CACHAREL SPRING 2010

I flicked through the Cacharel collection and when I got to the end I didn’t recognize the head designer. Cacharel’s been on the down low over the past number of years, it’s popularity waned with designers Eley Kishimoto doing their best to keep the label relevant in the early 00’s but to no avail. Belgian Cedric Charlier has been hired as head designer and I know nothing about this guy so we’ll gloss over that and move through to what was on show. Okay, I just Googled him and he’s done six years at Lanvin and a stint at Michael Kors. The plot thickens.
There were elongated shirts in white, cream and blush with neat little collars. The skirt shape was modern with pleats and the hem dipped low at the back. It just sat in a way that looked refreshing especially when paired with the stretched shirts and knit tops.
There was a speckled print shirt-dress that reminded me of a 90’s formica bench-top. It looks cooler than it sounds. Trust. Charlier squared things off with (what I presume to be hand-painted) coats and dresses. It looked like paint had been smeared on with a spatula. The colours were great.
Overall this is a fantastic debut for Charlier, he clearly has an eye for colour and proportion. My only criticism (if you could call it that) was that it looked like something that could’ve come from Chloe.

ELEY KISHIMOTO SPRING 2010

Since the 90’s Mark Eley and Wakako Kishimoto have been doing bold quirky prints on cutesy clothes. For spring it was more of the same that their fans have come to love. I personally don’t like their prints and find the clothing lacks imagination but they clearly enjoy the path they’re on and I’m being way overly critical. Some things just looked so early 2000’s, like an aprony wrap dress type thing. It was just blah. It’s like, hire a kick-ass pattern maker or something.

Anyway, the accessories were fantastic. Cool kid sunglasses, thick strappy sandals in two-tone leather and some great bags. I think I’m being a little nice with London coz it’s always cast aside as not an important fashion week. I mean, if this collection was shown in New York it would’ve been torn to shreds.