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Nicole Miller found herself bang on trend for Spring. Playing with sheers? Check. Edgy nineties minimalism? Check. Neutral and moody hues? Check and check. As it happens, Miller has actually been exploring a harder-edged look for a few seasons now, and this collection was a logical, more elegant next step. The look today was attenuated and lean, with long chiffon skirts topped by long blazers and vests. Most of these tailored pieces came in technical twill or linen (on the front and sleeves) with a back panel in georgette to expose slightly bondage-y ribbon harnesses and pretty racerback tops layered underneath. At times all these moving, deconstructed parts devolved into confusion. Still, there were more than a few fresh moments. Among them: a white trapeze tank dress with zigzagging tucks; a cool, slouchy charcoal suit worn not with actual S&M straps but a smart knit that echoed them; and a simple yet modern black draped crepe dress with a lovely cowl back. Kudos to Miller for hitting on something that feels grown-up, but not boringly mature.
(by Meenal Mistry – style.com)
In the Paris hotel rooms of many fashion editors, there are bunches of flowers, plastic-wrapped and raffia-tied. When they returned to their rooms after the Dior couture show, did the attendees make the connection between what they’d just seen on the catwalk and what was sitting in a vase in front of them? Stephen Jones created headgear that looked like a florist’s plastic wrap. Someone else contributed the raffia belts. And nature did the rest. “It’s the most inspiring teacher,” said John Galliano, after a show that was a hymn to all things floral.
Part of his research involved studying real flowers, spending an hour watching the light change on a parrot tulip, for instance. That partly explained the collection’s wonderful colors, especially the vibrancy of the dégradé effects. You could attribute the rest to Galliano’s contemplation of images by the two great flower photographers de nos jours, Irving Penn and Nick Knight. Dior himself obliged with the silhouette, a tulip shape that Galliano seemed to feel Mr. Christian had never really made the most of. He certainly sorted that out.
Perhaps it was the precision of the inspiration that accounted for the show’s clarity, not only in the palette but in the delicate techniques. The fronding, the feathering, the ruching, the ruffling—all duplicated the extraordinary intricacies of flowers. Delicate they may be in nature, but his objects of study gave Galliano free rein to be bold with a coat like a huge inverted daffodil and a dress in black taffeta that was hand-painted with pansies. It’s unlikely that when he compared himself to a jardinière tending his blooms, the designer had attendees like Blake Lively, Jessica Alba, and Lou Doillon in mind, but you could imagine them being seduced by his hybrids, the jacket and skirt combinations like the white felt over lilac organza, or the jade mohair with a swoop of portrait neckline over a petaled bubble of black organza.
In an Edenic fashion world, this would be the daywear that would fully complement evening dresses of an extraordinary dimension—gigantic domes of tulle overlaid with gloriously colored swags of organza. On the opening day of the Paris couture, the casual insolence of the draped one-shoulder outfit that closed the show was a provocation. “Beat this,” it declared. (by Tim Blanks – style.com)
Twinkling embellishments and stardust beading were a big part of the Badgley Mischka story. The reason for all the shiny finery, James Mischka revealed a few days before the show, was that he and design partner Mark Badgley (like a clutch of other designers this season) had been stargazing. Literally: They were poring over images captured by the Hubble telescope. “There’s a galaxy feeling to our beading,” Mischka remarked. Indeed, a short V-neck tank dress covered entirely with densely clustered gemstones had a river of citron running down the front and back like the Milky Way. The show opened with 15 gala looks. A fluid jersey jumpsuit in navy represented the pants portion of the program; the rest were gowns, gowns, gowns. A long-sleeve, high-neck black matte jersey dress had starry epaulets, and the bodice of a pale mauve gown cascaded with quicksilver stones. Most designers would be content to call it a day after a dozen-plus high-wattage frocks, but Badgley and Mischka took advantage of their captive audience to show a full collection from their contemporary line, Mark & James, too. Over-the-knee boots and second-skin pants in liquid mercury marked the demographic shift; skip the boots and wear the pants with one of the semi-destroyed bouclé knits for a debutante-goes-clubbing look. There were plenty of round-the-clock options in this act of the show, but it was hard to focus on the more familiar and workday pieces when the memory of so many stellar dresses was still hanging in the ether. (by Alison Baenen – style.com)
A recent New York Times article put the spotlight on Zac Posen’s recession-induced financial woes. It hasn’t been easy for a still-smallish business like his to survive the great retail panic of the last 18 months. In that, of course, he’s hardly alone. Today, Posen was back at the modest Altman Building for a second season in a row, and clothing-wise he seemed to be cutting back still further for Fall. There wasn’t a single gown on the runway. That must be tough for a designer in love with ball skirts and shoulder flourishes, but in their absence, he injected more than a fair bit of showmanship into the sportswear.
Posen gave his pantsuits a forties flair, putting contrasting cuffs and lapels along with strong shoulders on cropped jackets and pinning a brooch to the waistbands of his full-legged, fluid trousers. There was also a sweet little ice-skating dress in dove gray jersey with a silk wool skirt. If he’s still trying to establish an identity for his daywear and not exactly succeeding, Posen is much more confident when it comes to evening. This season he’s thinking short and pink, because, hey, wallflowers aren’t his type. In New York, at least, the recession hasn’t really managed to put a dent in the late-night scene. His corseted minidresses will find happy homes indeed with the party-hopping set.
(by Nicole Phelps – style.com)
“I always wanted to live a man’s life in a woman’s body.” That quote, which appeared at the top of her show notes, is something Diane von Furstenberg has said before, so it’s perhaps surprising that men’s suiting is something she hasn’t explored much in the past. Its appearance helped make for one of the designer’s more satisfying shows in a while.
To start things off, von Furstenberg threw a bolero densely embroidered with chiffon rosettes over a heather gray felted wool double-breasted pantsuit with short, cuffed trousers. It was a novel concept that she repeated later with an ivory silk cord cardigan worn over a satin black tuxedo jacket and matching evening jumpsuit, though it’s not as believable a look as, say, a corduroy jacket with leather elbow patches slipped on top of a ruffled chiffon minidress.
But it wasn’t all about playing the hard against the soft. Frocks, the wrap dress in particular, are this designer’s bread and butter, and there was no shortage of feminine frills here. Some of the more interesting offerings included a simple black shift with chain mail inset horizontally below the hips, a twenties-ish belted chiffon tunic dress worn over cropped pants, and a vibrant panne velvet number embellished with a giant glittering beetle, not unlike the dress von Furstenberg wore to take her bow. This was her right-hand man Nathan Jenden’s last show; he’s leaving to focus on his signature collection. No doubt they were both pleased to be ending their relationship on a positive note for their victory lap.
(by Nicole Phelps – style.com)
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