Purity Ring: The designer Bible - Part 35.

Sunday, December 20, 2015

The designer Bible - Part 35. - Gibo

Julie Verhoeven was born in 1969. She studied at Central St. Martins Fashion College in London. Julie is a London illustrator and freelance designer whose kooky talent has been bubbling behind the fashion scene for a decade. She’s done stints with John Galliano and Martine Sitbon, and was brought in two seasons ago by Marc Jacobs to design the cute, nutty patchwork animal bags for Louis Vuitton.

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Julie Verhoeven | V&A Search the Collections
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Now, with the backing of the giant Italian manufacturer Gibo, Verhoeven has been thrust into the limelight with her own collection. At 33, she’s a child of the ’80s, and the girl she sent out is the personification of the teen who came of age listening to Yaz and Culture Club. She paraded two-tone graphics and clashing color–blocked outfits, frilly blouses, rah-rah skirts and conical-heel pumps. The collection is self-consciously clunky—clothes for a girl making a desperate stab at being glam for her first foray to a disco, only to spend the evening blushing in the corner. Haven’t we all been there?

Gibo has serious plans for Verhoeven’s designs, including opening a store here next January. Franco Penne, who heads up the company, said he chose a Londoner to create this collection because “Milan is about business, but London, whether it is up or down, is about creativity.”