Mexican born‒fashion designer, Rolando Santana, presented a multi-dimensional array of chic ready-to-wear items for his fall 2013 collection. From leather biker jackets, elegant lace trimming, and lush fur accents, Santana offered a variety of textures for his latest collection. While usually known for using a muted color palette of grey, ivory, and black, Santana decided to experiment with bolder colors of royal purple, electric blue, and metallics this season. The contrast between the eccentric mixtures of colors against the designer’s signature feminine silhouettes created an edgier style for his assortment of trendy ensembles paired with leather bermudas.
Rolando Santana 2013 fall/winter images courtesy of wwd.com
Inspired by the art of John Chamberlain, Santana took the same three-dimensional abstract approach from Chamberlain’s works and translated it into a fashionable, elegant collection with an artsy twist. Despite the numerous elements going into the clothes, Santana still delivers a cohesive collection for the assertive woman who knows what she wants and how she wants to look.
—Dana E. Givens
As fashion industry professionals debate the creative verve of the fall/winter 2013 collections and how the commercialization and corporatization has diminished the ebullience and wow factor of many of the top brands, Monique Lhuillier proved this season that her point of view and brilliance has not dimmed. Though she is quickly becoming a red carpet darling with a variety of actresses and young starlets donning her red-carpet ready gowns, she is always pushing the proverbial fashion envelope and striving to find that delicate balance between market viability and fashion as wearable art. And this season she found that balance!!
Inspired by gemstones, amethyst, malachite green, and oxblood, Lhuillier drew from her deep well of technical skill and knowledge of different eras to create a collection that was dreamy, fashion-forward, but not beyond the parlance and palette of many women. Though Lhuillier introduced her collection with a few daytime dresses and separates, this collection, similar to the past couple of seasons, is heavy on evening wear, and in particular red carpet looks. Still, Lhuillier attempted to transport her woman from a few sophisticated daytime looks in three dimensional cable knits to some abstract print dresses to more show-stopping evening looks of lace cigarette pants and duster coats to beaded lace, sequined gowns.
Lhuillier used the gradations and striations found in malachite green as reference point for several looks in this collection. Standouts were Lhuillier’s malachite green feather lace, high-low cocktail dress, malachite green, printed faille strapless draped column dress and malachite green and black ombré chiffon gown with black suede bodice.
Season after season Sally LaPointe continues to expand her unique perspective on what the downtown, fashion-forward trendsetter wants to wear and how far she will go to express her own individuality. Lady Gaga, Kim Kardashian, Alessandra Ambrosio, and Julianne Hough aside, LaPointe’s claims to fame have begun to extend beyond edgy red carpet and stage performance fare.
This season, gone are the futuristic nods and the mostly art-as-fashion editorials pieces, which sometimes popped up in LaPointe’s earlier runway presentations. For fall/winter 2013, Sally LaPointe chose to focus her collection on more wearable garments that though still appealing to that risk-taking fashion maven who wants to make a bold statement, but expands to more individual separates that a wider variety women might want to wear.
This collection continues to maintain LaPointe’s predilection for sleek, architectural, Asian-inspired clothing. And what was most evident in this outing was LaPointe’s mastery of marrying and juxtaposing hard with soft, architectural against free-flowing, urban warrior women contrasted with modern sensual goddess.
Beauty and functionality are the two adjectives that accurately describe Costello Tagliapietra fall/winter 2013 collection. Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra’s expertise creates garments that undeniably flatter a woman’s body by accentuating her shape versus constricting it with unmovable fabrics.
Like previous collections, Costello Taliapietra displayed their mastery of the jersey dress in unique color blocking pairings. Taking a playful approach to color, many of the dresses were color blocked from front to back. A teal knee length jersey dress suddenly transformed into a vibrant rose hue when the model turned to exit. The playful details with color were exciting to see in a season where designers typically opt for darker tones.
Although the bursts of color was contemporary, the pieces were nostalgic and very reflective of a retro era with a strong emphasis on a cinched waist with wide belts and billowy trousers. Interestingly, the designers opt for a more traditional way of creating the runway designs by sketching every piece with pencil and paper. Their method is actually quite simple; they sketch draping and then figure out solutions to create the design based on the sketch. In an era of advance technology, it’s refreshing to know that designers are continuing to sharpen their skills in conventional ways.
Vine knit capelets, asymmetrical shoulder dresses, cardigans, trousers and “teddy bear” fur coats were among the many standout designs. The overall styling of the collection was impeccable, while the choice of sun-kissed bronzers paired with shockingly vibrant lipstick was striking. (The orange-red hue of lip stain is sure to be a hit in the fall season.)
For fall/winter 2013 Rafael Cennamo drew inspiration from Versailles’ famed Halls of Mirrors (Galerie des Glaces). Rafael Cennamo, over the past few seasons, has established his brand as one of the few brands that consistently brings the art of classic couture to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.
For this collection, Rafael Cennamo used lots of beaded gowns embellished with bugle beads, gold sunburst beading, gold modern pavé beading, and gold-painted detailing to forward his Galerie des Glaces reference. Also, there were also some garments in this collection that referenced Egyptian Goddess art.
Cesar Galindo brought his own very special brand of runway magic to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week with a collection and point of view that conjured up images of 1970’s nightlife and sleek, clean silhouettes reminiscent of Halston. Though Galindo obviously has a passion for 70s silhouettes, as also evidenced in his spring/summer 2012 collection, he has the craft and vision to make his point of view palatable to the modern woman.
Galindo’s color palette included a range of autumnal tones that will complement a variety of women for fall and winter. From steel grey to ecru to rustic red and oranges and dusty browns, Galindo complimented this standard fall/winter color palette with a kaleidoscope of prints that are not seasonally specific.
When you have fashion icon, Anna Wintour sitting in the front row, it’s safe to say that this collection was looking to leave an unforgettable impression for not only the audience but industry professionals who can promote or stultify a career. Studying the complexities of the human psyche, animals and insects gave Kimberly Ovtiz inspiration for her new multi-layered collection this season. She says she “explored the intricacies of the illusional protection systems seen in animals and insects” and her academic excursion gave her the idea for a unique concept for her stylish, chic designs. Her research helped her shape a collection that takes you through a shadowy journey using abstract prints against a dark color palette of blue, grey, and black to illustrate a high-end collection of clothes right out the space-age.
For over a decade now, Tadashi Shoji has been one of the go-to designers for red carpet and formal looks. However, this season Shoji turned his focus more toward innovative new fabrics such as neoprene and looks that were not solely for the red carpet or formal events.
In stride with collections of the past few seasons, Shoji still has a predilection for lace-embellished fabrications combined with diaphanous fabrics, and is this collection, velvet. Still, Shoji expertly has expanded upon the lace trend by mixing in different fabrications and choosing different feminine silhouettes each season. This season the silhouette of choice was high-necked gowns with ‘czarina’ sleeves, also-simple A-line dresses with lots of volume in the back, and Russian-inspired turn-of-the-century gowns.
