What's not to love about Thakoon Panichgual? The Thailand-born, Omaha-raised and now New York-based designer has quickly become known for producing decorative and unique collections, leading people to herald him as one of the most prominent young talents in the New York fashion scene at the moment. The fact that First Lady Michelle Obama sports his clothes doesn't hurt either.
Thanks to the team at The Outnet, you can bag yourself one of his pieces too. Today the online retailer released of his pieces on the website, which are available with up to 65 per cent off. But it's not only his mainline on offer. Also available is Thakoon Addition, a secondary line that Panichgual uses to experiment with some of his ideas that didn't make the cut for the mainline
Just about every major designer and model has descended on New York last night ahead of the Met Gala on Monday but ahead of the event, Balmain's Olivier Rousteing threw a big party last night at Chelsea's Hotel Americano. At the event the designer spoke about the launch of the brand's new Twitter and Facebook accounts that became live this week, revealing that he plans to get in on the Twitter action himself. 'It's a good way to understand what [customers[ feel about the collection, about the clothes and they can see the details, and they can be more a part of my soul,' he told The Cut at the event. 'I hope they will 'like us' and enjoy what we enjoyed to create.'
Aside from that, what was more interesting was his revelation that Joan Smalls is his guest at Monday's event. The partnership definitely works. Smalls looks good in everything but it will be interesting to see how she looks in a piece that showcases the new direction that the young designer is taking the brand.
That wasn't the only Met Gala confirmation from last night. Karlie Kloss will accompany Jason Wu, Anja Rubik is going with Anthony Vaccarello and Constance Jablonski will attend with Haider Ackermann. New in today is that Arizona Muse is teaming up with Erdem, Thakoon with Christina Ricci and Doutzen Kroes with Roland Mouret. The most interesting confirmation is that Karolina Kurkova will attend with Rachel Zoe, cementing her as a designer to be reckoned with.
See images from the Balmain party in the slideshow.
Along with Thakoon, Alexander Wang and Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu is amongst a crop of the Asian-American designers really dominating in New York right now. While brands like Proenza Schouler, Marc Jacobs and Ralph Lauren have tapped into Asian references and sensibilities, this is something that all but Wu have refrained from exploring. Talking to Vancouver-based magazine, Montecristo, he said that he felt like his fall 2012 collection was the perfect time to embrace his roots.
'I suppose this hasn’t really been done before—an Asian designer tapping into the Asian side,' he told the magazine. 'Usually, culturally, we stay away from it … I feel like I’m at a place where I’m maturing not just as a designer, but as a person, to embark on inspirations that hit close to home.' But rather than going down the literal route, Wu has praised for showing the signature references but in a contemporary way. 'I almost wanted to poke fun at it a little bit by interpreting it through stereotypes … but also by incorporating all of that in a way that is elegant and powerful at the same time.'
ThakoonPanichgul is the king of colour. Just take the bright blue and pink hair in his Indian-inspired S/S12 collection as a case in point. So with that said it was hardly surprising that he stuck with this despite the fact that bright colours have so far fallen out of favour with designers this season. One skirt came with in vertical coloured panels in black, blue, purple and then red. Strong coats came in purple and a red long sleeve round neck top came tucked into high waisted pink skirt.
Unfortunately quite like last season, the collection was a bit hit and miss. While I loved the single breasted jackets that were accentuated and corseted at the waist, his experimentation with shape didn't work on many of the skirts that were not flattering on the models.
Thakoon Panichgul's S/S12 show is like marmite. If you loved his references to Kenya's Masai tribe last season, you'll fall in love with all of the bright colours and prints that he showed yesterday but if not, the collection is definitely not for you.
This season he moved from Africa to Asia, where the collection played on Indian prints while updating the traditional sari, which often came with a metallic gold rim along the edges. In that vein, colour appeared in abundance in shades like orange, yellow, red and blue but you must be warned. The collection is not for the faint hearted because rather than showing block colours like many designers did last season, Thakoon incorporated several of theses shades on individual pieces. His love for colour also resulted in the models being sent down the runway with bubblegum pink and aqua coloured hair.
Target isn't afraid to mix low with high having worked on a string of collaborations with brands like Rodarte, Proenza Schouler and Thakoon.Today, the retailer announced that Missoni are the latest brand to collaborate with the retailer and the deal marks the biggest partnership they have worked on to date.
The collection, which will be available between September 13th and October 12th will feature 400+ piece, Vogue.com reports. The line will boast kids, women and mens, as well as homewear all in the classic Missoni prints. “It’s been a fantastic experience," Angela Missoni explained, “one we are eager to share with families across the United States.”
