Emilio Pucci Spring Summer 2012 Review

Couture-grade, fantasy wank, slut clothes. I see the appeal of this collection as a whole but once you break down each look it’s all very 90’s boho, peasanty, Matthew Williamson. I mean really. Remove yourself from the hype and some of the clothes aren’t that great. But some of them are. Abbey Lee looked like a goth Barbie. Joan Smalls looked dressy and sexy in a tailored jacket that was cut to expose the hip. It looks infinitely better than it sounds I promise you. As well as Salvatore Ferragamo, Dundas makes a very convincing argument for fashion victims to stop wearing platform shoes. Sandals are finally looking fresh again after what, five or six years of platform domination?

Burberry Prorsum Spring Summer 2012 Review

 Above: Gettin some Marc Jacobs vibez. That skirt/shirt combo centre is flawless

 Above: The centre coat is giving me 90's memories of sack tops worn by bogans. It would usually have a Jim Beam print on the front. Stay classy 90's. 

Above from left: The below the knee skirt with buttons and pleats oh my!, centre: Giving me mass Proenza vibez but it's less tricky. Right: That shrunken jacket is parfait. I want one. I want ten.

Coincidentally, Burberry Prorsum looked like a culmination of ideas from some of the New York collections. I was seeing Proenza Schouler (the colours, the stripes, Rodarte (that cutaway skirt) and Marc Jacobs (poufy prom dress shapes).

It was an easily digestible trend: Tribal. I'm sure there was a specific artist or whatever that inspired Bailey but at the end of the day the consumer doesn't see that, they just see tribal. Thank god he let go of the studded, spiky jacket thing he did for far too long in seasons past.

Sorry if these London reviews are short and scarce. I think I'll try and do a condensed overview of what I liked eg. those Teva sports sandals at Christopher Kane. Deying/creying.

BRING ON MILAN

Jeremy Scott Spring Summer 2012

Love Jeremy Scott. Ridiculous, unwearable yet totally wearable at a gay bar. Sure people don’t take his work seriously. He’s not Nicolas Ghesquiere but he truly understands bad taste and pushes people’s buttons while having a laugh. I mean, an appliqué flame dress is classic late 90’s trailer trash. Every scum bag had a flame print shirt in requisite polyester and a can of beer in their hand in the 90’s (and the early naughts too). And his prints are so much fun. Cacti, sunglasses. It’s totally his look and no one else can pull it off but Scott. The platform shoes with Harajuku frilly socks were cute and the question mark dresses were like totally questioning bad taste. I'm a fucking genius. ps, it's all about chaps.

Altuzarra spring summer 2012

From the opening look, a short, black leather dress with a sliced detail exposed the skin, Altuzarra had sex on the brain. The swoop of fringe covering part of the model’s faces and the pointy mid-heel stilettos were reminiscent of Tom Ford’s debut at YSL. Perforated leather tops added to the sports trend emerging from New York and after last summer’s excessive and unfavourable use of white I’m surprised to see designers-Altuzarra included- turning out more white looks. That’s racist!

So what worked? The dresses with a flounce hem and slits exposing a brightly coloured jungle print. The print appeared on a tailored jacket and in panels on a dress. The mid riff has to make a comeback. His knit version was a 90’s wet dream and I think I could pull this look off. With Spanx. The nylon belts with plastic sports clips were cool but managed to even make the models look thick in the waist which is ironic considering sport and obesity are like chalk and cheese. You know when you see a chunky person wearing Nike Shox and you’re thinking the only thing you’d run for is dollar day at 7-11 bitch. It’s like that. Speaking of chunky, I loved the bold knit jumpers in yellow and green but the rasta knit dresses missed the mark.

Some of the jackets appeared to suffer from fit issues. I don’t know if this was intentional but they looked heavy and lumpy. And the less said about those squidgy clay vests the better. No one wants to look like they fashioned their clothes from Fimo. The skirts that accompanied the Fimo vests were sexy and plenty of girls will want them. By girls I mean Carine Roitfeld. Because of these fit issues, Altuzarra’s collections have a janky quality to them. He borders so close to vulgar that it’s easy to see why people such as Carine Roitfeld love his clothes. I don’t mean that as an insult to Altuzarra or Roitfeld. It is what it is and bad taste can be fun right Christie?

Lisa Luder, associate fashion editor for Vogue magazine

Jeremy Scott: King of Trash (the good kind)

Deliciously tacky fall collection from Jeremy Scott. There was a religious theme with tops that had a stained glass cross that was machine-embroidered recalling perhaps something you’d pick up from a souvenir shop. It may or may not have been a reference to Christian Lacroix who did a very similar top in the 80’s.

The bright stained glass colours then led on to big-possibly plastic-rhinestones dotted onto sexy thigh high boots and clingy tube dresses that were dripping with metal crucifixes.

The one piece that I’m just dying to have is the drawstring leather backpack smattered with gold Jeremy Scott brand plaques. It’s a 90’s, logo crazy hot mess and I need it.

GILES DEACON SPRING 2010

Prehistoric cyber 50’s arachnid. One of the trickiest themes to pull off in Paris but Giles Deacon did it mostly with ease and irreverence. Overall the collection was youthful but quite grown up at the same time, particularly look two, a lady-like buttoned day-dress with a, what was it, a rock print? an animal print in lime? Either way it was pretty. The triceratops plush bag? Yes please. There’s something not quite right about his clothes and a different type of beauty is evoked, perhaps damaged. Was that lurex? PVC? Yes, some of the fabrics were very late 90’s. The effect was cheap looking and the irony was noted however a silver tulle net dress with silver stripes missed the mark, looking like a suburban costume shop sale bin item.

MARC BY MARC JACOBS SPRING 2010

Marc Jacobs’ diffusion line Marc By Marc Jacobs is always a mixed bag of cheerful clothes and the saying goes if it aint broke don’t fix it. Which is exactly what Jacobs and his dedicated team did. There were cute high-waisted skirts and pants covered with immature 90’s tribal prints reminiscent of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air and M.I.A, ¾ sleeve jackets in black and coral and a series of check print skirt/jacket combos. Sweat pants with suspenders, a few jumsuits thrown in for good measure and a duchesse satin bow topped the head of most models.
There were some cool looks for the guys too; check suits and a slinky knit vest (also shown on a girl) over slouchy khaki shorts looked modern.

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.