Thursday, December 22, 2016

Atelier Versace Fall/Winter 2015-2016.

Sun. 07/05/2015.






Donatella goes Music Festival? Pardon Moi? Well, get ready for Haute Couture Festival girls in the mould of Glastonberry and Coachella at the house that Sex built! Donatella Versace's Fall/Winter 2015 Atelier showing was inspired by equal measures of Stevie Nicks and Lollapalooza. Flower girls who are more daring than your usual festival goer, revealing more skin than might be seen as decorous for such an occasion, especially when that skin is encased in exposed skin tight, body shaping corsets in which diaphanous raw-edge Chiffons, Devoré Velvets and figured Lace are spun about in gossamer and fairy-tale like configurations. 

For Versace, Donatella especially, this is brazenly new territory, Donatella is not given much to limpid, dreamy, ethereality and this presentation saw her break with her usual Power Woman aesthetic and indulge in something much more romantic, all the while cloaked in the phenomenal technical wizardry of her couture ateliers. Those ateliers whipped up some truly dazzlingly masterful concoctions that defied imagination. Spinning webs and floating panels of fabric onto corsets that had become the centerpiece of the gown, not the accomplice, bisecting fraying edged materials with beading and lace and crafting them into elaborate confections. The best possible moment was when Hanae Gaby strode upon the stage in a flotilla of shredded petals of pleated Aqua Blue Organza that were worked to resemble huge Ostrich feather plumes amassed into a Magnificent Ballgown. It was a Breathtaking piece de mode to be sure!

The only thing that grated on ones nerves, there was no releif from all this floating, liquid-y finery. No day wear to speak of, nothing to cut the gauzy, hippy-dippy grungy Haight-Ashbury meets 90's Seattle and add a much needed counterpoint. To the end, the collection felt more than a small amount redundant. But with such beauty on display, and such beautiful technique, Donatella could be forgiven for getting a little carried away with herself!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Up Next: Fall/Winter 2015 Haute Couture.

Thurs. 12/22/2016.





Dear Readers,

Another Year is nigh over, I am trying to catch up. I am seasons and seasons behind, but if i can make some progress and keep moving forward I just might get to the end and be on track! Have Faith. Send me your positive thoughts!

Take Care and Happy Holidays!


Yours,

Terrill Lawrence Sanford.

Céline Resort 2016.

Thurs. 10/22/2015.






Who this woman is exactly, that dresses in Céline, is a TOTAL Mystery to me. Phoebe Philo's Resort collection for 2016 for the label is as mystifying as it totally outlandish! The clothes here are often so incomprehensibly bewildering, that to call them dysfunctional would be bordering on a compliment! Most in the fashion circles swoon over this, let's call a spade a spade, shall we... "SHIT" like it's Mother's Milk. Sorry, I don't really like that particular flavour of Kool-Aid that they are drinking! Maybe, it is me. Perhaps, I simply don't get it... I'd like to comfort myself with that knowledge and hope that at some point I WILL GET IT, yet my brain doesn't work like that and I can't get this. It's too damn... Horrendous! 

Philo seems to be defiantly trying to push people's ideas of what is fashion, but in a way that comes across as snotty and boorish. Like she's too cool for the rest of the pack. What it equates to is some unwearable trash masquerading as Fashion. Let's be frank, there are treasures amidst the trash, A Pencil Striped Trench in a Pretty Sea Blue and White had legs, as did a Palomino coloured shaggy fur with Leather tie closures, that piece was killing it, to be fair! But the rest... A Dung Heap! That's about as good a comment as I can muster! 





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Tracy Reese Resort 2016.

Mon. 07/06/2015.






If you like Pretty, then Tracy Reese's 2016 Resort collection has all the things you need to be as Pretty as a Peach! A truly delightful excursion filled to capacity with Bright, Happy, Upbeat and Unabashedly GIRLY clothes made for Woman and Girls alike! Sublime, Positive colour was the most gleeful facet of the collection, Robin's Egg Blue, Mica Pink, Ocean Blue, Electric Turquoise, Coral... Plus a healthy soupçon of Neutrals, Black and White. Swishy dancing skirts and ruffles added more lively flair to the collection and a breezy attitude topped it all off wonderfully so!

The best pieces were actually, the ones that did indulge their lighthearted and girlish sides the most, A Sweeping Robin's Egg Blue flora and fauna print sundress was as easy as Sunday Morning, while a Flutter sleeve wrap dress in a graphic Black/Neutral print had equal parts of Dressed Up and Casual and could manage both, handily! While a White Lace dance dress with Black over-embroidery was a polished and masterful take on the perfect dress for a Summer Night! 

Reese managed to create a Fanciful collection that was not bogged down by saccharine condescension or lack of sophistication. It was how a True Woman wants to dress when she wants to get in touch with her inner Girl! Most women I know, are always happy to dress like their inner youthful self, yet still remain 100% Grown Ass Woman! Quite the Fetching Combo, if you ask me! 





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Nina Ricci Resort 2016.

Sun. 07/05/2016.






Guillaume Henry presented a fascinating and brilliant Resort collection for Nina Ricci, where he was just ensconced a few months ago. For the second collection under his design, it hit, practically, every note pure and true! Henry's collection is a little less Frou-Frou than what Peter Copping did at the label, but the essential concern with femininity was forefront, (as it should be) yet handled with a somewhat more décontracté air about it. 

The best takeaway, even though the Girly clothes were deliciously delightful, Henry packed the most punch in his virtually detail-less pieces that had a graceful and easy everyday appeal but still looked anything but basic! A beauty of a Shift dress with a gentle flared "Swish" of a hem in Bone was super easy for day, and could double for Cocktail duty in a nanosecond. A Natural Linen Trench was as perfect as any woman, in any city, in any country, could possibly desire! Also, a long, Gauzy sleeveless Black gown/dress with raw edges at the neck and armholes, paired with a Midnight Blue peacoat proved to have a versatility that could transition it from day to night without any worry or concern! 

Henry is quickly staking his claim at this storied Maison and adding his own flavour to the mix. What Copping left behind as a template, Henry is subtly shifting and adjusting to bear more of his signature, yet still give the Ricci woman what she desires... That is a Recipe for Success, if you ask me!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Balmain Resort 2016.

Mon. 07/06/2015.






One-Trick Pony. The phrase that has, with exceeding quickness, become forefront to encapsulating the styles of fashion that Olivier Rousteing has been parading forth for the house of Balmain. And, to be sure... It has worn SUPER Thin at this point. His clothes have always had a Larger-Than-Life sense of "Look At Me!" to them, as well as more than it's fair share of trashiness and classlessness... It has been what has attracted the sluttier and of no class quotient of Celebrity-dom like the Trashy, Whorish Kardashians and such ilk. And Rousteing has courted this army of slutty bunnies with an insatiable appetite and desire to clothe them in ever more tawdry wares.

His Resort collection, unfortunately enough, was more of the same. Helplessly Tacky and even worse to say, Hopelessly Predictable. Rousteing's designs stick out like a Sore Thumb and announce themselves about a half hour before they arrive to whatever event they will be slinking around at. Just too much of it is congested and smothered in overworked surfaces and techniques and this time, Heaven Help Us All... Disastrously, RUFFLES! Yes, Darlings... that WAS a tiered and ruffled Suede Flamenco skirt you saw on Ysaunny Brito. Lord Mercy Jesus!

The collection was so difficult to find any sort of sophistication in, and that was deeply to it's detriment. It didn't come across as ugly, but it damn sure verged awfully close. The "Ugly" aspect was that the clothes didn't so much empower as enhance, and what it was enhancing was all the wrong things. I have nothing at all against Slutty Sexy, Gianni and Donatella have crafted a Exquisite universe of pushing the boundaries of Slutty/Sexy, but Chez Versace, it has always been crafted with Class and Elegance. Rousteing seems to know nothing of those Twin Scions. He really should get to becoming friends with them... Tout De Suite!





That's All.





Bye4Now!


Monday, December 19, 2016

Miu Miu Resort 2016.

Sat. 07/07/2015.






In the world of Miuccia Prada, Fashion journalists, bloggers, magazine editors, store buyers and generally any hanger-on adjunct to the fashion industry, all seem to have deep, philosophical thoughts on each and every collection Madame Prada produces and all try to peel back the often times innumerable layers of subtext AND context to try to get at the beating heart of meaning of Miuccia's always percolating and astutely agile mind, Yours truly, included! Some go WAY too far and over indulge themselves in a practical onanistic orgy of verbal diarrhea that definitely proves that they like to read just how clever and insightful they are and edge themselves to an orgasmic release of Self-Important superiority of language... (You know who my eyes are gazing on as I write these words...)

Sometimes... it's just to say... Fuck That Noise and leave all the bloviated over analysis to the Four winds and just enjoy the goddamn show! You Know? That was the feeling I think Señora Prada was trying to convey with this collection... Turn your Brain into the "OFF" position, Sit back, Relax, and have a moment to just enjoy and have some FUN! Her Miu Miu Resort 2016 collection was the perfect collection for the 4th of July, full of it's own kind of fireworks and raw energy! It was sexy, and for once with Miuccia, GENUINELY Sexy, not subliminally or intellectually, but Good, Pure, Red-Blooded Sexy! It was, in it's way, Pretty! It was Raucous. And it worked! From top to bottom! 

She staged a Party, a Rave some say... I think it was hearkening back more to the days of CBGB's and the late 70's where S-E-X was seen as a Healthy and Good thing and there wasn't all those connotations of Sluttiness and Kardashian-like trashiness to sex! I saw more Blondie than Courtney Love. Even though there was a Grunge aspect to the collection to be sure, Prada sent out a wild cacophony of ideas that held together seamlessly and truly made the onlooker smile, not from some arrogant sense of intellectual knowing, but from the fact that these clothes didn't feel like they were thought out in any manner, they just seemed thrown on and ready to go out the door to the party! 

It was a Feel Good collection to be sure, something we haven't witnessed from Miuccia in quite a while, and it LOOKED GOOD! Her recent efforts for this label have been hackneyed and belaboured to DEATH and looked overwhelming. This, on the other hand, Was effortless! Proving (overly analytical types out there...)  One needn't always "THINK" About one's fashion... and that includes one of Fashion's Greatest thinkers of all time... Miuccia Prada!





That's All.





Bye4Now!


Roberto Cavalli Resort 2016.

Thurs. 07/02/2015.






In the midst of waiting for Peter Dundas to transition into the storied Casa de Cavalli (A place he has occupied in the past, and as of this writing occupies no longer, staying for only the hottest of minutes!) the design team whipped up this overdone and frankly, predictable froth of a Resort collection. Cavalli is a house stuck in it's own history and is perpetually propagating the same old tropes and ideas over and over again, ad nauseam. In it's better moments it simply borders on lazy and boring, in it's worst, dreadfully leaden and forgettable. There is no freshness, no relief from the consistent reliance on the archives and the past fashions and signatures of the house. 

This was absolutely no exception. Fringe, Haute Hippie looks, Sheer Black frocks, Denim, Bowie-esque Tuxedo jackets... Et Cetera... Et Cetera... you know the rest. If it wasn't so garishly overworked at times it would be desperately bland. Were the pieces wearable and fashionable...? Yes, they were. Were they anything we haven't seen in a dozen different regurgitated incarnations before? No, they weren't, and that about sums it up, to be totally honest! 





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Sunday, December 18, 2016

Martin Grant Resort 2016.

Tues. 06/29/2015.






Consistency can sometimes be considered Damning with Faint Praise in the fashion echelons. It can be used, somewhat pejoratively, to say that a designer, while creating fabulously beautiful work, that they may be a little staid and let's face facts... It's used to mean a designer is Boring! Simple as that! Martin Grant is one such designer, and that's the Humongous shame of the industry that this Master of the art of Fashion is considered just that... CONSISTENT! He IS consistent. Consistently Amazing.

Yes, his clothes don't shout, "This Is A Martin Grant Outfit!" One, His clientele are already well-versed enough in the magic of his clothes to know another acolyte when they see one, so they needn't any reason to shout, and... Two, his large customer base don't want their clothes to offer that kind of klaxon blaring to the loudest possible decibel! They prefer the quiet, innate chic that comes with wearing Martin Grant, and Grant, is eager to oblige, for he isn't given much to hollering himself.

Grant reminds one of, in some small, minute way, the great Cristobal (Last name NOT needed!) He works his magic, perfecting his ideas and readjusting them to each new season while never losing the inherent principles that his design is based on,,, Kinda like Yves (Again... LAST NAME NOT NEEDED!) but without all the tortured neurosis! For that reason alone, His clothes have been swabbed with the brush of.., Classic. Which is all well and good, but Grant has the technical facilities to compete with Couture, (and imagine if he were given the reins to a couture house how AMAZING that would be!) and "Classic" seems to my point of view, come off as much of a Backhanded compliment, 

But all that is academic really. One should focus on the clothes, No? Grant's 2016 Resort collection is one of great fun and chicness! Using a strict palette of Black, Blue and White with touches of Camel, Grant crafted a soignè collection full of Sophistication and Slickly Stylish pieces that would cause the master YSL himself to perhaps weep (although that man did cry at the drop of a dime, so maybe not the best comparison!) Anyways... Grant kept things mercifully unfussy and clean, until the last Four looks, there wasn't one whit of embellishment to be found! It was refreshing to see such austerity presented with so much Verve and Joy! His collection positively sparked with ebullience! 

There's no need to fastidiously earmark each and every piece, they all brimmed with excellence. but a few did make the heart flutter a bit more than others... A Champagne White Satin tie-neck blouse with Black French Cuffs and high-waisted wide Black Trousers envisaged the best days of Yves done in a modern mode, while a Black Swing coat with Blue stripes had the same envisaging, yet this time of Balenciaga. And Grant's riff on "Le Smoking" Two Words...

UTTERLY... FLAWLESS!

Come to think of it... those words kinda encapsulate the whole collection quite succinctly!





That's All.





Bye4Now!




DSquared2 Resort 2016.

Mon. 06/28/2015.





DSquared2 Resort 2016.

Dean and Dan Caten produced a Resort collection for their 2016 DSquared² collection, that while including some nice and exciting fare, proved ultimately, Juvenile and Puzzling. The looks, on the whole, had a 12-under vibe that didn't play out as an adult take on childish clothing, it just looked like an adult dressing in high-end Kid's clothes. Another aspect, Zero Sophistication. The Caten's work looked Mall Chain Store quality. For Never 22 or some such thing. The most interesting piece was a Mini-Checked peacoat trimmed in vibrant Yellow. 

The DSquared² collection had a visible fun-ness that was hard to escape, it also had a searing lack of haute-ness and chicness. The Caten's found inspiration, as the set from their look book would imply, from the school yard... And it showed! Unfortunately, that's where it should have stayed. 





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Thursday, December 15, 2016

David Koma Resort 2016.

Fri. 06/26/2015.





David Koma Resort 2016.

Just like his Debut Resort collection, this Review will be brief. David Koma showed his first outing in the Resort arena for 2016, and as debuts go, it was a solid, if not occasionally head scratching performance. To get to the meat of the matter, those winged leather abutments and his penchant for swooping, puzzle piece like cutouts can quickly be dismissed as distracting and not helping the clothes one iota! When Koma concentrated on his Body-Con looks and his way with Scalpel precise cutting to emphasize the best aspects of a woman's physique, he was hitting Home Run atop Home Run!

Take, Par Example, The Black Leather dress with a curvilinear cutout like a circuitous mountain rode that was inset with leather lacing from sternum to thigh... SUB-LIME! Or the Black Crepe gown that featured the same Leather laced inset slashed down the front of the gown asymmetrically to a scandalously high slit. Sexy as All Get Out! There were other miraculous moments such as these, but they were somewhat obscured by all the over design and intricacy that added up to nothing at all but quirkiness in the end. With more focus, Next go round for Resort should be a Top-Notch Outing!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Belstaff Resort 2016.

Weds. 06/24/2016.






Simplicity can equate to Luxury. The new head of design for Belstaff, Delphine Ninous practiced that mantra with her latest effort for the house of Belstaff, an old British house of design, like Burberry, Daks, and so forth, that made it's name in Motorcycle jackets made from a Waterproof cotton, then moved into luxury leather on a par with that of Hermès, but without all that Horse-y Equestrianism. Ninous' is trying to reposition Belstaff in a more sportif niche, to that end, her Resort 2016 collection is very much a step in the right direction.

Abandoning much of the Leather-centric collections of the past, Ninous has began taking some of the tension out of the clothes and letting them breathe and relax a little more. Cropped pants, relaxed knits, flowing materials abounded and it made for a somewhat beach-y, boho vibe that felt quite right! Layering was the key to the success of the looks mostly, because it added an unencumbered, effortless, spontaneous and breezy feel to the separates that gave them that flash of interest. A Light Grey heathered Tweed coat glided easily over zippered ankle sweats and an Ice Grey Leather jacket worn over a sheer, wavy printed Hazy Grey Button-down. Or the intrinsically easy Black Duffle tunic top with Bungee pulls at the waist and buttoned surplus pockets over a more intricate skirt... it almost qualified as an evening look for the So-Cal thinking kinda gal!

In all respects, the collection was deeply experimental and trying a lot of things to see how they cohered together and if they worked, since the edit was sharp and clean, it hung together absolutely wonderfully. Ninous seems to have a grasp on the aesthetic she is trying to evoke, This outing proved she does have much more to say, and with the way she's saying it, we all will most likely, be listening.





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Alexander McQueen Resort 2016.

Weds. 06/24/2015.





Alexander McQueen Resort 2016.

To make a Long Story, Short... Sarah Burton is NOT Lee Alexander McQueen. And, In that, lays the rub. Burton has had to craft the new world of McQueen in her image, not Lee's. Otherwise, it would have been a slavish adaptation of the real thing and had little to no meaning. BUT... And here is the big thing that one has to be aware of... There also is a LEGACY that Lee Alex left us that she has to pay obeisance to. In the beginning she did, it was perhaps a little clunky and veered too closely to what the label's creator did, but in a couple seasons, she had found her balance. Then things began to go amiss.

As Burton's confidence grew, so did her ardor it would seem to recreate Alexander McQueen in her own image, Cherry-Picking here and there idealistic homages to Lee himself but now pushing ahead into her own envisioning of what the label was to mean to today's woman. In doing that, she began letting the principles and guidelines of the house go by the wayside. One could say, Yes, Lee Alex created some of the most DEVASTATINGLY Beautiful, Fragile, Poetic and Romantic clothes ever seen, But like the most Beautiful things in nature, as with Lee, or a Rose... His beauties had BITE! They weren't anodyne meaningless trifles... there was a story, a HISTORY, to all of his beauty that had the slightest (and sometimes far more than the slightest) hint of Decay, or even... Depravity, to them that made them resonate! Burton has lost that Bite! That core of Shock that made you want to turn away, yet were compelled to keep looking!

This Resort 2016 collection is a prime example of this. It's too... PRETTY! Pretty for the sake of Pretty! And that was DEFINITELY never McQueen territory! It stumbles too far away from Lee and virtually crashes into Maria Grazia and Pier Paolo country! Yes, the pieces here are at times EXCEPTIONAL, Know that, but where's the Danger, the tawdry, even unpleasant backstory that always suffused the greatest and even the not as great, pieces of McQueen of yore? Burton has pretty much turned her back on that and her collections have become... Pedestrian to say the least by the standards of the house!

Are there some Magic pieces here, God, Yes! A gown in Black scrunched Silk with Green and White Flowers embroidered on it with a Long Line Corset bodice and tiered skirt is Breathtaking, while even that it hews way too close to Valentino, a couple of sheer gowns with lavish floral embroidery are Magnificent creations, especially the one with Lavender needlework and paired with an Olive Motorcycle Jacket. Yet, now... looking at these pieces, as Sumptuous and Lovely as they may be (and are,) if you did not know beforehand that they were McQueen... would any of them indicatively say to you, Alexander McQueen? Just by looking? If you go with your gut, you'll have your answer and you'll know why on the level of being a McQueen collection... This is a Fail. An Epic Fail!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

KaufmanFranco Resort 2016.

Tues. 06/23/2015.





KaufmanFranco Resort 2016.

Pristine and Streamlined. That was the takeaway from the Superb collection presented by Ken Kaufman and Isaac Franco for their 2016 Resort collection for their label KaufmanFranco. Executed entirely in modernistic Black and White, the collection was a treatise on Techno/Luxe sportiness with a Glamourous hand. Everywhere the eye happened to fall, there was something Fierce and Powerful in the clothing to witness. This woman that Kaufman and Franco are dressing is no wallflower nor is she a delicate ingenue. This is a Strong, Take No Shit Woman that knows how to look equally Ball-Busting as she does Opulently dazzling!

Kaufman and Franco's collection showed an attention to the past work of Donna Karan in the 90's that made her clothes so elegantly infused with Strength and Fortitude that one might have thought they should have been installed at DKNY rather than the Public School boys, But that's moot at the moment anyhow. Here the interplay between Tough and Chic was always evident and definitively inspiring. A Chic Leather blazer with a Leather Bandeau and wide trousers all evinced in Black was Sexy without being slutty, A Black trimmed White shift dress gave the illusion of two pieces, a crop top and skirt, while being entirely composed as one piece, seemed to fully enmesh Modern and Classic in one sleek and stylish breath!

While the collection was inherently Graphic and Bold, Minimalist even, it was the evening gowns that fully defined this aesthetic. One gown seemed to propose a Slim, White bandeau paired with a Iper High-waisted black column skirt, but once one looked closely, was comprised of sheer Sheer Illusion that gave the look of two pieces, (yet again, Brilliantly so) when in reality it was a one-piece gown. Another stunner was a Black Leather bra top affixed to a Backless Fishtail column gown in Virgin optic white that splayed into a decadent train in back and had very little hint of anything virginal about it!

To boil it down to it's essence,.. It was a Masterpiece of a collection! One that conjoined the twin hemispheres of the Present and the Future in one Chic and Sexy package. Kaufman and Franco outdid themselves with this one! They should be very Proud.





That's All.





Bye4Now!