Jonathan Saunders Fall 2010

A very cool collection from Jonathan Saunders. I think I’ve said this before but it’s worth mentioning again what a great colourist Saunders is. He has a fondness for grey and always puts it to good use contrasting it against a bold red or a rosy pink. There were also shards of black and silver pieced into overized tops that elongated the silhouette.

Skirt lenghts were dropped and a-line, something that’s been seen at a few other collections.

What surprised me most was the great daywear he did. Even though he shows in London it looked like something you’d see at Marni or Sportmax. There were some great jackets in the opening and some billowy paperbag waist skirts with punched holes creating a pattern.

Some of his prints need a bit of work. There was one with red and cream dots but it looked like something you’d see on a throw pillow or a shower curtain at Ikea.

Repetitive at Christopher Kane

Fall 2010 was highly repetitive and was a series of variations on the same outfit: a neat-fitting dress. This dress came with long sleeves, short sleeves and no sleeves. It came with a two piece collar, a two piece collar with placket or no collar at all. It was the same dress with the same fit.

These were done in either black leather, patent leather and black lace or a combination of all three. It was all quite boring really. Beautiful but tedious. Usually florals soften a look but in Kane’s case they didn’t. Embroidered sprays of flowers appeared on various parts of the clothes such as collars, cuffs and breasts.

I’m not sure if he was short on ideas or just metering them out to make a bold statement.

Though it was cool it just didn’t grab me like his other collections such as spring 09. It wasn’t as disappointing as spring 2010 but it was pretty close.

Prada & that Lumpy Blue Sweater

"Stuff? Oh, okay. I see. You think this has nothing to do with you. You go to your closet, and you select, I don't know, that lumpy blue sweater because you're trying to tell the world that you take yourself too seriously to care what you put on your back. But what you don't know is that sweater is not just blue. It's not turquoise. It's not lapis. It's actually cerulean. And you're also blithely unaware of the fact that in 2002 Oscar de la Renta did a collection of cerulean gowns. And then I think it was Yves Saint Laurent, wasn't it, who showed a selection of cerulean military jackets. And then cerulean quickly showed up in collections of eight different designers. It filtered down through the department stores, and then trickled down into some tragic Casual Corner where you undoubtedly fished it out of some clearance bin. However, that blue represents millions of dollars and countless jobs and it's sort of comical how you think you've made a choice that exempts you from the fashion industry, when in fact, you're wearing a sweater that was selected for you by the people in this room... from "a pile of stuff."-Miranda Priestly, The Devil Wears Prada

That's all

Stunning Jeremy Lang Fall

Texture party! Jeremy Laing produced a solid show for fall. The soft draping combined with harder fabrics complimented the texture play.

Papery tops, sculptural leather and trembling silk with a startling lunar dust-like print. There were so many pieces you just wanted to pick up and look at more closely because there was a specialness (is that a word?) and attention to everything.

The fur may have been interesting if every designer and their dog hadn’t done it. I’ve seen too much fur in New York, it’s overkill (literally) and I get it. Buy a fur coat. If not a fur coat then a fur bag or a fur bum bag or fur sleeves or fur gloves or fur shoes!!!!

Schwab's Shaky Start at Halston

Marios Schwab is the latest in a very long line of designers with the unenviable task of making Halston relevant and he was off to a shaky start. Halston was synonymous with disco divas, first ladies, movie stars and Studio 54 so where do you go from there when perhaps Halston the brand was more about a time in history than say a silk jumpsuit? I’m not saying the man had no skill just that maybe it was more a moment in time when New York was flooded with cocaine, disco and Andy Warhol. The city must’ve been electric and glamour was at it’s peak.

Schwab needs to be sharper, more focussed, and loading the collection with his own personality and have touches of Halston’s. Look at brands like Givenchy with Ricardo Tisci. There are touches of Hubert de Givenchy but it’s modern and belongs completely to Tisci. This is what turning a brand around is all about.

So the clothes. They were mostly pared back in single block tones of grape, mustard, lipstick and bone. The references were thick and fast: one-sleeved dresses, skin baring slits and billowy disco dresses Diane Von Furstenberg may have once worn. A draped bias-cut dress with a metal clip near the neck was sexy and fun.

So where will people wear these clothes? The Boom Boom Room in the Meatpacking District? Who knows.

Pretty Average Fall Show from Elise Øverland

Thanks to trend forecasting, leather, suede, shearling and velvet has appeared on many runways and Elise Øverland is no exception. People say that leather is Elise Øverland’s specialty but I’m still not convinced. Derek Lam and Proenza Schouler both showed how leather can be whipped into something chic and easy (see their skirts) but Øverland’s dresses and skirts appeared heavy and restricting. There were exceptions of course. A snug fitting, quilted jacket and a beautifully draped dress looked sharp and sexy. There were a couple of 80’s big shouldered jackets that seemed at odds with the rest of the collection. In a season where almost every designer is doing something in leather, Øverland should’ve been streets ahead in terms of design and cut.

DKNY with a Dash of Celine

I didn’t like this collection. Newsboy caps, abstract colour blocking that looked like something from the 80’s but was rendered in shades of brown from the 70’s. There was a cool sleeveless jacket squared off at the shoulders and a brown suede jacket with chocolate leather sleeves.

This is the about the forth collection I’ve seen with leather trimmed coats and they can all thank Phoebe Philo who’s spring show featured the same trim. They can also thank her for the various shades of tan I’m seeing everywhere including DKNY. One look even felt a bit Balenciaga with the pleated skirts and abstract lines. The shoes were brogue platforms. The bags were mostly ugly, edged with zippers and had more abstract brown lines and squares.

Doo Ri a Mixed Bag for Fall 2010

Doo Ri Chung is a designer who should be right up there with the rest of New York’s young hot designers like Altuzarra, Rodarte, Alexander Wang and Proenza Schouler. Afterall she’s a CFDA winner, she’s young and very talented but her work seems to elude the runway accolades afforded to her peers. This annoys me somewhat because she produced a solid fall collection with plenty of pieces to like. A suit cut like a pair of pajamas was cool though she’ll be in stiff competition with United Bamboo’s version.

She used fur (like virtually every other NY designer this season) for the trim of a black wool coat that was smothered with sequins.

Though her forté, some of the draped dresses looked heavy-handed and vaguely reminiscent of that Balmain dress but a spongy, felty looking red coat had a beautifully draped lapel and looked great paired with rose coloured platforms.

I think Ms Chung needs to loosen up and have a bit of fun but she’s got a dedicated clientele that want superbly made clothes that don’t scream for attention so why mess with a good thing?

Derek Lam's Amazing Fall

Whoa. The collection opened with a dusty clay coloured jacket fastened with two small buttons; one at the waist and one at the neck. The sleeves hit the elbow and a dark leather looking sleeve emerged and continued to the wrist. Impressive.

There was a wild west theme but it was mostly kept to a bare minimum and not too kitsch. Cowboy themes have a tendency to look goofy and Lam could’ve done away with about half of this collection because the first 20 looks were perfect. Boot-cut pants looked fresh, jackets with leather inserts, a sexy leather and silk pleated skirt…arrrgh there were so many fantastic pieces!

I hope it was coincidental but it had whiffs of Celine’s Spring collection. It was just the caramel leather and minimalist pieces that did it for me.

Karen Walker: Flies, Skulls & Wolves

Plenty of tom-boy looks in typical Walker style. Not a very exciting collection but plenty of fun stuff to be had. A swirling blue wallpaper print upon closer inspection turned out to be made up of flies, skulls, trees and wolves. The sheepskin and corduroy was a bit 70’s but also a nod to New Zealand, where Walker lives. Though not attention grabbing it was still a very well put together collection which is more than I can say for many other contemporary brands in New York right now.