Derek Lam Spring/Summer 2016.

Sun. 09/13/2015.

Derek Lam Spring/Summer 2016.

A wholly eclectic sensibility suffused Derek Lam's uncharacteristically quirky and offbeat collection that was inspired by a documentary about the tragic chanteuse and pianist, Nina Simone. This impetus infused the collection with a more free handed and outwardly exuberant spirit than may be more used to by Lam, owing to the fact that Ms. Simone was something of a extrovert persona. In many ways, this enhanced Lam's usual urban and polished sportif edge with a interesting aura of the Bohemian, but in a few ways, it muddled his usually concise vision. In the best of the collection, Lam provided the ingredients he always has an abundantly deft hand at manipulating into the most deliciously tasty concoctions, Smooth fluid belted trench coats, sleek tailoring and romantic evening wear with an ever so slight sheen of the hippie, but a lot of that got, unfortunately, lost in the shuffle of Lam's more esoteric ideas, and that wasn't a good thing. 

In truth, it was exciting to see Lam partake of this particular vein of thought, but where it was exhilarating when it worked, mostly it felt underwhelming and, perhaps more to the point, boring. The main problem lay that it wasn't showing a new or refreshed take on this idea, it was manipulated into some "Interesting" permutations, but ultimately it felt lackluster. Lam, usually, unexpectedly upends the tropes he is designing and offers a modernistic yet definitively approachable and seductive vision of the modern urban and urbane woman, sadly this time, she looked common and aside from the richer touches in the collection, she also looked plain. And that, is perhaps the ultimate sin. 

That's All. 

Bye4Now!

Public School Spring/Summer 2016.

Sun. 09/13/2015.





Public School Spring/Summer 2016.

Maxwell Osborne and Dao-Yi Chow outdid themselves in the most sensational and spectacular way for their Spring 2016 Public School presentation that it's hard to put into words just how awe-inspiring the achievement actually is. It was a timeless collection that any woman could wear decades into the future and look as chic and progressive thinking as they do in 2016. The collection played up the Urban Nomadic idea that the duo may not have actually started but truly did develop into the current idea of what that vernacular of fashion is, that most everyone else is trying to ape and portray. This time out, they upped the haute caliber to the tenth power and sent out a collection that was as equally elegant and urbane as it was hip and urban. The pair said that they were envisioning their woman on far flung travels trying to find herself in doing so, that translated into a fluidity and softness that never felt wan or weak or timid. This is a woman who is equally strong in flowing layers as she is in the urban armor of hoodies and sweats and coats.

Osborne and Chow from Exit 1 showed that there was a new fashion forward vibe being followed, one that was most definitely more uptown than streetwise in it's approach. Yes, there was a distinctive sportif attitude that always permeates the Public School aesthetic, but here it was upcycled into a more polished configuration. Louche, liquid and languid were the words of the day, but that didn't mean drippy or amorphous. witness a puritanical and ascetic stretch of pure White at Exit No. 32 that functioned as a evening number but with a harder edged sportswear piece paired with it from the collection could be a minimal masterpiece for the Artsy set or could just as easily find itself in Southampton for a weekend soujourn. Couple this with the fact that the collection barely registered a whisper above the stark colour palette of Navy, Black, Grey and White interspersed with a punchy jolt of Scarlet, and the pieces could easily find themselves incorporated into a modern wardrobe and give a fresh and hip twist to what is already hanging out in one's closet. 

The Public School dynamic duo showed the skills in this collection to give one the kind of frisson of seeing a bright and unique future for fashion and a strong and individualistic new voice among the throng of many that crowd the fashion landscape. Chow and Osborne have a distinctive and enthralling patois to their work that augers well for the faith shown them by the fashion Powers that be, what they decide to do with that voice and how that manage to manipulate it further into new and exciting permutations rests on their shoulders alone, one can only hesitate a guess with such an accomplished collection as this one here, that their future is set for greatness! 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Victoria Beckham Spring/Summer 2016.

Sun. 09/13/2015.




Victoria Beckham Spring/Summer 2016.

Fresh and carefree is how Victoria Beckham chose to summarize her Spring/Summer 2016 collection and embodied that ethos of the clothes she sent forth. Relaxed and breezy were also very apt, but in a very offhanded and luxurious way. Beckham kept her palette simple, adding excitation by using a neutral-esque plaid and a punchy surfer print that channeled the advertisements for the movie "The Endless Summer" also by super saturated splashes of Rust, Curry and Marine Blue. Those colours were most effective when paired with the main colours of the collection, Black and White.

Beckham proved herself a mix-master with innovative and whimsical patchworking of prints and patterns and clashing yet, funkily harmonious juxtapositions, as in that aforementioned plaid in subdued tones of Grey, Black, and Red against Optic White, or Coral and Black/Marine and Curry Yellow/Black surfer prints popping against Black on a long, louche overcoat. There were more of these instances, but the hardest hitting pieces were the ones that relied less on counterpoint and focused on spare, clean modernism, like the simple brilliance of a sleek hooded leather split front top in Dove White paired with Black leather pants or the unequivocally masterful tank dress in White, again, with a band of Marine Blue at the neck and a single pocket in Rust, Genius!

Beckham has shifted her focus from her beginnings as a glam evening gown designer whose creations were molded within an eighth of an inch of their life to a lithe, sleek form, to becoming one of the best designers of luxe and unique sportswear on the fashion show rounds. It was an unlikely transition and one that has taken a little time to coalesce for the designer, but it is a niche that she has grown into and is beginning to hit her most powerful strides in. The future looks bright!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer 2016.

Sat. 09/12/2015.





Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer 2016.

Colour! And loads of it. This was the impression left with one as they viewed the Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Especially since Lhuillier proposed no overarching theme other than "Youth" and the collection certainly had a fresh and breezy quality which was underscored by all that intense colour. Teal, Tourmaline Green, Crayola Salmon, Lapis Blue, Coral Red, and the usual suspects of Black and White for a definite counterpoint. Structure, but in a easy way, was another aspect of the collection writ large, especially in dresses and elliptical hem tops that were swooped up and draped to one side in quite a dramatic fashion, most tantalizing in a strapless top and cigarette pant ensemble in Ocean and Lapis Blues. The best pieces however, came in a Modern Art style splatter print/embroidery that looked the most daring and exciting to the eye, most effective on a long strapless gown with an embroidered overlay at Exit No. 28. Lhuillier provided a vivid and lively collection that truly only stalled at the last passage of dresses which were clunky and underwhelming. otherwise, Job Well Done!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2016.

Sat. 09/12/2015.

Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2016.

The Spring 2016 collection marks Alexander Wang's 10th anniversary as the energetic and streetwise designer with the endless cool factor built into his clothes from a NY inflected L.A. sensibility. This time around though, his more laid back, Los Angeles tendencies lent an aura of relaxed looseness that came across too casual and not fashion. It felt lively and fresh, with athletic influences abounding all over, but an aura of the lackadaisical and, in a bad way, effortless suffused this outing with a far too downmarket feeling. The collection lacked invention, it was sporty, and yes for it's time, pushing all the right buttons, but even by 2016 standards, there was nothing to truly fire the imagination and cause a buyer to earmark pieces from this collections as "Must-Haves"

Where this collection did succeed was that it did have in many places, a superior focus on how the juxtaposition of those more casual elements, when contrasted against something more "Fashion" made a compelling High-Low argument that in lesser skilled hands could have seemed clumsy and maladroit. Especially apt in this association was the track jacket paired with a Satin slip gown near the end of the collection and the deep sanguine red eelskin leather moto jacket paired with "Striped" trousers in fabric and leather. Both of these exhibited a true "FASHION": sensibility while still remaining the utmost in cool. However, to say that those pieces were enough to keep this collection from being something of an underwhelming affair. Wang may have been enthused with his "No concept" theme, but the proceedings most assuredly would have benefited from a more focused hand and less easygoing vibe. 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2016.

Sat. 09/12/2015.





Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2016.

Too Much.

Restraint is a word Christian Siriano DESPERATELY needs to get in better relationship with. His Spring/Summer 2016 collection was suffering under it's own overwrought excessive much-ness that it looked like a bomb had went off at Mood Fabrics and everything fell down onto his toiles and stuck there permanently! Inspired by Morocco, Siriano played every trope and trick in his hand and most times, all at once, to such an inflated and grandiloquent degree that any real sense of design, which also to be honest, looked more akin to a student the first year in design school than a seasoned designer on the international fashion circuit, was decadently lost among the feathers and beads and pom-poms and fringe and sequins and whatever the fuck else he could throw texturally at the wall and make stick. One would wish there was an opportunity to actually judge the CLOTHES, but the things that were given that moniker here, were either so mired in gobs of pompous excess or looked laughably like anything but FASHION, so much so to the degree that it looked like most of it was from Forever 1987 rather than 2016!

It was not a happy happening this go round, Dear Christian. Better luck next time.





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Altuzarra Spring/Summer 2016.

Sat. 09/12/2015.





Altuzarra Spring/Summer 2016.

Perplexing. That is the takeaway from the surprisingly uneven and uninspiring collection from Joseph Altuzarra for Spring of 2016. Whereas usually, Altuzarra's tailoring and gently perverse sense of chic bring the more disparate elements together into a cohesive and satisfying whole, here, on this occasion, it led to a disconnect and incoherence to what we usually come to this designer for. Surely, yes, the thigh high slits were accounted for and present front and center (actually, that is one element that could easily be lost and for the betterment of the brand) the sharp tailleur was there as well, the scintillating sinuous cut of his dresses and gowns also had much going for them, but this was all wrapped up in a miasma of relaxed sensuality of the Basque country (where his paternal ancestry hail from) that fell under Altuzarra's umbrella of presenting a "Very Serene" assemblage.

While Spain could have led to something more buoyant and joyful, it led to the collection feeling flat and gimmicky in places... the pleating and quasi tie-dye prints and espadrilles and other folkloric flourishes. Altuzarra has always danced on a line of ebullience tamed with a wise restraint that sometimes often confounds his collections, but he usually has a plumb line through all the noise and hullabaloo that makes his collections usually startlingly acute and insightful. On this day, that was not the case in the least. Bluntly, it looked sloppy. The clothes didn't exalt or drape and hang in a way that caught one's breath in their chest, to wit, it looked overdone and under thought.

There were beautiful moments, but in the overview and presence of the whole, they were just fleeting moments among a crowd of underwhelming blandness. Every designer has a collection or so that just gets away from them and seems to run wild with it's own steam of bad decisions, this was just such a case, and the reins felt fully out of Altuzarra's hands. Next time, we hope this isn't the case.





That's All.





Bye4Now!