Cacharel Spring Summer 2012 Review

Cedric Chariler is no longer creative director at Cacharel and was replaced by Ling Liu and Dawei Sun. The opening looks were underwhelming and looked cheap. Things moved on briefly to a pale blue cotton shirt dress with a tie waist that looked easy and smart but this didn’t last long. They ticked all the right boxes for spring: pastels, florals, sheer elements, but it wasn’t strong. In a season with many new designers heading up established houses (Carol Lim and Humberto Leon at Kenzo and Clare Waight Keller at Chloé) Liu and Lim need to have a stronger vision because bland separates for day isn’t good enough.
Also, wouldn’t the knock-on effect of hiring two Chinese natives to head up a French house bring a lot of attention to the brand in China? You can see the China Daily headlines now. Chinese duo wow Paris fashion week. Designers wave the flag for China at Paris fashion week. With China's luxury sector booming it would be shrewd to have a Chinese designer at a French house. You have to wonder.

In a few months you will want Kenzo

Humberto Leon and Carol Lim of Opening Ceremony are now the creative directors of Kenzo. Hipster alert! Antonio Marras who has designed for Kenzo since 2004 got the boot and the OC duo will show their first Kenzo collection in October for Spring 2012.

According to Getty, Kenzo is to be repositioned in the contemporary sector, with prices expected to range from 200 euros to 1,500 euros ($285 to $2,135).

I think this could go well. I like OC stuff even though the price range is out of my reach. Like the Pendleton collab they did was amazing but fuck, the prices were steep. I think for quite a few years now most people don't even realise Kenzo have a clothing line (except for fashion people) and just think of it as a fragrance brand. Marras isn't a terrible designer but his collections just never struck the right chord with buyers and the public.

Their appointment at Kenzo reminds me of Nicola Formichetti at Mugler. These big brands getting in young(ish) people with creative backgrounds but with no actual design training. A lot of people don't agree with that idea but it's not necessarily a bad thing. Fashion after all is about marketing a product and getting buzz. Formichetti has launched Mugler and it seems to be doing well and the OC duo will undoubtedly do the same for Kenzo.

So what can you expect from the new Kenzo? Well Kenzo under the direction of Marras featured a lot of ethnic/tribal (ugh I hate using those words. So racist right?!) prints and a lot of the clothes were big, flowy and romantic. He's also a great colourist. I think under the OC duo a lot of that romantic flowy stuff will go. The prints will stay because that's what the founder of Kenzo was known for. So I'm guessing ikat print skinny jeans? Or a duffell coat lined in kimono silk? Something like this....