Yes, I cannot pass up a good red carpet. So here’s the 2012 Met Ball hit list.
Camilla Belle in Ralph Lauren
It turns out that the leaked collaboration between Manolo Blahnik and J Crew which I posted about a month and a half ago is indeed too good to be true. And Blahnik’s denials of any knowledge of any collaboration may not have been a reflection of his lack of awareness of what’s going on with his brand, but of the fact that there was indeed no finalized agreement on a collaboration. Blahnik did design shoes to go with the J Crew Fall 2012 collection, but reports now say that they were simply one offs for the runway show.
The Joseph Altuzarra collaboration, however, did deliver, and just as Altuzarra seems to be hitting his stride as a designer. Sadly, as with the theoretical Manolo Blahnik collection, and unlike the fast fashion retailers, J Crew is not out to offer a bargain. It never really was anyway, it’s not fast fashion, so there’s no reason to start now. Still, I was somehow taken aback and disappointed when I saw the prices of the Joseph Altuzarra for J Crew pieces. My initial response to the collection was one of disappointment. While the collection does fit seamlessly within J Crew’s aesthetic, most of the items do not particularly stand out from the store’s general offerings. They are, for the most part, fairly simple and basic pieces for sale at rather high prices. Yes, the prices are less than “designer” prices and on par with the pricing of other well made name brand apparel, but they’re high enough to make me think twice about buying anything. The collection is growing on me. It was inspired by the kind of sexy French aesthetic embodied by Bridgitte Bardot, which is an apt description and adds a little je ne sai quoi, but meh …
1 Sabrina Dress $228 2. Odette Blouse $175 (a cute enough top, but side view suggests you have to be a twig to get away with it)
If fall’s most mystifying trend was the mullet dress, spring offers an equally mystifying take on the idea. For spring it’s all about the peplum skirt. This is one of those trends that I am skeptical I will ever be able to get on board with. I am usually one to buy into just about any and every trend. I believe firmly in the concept so eloquently played out on Leandra Medine’s blog The Man Repeller, that women dress not for men, but largely for themselves and each other, and there is an enormous amount of pleasure to be gotten from indulging in the most preposterous of trends no matter how ugly and inexplicable men might find them. When I think about fashion and getting dress, it aspires at its best to art, not to a sales pitch for my sexuality. But a girl’s got to draw the line somewhere, and the peplum may be one of the most horrid design elements I have ever seen.
The peplum skirt was certainly a presence on the spring runways…
whether at Jason Wu
Isn’t it kind of intriguing how a designer can design multiple collections simultaneously? It is one thing to create nice clothes. It is altogether another talent to be able to distill the essence of a design house, in the absence of the founding visionary, and to design consistently with the feeling and aesthetic of the house, and at the same time completely shift gears and create a distinct vision for your namesake collection which is utterly separate.
In this context, Marc Jacobs’ relationship with Louis Vuitton is somewhat unusual. Although Louis Vuitton had long since established itself in the world of luggage and leather goods, Marc Jacobs was Artistic Director for the first ready-to-wear collection. So there is, in essence, no Louis Vuitton ready-to-wear style separate from Jacobs. Yet somehow, over the years, he has managed to weave a fairly distinctive look for the brand. Sometimes it is more distinct from the collection he puts out under his namesake label, sometimes less so. Looking ahead to Fall 2012 I’m having an awfully hard time telling the two apart. To a great extent it may have to do with styling. Styling plays a not insignificant role in giving an identity to a collection. But, however you look at it, I find the choices that Jacobs made in presenting these collections surprising.
Louis Vuitton Fall 2012
As spring gets into full swing, and the stores are starting to hold spring sales, it seems like must have item this spring and summer is not in fact floral jeans (although they’re still great, so don’t worry if you followed my earlier advice and got a pair), but the floral dress. As a certain kind of over the top Monet floral print becomes ubiquitous, it seems like everywhere I turn Erdem has suddenly become “the” brand. It may be that I only recently became aware of it and others have known the label for a while. But it suddenly seems to be in every magazine, on every celebrity, in every boutique …. And Erdem’s forte, as it turns out, is a certain style of floral print constructed into garments that seem almost sweet (kind of Mad Men style) but is tailored with a modern edge that tempers what could easily come across as awfully saccharine. Is Erdem popular because the floral thing is such a big trend right now, or did the line play any kind of a role in shaping the trend? That’s deep, right?
Erdem Spring 2012 Collection
Confirming the notion that the most interesting and creative ideas often come from the most unexpected places (yeah, I don’t know if that’s particularly a notion people have, but it sounds like a good truism), Romania is currently home to some of the more intriguing emerging designers on the fashion scene. The end of years of repression, and a capitalist economy in its early stages of growth, provide the perfect breeding ground for a flourishing fashion avant-garde.
Lana Dumitru is one of the more exciting members of this front. “Fashion in Romania is fresh and I can compare it with a newborn — we are starting to discover things and grow,” Dumitru says. “But I can compare it with an old man as well — everything is going really slow.” Marie Claire magazine offers an eloquent profile of the designer:
However, Lana’s success as an innovative designer is anything but sluggish. Even though she’s still a student at the Design Institute of Italy, she has already become internationally recognized for her collections that fuse camouflage, technology, and old-world traditions together. Her graduation collection at the Bucharest Institute of Art tracked the evolution of women, much through the animalistic and technological interpretations of the female body. In many of the pieces, Lana did not settle for the gimmicks of fancy screen-printing: She altered the proportions of the fabric to give a three-dimensional form to the image portrayed.
Read more: Lana Dumitru Interview – Romanian Fashion Designer Lana Dumitru – Marie Claire
I absolutely appreciate the value of the runway as a place to make a statement, to express concepts, in forms that might be completely outrageous, and then those ideas get toned down and translated for the market. But it does make me a little sad — I think often the brilliance gets lost in translation. I don’t know if it is an idea on the part of the industry about what the general consumer will buy — i.e. conservative — or the reflection of an actual tentativeness and hesitancy on the part of consumers to go outside of a limited safety zone.
The general image of Vera Wang as a designer, based on the styles which are brought to market, is one of beautiful, graceful, modern, understated elegance. She is, no doubt, incredible at that. She drapes like no one else. It is definitely not, however, the whole story. Her Pre-Fall 2012 collection is edgy and exciting and open to taking risks, without remotely pushing it so far that it should be inaccessible. I’ll be interested to see which pieces ultimately wind up in stores.
Lately I’ve kind of developed a thing for Isabel Marant. Her bohemian chic take on French style is effortless, casual, and yet utterly sophisticated. It is a combination that is quintessentially French. When a woman wears Isabel Marant she gives the impression of oh-I-just-threw-this-on-and-yet-I-look-perfect. The same way French women each croissants, baguettes, drink wine, smoke and don’t get fat. And the look is perfect for the stay at home mom (or anyone for that matter who doesn’t go into an office requiring appropriate attire) who wants to look stylish and polished but not overdressed. Admittedly, I can’t help but feel that her clothes require that stereotype of Parisian beauty, with a perfect, long, slip of a figure, without an ounce of fat and certainly without any thighs to speak of. And yet the look is so compelling that I am too completely drawn in to feel resentful of this rejection of my own figure.
The Classic Isabel Marant Look:
I would like to start a movement for more formal social events. Not that I would advocate getting more formal overall. I’m a dyed in the wool t-shirt and jeans gal. Every day. Maybe with a cardigan. But there is really nothing quite like a great full length gown. Not a maxi dress, but a true gown. Putting aside for the moment the fact that they usually start at $1000 on the low end, a great gown and sky high heels are fashion at its most exquisite. When it comes to gown, whether from up and coming designers or tried and true veterans, the Fall 2012 collections do not disappoint.
1. Katie Ermilio
This Woman Is Seriously Hot – To Die For Dresses
Fashion Star may prove me wrong yet. Love this dress!
Nikki's High End Maxi Dress - Episode 4 - Bought by H&M
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