Sat. 09/12/2015.
Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer 2016.
Colour! And loads of it. This was the impression left with one as they viewed the Monique Lhuillier Spring/Summer 2016 collection. Especially since Lhuillier proposed no overarching theme other than "Youth" and the collection certainly had a fresh and breezy quality which was underscored by all that intense colour. Teal, Tourmaline Green, Crayola Salmon, Lapis Blue, Coral Red, and the usual suspects of Black and White for a definite counterpoint. Structure, but in a easy way, was another aspect of the collection writ large, especially in dresses and elliptical hem tops that were swooped up and draped to one side in quite a dramatic fashion, most tantalizing in a strapless top and cigarette pant ensemble in Ocean and Lapis Blues. The best pieces however, came in a Modern Art style splatter print/embroidery that looked the most daring and exciting to the eye, most effective on a long strapless gown with an embroidered overlay at Exit No. 28. Lhuillier provided a vivid and lively collection that truly only stalled at the last passage of dresses which were clunky and underwhelming. otherwise, Job Well Done!
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Wednesday, November 13, 2019
Wednesday, November 6, 2019
Alexander Wang Spring/Summer 2016.
Sat. 09/12/2015.
The Spring 2016 collection marks Alexander Wang's 10th anniversary as the energetic and streetwise designer with the endless cool factor built into his clothes from a NY inflected L.A. sensibility. This time around though, his more laid back, Los Angeles tendencies lent an aura of relaxed looseness that came across too casual and not fashion. It felt lively and fresh, with athletic influences abounding all over, but an aura of the lackadaisical and, in a bad way, effortless suffused this outing with a far too downmarket feeling. The collection lacked invention, it was sporty, and yes for it's time, pushing all the right buttons, but even by 2016 standards, there was nothing to truly fire the imagination and cause a buyer to earmark pieces from this collections as "Must-Haves"
Where this collection did succeed was that it did have in many places, a superior focus on how the juxtaposition of those more casual elements, when contrasted against something more "Fashion" made a compelling High-Low argument that in lesser skilled hands could have seemed clumsy and maladroit. Especially apt in this association was the track jacket paired with a Satin slip gown near the end of the collection and the deep sanguine red eelskin leather moto jacket paired with "Striped" trousers in fabric and leather. Both of these exhibited a true "FASHION": sensibility while still remaining the utmost in cool. However, to say that those pieces were enough to keep this collection from being something of an underwhelming affair. Wang may have been enthused with his "No concept" theme, but the proceedings most assuredly would have benefited from a more focused hand and less easygoing vibe.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Monday, November 4, 2019
Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2016.
Sat. 09/12/2015.
Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2016.
Too Much.
Restraint is a word Christian Siriano DESPERATELY needs to get in better relationship with. His Spring/Summer 2016 collection was suffering under it's own overwrought excessive much-ness that it looked like a bomb had went off at Mood Fabrics and everything fell down onto his toiles and stuck there permanently! Inspired by Morocco, Siriano played every trope and trick in his hand and most times, all at once, to such an inflated and grandiloquent degree that any real sense of design, which also to be honest, looked more akin to a student the first year in design school than a seasoned designer on the international fashion circuit, was decadently lost among the feathers and beads and pom-poms and fringe and sequins and whatever the fuck else he could throw texturally at the wall and make stick. One would wish there was an opportunity to actually judge the CLOTHES, but the things that were given that moniker here, were either so mired in gobs of pompous excess or looked laughably like anything but FASHION, so much so to the degree that it looked like most of it was from Forever 1987 rather than 2016!
It was not a happy happening this go round, Dear Christian. Better luck next time.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Christian Siriano Spring/Summer 2016.
Too Much.
Restraint is a word Christian Siriano DESPERATELY needs to get in better relationship with. His Spring/Summer 2016 collection was suffering under it's own overwrought excessive much-ness that it looked like a bomb had went off at Mood Fabrics and everything fell down onto his toiles and stuck there permanently! Inspired by Morocco, Siriano played every trope and trick in his hand and most times, all at once, to such an inflated and grandiloquent degree that any real sense of design, which also to be honest, looked more akin to a student the first year in design school than a seasoned designer on the international fashion circuit, was decadently lost among the feathers and beads and pom-poms and fringe and sequins and whatever the fuck else he could throw texturally at the wall and make stick. One would wish there was an opportunity to actually judge the CLOTHES, but the things that were given that moniker here, were either so mired in gobs of pompous excess or looked laughably like anything but FASHION, so much so to the degree that it looked like most of it was from Forever 1987 rather than 2016!
It was not a happy happening this go round, Dear Christian. Better luck next time.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Altuzarra Spring/Summer 2016.
Sat. 09/12/2015.
Altuzarra Spring/Summer 2016.
Perplexing. That is the takeaway from the surprisingly uneven and uninspiring collection from Joseph Altuzarra for Spring of 2016. Whereas usually, Altuzarra's tailoring and gently perverse sense of chic bring the more disparate elements together into a cohesive and satisfying whole, here, on this occasion, it led to a disconnect and incoherence to what we usually come to this designer for. Surely, yes, the thigh high slits were accounted for and present front and center (actually, that is one element that could easily be lost and for the betterment of the brand) the sharp tailleur was there as well, the scintillating sinuous cut of his dresses and gowns also had much going for them, but this was all wrapped up in a miasma of relaxed sensuality of the Basque country (where his paternal ancestry hail from) that fell under Altuzarra's umbrella of presenting a "Very Serene" assemblage.
While Spain could have led to something more buoyant and joyful, it led to the collection feeling flat and gimmicky in places... the pleating and quasi tie-dye prints and espadrilles and other folkloric flourishes. Altuzarra has always danced on a line of ebullience tamed with a wise restraint that sometimes often confounds his collections, but he usually has a plumb line through all the noise and hullabaloo that makes his collections usually startlingly acute and insightful. On this day, that was not the case in the least. Bluntly, it looked sloppy. The clothes didn't exalt or drape and hang in a way that caught one's breath in their chest, to wit, it looked overdone and under thought.
There were beautiful moments, but in the overview and presence of the whole, they were just fleeting moments among a crowd of underwhelming blandness. Every designer has a collection or so that just gets away from them and seems to run wild with it's own steam of bad decisions, this was just such a case, and the reins felt fully out of Altuzarra's hands. Next time, we hope this isn't the case.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
Altuzarra Spring/Summer 2016.
Perplexing. That is the takeaway from the surprisingly uneven and uninspiring collection from Joseph Altuzarra for Spring of 2016. Whereas usually, Altuzarra's tailoring and gently perverse sense of chic bring the more disparate elements together into a cohesive and satisfying whole, here, on this occasion, it led to a disconnect and incoherence to what we usually come to this designer for. Surely, yes, the thigh high slits were accounted for and present front and center (actually, that is one element that could easily be lost and for the betterment of the brand) the sharp tailleur was there as well, the scintillating sinuous cut of his dresses and gowns also had much going for them, but this was all wrapped up in a miasma of relaxed sensuality of the Basque country (where his paternal ancestry hail from) that fell under Altuzarra's umbrella of presenting a "Very Serene" assemblage.
While Spain could have led to something more buoyant and joyful, it led to the collection feeling flat and gimmicky in places... the pleating and quasi tie-dye prints and espadrilles and other folkloric flourishes. Altuzarra has always danced on a line of ebullience tamed with a wise restraint that sometimes often confounds his collections, but he usually has a plumb line through all the noise and hullabaloo that makes his collections usually startlingly acute and insightful. On this day, that was not the case in the least. Bluntly, it looked sloppy. The clothes didn't exalt or drape and hang in a way that caught one's breath in their chest, to wit, it looked overdone and under thought.
There were beautiful moments, but in the overview and presence of the whole, they were just fleeting moments among a crowd of underwhelming blandness. Every designer has a collection or so that just gets away from them and seems to run wild with it's own steam of bad decisions, this was just such a case, and the reins felt fully out of Altuzarra's hands. Next time, we hope this isn't the case.
That's All.
Bye4Now!
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