Front Row — Page 73

Richard Chai Love Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Pop star Joe Jonas and his girl Blanda Eggenschwiler chose the perfect show to share during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Richard Chai Love + Richard Chai Men’s collection proved to be a perfect blend of flowing feminine silhouettes for the women and shearling bomber jacket swag-style for the men.

Chai’s women’s garments were expressed in fluid silhouettes featuring flounce and handkerchief skirts, ruched tops and trousers, with sequined details on jackets and pants. One petrol green/onyx paneled dress with a repeated “V” design was a standout. Chai paired an onyx parka with a detachable fur vest to a wine/navy stripped scarf dress—two types of softness, furry and silky.

In this collection Chai romances his female consumers with a winter floral pattern using it in coats, jackets, skirts and pants. He introduced this design in the show with a bordeaux/onyx winter floral jacquard shawl collar long coat with a sage green/onyx winter floral jacquard slouch trouser—dramatic and romantic. He softened up the classic peacoat with a sage green/onyx winter floral shawl collar cut coupled with a bordeaux/onyx winter floral jacquard paneled dress. His tailoring talent was highlighted in several of the women’s outfits, including a bark grey brushed glen plaid cutaway blazer and a winter floral one-button jacket.

The show sparkled with black and white metallic blazers with sequin details and metallic skinny trousers sprinkled later in the show. Plaid and stripes were both popular combinations in the collection for both the men and the women. If couples like to coordinate their outfits, Chai has provided perfect matches in his color palette, as well as good matches in plaid and stripes. Chai presented the layered look for both women and the menswear. Sometimes it was orderly; a toffee/sage/black one button blazer, shirtdress and skinny trouser worked well for the women. But for the men it was sometimes a bit uneven.

For the men, working with a color palette of cement, stone, petrol green, petrol blue, hunter green, bark brown, and smoky navy, Chai crafted classic cut edge blazers, leather jackets, and shearling bomber jackets. Chai’s second season of collaboration with the outerwear line of Andrew Marc X Richard Chai was an excellent offering of beautiful bomber jackets, sterling shearling coats, and moto jackets.

—Francesca Simon

Josie Natori Fall 2014

February 7, 2014 by admin 1 Comment

For this fall/winter season, Josie Natori was inspired by “the richness of Russia’s cultural heritage.” Opening the show with various silhouettes of dark grey, Natori highlighted her skills of construction and not to mention her impeccable coat-cutting technique. The show quickly transitioned to different neutral hues of white and beige, giving the collection a hint of “Russian Winter” that included some beautifully made felted, wool hijab-esque head pieces. Natori has always been a master at understanding prints and patterns; this season she opted to add a handful of tie-dyed overcoats that have all the signs of being a must-have piece for any fashionista looking to put some much needed flair into their fall wardrobe.

As the collection progressed, more Russian influences were evident, offering more of bit a narrative story behind the inner workings of Russia’s history. What really made this collection a winner was the wide range of materials, textures, and the intricate cutwork featured throughout, which included embossed pony velvet, rabbit fur, and jet beading. And those Natori relied heavily on a neutral color palette, there were explosions of color evidenced in deep crimson red, and sky blue.

Images courtesy of Lividini PR

Josie Natori fall 2014 collection was all about luxe, setting an earlier standard and proving that the ready-to-wear collections this season have a lot more to speak to than the American consumer’s love for sportswear. Bold, fun, and sophisticated Natori has started off the fall/winter 2014 season on a high note!

—John Woody

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

Gilded Age Fall 2014

February 6, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

For fall 2014, Gilded Age’s creative director Stefan Miljanic again went to the dark side. Inspired by the poetry of Edgar Allen Poe, who inspired American surrealism, Miljanic’s used Poe’s step on the dark side to give weight an body to his fall 2014 collection.

“You see darker looks this season with Gilded Age, even raven masks, referencing Edgar Allen Poe … Fashion is a part of us and I want to breach that world between fashion and art and this process has caused me to dig deeper,“ explained Miljanic.

But going to the dark side is not new to Miljanic. For fall 2013, Miljanic delved into the post-apocalyptic world of extreme climate change using a neutral color palette of greys, black and dark denim. Though there was more color this season—deep olive, midnight blue, and tawny rust orange—the palette was still dark and somber.

Still, there were some great men’s cardigans, fitted trousers, and pea coats. Standouts in the collection were Miljanic’s high-end luxury Japanese denim titled “Annuit Coeptis” collection, which featured printed cityscapes, ravens and splattered paint.

Images courtesy of Ernest Green

“In this collection I able to tell a little bit of the Poe story and translate it into the fashion world. Maybe someone will pay attention and think to check out how Gilded Age is combining fashion with great American literature.”

—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

Just for Fun: New York Fashion Week Fall 2014 Dippity Don’ts

February 4, 2014 by admin Leave a Comment

Image courtesy of the huffingtonpost.com

IMG, the governing company, for Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week has made some dramatic changes to “The Tents” at Lincoln Center. There is more security and a more detailed check-in process. The venues have been reduced in size, facilitating a more exclusive, intimate experience. And the media list this season was cut by 20%.

You would think that these dramatic changes would have an effect on all the wacky, eccentric fashion that is paraded on the Plaza at Lincoln Center on in “The Tents” lobby and other venues. Wrong!!

Bad fashion seems to be here to stay during New York Fashion Week. And just for fun, Fashion Reverie every day will present some of this outlandish fashion just for your entertainment. You may have to shield your eyes sometimes, but, remember it is all in fun, so just enjoy!!

Day 1

Cinderella, the ball is at the Magic Kingdom in Orlando, Florida.