May 1, 2012 |
Editor’s Letter
The final piece of the fashion jigsaw is in place, with the announcement that Raf Simons is going to be the new creative director at the house of Dior. The fashion world releases a collective sigh of relief and jubilation that this has come to pass. The total faith placed in the fashion gods has been proved to be well placed.
After his final Jil Sander show last March we all secretly hoped that the powers that be at Dior would see the light. And they did!
So with this and the news that Hedi Slimane is now safely ensconced at Yves Saint Laurent and Jil Sander is back at Jil Sander, the new season promises to be filled with wondrous surprises. High points and all-round creative moments on the autumn/winter catwalk. Very exciting!
But I am getting ahead of myself. Back to the now. Back to the summer. And back to the summer issue of Ten. As more and more designers attribute 70% of their sales to their cruise and pre-fall collections, and more and more are staging shows and creating elaborate look books to giving people a glimpse into this, their most commercially viable part of their collections, we, of course, are giving you the best of the season. This is the fifth Summer issue totally devoted to shouting from the rooftops about this very topic and our Summer Autumn issues are solely devoted to communicating all there is to know about the pre-fall offerings.
But what would Ten be without a little fantasy in the form of couture, without which our flights of fancy just wouldn’t be indulged? We have even created a little subsection just to give you, my darling Tenners, as much as possible.
The first section of our couture adventure has been shot in Japan with one of the most respected art photographers of our time, Araki. Then we’re back to the busy London streets where our couture goddess was beamed down direct from planet couture to exist in our chaotic world for a nanosecond and captured by Sean Thomas. Then, of course, come the backstage moments of this dreamland, as encapsulated by our resident photographer Jason Lloyd-Evans.
There is also a gorgeous 34-page pre-fall story by Gregory Harris and Tony Irvine that transports you to 1930s Berlin, which is truly inspirational. Our focus then shifts onto one of the biggest British brand successes in the form of a Burberry pre-fall shoot. Guess is celebrating its 30 birthday and we profile its iconic pieces in our very Ten way, while Kinga Rajzak has been captured in the summer’s most delicate and feminine pieces by David Armstrong. See also our goodbye to Stefano Pilati in a beautiful shoot of his pre-swansong collection for the house of Yves Saint Laurent. Plus we have for you a Chanel beauty story shot on the streets of NYC. But let’s not forget the final little gem: a peek into the world of Victoria’s Secret and a heads up for their first European store, which opens on London’s Bond Street this summer. July, to be precise. The phenomenon that is Victoria’s Secret is coming to town – a veritable lingerie Disneyland.
So, a pretty chocka issue, I’d say. Enjoy devouring it, dear Tenners. Do it slowly. Savour every bite!
Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou
Editor-in-Chief
