Mon. 09/09/2013.
Tommy Hilfiger.
For Spring 2014 Tommy Hilfiger Gave us a Delightful and Delicious Romp through the Golden Era of The Golden Coast... California in it's Free Spirited 70's Days... days that we only can glimpse now in Movies and TV shows from that Era. And how the women of that era were Dreamy Bombshells that Men wanted to be with and Women simply wanted to BE! There was a Freedom and A Unabashed Sexuality that pervaded this collection and made it at once Carefree but also Chic! Not an easy Juxtaposition to get right, though Hilfiger's hand has become Increasingly Rock Steady in the passing years since he rebooted his High End label and Stopped trying to be LVMH. One gets the sense that the dream that he once aspired to is now what he is trying his hardest to achieve... to be his Generations Ralph Lauren.
Yes, Those are MIGHTY Big shoes to fill, Culturally so. Ralph and Tommy are yes, Utterly Ubiquitous in every corner of the retail landscape... from High end to Low. Their logos are as Ingrained as Interlocking C's or G's Or LV's.... and they both have more money than about 400 people would know what to do with! To say, Financially or Culturally whom the biggest success is would be a Coin Toss, Honestly. However, in the fashion state of things... Tommy is Younger and has a Younger Aesthetic and Vibe than Ralph and No matter how much Lauren wants to Get his hands a little dirty and grungy... it always comes out with that pristine veneer of the High Class and that's what makes him so Desirable. Tommy is looking to get that quotient that has RL Dreams but not RL Money! And also that means knocking some of the Seriousness out of the Equation. This collection is perhaps the best example so far of Hilfiger doing that and staking his claim as a Fashion Icon on the same level as Lauren.
The collection couldn't have been Cooler with a Capital COOL! Not the Post Modern Helmut Lang Cool that is so Ubiquitous now... No... the Listening to Fleetwood Mac's "Rumours' on an 8-Track In the back of a van with a Unicorn rearing up on it's hind legs next to a Bitching Full Moon and Blue Mist all around it painted on the side with the back doors open maybe smoking a Really good Joint Kinda Cool! It was As Modern And Athletic as that era was when women and girls were really beginning to be aware of how to make their bodies the best, and how the California Girls rebelled against the Club going Maneaters that were the New York Studio 54/Danceteria Women of that era!
But Hilfiger is A Business man and a Business man that once had the Oracle of Delphi That is Karl Lagerfeld at one time chattering in his ear! And Fantasy, does NOT a Business or a Collection make. So, Tommy is Full On Aware of giving his fantasies root in the Here-And-Now so while the Opening panel dresses may have given an air of Surfer Girl... it was cut out of Ultra New Neoprene-Bonded Leather, just so that Girl in NY Or Beverly Hills or Chicago is looking at it with Lust in her eyes and not trying to decipher the codes of the 70's!
Hifiger's Invention with those Opening looks in leather were as Finely Cut and Expertly Judged as anything this season and His colour sense simply bordered on the Magical! It was Downright, MASTERFUL! Upbeat, Quirky, Silly even... But Decadent and Lustful. These are the Colours that are Editorial and that when shopped around the U.S. That women will be immediately attracted to! All those Zippers made the collection Uber-Sportif alluding to Scuba and Surfing and Dirtbiking and Motocross And Pushed the Cool Meter again into the Red! Hilfiger even Took to that Ultimate Symbol of Easy, Beachy Cool that all who Worship Cool Covet.... The Hawaiian Shirt! With Splashy Hawaiian Floral prints and embroideries as his closing Salvo, he Put a Stamp Firmly down on the California Dreamin' feel and Gave his Customer something to Dream about... Dream about wanting to incorporate these clothes into her wardrobe Come Next Spring.
This was Easily a Collection that will make Hilfiger Much Money and Get the clothes photographed in all the Monthly Glossies... But more so than that, It spoke, Loudly mind you, That Tommy Hilfiger has a very Clear and Specific Fashion VOICE and after years of Swathing hip hoppers and the chasing The Big Man On Campus Ralph Lauren's Perfectly Pressed Coattails he has now settled into his own Aspirational Chic Signature and It Looks like nothing will be stopping him from being his own Iconic Brand.
With Clothes like this and perhaps even better coming down the pike, Chillrens... There is No Worries that he will achieve what he is Striving for!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Tuesday, October 29, 2013
Carolina Herrera.
Mon. 09/09/2013.
Carolina Herrera.
Calling Carolina Herrera the Doyenne of 7th Avenue Might actually get you slapped by this Feisty and Fierce Beauty who even now in her Golden Years radiates with a shine that far outmatches Gold! Ms. Herrera is Far too Lively and Active and Effervescent to be called anything approaching a Doyenne. Her collections in the last decade or more have brimmed with Fresh Vibrancy and a Keen eye to what the Young women of Society, Far and Wide, wearing and how to keep the closets of those Young Women and the LADIES that are their equally Fashionable Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers bursting with updated variations on the looks that make their lives go around whilst all the while keeping Up with the way The Fashion Winds are blowing and keeping her Identity firmly intact!
For Spring 2014 Herrera Went Arty by way of Venezuela referencing Jesus Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez and Kinetic Art. Speaking on that... this Riff on Kinetic art reached it's apotheosis in July at the Couture Shows for Fall/Winter 2013 Where Uncle Karl also had visions of Kinetica dancing through his Fertile and Febrile Brain! His take was Dramatic PLUS and Moody but less Literal. Herrera's mood was more Sunny, Gossamer and Certainly Less Moody But also more Literal, taking the Liquid, Angular Movement of Kinetic art and applying it in swirling prints and juxtaposing different angles in layered prints.
The Collection had the Air of the Grandiose, Always Par for the Course Chez Herrera. However that Grandiosity here was Rendered Beautifully Nouveau in Herrera's Mix of Earthy Colours and Undulating Silhouettes made more Liquid by the wavy prints. Those Wavy Graph-like prints that Opened the show with an almost dizzying Effect to them were Brash and New for Carolina, where in the past it may have been less Optic and headache inducing but the chance taken there paid off richly as it yielded dividends of Newness that sometimes can be lacking in a CH Show. Two of the Best Examples of this were when the Test Pattern like Waves were translated as a Strict print and not an optical play with the fabric itself, as in Exit No. 9 and then No. 10 which were both as Desirable as a Monet! The Shift Dress of Exit No. 9 is one of the best outfits of the NY season and should be taken as such!
Strangely though, for Carolina Herrera, which is known for dressing the most Powerful of The Uptown Ladies... this was an affair that skewed solidly towards the evening, which again is a little off kilter for the house, but even so, when the daywear was slithering down the Catwalk it was doing so In the best of Fashions. One must stop here and take notice of the Bit of Ralph Rucci Homage being paid in a sparse few of the outfits... Exit Nos. 12, 13, 14, 17 And 21 definitely Alighted upon the Branches of the Mighty Redwood that is Ralph Rucci and still retained the Essential Spirit of Carolina!
It was a Collection of Showstoppers tempered with Some Severity and Classical Restraint... Even some of the showstoppers showed that Restraint... The Literal best of the Bunch... A Heart Stopping Gown at Exit No. 16 That made ones Brain Boil with Unrequited Passion all the more so because it was DRAMA with a Capital DRAMA! However it was by far the most restrained Drama conceivable! In Form, it was Ease Personified... In A dusty Pale-ish Apricot/Cream Colour with a Blazing TRUE Apricot Orange Silk Skirt underneath... Words Fail!
The Collection played on it's strengths one after another and carried itself towards a destination that was gleefully awaited by those watching. That Destination as always was Chicness and Feminine Empowerment. You have to be a woman who is in full control of all her Womanly Wiles and Faculties to wear Carolina Herrera... Like the Woman herself... You can't let the clothes control you... you Control the Clothes and the Life you lead in those clothes...
In Carolina Herrera, Remember Chillrens... As Showstopping and Breathstealing as the clothes may be... They are the Supporting Cast in your Life.. You Are, THE STAR!
That's All.
Bye4Now.
Carolina Herrera.
Calling Carolina Herrera the Doyenne of 7th Avenue Might actually get you slapped by this Feisty and Fierce Beauty who even now in her Golden Years radiates with a shine that far outmatches Gold! Ms. Herrera is Far too Lively and Active and Effervescent to be called anything approaching a Doyenne. Her collections in the last decade or more have brimmed with Fresh Vibrancy and a Keen eye to what the Young women of Society, Far and Wide, wearing and how to keep the closets of those Young Women and the LADIES that are their equally Fashionable Mothers, Aunts, Grandmothers bursting with updated variations on the looks that make their lives go around whilst all the while keeping Up with the way The Fashion Winds are blowing and keeping her Identity firmly intact!
For Spring 2014 Herrera Went Arty by way of Venezuela referencing Jesus Rafael Soto and Carlos Cruz-Diez and Kinetic Art. Speaking on that... this Riff on Kinetic art reached it's apotheosis in July at the Couture Shows for Fall/Winter 2013 Where Uncle Karl also had visions of Kinetica dancing through his Fertile and Febrile Brain! His take was Dramatic PLUS and Moody but less Literal. Herrera's mood was more Sunny, Gossamer and Certainly Less Moody But also more Literal, taking the Liquid, Angular Movement of Kinetic art and applying it in swirling prints and juxtaposing different angles in layered prints.
The Collection had the Air of the Grandiose, Always Par for the Course Chez Herrera. However that Grandiosity here was Rendered Beautifully Nouveau in Herrera's Mix of Earthy Colours and Undulating Silhouettes made more Liquid by the wavy prints. Those Wavy Graph-like prints that Opened the show with an almost dizzying Effect to them were Brash and New for Carolina, where in the past it may have been less Optic and headache inducing but the chance taken there paid off richly as it yielded dividends of Newness that sometimes can be lacking in a CH Show. Two of the Best Examples of this were when the Test Pattern like Waves were translated as a Strict print and not an optical play with the fabric itself, as in Exit No. 9 and then No. 10 which were both as Desirable as a Monet! The Shift Dress of Exit No. 9 is one of the best outfits of the NY season and should be taken as such!
Strangely though, for Carolina Herrera, which is known for dressing the most Powerful of The Uptown Ladies... this was an affair that skewed solidly towards the evening, which again is a little off kilter for the house, but even so, when the daywear was slithering down the Catwalk it was doing so In the best of Fashions. One must stop here and take notice of the Bit of Ralph Rucci Homage being paid in a sparse few of the outfits... Exit Nos. 12, 13, 14, 17 And 21 definitely Alighted upon the Branches of the Mighty Redwood that is Ralph Rucci and still retained the Essential Spirit of Carolina!
It was a Collection of Showstoppers tempered with Some Severity and Classical Restraint... Even some of the showstoppers showed that Restraint... The Literal best of the Bunch... A Heart Stopping Gown at Exit No. 16 That made ones Brain Boil with Unrequited Passion all the more so because it was DRAMA with a Capital DRAMA! However it was by far the most restrained Drama conceivable! In Form, it was Ease Personified... In A dusty Pale-ish Apricot/Cream Colour with a Blazing TRUE Apricot Orange Silk Skirt underneath... Words Fail!
The Collection played on it's strengths one after another and carried itself towards a destination that was gleefully awaited by those watching. That Destination as always was Chicness and Feminine Empowerment. You have to be a woman who is in full control of all her Womanly Wiles and Faculties to wear Carolina Herrera... Like the Woman herself... You can't let the clothes control you... you Control the Clothes and the Life you lead in those clothes...
In Carolina Herrera, Remember Chillrens... As Showstopping and Breathstealing as the clothes may be... They are the Supporting Cast in your Life.. You Are, THE STAR!
That's All.
Bye4Now.
Friday, October 18, 2013
The Row.
Mon. 09/09/2013.
The Row.
Just Like When Victoria Beckham decided to throw her Hat into the Ring of Fashion design, Many Snickered and Sniggled that the two little Poor Rich Girl Bohemian Urchins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were just play acting as they had done for years in role after Saccharine Mind Numbing role in Pathetically Misguided Forays of Teenybopper TV/Straight-To-Video/DVD Fluff! It made them Rich in Money beyond anyone's Wildest Possible Dreams, but it couldn't have enriched their Obviously Nomadic, Bohemian, Eclectic Souls. So when the Dynamic Duo Showed their first collection it didn't take anyone much convincing that these were some... BAD BITCHES! They had the precocious chops that they showed as Virtuoso Child Actresses and now as Fashion Designers. They have cultivated a Style of Eccentric Bohemian influenced Deeply Luxe Minimalism that one could really say never existed before they conjured it up from their own imagining. One that has been Deeply Influential in the Halls of Fashion and made them true Forces to be reckoned with, And Rightfully So!
The Spring 2014 Collection saw that Nomadic Spirit of the Olsen Girls Flitting about to The Dry, Desert Caravans of Africa and Arabia. Fearlessly and Flawlessly, as is the Boho Girls want, Plucking and Picking from whatever fruit on whichever tree that caught her eye that was the most Visually Arresting and bending those Elements into an Assemblage That bordered on the Genius! In what the COLLECTION Wanted to say... it was Without Peer or Flaw. That however, isn't to say that the mixing and matching didn't sometimes get away from them and one too many things existed in one outfit. It wasn't Youthful Exuberance in that case, no, it was just perhaps a love too much of the things designed with an eye perhaps to be more judicious with the edit of some outfits. Was it to the Detriment of the collection, Hardly.
To Go into Detail about the clothes, even the details of the clothes in this kind of collection seems useless. The Message is in the mix... Tiny pleats, multiple layerings, one Standout piece was on Ajak Deng, Exit No. 24 in gleaming Ultra Black Perforated Leather that look like it was gleaming with Paved Sequins was a Trompe L'oeil Masterpiece that didn't even aspire to be such a thing.
The Tiny Sylphs of Couture are never less than Supremely Assured in their clothing and presentation. They think of every single detail from top to bottom. Everything has the Feel of the Artist and Artisan about it and makes one quiver with that secret Frisson that only the truly worshipful of the fashion flock feel at such brilliance. I have always been a convert, just not always the devoted Acolyte... mainly because it must be said, that until this season and Bethann Hardison's Treatise on Inequality and lack of diversity in fashion shows... The Row was one of the prime offenders of This bias. Until this show they have never had ONE model of Colour in their collection, This is an Egregious error that now with the Accent on Models of Colour in this Show only feels like pandering to the public as to not seem Racist. Am I Convinced that this will continue on at The Row? Frankly... Not at all. In a season or two they will be back to casting the colourless shows of old. It will not make the clothes any less beautiful but it will make finding the beauty in such clothing much more difficult!
Setting that Hoary Chestnut aside, This collection shined with an Inner Light and Soul that was hard to Refuse and Chillrens... even as hard ass as I AM About Diversity, That can Transcend All and Leave just The Glow and Radiance of Beautiful Clothing.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
The Row.
Just Like When Victoria Beckham decided to throw her Hat into the Ring of Fashion design, Many Snickered and Sniggled that the two little Poor Rich Girl Bohemian Urchins, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen were just play acting as they had done for years in role after Saccharine Mind Numbing role in Pathetically Misguided Forays of Teenybopper TV/Straight-To-Video/DVD Fluff! It made them Rich in Money beyond anyone's Wildest Possible Dreams, but it couldn't have enriched their Obviously Nomadic, Bohemian, Eclectic Souls. So when the Dynamic Duo Showed their first collection it didn't take anyone much convincing that these were some... BAD BITCHES! They had the precocious chops that they showed as Virtuoso Child Actresses and now as Fashion Designers. They have cultivated a Style of Eccentric Bohemian influenced Deeply Luxe Minimalism that one could really say never existed before they conjured it up from their own imagining. One that has been Deeply Influential in the Halls of Fashion and made them true Forces to be reckoned with, And Rightfully So!
The Spring 2014 Collection saw that Nomadic Spirit of the Olsen Girls Flitting about to The Dry, Desert Caravans of Africa and Arabia. Fearlessly and Flawlessly, as is the Boho Girls want, Plucking and Picking from whatever fruit on whichever tree that caught her eye that was the most Visually Arresting and bending those Elements into an Assemblage That bordered on the Genius! In what the COLLECTION Wanted to say... it was Without Peer or Flaw. That however, isn't to say that the mixing and matching didn't sometimes get away from them and one too many things existed in one outfit. It wasn't Youthful Exuberance in that case, no, it was just perhaps a love too much of the things designed with an eye perhaps to be more judicious with the edit of some outfits. Was it to the Detriment of the collection, Hardly.
To Go into Detail about the clothes, even the details of the clothes in this kind of collection seems useless. The Message is in the mix... Tiny pleats, multiple layerings, one Standout piece was on Ajak Deng, Exit No. 24 in gleaming Ultra Black Perforated Leather that look like it was gleaming with Paved Sequins was a Trompe L'oeil Masterpiece that didn't even aspire to be such a thing.
The Tiny Sylphs of Couture are never less than Supremely Assured in their clothing and presentation. They think of every single detail from top to bottom. Everything has the Feel of the Artist and Artisan about it and makes one quiver with that secret Frisson that only the truly worshipful of the fashion flock feel at such brilliance. I have always been a convert, just not always the devoted Acolyte... mainly because it must be said, that until this season and Bethann Hardison's Treatise on Inequality and lack of diversity in fashion shows... The Row was one of the prime offenders of This bias. Until this show they have never had ONE model of Colour in their collection, This is an Egregious error that now with the Accent on Models of Colour in this Show only feels like pandering to the public as to not seem Racist. Am I Convinced that this will continue on at The Row? Frankly... Not at all. In a season or two they will be back to casting the colourless shows of old. It will not make the clothes any less beautiful but it will make finding the beauty in such clothing much more difficult!
Setting that Hoary Chestnut aside, This collection shined with an Inner Light and Soul that was hard to Refuse and Chillrens... even as hard ass as I AM About Diversity, That can Transcend All and Leave just The Glow and Radiance of Beautiful Clothing.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Opening Ceremony.
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Opening Ceremony.
Sometimes Cool Presents itself in a different persona than we are usually comfortable with. Opening Ceremony came on with it's first Runway show like a House Afire. It was Fast and Furious meets the Fierce and Fashionable. If Carol Lim and Humberto Leon were looking to Give the NY season a Slap in the face Presentation wise... they succeeded beyond compare, if they were aiming for the same mark in the clothes... The attempt felt a tad bit lacking.
The Fearless Confidence of the show with their sure hand in the prints and print mixing was fresh, unexpected and inspiring in the best sense. Somehow... after the mixing of prints... the Mix felt a Little Haphazard and Shaky. Sure there were some outfits that distilled all those disparate elements down to a winning concoction but much of just came off a bit Disjointed.
In Exit No. 3 A Sensational Black leather Moto Jacket felt Just too perfect for words, But was bogged down with tricky printed cargo shorts that in it's attempt to mix Hip with Cool seemed to feel mostly Awkward. The Short Kimono Sleeve Tunics at Exit Nos. 4-5 were Kinda Pieces that will cause CHAOS because of their innate desirability. They fell again, Flat.... ALMOST because of the skirts that were paired with them, The two tunics were so Sublimely Chic that the skirts felt unnecessarily Tricked Out. And in the end the wrong pieces to match to the Tunics!
An Effortless Scarlet Jumpsuit at Exit No. 9 had Must Have written all Up-And-Down It. Exit No. 11 was one of those Exits as well... Cool and Chic together in a totally modern iteration that still kept classic elegance in it's view! The show played on from there mostly getting it right and even when getting it wrong it still skewed on the side of Exceptionally Fun and Fiercely Hip! There was something Tribal and Nomadic about the show, something that spoke to that Wanderlust in most of us and provided the Wardrobe for Urban Wandering in the most Chic Way!
For a first Show for the house that Just celebrated 10 years kitting out the Young and Fierce... It was one of the most memorable ever in regard to Spectacle, in regard to clothes it was a first show... A Tighter Edit and More Scalpel Like focus would do them both good, Like their work at Kenzo... but this is their baby and one cannot chide them for being Exuberant and Extrovert... You only Get one First show for a house and you might as well show what you like, How you like. Critics Be Damned, Chillrens!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Opening Ceremony.
Sometimes Cool Presents itself in a different persona than we are usually comfortable with. Opening Ceremony came on with it's first Runway show like a House Afire. It was Fast and Furious meets the Fierce and Fashionable. If Carol Lim and Humberto Leon were looking to Give the NY season a Slap in the face Presentation wise... they succeeded beyond compare, if they were aiming for the same mark in the clothes... The attempt felt a tad bit lacking.
The Fearless Confidence of the show with their sure hand in the prints and print mixing was fresh, unexpected and inspiring in the best sense. Somehow... after the mixing of prints... the Mix felt a Little Haphazard and Shaky. Sure there were some outfits that distilled all those disparate elements down to a winning concoction but much of just came off a bit Disjointed.
In Exit No. 3 A Sensational Black leather Moto Jacket felt Just too perfect for words, But was bogged down with tricky printed cargo shorts that in it's attempt to mix Hip with Cool seemed to feel mostly Awkward. The Short Kimono Sleeve Tunics at Exit Nos. 4-5 were Kinda Pieces that will cause CHAOS because of their innate desirability. They fell again, Flat.... ALMOST because of the skirts that were paired with them, The two tunics were so Sublimely Chic that the skirts felt unnecessarily Tricked Out. And in the end the wrong pieces to match to the Tunics!
An Effortless Scarlet Jumpsuit at Exit No. 9 had Must Have written all Up-And-Down It. Exit No. 11 was one of those Exits as well... Cool and Chic together in a totally modern iteration that still kept classic elegance in it's view! The show played on from there mostly getting it right and even when getting it wrong it still skewed on the side of Exceptionally Fun and Fiercely Hip! There was something Tribal and Nomadic about the show, something that spoke to that Wanderlust in most of us and provided the Wardrobe for Urban Wandering in the most Chic Way!
For a first Show for the house that Just celebrated 10 years kitting out the Young and Fierce... It was one of the most memorable ever in regard to Spectacle, in regard to clothes it was a first show... A Tighter Edit and More Scalpel Like focus would do them both good, Like their work at Kenzo... but this is their baby and one cannot chide them for being Exuberant and Extrovert... You only Get one First show for a house and you might as well show what you like, How you like. Critics Be Damned, Chillrens!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Ralph Rucci,
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Ralph Rucci.
Alchemy. It's the only word that fits when talking about the Wizard and Magician that is Ralph Rucci. How he transforms Fabric and Thought into something that if clothes could be "ART" These would be the clothes that approach that Moniker. His work is Transfixing, Transfiguring.... Transcendental! And, now he has managed what some thought would be the Quixotic Impossible Dream and Managed to augment his abilities to speak in a newer more understandable language yet still all the while remaining the Patois that is so Very Recognized by the Faithful whom worship at the Temple of Chado!
He has dropped the "Chado" and Now is Lighter, If Rucci could admittedly be accused in the past of Audacious Highbrow Couture, that Damning with High Praise can no longer be levied against him. His Couture has relaxed yet lost none of it's Intellectual Charm. His audience has Expanded as well as business, he has perhaps begun to peek out under the cloak of disdain that has been draped about him by High Priestess Wintour. He always had his business regardless of how massively Ms. Wintour and The Magazine "Vogue" Have Ignored and Dismissed him. That was because the women he dressed Are Forces of Nature who have no fear of dressing in Defiance of Ms. Wintour to her face... Women like Deeda McCormick-Blair, Mercedes Bass, Juliana Margulies. They live in their own personal world of style and refused to be dictated to or kowtow to The Icy Monarch that is Anna! That has kept him a Success but not a Household name.
The time arrived, one would imagine, to make peace, not with the Doyenne Of Conde Nast, but with all the critics and other editors who have for years been begging the Gorgeous, and true to his Tough Upbringing and Stubborn Italian Heritage, Hard Headed Artiste to come down from the Ivory Tower of his Intellectual and Arty Inclinations and Give the women of the world something a little less... Demanding. If the Essential Demanding Esprit of the Rucci women has not disappeared, it has Metamorphosed into something without all the trappings of the "Grand Dame" cloak of erudition that in the past made his clothes as Awing as they were and frankly by me.... is missed, but also made his clothing seem too Intimidating and Regal.
Well, Regal still lives in the House of That Chado Built, but more of a HRH Kate Middleton Regal, or Princess Charlene Regal.... even say a Natalie Portman kind of Regal, More Youthful, less Extroverted in it's outward grandness (Oh, HOW I WISH Ralph would show a Good Ol' Infanta Gown Soon!) More Subdued but no less Imbued with Gravitas! This Spring 2014 Collection was filled to the brim with such Lightness and Energy that if felt so much less encumbered and indebted to the codes of the "Chado" Past but retained all of the Artful Synergy of The Intellectual and the Ephemeral!
Of the 64 Exits I could write a Dissertation on Each and Every single outfit and still it wouldn't be a sufficient treatise on the Magic of Rucci's Craft and Exacting and at times, Exhilaratingly so, Punishing Technique! I have to be a little bold in saying this here... there is something, in his Thick Armed, MASSIVELY Broad Shouldered and Barrel Chest Physicality that plays somewhat into the Leather Daddy idea that Peter Marino only Childishly costumes himself in and is probably is as truly leather daddy as Maya Angelou! No, Ralph has the Sensual and Cool yet Dominantly Passionate personality that hints at, suggests, that he might have a little bit of the Sadist in him. His clothes at times ARE so Genuinely Taxing in the best of ways that it feels like only someone who was the most Exciting of Taskmasters could create them. It's that Tenuous, Dangerous Line that his clothes teeter upon that has made Women Love and Men Admire them and those same qualities are what make Him as a person so Mesmerizing... That something is Powerfully Dangerous under that Cool, Superiorly Intellectual Visage. A Wild Passionate Dervish... why do you think his audience for ages has ignored the Queen Bee Herself and Thronged to his shows and Men AND Women alike jump to their feet in Applause And Rapture, because like the clothes... the man himself is Incredibly Desirable. That isn't some sexual fawning on my part, it's true... most you hear speak about him will find themselves mentioning how intense and handsome he is and how he has a open and easy Mangnetism that is patently obvious.
What you may ask does all that have to do with the clothes... Plenty! Desire is a Commodity that Rucci trades in with his clothes in the most Sensual, Overstated yet Coolly Subdued way... it was in his past work the stolid Reserve of the outfits, the buttoned up concealment that had the fires of passion burbling beneath... Now, he has freed the Passion in the most Daryl Van Horn of ways and let loose some of the restriction and given us a breath of Air in his new vision!
From the Beginning on Elise Crombez, we knew we were seeing a New Ralph Rucci. The Casual nature of that first Exit was still Calibrated on the side of the Rarefied... this was never the Casual you'd see on the ground floor of Macy's! No, This was Couture Casual. The Sublime Vision that arose from this collection is that when the Great Vampire Armand that is Uncle Karl ever decides to R.I.P (Because for Hells sake we ALL know that man isn't going to die until HE DECIDES to! IF, He decides too! LOL!) Ralph has the Eye, The Mind, and The Artistry to Take over where Karl leaves off and move in the same directions at Chanel. It was so clear that much of this collection could easily fit in with a Chanel Couture Wardrobe that it wouldn't even be One Iota Funny! It was Brilliant and Utterly Blissful to witness!
What were some of the highlights you may ask... Oh God where to start... Exit No. 6 On Pauline Hoarau, A Grayish Pink ensemble of A Expertly cut and Executed Blouse and Pant with a matching Apron around the waist (Now, Here, I must go off on a Tangent... where as all the critics were fawning over how the Aprons made the clothes Fresher and Younger, their abundance in the collection was neither, FOR ME, Enhancing or Necessary. More Annoying than anything! but as a Styling Trope I am willing to bypass it but not in the same mood to lavish praise on it!) Exit No. 13 one of Rucci's Signatures... The Caban Coat... In pristine White and 3/4 Sleeved, Absolute Perfection over it's Black Pants and Beaded black blouse and Gunmetal Metal mesh Apron! SUBLIME!
Exit No. 18 was one of those looks that put us gently on the Chanel Trajectory and was Tear-Inducing in it's awesomeness! A Coral Bolero Extravagantly Embroidered in white sequins as to suggest flowers but abstractly so, worn with an Antique Pink Chiffon and Cherry Blossom Pink Crepe Trousers... Heaven Is A Place On Earth! Exit No 37 was a piece of Engineering Genius for anyone but a Ralph Rucci... for him, it was old hat but never ceases to be Fresh and Stunning each and every time... A paneled Pantsuit in Snow white with the jacket in solid square panels on sheer horsehair, I Weep! Exits No. 46 and No. 47 made us again aware of the Chanel/Lagerfeld Sensibility laying in Rucci's wheelhouse! The Bronze Paillette stunner of a Slip dress was instantly Covetous and No. 47 with it's Black Holographic Striated Paillettes chunkily adorning it was MAGIC!
I Could go on. And On. And ON! Even though I have left Brevity Well behind, I will endeavour to be Succinct in my final analysis. The Simple Elegant Feather Plumed and Sequined Number of Exit No. 51 was one of my Favorite dresses this season and simmered with a Shagadelic "Hullaballoo" Go-Go Dancer Sauciness! Not mention it was Brilliantly Embroidered! Exit No. 54 on Nykhor Paul was a Dream Walking. In Spring Pink, the Easiness of the Slinky slip dress smothered from top to hem in sequins with it's matching full-length cardigan surmounted atop it... Breath Stealing! And The Finale Passage of White Gowns Exit Nos. 60-62... Words Are not Capable Sufficiently to Describe their countenance! Hypnotic would be a grand start!
Ralph Rucci is one of those designers than can send me into Rhapsodies of Prolixity and still never feel like i truly came even remotely close to describing how Incandescent his work from season to season is! I feel like some Groupie for a Rock 'N' Roller in the way his clothes send me Dizzily into throes of Fashion Ecstasy! He is A Couturier In The most Literal and Awesome Sense... This is in his BLOOD! This is the destiny of The Erudite, Cosmopolitan, Renaissance Man That is Ralph Rucci! We all who love his work are simply LUCKY to be able to Worship at his Temple.
And for what it is worth... I myself, am hoping we see him in the metier where he can make all of his most Dramatic Fashion Fantasies Reality.... The Halls of Haute Couture in Paris. There are many Practitioners of the Craft who shouldn't be let within 400 feet of a Couture House... (Did Someone mention Raf...?!?!) But Ralph Rucci is one of the masters, Like Charles James, Christian Dior, Hubert De Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Lacroix, Madeline Vionnet.... And Chillrens... if those names don't make you Melt for Couture then there isn't enough help in the world for you!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Ralph Rucci.
Alchemy. It's the only word that fits when talking about the Wizard and Magician that is Ralph Rucci. How he transforms Fabric and Thought into something that if clothes could be "ART" These would be the clothes that approach that Moniker. His work is Transfixing, Transfiguring.... Transcendental! And, now he has managed what some thought would be the Quixotic Impossible Dream and Managed to augment his abilities to speak in a newer more understandable language yet still all the while remaining the Patois that is so Very Recognized by the Faithful whom worship at the Temple of Chado!
He has dropped the "Chado" and Now is Lighter, If Rucci could admittedly be accused in the past of Audacious Highbrow Couture, that Damning with High Praise can no longer be levied against him. His Couture has relaxed yet lost none of it's Intellectual Charm. His audience has Expanded as well as business, he has perhaps begun to peek out under the cloak of disdain that has been draped about him by High Priestess Wintour. He always had his business regardless of how massively Ms. Wintour and The Magazine "Vogue" Have Ignored and Dismissed him. That was because the women he dressed Are Forces of Nature who have no fear of dressing in Defiance of Ms. Wintour to her face... Women like Deeda McCormick-Blair, Mercedes Bass, Juliana Margulies. They live in their own personal world of style and refused to be dictated to or kowtow to The Icy Monarch that is Anna! That has kept him a Success but not a Household name.
The time arrived, one would imagine, to make peace, not with the Doyenne Of Conde Nast, but with all the critics and other editors who have for years been begging the Gorgeous, and true to his Tough Upbringing and Stubborn Italian Heritage, Hard Headed Artiste to come down from the Ivory Tower of his Intellectual and Arty Inclinations and Give the women of the world something a little less... Demanding. If the Essential Demanding Esprit of the Rucci women has not disappeared, it has Metamorphosed into something without all the trappings of the "Grand Dame" cloak of erudition that in the past made his clothes as Awing as they were and frankly by me.... is missed, but also made his clothing seem too Intimidating and Regal.
Well, Regal still lives in the House of That Chado Built, but more of a HRH Kate Middleton Regal, or Princess Charlene Regal.... even say a Natalie Portman kind of Regal, More Youthful, less Extroverted in it's outward grandness (Oh, HOW I WISH Ralph would show a Good Ol' Infanta Gown Soon!) More Subdued but no less Imbued with Gravitas! This Spring 2014 Collection was filled to the brim with such Lightness and Energy that if felt so much less encumbered and indebted to the codes of the "Chado" Past but retained all of the Artful Synergy of The Intellectual and the Ephemeral!
Of the 64 Exits I could write a Dissertation on Each and Every single outfit and still it wouldn't be a sufficient treatise on the Magic of Rucci's Craft and Exacting and at times, Exhilaratingly so, Punishing Technique! I have to be a little bold in saying this here... there is something, in his Thick Armed, MASSIVELY Broad Shouldered and Barrel Chest Physicality that plays somewhat into the Leather Daddy idea that Peter Marino only Childishly costumes himself in and is probably is as truly leather daddy as Maya Angelou! No, Ralph has the Sensual and Cool yet Dominantly Passionate personality that hints at, suggests, that he might have a little bit of the Sadist in him. His clothes at times ARE so Genuinely Taxing in the best of ways that it feels like only someone who was the most Exciting of Taskmasters could create them. It's that Tenuous, Dangerous Line that his clothes teeter upon that has made Women Love and Men Admire them and those same qualities are what make Him as a person so Mesmerizing... That something is Powerfully Dangerous under that Cool, Superiorly Intellectual Visage. A Wild Passionate Dervish... why do you think his audience for ages has ignored the Queen Bee Herself and Thronged to his shows and Men AND Women alike jump to their feet in Applause And Rapture, because like the clothes... the man himself is Incredibly Desirable. That isn't some sexual fawning on my part, it's true... most you hear speak about him will find themselves mentioning how intense and handsome he is and how he has a open and easy Mangnetism that is patently obvious.
What you may ask does all that have to do with the clothes... Plenty! Desire is a Commodity that Rucci trades in with his clothes in the most Sensual, Overstated yet Coolly Subdued way... it was in his past work the stolid Reserve of the outfits, the buttoned up concealment that had the fires of passion burbling beneath... Now, he has freed the Passion in the most Daryl Van Horn of ways and let loose some of the restriction and given us a breath of Air in his new vision!
From the Beginning on Elise Crombez, we knew we were seeing a New Ralph Rucci. The Casual nature of that first Exit was still Calibrated on the side of the Rarefied... this was never the Casual you'd see on the ground floor of Macy's! No, This was Couture Casual. The Sublime Vision that arose from this collection is that when the Great Vampire Armand that is Uncle Karl ever decides to R.I.P (Because for Hells sake we ALL know that man isn't going to die until HE DECIDES to! IF, He decides too! LOL!) Ralph has the Eye, The Mind, and The Artistry to Take over where Karl leaves off and move in the same directions at Chanel. It was so clear that much of this collection could easily fit in with a Chanel Couture Wardrobe that it wouldn't even be One Iota Funny! It was Brilliant and Utterly Blissful to witness!
What were some of the highlights you may ask... Oh God where to start... Exit No. 6 On Pauline Hoarau, A Grayish Pink ensemble of A Expertly cut and Executed Blouse and Pant with a matching Apron around the waist (Now, Here, I must go off on a Tangent... where as all the critics were fawning over how the Aprons made the clothes Fresher and Younger, their abundance in the collection was neither, FOR ME, Enhancing or Necessary. More Annoying than anything! but as a Styling Trope I am willing to bypass it but not in the same mood to lavish praise on it!) Exit No. 13 one of Rucci's Signatures... The Caban Coat... In pristine White and 3/4 Sleeved, Absolute Perfection over it's Black Pants and Beaded black blouse and Gunmetal Metal mesh Apron! SUBLIME!
Exit No. 18 was one of those looks that put us gently on the Chanel Trajectory and was Tear-Inducing in it's awesomeness! A Coral Bolero Extravagantly Embroidered in white sequins as to suggest flowers but abstractly so, worn with an Antique Pink Chiffon and Cherry Blossom Pink Crepe Trousers... Heaven Is A Place On Earth! Exit No 37 was a piece of Engineering Genius for anyone but a Ralph Rucci... for him, it was old hat but never ceases to be Fresh and Stunning each and every time... A paneled Pantsuit in Snow white with the jacket in solid square panels on sheer horsehair, I Weep! Exits No. 46 and No. 47 made us again aware of the Chanel/Lagerfeld Sensibility laying in Rucci's wheelhouse! The Bronze Paillette stunner of a Slip dress was instantly Covetous and No. 47 with it's Black Holographic Striated Paillettes chunkily adorning it was MAGIC!
I Could go on. And On. And ON! Even though I have left Brevity Well behind, I will endeavour to be Succinct in my final analysis. The Simple Elegant Feather Plumed and Sequined Number of Exit No. 51 was one of my Favorite dresses this season and simmered with a Shagadelic "Hullaballoo" Go-Go Dancer Sauciness! Not mention it was Brilliantly Embroidered! Exit No. 54 on Nykhor Paul was a Dream Walking. In Spring Pink, the Easiness of the Slinky slip dress smothered from top to hem in sequins with it's matching full-length cardigan surmounted atop it... Breath Stealing! And The Finale Passage of White Gowns Exit Nos. 60-62... Words Are not Capable Sufficiently to Describe their countenance! Hypnotic would be a grand start!
Ralph Rucci is one of those designers than can send me into Rhapsodies of Prolixity and still never feel like i truly came even remotely close to describing how Incandescent his work from season to season is! I feel like some Groupie for a Rock 'N' Roller in the way his clothes send me Dizzily into throes of Fashion Ecstasy! He is A Couturier In The most Literal and Awesome Sense... This is in his BLOOD! This is the destiny of The Erudite, Cosmopolitan, Renaissance Man That is Ralph Rucci! We all who love his work are simply LUCKY to be able to Worship at his Temple.
And for what it is worth... I myself, am hoping we see him in the metier where he can make all of his most Dramatic Fashion Fantasies Reality.... The Halls of Haute Couture in Paris. There are many Practitioners of the Craft who shouldn't be let within 400 feet of a Couture House... (Did Someone mention Raf...?!?!) But Ralph Rucci is one of the masters, Like Charles James, Christian Dior, Hubert De Givenchy, Emanuel Ungaro, Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Lacroix, Madeline Vionnet.... And Chillrens... if those names don't make you Melt for Couture then there isn't enough help in the world for you!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Saturday, October 12, 2013
Zac Posen.
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Zac Posen.
Owing that I TRULY ADORE and Like Zac Posen and the man has never been one of the offenders of inequity of diversity on his runways... It's hard for me to review his At times Sublimely Pretty and Frothy Spring 2014 collection and have negative feelings towards it. To be Fair... I WANTED To Love It, I DID! I reviewed the show Half a Dozen times and I am still left with an all too unflattering take. Forgive Me, Zac and Know I DO Adore You!
Alrighty... THE FIRST Elephant in the room is the same thing i posited about Monique L'Huillier... If you base your business on Evening Wear Only, Like Marchesa, Elie Saab, Badgley Mischka, and Many others... It is is Impossible, FLAT OUT IMPOSSIBLE to have a well rounded Collection. It grows Rote Season after Season AFTER SEASON Parading Albeit Beautiful, but Saccharine Trifles with no substantive backbone to hold up such weighty fare... if it's all Fantasy and Feathers and Embroidery and Trains and OH My.... where's the relief? It just strains the eye and Creates an overwhelming effect of... Boredom. It is precisely when you have the Sporty Looks, the Suits, The Coats, the Dresses, The Separates, that when you finally do bring down the hammer with some Frothy Splashy Evening Attire THEN Does it truly makes it's biggest impact!
Coco Looked as Vulpine and Lovely as ever in the Palest spring pink Opener which while complex in it's pleating and paneling it had an effortless, dreamy, fluffy, simplicity to it! The ONLY Drawback to all that pleating... it made the waistline look Wide. Which was the primary downfall of the collection. with all that Foundation building inside and under these Outfits they had the terrible effect of making even the most slender girls looks SUPER Wide in the waist section and since most of them also Cantilevered the Bosom up to ones Chin, The effect was even less slimming!
Let's Say this... Zac's Colour Sense was Dead Perfect this season.... Every Outfit was Swoon worthy for the Either Rich or Pastel Sumptuous Colours involved.... Peach, Seafoam, Plum, Buttercup, Cinnabar, Mocha.... all too delicious!
Exit No.14 on Pauline Hoarau was a Strapless Masterpiece in Palest Citron Pleating... Just Glorious! However.... Exit No. 16...???? What Exactly were you trying to say with this Marchesa Dress that somehow found it's way into a Zac Posen Show? And not even A GOOD Marchesa! It was A Titanic Mess. Exit No. 20 though brought Bombshell Back into the Picture and That Pale Apricot just Scintillated against the models Smooth Cocoa Colouring!
From then On Out.... Things Vacillated between Gorgeous and Overwrought! Anna Cleveland in Exit No. 24 was one of those in the Dangerously Overwrought Category, Exit No. 28 fit into that Niche as well as it was Deliriously, Luridly OVER Designed... Should have stopped halfway through that one and it would have been a Winner! But then A Sylph in a Slip of Galliano-like Bias Magick in the Palest Possible Celery Green Satin Back Crepe at Exit No. 32.... DIVINE!
Ming Xi in the finale though.... THAT'S HOW OVERWROUGHT IS DONE OVER-"RIGHT" It was Tear Inducing it was so Masterful and Exceptional! The Pink Colour, The TITANIC Embroidered skirt... I could have Cried. I almost did! There were moments of such Magical Brilliance in this collection that it was so sad to see Lapses in Judgement that some of these gowns were... if half of them had been edited out and replaced by some Curvy Suits and Daywear Separate options the collection would have been a Grand Slam Home Run...
As it were, it was no more than RBI Double. It may have Got the Run In, Chillrens... But there were no Fireworks going off for the Out of the park Hit!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Zac Posen.
Owing that I TRULY ADORE and Like Zac Posen and the man has never been one of the offenders of inequity of diversity on his runways... It's hard for me to review his At times Sublimely Pretty and Frothy Spring 2014 collection and have negative feelings towards it. To be Fair... I WANTED To Love It, I DID! I reviewed the show Half a Dozen times and I am still left with an all too unflattering take. Forgive Me, Zac and Know I DO Adore You!
Alrighty... THE FIRST Elephant in the room is the same thing i posited about Monique L'Huillier... If you base your business on Evening Wear Only, Like Marchesa, Elie Saab, Badgley Mischka, and Many others... It is is Impossible, FLAT OUT IMPOSSIBLE to have a well rounded Collection. It grows Rote Season after Season AFTER SEASON Parading Albeit Beautiful, but Saccharine Trifles with no substantive backbone to hold up such weighty fare... if it's all Fantasy and Feathers and Embroidery and Trains and OH My.... where's the relief? It just strains the eye and Creates an overwhelming effect of... Boredom. It is precisely when you have the Sporty Looks, the Suits, The Coats, the Dresses, The Separates, that when you finally do bring down the hammer with some Frothy Splashy Evening Attire THEN Does it truly makes it's biggest impact!
Coco Looked as Vulpine and Lovely as ever in the Palest spring pink Opener which while complex in it's pleating and paneling it had an effortless, dreamy, fluffy, simplicity to it! The ONLY Drawback to all that pleating... it made the waistline look Wide. Which was the primary downfall of the collection. with all that Foundation building inside and under these Outfits they had the terrible effect of making even the most slender girls looks SUPER Wide in the waist section and since most of them also Cantilevered the Bosom up to ones Chin, The effect was even less slimming!
Let's Say this... Zac's Colour Sense was Dead Perfect this season.... Every Outfit was Swoon worthy for the Either Rich or Pastel Sumptuous Colours involved.... Peach, Seafoam, Plum, Buttercup, Cinnabar, Mocha.... all too delicious!
Exit No.14 on Pauline Hoarau was a Strapless Masterpiece in Palest Citron Pleating... Just Glorious! However.... Exit No. 16...???? What Exactly were you trying to say with this Marchesa Dress that somehow found it's way into a Zac Posen Show? And not even A GOOD Marchesa! It was A Titanic Mess. Exit No. 20 though brought Bombshell Back into the Picture and That Pale Apricot just Scintillated against the models Smooth Cocoa Colouring!
From then On Out.... Things Vacillated between Gorgeous and Overwrought! Anna Cleveland in Exit No. 24 was one of those in the Dangerously Overwrought Category, Exit No. 28 fit into that Niche as well as it was Deliriously, Luridly OVER Designed... Should have stopped halfway through that one and it would have been a Winner! But then A Sylph in a Slip of Galliano-like Bias Magick in the Palest Possible Celery Green Satin Back Crepe at Exit No. 32.... DIVINE!
Ming Xi in the finale though.... THAT'S HOW OVERWROUGHT IS DONE OVER-"RIGHT" It was Tear Inducing it was so Masterful and Exceptional! The Pink Colour, The TITANIC Embroidered skirt... I could have Cried. I almost did! There were moments of such Magical Brilliance in this collection that it was so sad to see Lapses in Judgement that some of these gowns were... if half of them had been edited out and replaced by some Curvy Suits and Daywear Separate options the collection would have been a Grand Slam Home Run...
As it were, it was no more than RBI Double. It may have Got the Run In, Chillrens... But there were no Fireworks going off for the Out of the park Hit!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Yigal Azrouel.
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Yigal Azrouel.
I think I see where Yigal Azrouel was Trying to go. He didn't really get there and he did. Interesting to say, but visually, not as much. It, Underwhelmed. It was so Stark and Clinical and Antiseptic and Dry... There was NO Pulse to these Clothes. NO Frisson of Sexiness... and when the idea of Sex was injected into the collection, it came off as Awkward and Garish. The Plainness of much of the collection was contrasted against some half-hearted and nowhere near as expertly executed venture into the territory of Cushnie Et Ochs. The Cutouts and Body Conscious Looks are not the playing field of ONLY Carly and Michelle but it is the Furrow they have plowed with nothing but success and it is a Signature and one nowadays has to be weary that if you go that route the comparisons will come Fast and Thick!
The possible worst offense of the clothes... they were Drab and Cut with no hint of enhancing the body! They just Hung like some terribly oversized matronly smock. And then when they did begin to fit, there was a Weird Sporty Sheer/Solid Element to the clothes that only served to make things even trickier looking! Match that up with Cutouts and A Black on White Scribble print that looked like M.C. Escher was let loose Drunk with a Black Sharpie and you have something of a Debacle! Though sadly, Perhaps, the best looking outfit in the throng was in that print, Exit No. 12 a Simple and Clean Sheath Dress that Highlighted that print in a Cool Way!
From there... things only spiraled downward to the Wholly Disastrous looks that finished the show in Wild Mixed Media Mash-ups of Sheer Mesh and Solid Fabric that had a Disjointed Crazy Quilt feel to them that was at once seeming to be Sportif and Sexual and truly being neither. It simply came off as... Ungainly.
In the end... It was Little Ado About Absolutely Nothing. No Real Idea could be grasped or discerned from the collection. It Failed to raise any kind of Excitement and It felt Exceedingly Incoherent.
Ungainly, Incoherent, Disjointed.... not words one wants to Associate with Fashion, now does one, Chillrens.....????/
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Yigal Azrouel.
I think I see where Yigal Azrouel was Trying to go. He didn't really get there and he did. Interesting to say, but visually, not as much. It, Underwhelmed. It was so Stark and Clinical and Antiseptic and Dry... There was NO Pulse to these Clothes. NO Frisson of Sexiness... and when the idea of Sex was injected into the collection, it came off as Awkward and Garish. The Plainness of much of the collection was contrasted against some half-hearted and nowhere near as expertly executed venture into the territory of Cushnie Et Ochs. The Cutouts and Body Conscious Looks are not the playing field of ONLY Carly and Michelle but it is the Furrow they have plowed with nothing but success and it is a Signature and one nowadays has to be weary that if you go that route the comparisons will come Fast and Thick!
The possible worst offense of the clothes... they were Drab and Cut with no hint of enhancing the body! They just Hung like some terribly oversized matronly smock. And then when they did begin to fit, there was a Weird Sporty Sheer/Solid Element to the clothes that only served to make things even trickier looking! Match that up with Cutouts and A Black on White Scribble print that looked like M.C. Escher was let loose Drunk with a Black Sharpie and you have something of a Debacle! Though sadly, Perhaps, the best looking outfit in the throng was in that print, Exit No. 12 a Simple and Clean Sheath Dress that Highlighted that print in a Cool Way!
From there... things only spiraled downward to the Wholly Disastrous looks that finished the show in Wild Mixed Media Mash-ups of Sheer Mesh and Solid Fabric that had a Disjointed Crazy Quilt feel to them that was at once seeming to be Sportif and Sexual and truly being neither. It simply came off as... Ungainly.
In the end... It was Little Ado About Absolutely Nothing. No Real Idea could be grasped or discerned from the collection. It Failed to raise any kind of Excitement and It felt Exceedingly Incoherent.
Ungainly, Incoherent, Disjointed.... not words one wants to Associate with Fashion, now does one, Chillrens.....????/
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Diane Von Furstenberg (DVF)
Sun. 09/08/2013.
DVF (Diane Von Furstenberg).
"Oasis"
Could there be any more relaxing a word? More Evocative of Dreamy, Cool, Desirable??? I should hardly think there is. However at Masion DVF It was more like there was a Midnight @ The Oasis House Party! This collection not only Charmed because it was Literally the most Easy and Effortless show this season, but also because Diane knows how to do Diversity RIGHT! Her Mix of Models was the Picture Perfect Epitome of Diverse. One had Not only Caramel Beauties like Joan Smalls, Malaika Firth and Jourdan Dunn, But Chocolate Goddesses Like Maria Borges, Nykhor Paul and Jeneil Williams... with Everything in between from Anais Mali to The One, The Only, THE Naomi Campbell! And then... you had the Asian Invasion of Gorgeous models Also well represented! By the way, it was so perfect to see the Girls of Colour actually Equal and perhaps Outnumber the beauties of the East for a change (Yes Karl... That is Directed At YOU!) I mean let's face It... Girls of the Caucasian Variety are As Abundant as Apples in An Orchard! They are as Equally Beautiful, this isn't any shade at all on the models without Melanin but it's truly a Happy occasion to see a Healthy dose of Darker skin in a show. I am not going to lie or make any apologies for that!
Now. Saying that. As happy an occasion it is, it would have been lost had the collection SUCKED! And It so Assuredly DID NOT SUCK! It was a Winner from the Moment "Blurred Lines" started up and didn't let up until that OH SO Recognizable Undulating Gait that Announces that MS. CAMPBELL HAS ARRIVED Slinked down the runway to Thunderous Applause! There were too many, Too, TOO Many outfits in this collection worthy of praise... The general Underlying themes were as firm and solid as the individual pieces... a Reliance on the signature DVF Wrap Dress now given a bit of Full Flare in the skirt was well played, The Always fun use of Graphic Patterns and prints that were more so graphic this season in Spectator form! Not to mention a Definite African Vibe in Tribal, Animal, Snakeskin and Wood Prints that also culminated in A Dazzling Lion Print on a Shift dress on Holly Rose Emery (Exit No. 28) and A Long evening skirt on Jourdan Dunn worn with a little spare draped top (Exit No. 30) a print so good that Diane herself wore Exit No. 28 in her walk down the runway at the end of the show!
Other Major Highlights... Oh My, Well... Kati Nescher In the best All-White outfit of the season I think in Exit No. 4... A Safari Tunic with full pants in crisp White Cotton was the Zenith of UBER-Cool Chic! Exit No. 6 on Karlie Kloss in her version of the same outfit only done in Engineered Zebra Print and without the Saharienne touches. Ming Xi at Exit No. 9 in a SCALDING Chili Pepper red Jumper that had YSL Louche Luxe ingrained into it's DNA (Remember, back in her socialite Days she was VERY Good friends with Yves and wore MANY of his clothes, so she can be All About Yves ANYTIME SHE WANTS and has the real deal knowledge to back it up!)
More you Say.... Coming Up.... Maria Borges (does ANYONE in Modelling have More STUNNINGLY PERFECT Legs than this Exquisite Amazon????) In the Deepest, Most Liquid Turquoise Jersey at Exit No. 24 that just Perfectly Juxtaposed against her Warm Chocolate Colouring! Exit No. 32 on THE JOAN SMALLS of the most Saucy Little gold Hot Pants and Breezy Blouse EVER! And Again, the Exquisite Kati Nescher Giving Gold Lame Leather Saharienne Shirtdress GLAM-MORE At Exit No. 34.
And Yes, Naomi Killed it at the end. Did you have any Doubt?
It was the Feel Good Show of the Season. Of that I am CERTAIN! It was Packed with Amazing Clothes to wear in real life, not fantasy, but could easily translate into anyone's Fantasy Ideal as well! The Beguiling Dichotomy of that is the thing that Ms. Diane seems to do without as much as blinking. She is from the Old School... she knows what REAL Fashion Is. She Lived It. Hell, She might have damn well Created it herself Back in the day. So not one person alive in the industry is more adept at schooling the world NOW on what Fashion IS! Her Pedigree is the Most Rarefied. Her Skills, The Most Deep. Her Knowledge... Incalculable!
Chillrens... This IS Fashion ROYALTY! Her Crown Has Never even known what Tarnish is, And they way she keeps hitting her stride better and faster than before... It Never, Ever Shall!
DVF.... She IS What Grace Is, Bitches! Eat It and Love every Second of it!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
DVF (Diane Von Furstenberg).
"Oasis"
Could there be any more relaxing a word? More Evocative of Dreamy, Cool, Desirable??? I should hardly think there is. However at Masion DVF It was more like there was a Midnight @ The Oasis House Party! This collection not only Charmed because it was Literally the most Easy and Effortless show this season, but also because Diane knows how to do Diversity RIGHT! Her Mix of Models was the Picture Perfect Epitome of Diverse. One had Not only Caramel Beauties like Joan Smalls, Malaika Firth and Jourdan Dunn, But Chocolate Goddesses Like Maria Borges, Nykhor Paul and Jeneil Williams... with Everything in between from Anais Mali to The One, The Only, THE Naomi Campbell! And then... you had the Asian Invasion of Gorgeous models Also well represented! By the way, it was so perfect to see the Girls of Colour actually Equal and perhaps Outnumber the beauties of the East for a change (Yes Karl... That is Directed At YOU!) I mean let's face It... Girls of the Caucasian Variety are As Abundant as Apples in An Orchard! They are as Equally Beautiful, this isn't any shade at all on the models without Melanin but it's truly a Happy occasion to see a Healthy dose of Darker skin in a show. I am not going to lie or make any apologies for that!
Now. Saying that. As happy an occasion it is, it would have been lost had the collection SUCKED! And It so Assuredly DID NOT SUCK! It was a Winner from the Moment "Blurred Lines" started up and didn't let up until that OH SO Recognizable Undulating Gait that Announces that MS. CAMPBELL HAS ARRIVED Slinked down the runway to Thunderous Applause! There were too many, Too, TOO Many outfits in this collection worthy of praise... The general Underlying themes were as firm and solid as the individual pieces... a Reliance on the signature DVF Wrap Dress now given a bit of Full Flare in the skirt was well played, The Always fun use of Graphic Patterns and prints that were more so graphic this season in Spectator form! Not to mention a Definite African Vibe in Tribal, Animal, Snakeskin and Wood Prints that also culminated in A Dazzling Lion Print on a Shift dress on Holly Rose Emery (Exit No. 28) and A Long evening skirt on Jourdan Dunn worn with a little spare draped top (Exit No. 30) a print so good that Diane herself wore Exit No. 28 in her walk down the runway at the end of the show!
Other Major Highlights... Oh My, Well... Kati Nescher In the best All-White outfit of the season I think in Exit No. 4... A Safari Tunic with full pants in crisp White Cotton was the Zenith of UBER-Cool Chic! Exit No. 6 on Karlie Kloss in her version of the same outfit only done in Engineered Zebra Print and without the Saharienne touches. Ming Xi at Exit No. 9 in a SCALDING Chili Pepper red Jumper that had YSL Louche Luxe ingrained into it's DNA (Remember, back in her socialite Days she was VERY Good friends with Yves and wore MANY of his clothes, so she can be All About Yves ANYTIME SHE WANTS and has the real deal knowledge to back it up!)
More you Say.... Coming Up.... Maria Borges (does ANYONE in Modelling have More STUNNINGLY PERFECT Legs than this Exquisite Amazon????) In the Deepest, Most Liquid Turquoise Jersey at Exit No. 24 that just Perfectly Juxtaposed against her Warm Chocolate Colouring! Exit No. 32 on THE JOAN SMALLS of the most Saucy Little gold Hot Pants and Breezy Blouse EVER! And Again, the Exquisite Kati Nescher Giving Gold Lame Leather Saharienne Shirtdress GLAM-MORE At Exit No. 34.
And Yes, Naomi Killed it at the end. Did you have any Doubt?
It was the Feel Good Show of the Season. Of that I am CERTAIN! It was Packed with Amazing Clothes to wear in real life, not fantasy, but could easily translate into anyone's Fantasy Ideal as well! The Beguiling Dichotomy of that is the thing that Ms. Diane seems to do without as much as blinking. She is from the Old School... she knows what REAL Fashion Is. She Lived It. Hell, She might have damn well Created it herself Back in the day. So not one person alive in the industry is more adept at schooling the world NOW on what Fashion IS! Her Pedigree is the Most Rarefied. Her Skills, The Most Deep. Her Knowledge... Incalculable!
Chillrens... This IS Fashion ROYALTY! Her Crown Has Never even known what Tarnish is, And they way she keeps hitting her stride better and faster than before... It Never, Ever Shall!
DVF.... She IS What Grace Is, Bitches! Eat It and Love every Second of it!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Thakoon And Custo Barcelona. (Two Short Reviews)
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Thakoon.
What in the World is going on over at Thakoon? Thakoon Panichgul was one of the Major Asian Sensations that In the Early-Mid 2000's began a Steady and Most Gloriously Welcomed invasion of the NYFW Runways and gave us Luminaries like Jason Wu, Derek Lam, Philip Lim, Richard Chai, Prabal Gurung... Doo Ri Chung was a part of that and has subsequently Evaporated into the Ether.. but Thakoon Belonged in that Bunch... and was one of the best practitioners of the craft. But this? This was Just.... Unfortunate! Misjudged and Inelegant. It achieved something that only the Wizened Master Michael Kors Once referred to in an Episode of "Project Runway" that really one would have thought a designer could never achieve again... It was "Dowdy and Trampy all at the same time!" That put the finest, keenest edge on this collection!
From the start the collection just was Labored and Boxy and Weighted down with Poor Styling and Even Poorer Ideas. GOD THOSE HIDEOUS SHOES! They made the first exits look like the models were wearing Boiled Wool Boucle Thigh Highs in the most dull shade of Oatmeal! MONSTROUS! NOTHING worn with them was Given any kind of help and sadly the most Square-ish, Boxy, Schlumpy clothes seemed to surmount these ragamuffin Escarpins! HOLY HELL! Not to mention most of the looks were some Strange play on Boudoir Dressing that befitted the 90's vibe running round rampant but they came off as Awkward and Silly! And Then things Got Slutty! Lady Of the Night Slutty! Clothes that would only be affixed to the bodies of Streetwalkers somehow splashed down Amidst these Boudoir Trifles. A Lipstick Red Patent bra and Gray Patent skirt was the most Unlawful Offender! It LITERALLY Looked like a GIANT Pair of Hyper Glossed Siren Red Lipstick Coated Lips the size of Godzilla had place a Giant Red Lipstick Mark on the girls breasts! It was Disconcerting and in EXCEPTIONAL Bad taste! Things didn't really pick up from there much.
A Simple shift in Black on Jasmine Tookes at Exit No. 28 was nice. but we have seen it too many times before. Although 2 exits later at No. 30 the most UN-Sexy Slip dress ever was paraded out and was just truly sad!
In Conclusion, Chillrens... It was a Disaster. Honestly! There were some Sporty pieces near the end that had some merit, but the totally Misguided whole was Unsatisfying and Unattractive and Most definitely, not Stylish.
Custo Barcelona.
And on the Other hand we have Custo Dalmau who put on a perfectly acceptable and pretty collection. And that was about the Beginning and End Of It! If his intent was to parade one too many of the samey-samey looks down a runway and not give one Iota of Inspiration to all those gathered in the Audience... Job Well Done, Senor Dalmau! The collection even with all it's colour and texture was so Visually Similar that it bordered on the Anondyne! The Elongated procession of Caban over Sheer Shirt with Shorts, or Loose Jacket over Swimsuit, Sheer Shirt with Swim bottoms... seen too many times in too little exciting variations gave the collection a Deadly AND Deadening Dullness!
Yes, I admit, some of the prints were INCREDIBLY Pretty and Elaborate and Desirable. But A print alone cannot make A overly simple garment with little to no design to it sing unless you're purchasing it at the thrift shop! it just cannot happen! The collections excitement level barely registered more so than a blip on the meter and ultimately, the draining sameness of the outfits snuffed out whatever excitement may that may have been gleaned from it!
So the Moral to the Story is, Chillrens... Pretty alone ain't Interesting. Simple as that!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Thakoon.
What in the World is going on over at Thakoon? Thakoon Panichgul was one of the Major Asian Sensations that In the Early-Mid 2000's began a Steady and Most Gloriously Welcomed invasion of the NYFW Runways and gave us Luminaries like Jason Wu, Derek Lam, Philip Lim, Richard Chai, Prabal Gurung... Doo Ri Chung was a part of that and has subsequently Evaporated into the Ether.. but Thakoon Belonged in that Bunch... and was one of the best practitioners of the craft. But this? This was Just.... Unfortunate! Misjudged and Inelegant. It achieved something that only the Wizened Master Michael Kors Once referred to in an Episode of "Project Runway" that really one would have thought a designer could never achieve again... It was "Dowdy and Trampy all at the same time!" That put the finest, keenest edge on this collection!
From the start the collection just was Labored and Boxy and Weighted down with Poor Styling and Even Poorer Ideas. GOD THOSE HIDEOUS SHOES! They made the first exits look like the models were wearing Boiled Wool Boucle Thigh Highs in the most dull shade of Oatmeal! MONSTROUS! NOTHING worn with them was Given any kind of help and sadly the most Square-ish, Boxy, Schlumpy clothes seemed to surmount these ragamuffin Escarpins! HOLY HELL! Not to mention most of the looks were some Strange play on Boudoir Dressing that befitted the 90's vibe running round rampant but they came off as Awkward and Silly! And Then things Got Slutty! Lady Of the Night Slutty! Clothes that would only be affixed to the bodies of Streetwalkers somehow splashed down Amidst these Boudoir Trifles. A Lipstick Red Patent bra and Gray Patent skirt was the most Unlawful Offender! It LITERALLY Looked like a GIANT Pair of Hyper Glossed Siren Red Lipstick Coated Lips the size of Godzilla had place a Giant Red Lipstick Mark on the girls breasts! It was Disconcerting and in EXCEPTIONAL Bad taste! Things didn't really pick up from there much.
A Simple shift in Black on Jasmine Tookes at Exit No. 28 was nice. but we have seen it too many times before. Although 2 exits later at No. 30 the most UN-Sexy Slip dress ever was paraded out and was just truly sad!
In Conclusion, Chillrens... It was a Disaster. Honestly! There were some Sporty pieces near the end that had some merit, but the totally Misguided whole was Unsatisfying and Unattractive and Most definitely, not Stylish.
Custo Barcelona.
And on the Other hand we have Custo Dalmau who put on a perfectly acceptable and pretty collection. And that was about the Beginning and End Of It! If his intent was to parade one too many of the samey-samey looks down a runway and not give one Iota of Inspiration to all those gathered in the Audience... Job Well Done, Senor Dalmau! The collection even with all it's colour and texture was so Visually Similar that it bordered on the Anondyne! The Elongated procession of Caban over Sheer Shirt with Shorts, or Loose Jacket over Swimsuit, Sheer Shirt with Swim bottoms... seen too many times in too little exciting variations gave the collection a Deadly AND Deadening Dullness!
Yes, I admit, some of the prints were INCREDIBLY Pretty and Elaborate and Desirable. But A print alone cannot make A overly simple garment with little to no design to it sing unless you're purchasing it at the thrift shop! it just cannot happen! The collections excitement level barely registered more so than a blip on the meter and ultimately, the draining sameness of the outfits snuffed out whatever excitement may that may have been gleaned from it!
So the Moral to the Story is, Chillrens... Pretty alone ain't Interesting. Simple as that!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Tracy Reese.
Sun. 09/08/2013.
Tracy Reese.
I Love Ms. Tracy Reese. As being one of the few People of Colour designing fashion in a Noticeable way she is A Long Standing Name with True Cred, Madame FLOTUS Herself has been seen kitted out in Ms. Reese's Wares a number of times. And I have to, As a person of Colour Myself, Support and Praise Tracy whenever and however I can.
But, Also... having a point of view and a critical eye, one cannot lavish praise blindly or where it isn't deserved and if I didn't care for a collection of hers. I'd be as Hard on her as any other designer including The Kaiser Himself!
So... How was the collection. It was Awfully Fun. Awfully Good. Awfully Wearable. But then again... that may perhaps be the sticking point of any or all of Ms. Reese's collection. A Homogeny that borders on the expected. Her collections are always Fun, and Pretty, and Wearable, and Good. Do they make the Pulse race, In Places, Yes. As a collective whole... Not so much! Were there some notably gorgeous Exits...??? SURE! The kinda plaintive refrain to be heard though was... I have seen this before. Tracy has established a Groove, One that has earned her Respect and Monetary Power to stay as independent as she has and still keep sales rolling in. No one is going to question her Formula is working. But it may be working TOO Good. And it may have reclined Ms. Reese into a Position of comfort and familiarity that is not always in the best interest of the clothes. Any Great Designer has to Push beyond the notes they feel most comfortable in and sing out in different keys (ARE YOU LISTENING RAF SIMONS!?!?!?)
Granting that, The collection was quite Sizzling with a Sexy Southern Feel that was more Bayou than Dixie! Ms. Tracy said that there was an Afro-Cuban bent to the collection which was easy to see... Mambo Queens Play Songs Of Love... but it was less frilly and elaborate as that connection may entail, all to it's benefit. Standouts.. A slip of a dress in White with Black windowpane that had a lace encrusted sheer overlay in black at Exit No. 10... A Sublime Ultramarine Blue and Hibiscus Orange Floral print Fit-And-Flare Dress for Exit No. 15... Another Fit-And-Flare Dress in a Blue on Pale Blue Tapestry Print that is BEGGING to be worn by Ms. Obama (She'd Look RAVISHING In It!) and one of the prettiest dresses so far of the season!
Ultimately... it was one of her Strongest and Best Collections to date. A Steady hand at Colour mixing and embellishment kept the Collection Vibrating to an Optimistic and Upbeat Pulse, While the Refreshing take on a Casual Glam Evening that ended the show was one of the more Photogenic Outfits from the house in some time... A White Lace Polo (Cropped) with a High Wasit Bi-Level Ruffle Fishtail Hem white Slink Skirt! Luxe, But Cool, Indeed!
In The End, Chillrens... I Love Tracy Reese. Always Will. But the Fashionista in me would like to see her push herself WELL out of her Strike Zone and maybe indulge in something, More Edgy... More Urban, Get a little Toughness in there and a Little more... Uptown as well... Her Formula works for her... and you can't really ask for more than that when she consistently produces Well Made, Flattering, Feminine looks. But Somehow.... I just can't help seeming to want to ask for Just Exactly That More......
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Tracy Reese.
I Love Ms. Tracy Reese. As being one of the few People of Colour designing fashion in a Noticeable way she is A Long Standing Name with True Cred, Madame FLOTUS Herself has been seen kitted out in Ms. Reese's Wares a number of times. And I have to, As a person of Colour Myself, Support and Praise Tracy whenever and however I can.
But, Also... having a point of view and a critical eye, one cannot lavish praise blindly or where it isn't deserved and if I didn't care for a collection of hers. I'd be as Hard on her as any other designer including The Kaiser Himself!
So... How was the collection. It was Awfully Fun. Awfully Good. Awfully Wearable. But then again... that may perhaps be the sticking point of any or all of Ms. Reese's collection. A Homogeny that borders on the expected. Her collections are always Fun, and Pretty, and Wearable, and Good. Do they make the Pulse race, In Places, Yes. As a collective whole... Not so much! Were there some notably gorgeous Exits...??? SURE! The kinda plaintive refrain to be heard though was... I have seen this before. Tracy has established a Groove, One that has earned her Respect and Monetary Power to stay as independent as she has and still keep sales rolling in. No one is going to question her Formula is working. But it may be working TOO Good. And it may have reclined Ms. Reese into a Position of comfort and familiarity that is not always in the best interest of the clothes. Any Great Designer has to Push beyond the notes they feel most comfortable in and sing out in different keys (ARE YOU LISTENING RAF SIMONS!?!?!?)
Granting that, The collection was quite Sizzling with a Sexy Southern Feel that was more Bayou than Dixie! Ms. Tracy said that there was an Afro-Cuban bent to the collection which was easy to see... Mambo Queens Play Songs Of Love... but it was less frilly and elaborate as that connection may entail, all to it's benefit. Standouts.. A slip of a dress in White with Black windowpane that had a lace encrusted sheer overlay in black at Exit No. 10... A Sublime Ultramarine Blue and Hibiscus Orange Floral print Fit-And-Flare Dress for Exit No. 15... Another Fit-And-Flare Dress in a Blue on Pale Blue Tapestry Print that is BEGGING to be worn by Ms. Obama (She'd Look RAVISHING In It!) and one of the prettiest dresses so far of the season!
Ultimately... it was one of her Strongest and Best Collections to date. A Steady hand at Colour mixing and embellishment kept the Collection Vibrating to an Optimistic and Upbeat Pulse, While the Refreshing take on a Casual Glam Evening that ended the show was one of the more Photogenic Outfits from the house in some time... A White Lace Polo (Cropped) with a High Wasit Bi-Level Ruffle Fishtail Hem white Slink Skirt! Luxe, But Cool, Indeed!
In The End, Chillrens... I Love Tracy Reese. Always Will. But the Fashionista in me would like to see her push herself WELL out of her Strike Zone and maybe indulge in something, More Edgy... More Urban, Get a little Toughness in there and a Little more... Uptown as well... Her Formula works for her... and you can't really ask for more than that when she consistently produces Well Made, Flattering, Feminine looks. But Somehow.... I just can't help seeming to want to ask for Just Exactly That More......
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Friday, October 11, 2013
DKNY.
Sun. 09/08/2013.
DKNY.
What An Incredible Joy the DKNY Spring 2014 Collection was! A positive Joyfest in fact! I haven't had the Exuberant Frisson from a Collection since my earliest memories of Fashion shows back in the 90's! Donna culled influences from all over the last 25 years of the collection (WOW! 1988... My Ex was born in that year... #SadFace!) Mainly though she drew influence from those Heydays of the 90's when DKNY was a Powerhouse collection that rivaled her own Eponymous label!
The collection was all about the Mish-Mash, The fun got going with the opening look or Joan Smalls. Baseball Cap, Trench, Blazer and Overalls... It was a Wild Mix and worked with the Urgency and Fearless Style of a New Yorker! It looked Incredible, to be quite frank! After, we got more Mix! A White Shirtdress with a Dark Blazer, An office ready Navy Pinstripe Dress and White shirt with a Blinding White Zip Anorak for those Urban city days when it's cool and rainy... There was SO SO Much great in this collection that to pick and choose is positively useless! I Adored the Blazers Emblazoned on the back like Varsity jackets with the Anniversary "25"
The collection spoke to Many of the ideas that have been born on the Donna Karan New York Runway and now have been reinterpreted in the more Downtown Spirit of DKNY... The Iconic Flowing Trench of Donna Karan... The Liquid Bias-Cut Jersey gowns and dresses.. The Scuba Looks... Neoprene... it all worked together in A Harmonious Whole that Breathed Exhilarating Life back into the DKNY Label. There was a Section in the middle of the show that just brought A Rush to my fashion Senses... from Exit No. 28 to Exit No. 32, The Sublime mixing of Colours was Effervescent and Executed Perfectly... Those crystalline Parachute Silk Dresses... SHOWSTOPPERS!
Also of note... if the trend Started with Alexander Wang of Eponym Indulgence... Donna nearly One-Upped Mr. Wang with her Splashy, Graphic, Spectator Looks that had her Famous Logo Orgiastically printed upon them! It was a Fashion Riot and Miraculously it worked! The whole Final Section of the show was a Paean to Black And White, Donna's Touchstone Colours. Chanel Iman's And Maud Welzen's Gowns would have been WHOLLY Sufficient to rock the roof off as closers... BUT NOOOOO.... Ms. Karan had to Slip the Amazonian Sylph that is Karlie Kloss into a Fire Starting Slip of Wildflower Orange That Sizzled as much as it Slinked!
That Rita Ora Ended the show was just a Fun, Silly, Convivial Anti-Climax... Those Long Lithe Beauties that are Chanel, Maud and Karlie OWNED the Finale as much as The Inimitable Ms. Smalls Owned the Opening. And Chillrens... That's How you Celebrate 25 Fruitful Years... With ONLY the Best. And Hunty,,, Those Girls Are THE BEST!
That's All.
Bye4Now.
DKNY.
What An Incredible Joy the DKNY Spring 2014 Collection was! A positive Joyfest in fact! I haven't had the Exuberant Frisson from a Collection since my earliest memories of Fashion shows back in the 90's! Donna culled influences from all over the last 25 years of the collection (WOW! 1988... My Ex was born in that year... #SadFace!) Mainly though she drew influence from those Heydays of the 90's when DKNY was a Powerhouse collection that rivaled her own Eponymous label!
The collection was all about the Mish-Mash, The fun got going with the opening look or Joan Smalls. Baseball Cap, Trench, Blazer and Overalls... It was a Wild Mix and worked with the Urgency and Fearless Style of a New Yorker! It looked Incredible, to be quite frank! After, we got more Mix! A White Shirtdress with a Dark Blazer, An office ready Navy Pinstripe Dress and White shirt with a Blinding White Zip Anorak for those Urban city days when it's cool and rainy... There was SO SO Much great in this collection that to pick and choose is positively useless! I Adored the Blazers Emblazoned on the back like Varsity jackets with the Anniversary "25"
The collection spoke to Many of the ideas that have been born on the Donna Karan New York Runway and now have been reinterpreted in the more Downtown Spirit of DKNY... The Iconic Flowing Trench of Donna Karan... The Liquid Bias-Cut Jersey gowns and dresses.. The Scuba Looks... Neoprene... it all worked together in A Harmonious Whole that Breathed Exhilarating Life back into the DKNY Label. There was a Section in the middle of the show that just brought A Rush to my fashion Senses... from Exit No. 28 to Exit No. 32, The Sublime mixing of Colours was Effervescent and Executed Perfectly... Those crystalline Parachute Silk Dresses... SHOWSTOPPERS!
Also of note... if the trend Started with Alexander Wang of Eponym Indulgence... Donna nearly One-Upped Mr. Wang with her Splashy, Graphic, Spectator Looks that had her Famous Logo Orgiastically printed upon them! It was a Fashion Riot and Miraculously it worked! The whole Final Section of the show was a Paean to Black And White, Donna's Touchstone Colours. Chanel Iman's And Maud Welzen's Gowns would have been WHOLLY Sufficient to rock the roof off as closers... BUT NOOOOO.... Ms. Karan had to Slip the Amazonian Sylph that is Karlie Kloss into a Fire Starting Slip of Wildflower Orange That Sizzled as much as it Slinked!
That Rita Ora Ended the show was just a Fun, Silly, Convivial Anti-Climax... Those Long Lithe Beauties that are Chanel, Maud and Karlie OWNED the Finale as much as The Inimitable Ms. Smalls Owned the Opening. And Chillrens... That's How you Celebrate 25 Fruitful Years... With ONLY the Best. And Hunty,,, Those Girls Are THE BEST!
That's All.
Bye4Now.
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