Womenswear — Page 60

Wildfox Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Since 2007 Wildfox has distinguished itself as a brand known for its iconic campaigns, dreamlike quality and narrative-focused collections. In its debut season at New York Fashion Week, creative director Kimberley Gordon looked Jane Austen and 18^th century England for inspiration.

“I have always found such relief in Jane Austen’s fantasy world! A happy ending, romance and drama: I often wish real life were that way. [Austen] provides the perfect escapism and I think our brand gives off that feeling as well,” explained Gordon.

In Wildfox’s 2014 fall collection, “Sense and Eccentricity,” Gordon attempted to blend the world of Jane Austen’s 18^th century English countryside with a relaxed modern California aesthetic. In this merging of the two disparate styles, Gordon was mostly successfully.

There was a definite English rose quality mixed in with a Malibu-like unfettered ease. Still, this debut collection was more focused on styling than on actual design. And there is nothing wrong with that. Many designers have made a career out on understanding how to certain looks in a way that appears fresh and vibrant. Gordon has that ability.

There was an interesting mix of prints and knitwear in this collection. And Gordon ingeniously understood how to mix and match her separates so that the pieces could stand alone or work well as an ensemble. And the haphazard way Gordon devised having shirts, tops and blouses tucked in to pants and skirts reflected that California ease of life point of view.

Images courtesy of Pressley Anne

Standouts in this collection were the chunky knit sweaters balanced with floral pastel pants, shorts and denim. Graphics that included Ms. Darcy and Eggs & Bacon were interesting touches. The true designed garment of the collection was the long white skirt with faux bustle. The one piece points to the direction that Kimberley Gordon may want to project toward; a bit more focus on design combined with her expert skills in styling.

—Earlean Suite-Henderson

Nicholas K Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

A few seasons back, in fact their last fall/winter collection, creative directors Nicholas and Christopher Kunz slightly missed the boat. It seemed as if they were churning out the same urban nomadic motif season after season and that particular point of view was running out of steam.

This season their signature looked has not changed, but they have definitely injected a lot more rhythm and energy into their work. Imagine “Mad Max and the Thunderdome” meets Jennifer Garner in “Daredevil,”but a bit more futuristic.

Coming off of a win-win designing costumes for “Hunger Games Catching Fire,” the brother and sister design duo looked to French photographer Jean Gaumy’s book Men at Sea for inspiration. What resulted was a collection that could definitely survive the harsh winter elements, but survive it with style and fashion-forward panache.

Outerwear, particularly coats, has been this design teams strong points in previous collections, and again coats are the focus in this outing. What stands out this season in Nicholas K’s outerwear is the fantastic mix of textures, knitwear and leather, leather and vinyl, leather and fur, as well as the asymmetrical cuts of the jackets with oversized collars. And where other designers might go to extremes with layering, creating a busy hodgepodge of too many ideas, Christopher and Nicholas Kunz expertly mix and matched fabrics and silhouettes that created swaddling effect that did not distract from the overall look.

The brand has upped the ante this season and has their finger on the pulse of what the urban, downtown fashionista wants to wear. And they have even managed to make exposed midriffs sexy and some how appropriate for cooler temperatures.

Images courtesy of Ken Jones

The nomadic urban warrior is still a strong point of view for Nicholas K. But, this season they have managed to elevate this perspective out of the seen-it-before lens to a point of view that is fresh, current, consumer friendly and in step with where fashion is heading.

—William S. Gooch

Tadashi Shoji Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

The magic is in the details with the fall 2014 collection by Tadashi Shoji.

Shoji returned to a familiar favorite material for him—lace. His spring 2014 was all about lace, too. But to think “Oh, it’s lace again,” would be doing Shoji’s fall 2014 collection a great disservice. With his fall 2014 collection, Shoji presented a true master class in intricacy and skillfully wrought details.

A moonlit Moorish palace provided the inspiration behind Shoji’s lacework opus this time around. And the results were creations full of elegant, regal drama.

In many cases, Shoji referenced the distinctive patterns of Moorish architecture with cutouts mirroring the domes, keyhole arches, wedges and other shapes found in that type of architecture. The cutouts, highlighted in solid color laces with deceptively simple, nude-colored linings, dazzled whether seen in a brilliant scarlet sheath, a short sleeved white dress or a long sleeved teal gown. Shoji also included several capes of varying lengths, the most stunning of which was a long, red and black cape, brimming with swirls of embroidery, which was worn over a white lace gown.

Images courtesy of style.com

Tulle and velvet also played starring roles in this coronation-worthy collection. Printed shapes danced across the tulle in bold combinations of cobalt and scarlet. Occasionally Shoji went overly fussy with gathered necks on some of the tulle frocks. But the final pieces more than made up for that transgression with Shoji turning to a couple of sparkling fishnet-like pieces that shimmered like leaded glass, and, as a finale, a series of luxurious pieces in velvets with clever chiffon detailing in the seaming.

—Karyn D. Collins

Mark and Estel Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

L.A.–based duo Mark Tango and Estel Day traded in their signature t-shirt based collection and went for a much more high-fashion editorial look for their fall 2014 collection. Still keeping in line with their rocker-chic aesthetic, the show opened with a black wool v-neck cocktail dress that was paired with a diagonal- shaped top hat that was reminiscent of what you would expect to see in a runway show during the early 90s.

The color palette for Mark and Estel’s fall 2014 collection was a series of black and neutrals with some surprise pops of color. Occasionally, there was a step away from the neutrals evidenced in Mark and Estel’s red wrap skirt that moved with ease, creating a vision of a woman stepping right out of a photo editorial.

Photo by Giovanni Giannoni, courtesy of wwd.com

This though collection did emphasize a variety of feminine silhouettes, there was an undercurrent of masculinity. This layer of masculinity was demonstrated in a leather body armor that almost mimicked a man’s abdomen, aptly establishing Mark and Estel’s juxtaposition of hard and soft. With Mark and Estel looking to fuse their passion for fashion and music as the inspirational hybrid behind their brand, this collection will most definitely speak, or should I say sing volumes to the woman who wants to channel their inner rock star!

—John Woody

Ann Yee Fall 2014

February 6, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

For fall 2014 Ann Yee experimented with the concept of the urban nomad. And this season the experiment paid off. Unlike last spring 2014 where Yee looked to her native town of Detroit’s crumbling infrastructure and urban blight, this season Yee plunged into the idea of finding the balance between multi-culturism as seen through the prism of the highly active city dweller.

While last season’s outing, though conceptually viable and a well-merited attempt, at times the collection seemed weighted down with a dull kaleidoscope of colors that rendered the collection somewhat pedestrian. This season Yee upped her game. And though the collection was a palette of neutrals and muted colors, Yee through her construction and perspective masterfully created a collection that was youthful, easy and retail friendly.

As always, Yee combined a mix of textures and silhouettes from asymmetrical cuts and other architectural shapes to faux fur and chunky knitwear to jersey basics and tweed. Under the hand of a lesser skilled artisan, this amalgam of different silhouettes, textures and fabrics could have turned into a mélange of disjointed, misshapen student work. However, in this outing Yee’s mastery and mien for architectural structure really worked, enabling her to create a collection that was both modern, wearable and fashion forward.

Images courtesy of Anthony Tudisco

Standouts in this collection were the jacquard bomber with houndstooth sweater, felted-triple collar pollo and faux fur skirt, tweed blazer with mixed media top, felted skirt and faux fur hat, and lastly the dropstich cardigan, dropstitch dress, faux fur cuffs and faux fur hat.

—William S. Gooch

V-Files Fall 2014

February 5, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Emerging designers are always looking for a platform to showcase their collections. For their second New York Fashion Week season, V-Files has been these designers international platform. As a popular online destination for street wear-minded consumers, in this second installation, V-Files plucked three international designers whose street wear oeuvre mirrors its own point of view for an opportunity to show their collections during New York Fashion Week.

ASSK

ASSk, a Paris-based brand in its sophomore season, looked to skateboarder chic, street wear as it might look in a post-apocalyptic world. There was an outstanding pairing of digital prints and bold colors mixed in with an interesting perspective of cutouts and skater shorts. These innovative combinations helped facilitate the design duos, Agatha Kowalewski and Sarah Schofield, innovative approach to where they believe street wear is heading. Standouts in this collection were the orange hoodie and white digital print mini.

Melitta Baumeister

Baumeister’s street wear motif was diametrically opposed to ASSK’s urban skater chic point of view. Baumeister found her stride in using architectural construction and innovative fabrications to forward her fall 2014 collection. This recent Parsons’ MFA graduate’s style brought up images of Issey Miyake, but funneled through her prism of recreating staples items like ribbed tanks and fisherman knits using molded materials. Restrained volume was the key to this collection evidenced in Baumeister white neoprene dress and plunging v-neck black neoprene coatdress.

Images courtesy of style.com

Hyein Seo

South Korean Hyein Seo closed the show by incorporating 80s–horror film graphics on oversized fur coats and jackets. Reminiscent of fashion bad boy Jeremy Scott, Seo’s concept was interesting, but failed to have the intended impact.

Though some looks from the other two designers focused more on runway impact than retail viability, there were some looks, particularly from ASSK, that street wear devotees can flaunt. Unfortunately, Hyein Seo’s fall 2014 was far too focused on concept with very few looks that can translate to the street. Theatricality and fantasy are eye-catching, but at the end of the day, clothes have to sell.

—William S. Gooch

Anne Barge Bridal Fall 2014

October 14, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

For Bridal fall 2014 Anne Barge drew inspiration from depictions of ballerinas in the paintings of Degas. “I am an art history major and I love how Degas worked in pastels and as I was putting the collection together the colors looked like the pastels in the Degas paintings depicting ballerinas. So we named the collection after ballets,” explained Anne Barge.

Always known for her attention to detail and her penchant for classic, feminine silhouettes, Barge this season expanded her aesthetic to include looks that could appeal to a wider range of bridal consumers. She accomplished this goal by incorporating a broader color palette ,as well as having a more diverse range of silhouettes.

“This entire collection is layers of different pastels and fabrications from tulle, chiffon and organza to a variety of shades of white, blushes and butter crèmes, that read as white but really isn’t white” details Barge. “I also expanded silhouettes this season with silhouettes that harken back to the 1950s, an A-line silhouette paired with a full chiffon skirt that has lots of movement … I also departed from my signature look this season with my Black Label line that we re-invented this season. Our Black Label line references the 1930s in its classic Hollywood point of view. This line is for the red-carpet bride that wants to look like a celebrity.”

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Standouts in the collection were Barge’s Serenade bridal gown in tulle with Chantilly lace appliques and delicate embroidery with illusion bodice with bateau neckline, the Scherezade halter mermaid gown of ecru Chantilly lace with tulle godets lightly scattered with Chantilly lace appliques, the Garbo beaded halter gown with draped back panels, and the Hepburn elaborately beaded halter ball gown with tulle skirt and beaded applques on pick-ups.

—William S. Gooch

Kenneth Pool Bridal Fall 2014

October 14, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

For fall 2014 lace took center stage for the Kenneth Pool fall 2014 collection. Known for its daring and sexy bridal collections, this season creative director Amsale Aberra choose to combine the brand’s signature look with dramatic flair expressed in lace embellishments that adorned halter necklines and fit-and-flair feminine silhouettes.

Many of this season’s lacy looks were enhanced with miniature seed beads, luxe silk embroidery thread and Lochrosen crystals that added a sensual elegance to the collection. There was an also interesting mix of fabrications evidenced in corded lace gowns with detachable, cascading tulle trains, French lace combined with silk taffeta and tulle, as well as tulle gowns with crystal-embellished bodice.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Standouts in the collection this season were the French lace halter, low-back gown with drop-waist tulle skirt, the tulle fit-to-flare gown with crystal beaded get and detachable, cascading train, and the French lace combined with silk taffeta and tulle.

With this more expansive point of view to the collection, Amsale has successfully found that delicate balance between youthful abandon and sensual elegance. Brava Amsale!!

—William S. Gooch

Christos Bridal Fall 2014

October 13, 2013 by admin 1 Comment

If you in the market for modern construction with vintage detailing the Christos Bridal fall 2014 collection just might have the perfect gown for you. With bridal looks that are assemblage of a frothy confection variety that doesn’t go too far, paired on occasion with a linear, structured point of view, this collection has something that could appeal to a wide range of brides.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Creative director Amsale Aberra incorporated organza floral bows in the back of some the gowns—an embellishment that popped in some of Amsale’s other fall 2014 collections—that added an extra whimsy that though may have come across as a little cheeky, still did not go over the edge and diminish the collection. Amsale’s strong focus on airy silhouettes, intricate detailing, ruched bodices, hand-crafted silk flowers, and refined lace hems keep this collection solidly in the realm of romantic whimsy.

—William S. Gooch

Amsale Bridal Fall 2014

October 13, 2013 by admin Leave a Comment

Contrary to conventional wisdom, for her eponymous bridal collection Amsale Aberra saw her fall/winter bride through the lens of an autumn softness as opposed to the wintry bride in more layered, textured fabrications. And Amale’s perspective worked!

As always, this fall 2014 collection contained Amsale’s core principles of simplicity expressed in modern, clean feminine silhouettes. All the elements that we have come to expect are still there, softly layered tulle, modern construction and fantastic fabrications like French Alencon lace combined with Amsale’s expert attention to detail and precision.

Still, the collection did have some obvious references to chillier temperatures. Some of the lace embellishments conjured up images of falling snow and the French lace long-sleeve bolero is a nice addition for that bride who wants a slight protection from a winter chill. Amsale also included four bridesmaids looks in this outing that could work as standalone ready-to-wear formal pieces or but a great fashion-forward addition to any bridal ceremony.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

Standouts in the collection were Amsale’s tulle hand-beaded jewel halter neck gown with sheer back and full skirt, silk magnolia slim fit-to-flare gown with sheer neckline and back, bow detail on low back, tulle jewel, neck trapeze gown with low back and bias cut silk charmeuse slip and slik taffeta corseted bodice with straps, sheer back with French lace detail and full skirt.

—William S. Gooch