We would say Alexander Wang is having a moment, but he's a bit too established for that, no? The New York-based designer has just taken this year's prestigious Swiss Textiles Award in Zurich at Stella Fashion Night.
Wang, with his American sportswear-influenced collection, bested Brit designers including Peter Pilotto and Erdem, as well as New York labels Ohne Titel and Thakoon, and Alexis Mabille of Paris. As winner of the prize, Wang will take home 100,000 euros, or about $150,000. "There’s always more to do!" the designer told Grazia after the event. "I can do so much more with my business now – I’m very lucky."
Besides joining the Swiss Textiles Awards high-ranked winners list (previous honourees include Rodarte, Marios Schwab, Raf Simons, Bruno Pieters and Haider Ackermann, Wang has a pretty good stretch of recent awards to his name. He has been named the CFDA Womenswear Newcomer and took the Vogue CFDA Fund prize last year. At this point, is there anything Wang can't win?
Oh how we love Alexander Wang. Not only because he designs eye-wateringly stunning clothes and accessories but also because he's never afraid to speak his mind. Having drawn inspiration from American football including the team uniforms for his upcoming collection, the 25 year old wonder boy of the moment admitted at his trunk show at Barneys a few days ago that, he was not much of a sportsman at school and that, "To be honest, I didn't even know they were in the World Series", speaking about the Yankees. As to the question of why he chose American football as his theme for the next collection, he explained "After coming off of a season that felt very structured and graphic, I wanted something that had a little bit more of a nostalgic feeling."
With so many international designer brands showing their Spring/Summer 2010 offerings at the various fashion weeks this season, we would be hard pressed to decide who to award the title of 'hottest international designer brand'. Luckiliy, we didn't have to as The Senken newspaper has just published its findings of its seasonal survey of Japanese retailers. Alexander Wang, who only launched his first full womens collection in 2007 and is currently working on his first menswear range, pipped Givenchy to the top spot having secured twice as many votes as the luxury Parisienne label. In third place was Balmain, followed by Undercover. Prada scooped 5th place ahead of Dries Van Noten, whilst 3.1 Phillip Lim, Comme des Garcons and Yves Saint Laurent came 7th, 8th and 9th respectively.
Alexander Wang knows how to take a trend and run with it. Last season saw the designer presenting urban, cool sportswear pieces and this season he took it one step further.
For this collection, Wang reinvented some classic American sportswear pieces. Grey sweatshirts were sexed up with high waisted short shorts teamed with grey ribbed knee length socks. Brown leather panels added an interesting edge to grey jumpers with volumous sleeves. Sweatshirts had a subtle sex appeal with sheer black panels and sexy cut out pieces, again referencing themes from his A/W collection.
It seems that there is no stopping Alexander Wang. Following the success of his Spring 2009 footwear debut which had a waiting list of 900, Wang is now planning on releasing an eyewear line in addition to expanding his existing t-shirt range, all in time for Spring 2010.
Keen to continue reinventing himself, as a result of the wise words imparted to him by none other than Marc Jacobs whilst Wang was interning for him, Wang believes that 'as soon as people get used to what you're doing you have to change direction'. Wang is definitely succeeding in this task. His recent handbag collection, named after characters from hit shows from the 1990s such as the 'Kelly' after Kelly in 90210, was an instant hit and sold like hot cakes.
It is most likely that this success will be repeated with the launch of this forthcoming collection especially as his t-shirts will still maintain the 't-shirt culture of throwing something on and running out of the house', according to the designer. With that in mind, it looks like fashionistas better get saving.
New York cool kid Alexander Wang has been hitting us with his egdy, androgynous and sexy style for some time now - bowling us over with studded bags, leather skinnies and the only fringing shoe collection to be seen in for SS09. So now it's time for the boys.
For 2010, Wang is launching a small collection of men's tops, and although they are decidedly more modest than his ready-to-wear collection, they definitely still contain that Wang factor. Picture grey-marl tees with sawn off sleeves, white, loose fitting tanks with extended arm holes and assymetric seams, and dark hooded tops, which were born to be worn undone.
When describing the person he had in mind when creating the collection, Wang told WWD; "It’s a guy who doesn’t think he’s fashionable, but is just cool and has taste and style. That’s much more appealing than a guy who’s fighting his girlfriend for the mirror."
A video preview of the collection is available to view exclusively online at alexanderwang.com
Alexander Wang is officially the man of the moment. But don't be misconceived. It's not all about parties and celebrities for the Swarovski Emerging Design Talent winner. Wang has developed a business acumen that could rival several leading figures in the business today. Each season, Wang ups the ante and continues to take his brand to the next level. Fresh off his diffusion collection with Gap and the introduction of his shoe line, Wang has expanded the brand to produce a range of leather goods including bags, shoes and clothing.
We all knew that Alexander Wang would be big but the young designer really has taken the fashion world by storm. Want evidence? Every celebrity is fighting to get their own Alexander Wang denim and leather motorcycle jacket.
It's official. Alexander Wang cannot do any wrong. While leading established fashion houses are on the brink of bankruptcy (I don't think I need to name names), Wang appears to be building a strong fashion empire that is proving to be resilient to the knocks and turns of the economy.
After Erin Wasson stopped styling for bestie Alexander Wang, the young designer got Alastair McKimm on board. However, Fashionologie report that Calvin Klein stylist Karl Templer is tipped to style Wang's spring/summer 2010 collection next season, replacing McKimm.
Wasson's keeping busy. Joe Zee tweeted that she is busy working on her second styling job at ELLE this week.
