Many designers seem to be running into difficulty over how to approach women this Fall... dividing their collections schizophrenically between sober-sided sellers and artistic gestures of the sort they hope magazine editors will put on their pages. Dries Van Noten has no such conflicts: He doesn't have to cast about for a "realistic" attitude because that, and never made-for-editorial fireworks, is what his business is based on.
”Show Review, Style.com"Building a brand" can sound like a dull and onerous mission these days, especially for a junior-focused designer who came out of London's free and easy years. Yet that's exactly what Bartley is proving herself capable of now. There's value for money in each of her outfits, from all the patchworking of contrasting fabrics that goes on in a single piece (a dress might be made up of a polka-dot top fused to a draped bustier, connected to a wool skirt) down to the Confederate caps and fur pompoms on the toes of her pumps. The sense of continuity shows an impressive business focus, but even better, somehow, is the way Bartley will also break into a bit of gold lamé to keep things "up."
”Show Review, Style.comJosh Goot is the third designer in London to mention geology as his inspiration. Where Marios Schwab and Graeme Black looked at mineral deposits (as Peter Pilotto did last season), Goot was thinking of "the organic lines of stone, and cutting and chiseling it."
”Show review. Sarah Mower for Style.com.From there, Pilati worked into the flannel and chalk stripes, developing the most elegantly desirable pants (no more Japanese drop-crotch extremes) and cutting jackets with an unpadded extended shoulder. There was no falling back on the all-too-easy clichés of the eighties that have beset many other collections. That was down to the effort Pilati put into honing the tailoring into new but accessible shapes.
”Show Review, Style.comThe word, in the end, was sophistication: Ghesquière didn't pull back on the Balenciaga insistence on developing couture-level handwork, but there was also a sense of reality that sent cohorts of pressured buyers out onto the Place de la Concorde with relieved smiles on their faces. "Wearable" and "money in the bank," they were calling it. Not compliments they're throwing around easily in these strained times.
”Show Review, Style.comIntense focus on individual creativity and quality of execution are the driving forces behind this season's London shows. They've propelled Erdem Moralioglu into a place where he could almost be called the Christian Lacroix of London: a super-decorator and colorist who commands print and embroideries in ways that surpass expectations—especially those of someone who is based in the East End.
”Show Review Style.comAs a Lebanese designer with a big business in Beirut and Paris, you'd think Saab might have fewer worries about sales, but rumor has it that Middle Eastern consumers are also exhibiting caution, so perhaps the relatively restrained colors reflect that.
”Review, Sarah Mower for Style.com
It's been said that this season's Missoni collection was inspired by 'The Women', a 1939 film about New York socialites. The film, a boyfriend's Bryant Park nightmare, is cast entirely of women who manipulate and gossip within fancy New York apartments. As for the film's wardrobe, the outfits are sophisticated and conservative, what one should expect from the relative time period and economic vantage point. They are indeed striking but the film so clearly has a greater message to send. Namely, one that articulates the intricacies of social and economic power from a domestic perspective. What's interesting is how Style.com's Sarah Mower, without reference to the inspiration, attributes Missoni's 'grown up note' to a cognizance that the consistent luxury consumer (one who, perhaps, doesn't even have Levi's in her closet) is least likely to be effected by a recession. The question is, which came first? A cinematic inspiration that happens to call for a more conservative, high-end aesthetic, or the straight-up strategy to appeal to the consumer most stable in a time of economic hardship?
nostalgia
brace yourself
spin me right round
subversive
Rocha.John Rocha
Tod's
Moncler
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