Zero + Maria Cornejo Spring/Summer 2016.

Tues. 09/15/2015.

Zero + Maria Cornejo Spring/Summer 2016.

Minimalism, It's a word fraught with connotations of austerity and to put it quite bluntly, boredom, and in the less masterful hands of an amateur, it can come off as exactly that and worse, dull. Maria Cornejo is no such amateur. Her Spring 2016 collection was a far reaching example of how to do minimal, right, and not to come across as either boring or anesthetized to the point of anodyne. Her major play, firstly, was to limit the color palette to simple, almost brushstroke like blocks of neutral colours, Black, White, Navy, Grey and a toasty Beige, then for a small "Wow" moment. literal brushstrokes in an oversized colourful motif that was used judiciously and added just that right amount of curveball to the otherwise restrained offerings. 

Secondly, Cornejo also kept any trickiness and overtly "Fashion-y" ideas at bay, not to say the collection was plain, indeed it was anything but, however, it was wearable and approachable, even if it had a more arty bent to it. With a more pared back colour aesthetic on display, it was a move that highlighted just how imaginative a collection this was without a lot of extrovert bells and whistles to catch the eye. Standouts included a stunning White duster backed in Navy over a fluid and limpid Navy ensemble at look No. 3, whilst a deceptively simple Snow White jumpsuit was artistically draped and innovatively constructed at look No. 14. 

Cornejo is always best when doing her own thing, and this season she swept new life into the atelier and studio by having fresh blood infused with an all new studio team, it showed. There was a freshness and a newly calibrated sense of excitement and discovery to this collection, which while it also adhered to Cornejo's core principles, it also felt as if she was pushing herself to find new things to interest her and match those up to her fashion ideology. Frankly, it was quite a success. 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Thom Browne Spring/Summer 2016.

Tues. 09/15/2015.

Thom Browne Spring/Summer 2016.

Thom Browne does not do things in an understated manner. His ideas are as lofty and singularly unique as his bombastic and oft over the top presentations. This Spring outing for 2016 did not, in any configuration, shy away from that aesthetic at all. It was a uncompromising and one could say, even for all it's inventiveness and whimsy, a rather narrowly, yet effective, exercise in tedious redundancy. Browne is a master at developing an idea and seeing it through in every possible permutation, to the point of obsessive compulsion that blots out any kind of individual discussion and focuses on a central idea with no room for discourse. Browne presents an idea and laser focuses on that idea until he has exhausted the source material until it's a empty husk and then moves on to the next idea. In saying all that, there, in execution and conceptual output, is a continuity of form and idea that permeates all his collections, a signature leitmoitv, in the style of Wagnerian opera. This collection was no different, you can spot a Thom Browne silhouette and garment from a country mile away and that is why perhaps his oeuvre is so intriguing, for it is spectacular in it's tunnel vision-like oneness, yet it is also in that deeply singular style, impossible to not recognize. 

So, to go into intricate, and extensive analysis of a Thom Browne collection is a definitive indulgence in futility, for Browne earmarks his collections as a one-dimensional treatise into the mind of Thom Browne with no deviation from the path. SOOOO, what was the message this time around? With the school desks and pleated skirts, we were in the slightly fetishistic and symbolically prim world of Japanese school girls. How Browne executed that reference into a compelling fashion narrative, was embodied by heaps and heaps of technique served up with a generously lavish hand and tons of surface interest and Trick-The-Eye applications. Motifs of symbolic Japonica were in full flower, from Geisha's and Mount Fuji to Sakura blossoms, all executed in masterful techniques of patching, embroidery, and more. That every exit was a Jacket/Pleated skirt (with or without a topper surmounting it) combo aided in giving one a heaping eyeful of visual indigestion, was the drawback of such elaborate and intricate application of embellishment and technical prowess. There wasn't a single moment of optical relief and the collaging and piling on of more and more as the collection progressed on, seemed to overload the senses, even with it all being quite ecstatically exquisite, and made the viewer wish for a palate cleanser of some sort to break up the insurmountable monotony. 

Browne's collection was by no means a failure or even a repetitive headache, but it was certainly a ceaseless bounty of similarity that congested the eye with a non-stop cavalcade of redundancy, and with all it's beauty and tricks, still left one not satiated and in need of a visual Pepto-Bismol. 

That's All.

Bye4Now!

Adeam Spring/Summer 2016.

Mon. 09/14/2015.

Adeam Spring/Summer 2016.

Modernity and Tradition in a mash-up of design aesthetic and heritage, that was the collection Hanako Maeda presented for her wonderfully considered and intelligently cross-pollinated Spring collection that touched, deeply, upon her Japanese heritage with a fully committed deep dive reconsideration of the Kimono, yet was fully entrenched in the modern application of the design ethos of said garment. Most of the collection had a breathy, languid fluidity that adapted the Obi, most of all, into it's designs but also had a sweeping, quasi-romantic drama that still maintained a city-wise smartness that never once bordered on traditional dress or more importantly, costume. Etched out in mainly Black and White with some touches of a deep Teal or muted Cinnabar or, for a more striking effect, a Flamboyante Cayenne Red, that then got toned down to a much richer and more regal Lacquer Red (especially effective as a body crossing satin accent on a Black two piece evening number) Maeda kept her focus steely and narrow as to not confuse the message she was trying to convey, which was one of ease, but with immense depth. 

For all the influence of the Kimono/Obi, it was when Maeda distilled the essence of those ideas, and simplified to the most ascetic degree, that her clothes shined the brightest and had the highest of impacts, as in the case of an exquisite Teal coat with Black blouson sleeves or a scintillating pure White coat touched with the deepest and most intense Emerald Green at the collar in a sumptuously rich satin. Maeda struck just the right note of the fantastical and wearable that most designers often miss by a country mile, the collection was seductive with it's obvious and celebratory Eastern flavour, but also was grounded enough to appeal to anyone wanting a bit more artistic flair and fancy to their garments, it's a tricky walk to walk, but Maeda seemed to do it effortlessly and with plenty of aplomb. 

That's All.

Bye4Now!