RICHARD CHAI LOVE

‘In this economy’ is probably more overused right now in the fashion industry than ‘fabulous’. It’s becoming clichéd but becomes more resonant when viewing collections such as Richard Chai’s latest offering, Love, a lower priced diffusion line. There were nice, pinstriped paper bag waist shorts paired with sporty, softly tailored tops and outerwear with plaids in lavender and chalk. And this is where the ‘in this economy’ line gets dropped. More now than ever designers really need to be pushing themselves to produce their best work. I feel Mr Chai’s reaction to the economy is to play it safe but this veered into bland American sportswear and producing a diffusion line isn't always the best way to get a new audience and keep the till ringing.

Some very unflattering leather shoes with a turned down cuff didn’t help the situation but a print that evoked a 90’s floral worthy of Shannen Doherty was a standout as was a grey dress layered with handkerchief points. A fuschia, draped silk top with a deep V-neck and rolled sleeve also merits noting as this is what is so great about American design: deceptively simple, chic clothing. There was far too much silk and yes, sometimes beautiful, expensive fabrics can pick up the slack for uninteresting design but that doesn’t make it worthy of the catwalk.