglasses for this season are still over-sized but thinner and sleeker than the thick-rimmed versions of previous seasons. Available in black, white and a divine tortoiseshell, these sunglasses (yet to be given a pricetag) are sure to feature on the WISHLIST of the entire Brandish team.
Gareth Pugh‘s first menswear show was greatly anticipated but having seen it I rather feel a bit of an anticlimax. It was exactly as I could have predicted with wetlook finishes, goathair epaulettes, and Margiela-style .He carried on the aesthetic from his last womenswear show, taking his origami facets onto puffa jackets and trousers, and accessorising with studded boots and feather headpieces.
The Kris Van Assche show was bound to attract some of the fash-pack’s best-dressing men and with the help of The Sartorialist, we need not fly to Paris to savour the front-row fashion savoir-faire.
These guys are both rocking fairly androgynous looks and as Isabelle mentioned earlier, it’s no secret that Doc Martens are the industry’s hot (but slowly cooling) item. I like the other man’s over-sized bag but what interests me the most is his headscarf. D&G featured Queen-chic headscarves on their runway last season and being of Scottish origin, I fail to not feel a slight home-sickness when faced with high-fashion previously seen in my gran’s wardrobe.
Fashion inspiration comes when you least expect it!
It’s hard to criticise Kris van Assche. He’s got such a likable wee face and he seems like a sincere intelligent bloke, as you can see from this interview with Suzy Menkes, the grande dame of fashion journalism. Gotta love Suzy. Her interview style swings between mumsy and slightly creepy and they both seem horribly embarrassed by the size of Suzy’s boom-mike. Don’t look at it Suzy!
From:Are Spurs back in for Leandro Damiao?