Christian Dior Resort 2016.

Mon. 05/11/2015.





Christian Dior Resort 2016.

Oh, Raf Simons... You simply cannot leave well enough alone, can you? You have this compulsion to Over-Analyze and Deconstruct the ideas of Dior into some Intellectual and Psychologically pretentious opus, where the clothes are more ideas than actual garments meant to flatter. As with Vuitton before this and Chanel before that, Resort 2016 was about Location, Location, Location! Dongdaemun Plaza for Lagerfeld in Seoul, Bob Hope's Caldera of a John Lautner designed house in the hills of Palm Springs in California for Nicholas and now, Les Palais Bulles on the Cote d'Azur and owned by one of the oldest of the Old Guard, Pierre Cardin for Simons and Dior.

First off, Much will be (and has been) Written about the location and the tendency this season for the Big Names of French Fashion to show in Exotic locales to give a little more breadth to their collections, and Being that this is most fashion writers Wet Dream Pin-Up Boy, Raf Simons, you know lots of words are going to be spilled over every infinitesimal little speck of this show... (You know who you are, Tim Blanks! Sarah Mower!) But to get right down to it...

It was Terrible.

I don't need to go on about it, I have no need to lambaste or harangue. The clothes were disappointment enough to cover all that healthily! The collection just felt, aimless and meandering and as if it had nothing to say other than, it was Ugly. And that's about the size of it. Take from it what you will. Some pieces managed to burble up from the ooze and give a Frisson... A Trio of gowns near the end were Dynamite, as was Lineisy Montero's Pink and Plaid Bar coat that was fanning many flames of wanton desire! After that, Simons' Fiddled and Tinkered and folded and Abutted and over-designed himself into a quicksand trap of just flat out Shitty looking pieces! I can't be any blunter, the clothes were busted!

I have expended enough words, mayhaps too many to describe such a discouraging showing. Simons has it in him to do great things at the house, but the more he fights against designing from his Heart and Gut and keeps going to the Intellectual, He'll never manage to be Great! He will be more simply, A Footnote.





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Louis Vuitton Resort 2016.

Weds. 05/06/2015.

Louis Vuitton Resort 2016.

Firstly, Much has been made of the John Lautner designed former house of Bob Hope that Nicholas Ghesquiere chose to show his Resort 2016 collection at in Palm Springs. Yes, it's a bit of a Spectacle. Yes, it's something a little Extraordinary and outside the usual. It's a little Grand. And in the final pages of the diary of the event, it was the best thing about the whole Escapade! Ghesquiere's collection was a Mishmash mess and a half of disorienting scope. Between Strange Leather abutments styled like belts that criss-crossed the midsection, to Granny prints, and unexciting clothes for the most part, it added up to nothing more than, confusion.

It wasn't per se, a BAD showing, but it was Disjointed, and that can often times lead to a show being hard to love because of it. It surely was the case on this Sunny Evening. Were there pieces that curried favour, Absolutely, A Meticulously crafted Lacquered Black Croc coat was sounding the Must Have bell with Clarion precision. as was a STUNNING gown in equally Precise Lizard with sheer spiral insets, in Black on Army Green, that was about as Couture as you can get without the Labour Intensity of the craft.

Ghesquiere offered a nice range of pieces otherwise to tempt the money out of his clients wallets, but as a whole, the show did not work. It felt awkward and unbalanced and a trifle too esoteric, (Ghesquiere's High-Mindedness at work again, and not for the betterment of the collection) Ghesquiere is LOATHE, it would seem, to SIMPLIFY his ideas, which would do him a world of good. Why should he though? Especially when he receives the highest praise for his unconventional pieces, pieces which most times come off looking just overworked, overwrought, overthought and underwhelming!





That's All.





Bye4Now!

Bottega Veneta Resort 2016.

Weds, 05/06/2015.

Bottega Veneta Resort 2016.

To look at Tomas Maier's Resort collection for 2016, you will notice a definite Reductionist quality inherent in all that was presented. No adornments or embellishments or sparkle or shine, (Maybe the Electric hued fringe on a couple of jackets MIGHT be considered, embellishment, but just barely) just a perfectly calibrated treatise on dressing from cold to warm and everywhere in between. Resort doesn't have to mean Hot weather and when the clothes hit the stores (anywhere from the end of November to the beginning of January) with the exception of the West Coast and the South, it's freaking FREEZING in most places on the Eastern side of the Country. Also, the woman Maier is dressing has a Jet-Set lifestyle with much travel in her itinerary, so that could mean Lounging in a Chalet on the Slopes of Gstaad or circling the Aegean on her private Yacht! 

More realistically however, it's just that sometimes in even the warmest cities, during the days leading up to and into Spring, it can get Damn Chilly, so a Pink Lemonade coloured Fur coat is just as practical as the Mushroom Fur long line Gilet that were shown but seemed so incongruous for Resort! Maier did such a Sterling and Impeccable job with this Resort collection that to call it flawless would be to besmirch it! It was a Paean to all things Contemporary and Modern, but Classical and Classy. Every piece was so precisely realized to entice and seduce that one's mouth was left watering at the Marvels produced... A Taupe Suede outfit of a Shirtdress and matching Coat... A Butterscotch Leather Bomber and Mocha coloured trousers... A Pair of Camel coats plucked from the Heavens... And a Shell Pink Pantsuit so RIGHT, that it magically seemed accompanied by a Chorus of Angels. 

Maier could have presented this as his Spring/Summer collection and it would it have blown the collective minds of the fashion faithful, It was simply that Herculean Strong! It was one of the best collections I have actually ever seen, and that's saying quite a lot, Trust and Believe! 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Chanel Cruise-Seoul (Resort 2016)

Mon. 05/04/2015.

Chanel Cruise-Seoul 2016.

Listening to Karl Lagerfeld speak sometimes, you will hear things that are stupefyingly Profound or Dazzlingly Witty. Oft though, King Karl will espouse on matters that pertain, uniquely and singularly to him and his life alone. As he is fond of saying, "I Am Not A Tourist! I only Travel for Work" so is it that this Bon Mot came up during his Smashing and Invigoratingly Fresh and Super Youthful 2016 Cruise show. For years now (since he first took his Chanel Caravan on the road back in 2006 to Grand Central Terminal in good old NYC) Lagerfeld has traveled to such Far-Flung locales as Los Angeles (in that case, he had TWO huge jets Bedecked and Tricked out in Chanel Logos and beige interiors and employed an Airplane hangar to show the collection) then to Miami, Venice, (on The Lido, no less), Saint-Tropez, Cap d'Antibes, the Jardins de Versailles, Singapore, Dubai, and Now, Seoul! 

Taking a step back before we get into the meat of the matter, Karl elevated the Cruise collection to "Event" Status long, LONG Before anyone else thought of it! I can remember Fascinating shows in Paris shown on a Yacht, on tourist buses, in a Restaurant that I cannot remember the name of, and elsewhere. For Karl, every moment is a moment to make an impact with something new and exotic to whet the appetites of the consumer and the Corporate officers of the house he is employed at! No expense is dare to be cared about, for they know in the end, Karl's imagination is Priceless and the dividends and rewards reaped from it have kept the house Billion-Dollar rich for Many a Moon! Karl is not a "Lookbook" or "By Appointment" kind of designer when it comes to Chanel. Even at Fendi he's more low-key, but Chanel... No! It's Phantasmagoria in it's purest, giddiest, most hedonistic state! Other designers must truly weep at the Formidable power and intrepidity of Lagerfeld's mind! 

So, Off to Seoul, for no other reason than, A. The Chanel Powers that be (the Wertheimers and the Kopelmans) want IN on the Asian Market that is a veritable BANQUET of Moolah that could be rolling into the already Foie Gras like Fattened coffers of the business. B. Lagerfeld has expressed that he has always had a feeling for Korea and it's culture and history, but as he has said, he's a Traveler of the Mind, he only jetes off to some place for Business. Otherwise, it's one of his homes for work or relaxation (which according to Karl, he doesn't need to do that that much either! He rarely vacations!) For the Maestro, Everything is better in the mind (well, in HIS mind I would not harbour one single iota of doubt as to that being the case!) 

Now, We are in Seoul! So what does Unkle Karl give us? A Riotous, Candy Coloured, K-Pop Electric, Sugar Rainbow Skittles Bright Smorgasbord of Titanic proportions (95 Exits) that touched on All the requisite notes of the Fashion Symphony that it was, but played with the hand of a Gifted Maestro and an Orchestra of the finest Caliber to hit all those notes with the most possible sweetness and beauty! I have said it before, and it bears repeating, There was simply too much to be had to properly extol all the virtues it possessed! There were Eye-Spinning, Graphic "Pojagi" prints to open that were Masterfully interwoven with hidden Camellias and CC's, these patchwork prints are traditionally done with Silk as wrapping for gifts and usually done by Hand! Here, it was Diabolically printed and then cut and pieced and looked SO new for the house that it almost surpassed credulity that this was Chanel! 

From there on, Tweeds, Jeans, Lesage Embroideries, The Hanbok (the Korean traditional dress and the country's form of the Kimono) done in this time, Actual Patchwork, Organza, Sequin Patchwork, Sequin Stripes, Just a Jumble of things that all coalesced as an identifiable whole, even with all the variety and profusion! A couple numbers are well worth remarking, a Pair of Gowns, One in angled Stripes done in Sequins with a Flowing overgown in Ultramarine Blue and it's fraternal twin near the end of the show, in Black done with little White flowers that evoked a form of Decoration on traditional Korean jewel boxes, Both looked as if they could have fallen from one of King Karl's Couture collections and were Visually Riveting! The show closed with a Section of such elaborate technique, that only the Petit Mains of 31, Rue Cambon could even dream of creating something of this nature in a Pret-a-Porter setting. A series of Gorgeous "Hanbok" Inspired evening ensembles, that ended in a Drift of Patchwork "Pojagi" Blush Pink Organza that seemed lifted from another time and place but could only be of THIS time and place, and as the case with Karl, This MOMENT! For as we already are aware, once this moment was done, Lagerfeld's brain had already moved on to the next! Ephemerality is his stock and trade and once the moment has come and gone, No matter how Memorable and Lovely and Exalting to the spirit it may be... There are new moments to be had! Dawdling in the past is Strictly Interdit... (Or in KL's Native tongue, Verboten!) Such is the way of Wise Unkle Karl... Either get in the Fast Lane and speed on... Or be left behind! The Choice is clearly yours, because for Karl... If you had to stop and consider the option...

You've already missed the boat! 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Up Next: Resort 2016.

Tues. 06/28/2016.

Yes, I Know it's a little late... DUH! LOL! However, I am committed to reviewing all the collections I have missed reporting on Live from during the time of their showing. Hopefully, this can be Brief and Quick and I can move on to Fall Couture 2015 and Spring 2016 VERY Soon! I still have after that Pre-Fall 2016, Spring Couture 2016, Fall 2016, Resort 2017 and upcoming soon on the horizon... Spring Couture 2017.... WHEW! A Lot on my plate, I don't mind saying. 

Stay The Course, Dear Readers, This I Do Implore! Love To You All! 

Yours Truly and Affectionately,

Terrill Lawrence Sanford (ChanelBear4Evah!)

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Dear Readers...

Tues. 06/28/2016.

Hello, My Wonderful readers,

I am HOPELESSLY backed up here with shows that I must get reviews done on, with Fall Couture just about 5 days around the Corner (Starting Sun.) and the Spring 2017 coming quickly after starting in September... I will not be able to cover all that ground in the limited time available... I am just going to try and play Catch-up as well and Quickly as I can. I promise to be current in the near future, but as of now, if you will only stick with me and kindly read my thoughts on past collections, I will get there. 

It is a Daunting task ahead of me, but I want to achieve it. Just please stay the course with me. Thank You, SO, SO MUCH! I appreciate EVERY, SINGLE Reader out there that gives me the impetus to continue on and not scrap this Blog. Take Care All! 

Thank You All, Sincerely.

Terrill Lawrence Sanford (ChanelBear4Evah!)

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Miu Miu.

Weds. 03/11/2015.

Miu Miu.

Save for Exit No. 37, A Spectacular Black dress inset with Python, which had a Superior YSL Chicness about it, though in a skewed way (being that it's Miuccia Prada, could it be anything OTHER THAN skewed?) the Fall 2015 Miu Miu collection that ended Fashion Week in Paris was, as a closing statement on all that has transpired in the season, a gigantic letdown. The collection looked like 1980's Fluoro Bright "Jem And The Holograms" playing dress up in 1950's/1960's era Cardin and YSL. The collection was Lurid, Garish. It wasn't even bad taste, which is fun, it was... NO TASTE! 

For me, the quickest way to get my hackles up is for a designer to show numerous repeats of the same pieces in different prints and/or colours, and that is just what Prada did through almost the entirety of this collection and the Fatigue and Pissed Offed-ness set in FAST! Offering the Same Lady coat, 6-7 times, just shown in different colours or plaids, and more oft than not with the same underpinnings in differing colours from their counterparts as well... That's NOT FUCKING DESIGNING! That's Styling. And I, for one, was not drinking the Kool-Aid, Chillrens! 

As with Spring, the message (whatever it was that Miuccia wanted to convey) was lost in the Medium. The collection was kind of a Funny nudge to the Mix/Clash 80's in all it's glory with a bit of Diana of Windsor's Demure Anti-Fashionability thrown in to temper it, but in the end... It was more Trash than Clash. 

That's All.

Bye4Now!