Posts filed under 'Runway Reviews'
Key Takeaways: Designer Grant Krajecki (pronounced "G-r-a-a-n-t" and the inspiration for the line’s name) took us into a time machine back to the early 90s and the mid 80s. Fabrics ranged from gauzy and light to shiny and slick to thick and bouclé. Key trends included: high-waisted silhouettes, ruffles, off-the-shoulder and asymmetrical tops, a focus on neutral colors, and metallics.
Color Palette: Greys of all sheens and shades featured in this collection along with strong blacks, maroons, a pale crème-beige and a moody black-gold lamé that puts our early childhood fantasies of being Madonna to shame.
Silhouettes: The modern day version of "Dynasty" — if the women wore more tailored pants and were each a size 0. Grey Ant featured highly tailored pants in charcoal, black, and medium blue denim with a high cut and an intriguing v-cut in the back. Structure was repeated in a broad shoulder silhouette and discarded in a series of oversized sack dresses. Basic off-the-shoulder and asymmetrical tops and dresses rounded out the collection.
Accessories Report: Waists were cinched a bit below the natural waistline with wide belts in a variety of neutral colors (and a high-gloss sheen). Large gold earrings and chunky trapezoidal necklaces framed the models’ faces, while the oversized square eyeglasses overpowered those faces in shades of black, red and a funky clear. Hair ranged from 90’s stringy and straight to a strangely attractive side hair poof, compliments of the innovative Rusk hair team.
What’s Wearable: High-waisted pants work well for those of us with short legs–and we adored the slight v cutout in the back of the jeans.
What’s Not Wearable: Avoid the overexuberant shirt ruffles unless you’re a world-famous flamenco dancer (or Jack Sparrow).
February 3rd, 2007
Key Takeaways:The Harvard alum stuck to his signature "preppy with a twist" style, showing sweatervests, fair isle sweaters, and turtlenecks fit for a slightly subversive prep school student. Though his silhouettes remained pretty standard, John Bartlett spiced up his menswear collection with rich textures, ranging from velvet to cable knit. Key trends included colorblocking (seen on both sweaters and jackets), sweatervests (a continuing trend), and wide cuffed pants.
Color Palette: Shades of beige, white, black, and greys overshadowed touches of olive green and a splash of red. Colorblocking featured as a central theme in Bartlett’s collection.
Silhouettes: Both shirts and sweaters were cut slim, though Bartlett’s jackets and coats were more relaxed in fit. Pants ranged from skinny-legged to wide-legged, with the most notable pant detail being the wide turned-up cuffs. Sweatervests and turtleneck sweaters featured prominently. Coats and jackets included 3/4 length styles, aviator styles, (velvet) blazers, and mandarin collared styles.
Accessories Report: Three accessories trends to note: (1) brightly colored socks paired with neutral colored shoes, (2) the skinny tie (a continuing trend), and (3) scarves with a "cuff" detailing.
What’s Wearable: Textured sweaters, velvet blazers, and wide legged pants will keep you warm for Fall. Our favorite look? A sweatervest paired with a button-down shirt with the sleeves rolled up.
What’s Not Wearable: What not to wear? The plaid suit and the jailbird stripes.
February 2nd, 2007
Key Takeaways: Designer Dragana Ognjenovic showed an intellectual collection in black and white filled with gorgeous constructions. Controlled volume featured prominently in Dragana’s tightly edited collection.
Color Palette: Neutrals: black and white, tempered with beige.
Silhouettes: Voluminous dresses and belted cape-style coats accompanied tulip skirts and straight legged pants. Flutter sleeves, shirring, ruching, pleating, and ruffles added to the controlled volume story.
Accessories Report: Thick belts and shawls finished off the intellectually minimalist looks coming down the runway.
What’s Wearable: A short sleeved white stand collared dress, and a tailored jacket and short skirt combination with buttons running down center front (pictured).
What’s Not Wearable: Some of the draped tops were on-target for the runway, but too theatrical for the streets.
October 3rd, 2006
Photo Credit: Style.com
Key Takeaways: Asymmetry is everywhere in this collection; it’s evidenced in revealing bathing suits, frilly frocks, and skirts. Volume, the major trend during Fashion Week, was barely seen on Three As Four’s runway, however. Here, the scene was more about form-fitting articles, though the collection flirted with the idea of controlled volume.
Color Palette: Black, beige, white, grey, light pink, olive green, midnight blue, lavender, and teal.
Silhouettes: Asymmetry characterized most of the outfits on the catwalk. We took note of: sheer one-piece bathing suits and bikinis, loose jersey tops, palazzo trousers, parka jackets, halter dresses, skinny pants, pantaloons, skirts, and boy shorts.
Accessories Report: Accessories were kept to a bare minimum. One long patterned scarf was seen, as well as peep-toe slingback shoes.
What’s Wearable: We noted an equal number of wearable and non-wearable items in this collection. Especially wearable (to a cocktail party) is the chiffon halter minidress. What makes this dress different? The halter was contructed with a gold chain.
What’s Not Wearable: Some of the asymmetrical garments are too extreme for the streets. Especially unflattering is a chiffon skirt, where one side is a miniskirt and the other reaches below the knee.
October 1st, 2006
Fashiontribes’ Lesley Scott is officially on our hotlist this Friday (regular Friday Fashion Hotlists will be returning next week, for all of you FFH fans). Her What the Bloggers are Saying Fashion Week roundup post is, by far, the most comprehensive source of fashion information written by us online publishers. Lesley’s roundup covers Trendspotting, Fashion Week Dish & Detrius, and, of course, Show Reviews, which are helpfully categorized alphabetically.
Bravo, Lesley!
September 22nd, 2006
Key Takeaways: Layered silhouettes and loose oversized shapes dominated Derek Lam’s collection of sportswear. Lam toyed with a masculine/feminine theme that took his collection from sweet to sultry.
Color Palette: Neutrals like grey, black, white, and navy are spiced up with coral, turquoise, olive, celadon, and yellow.
Silhouettes: Key silhouettes included on-trend voluminous and kimono sleeves, swing coats, shorts, cropped pants, and ruffled styles. Lam also featured architecturally constructed tanks, collarless coats, dresses with pockets, and billowy gowns.
Accessories Report: Top-handle oversized bags, belts reminiscent of laptop locks, small and square sunglasses, and shoes with thick straps graced Lam’s runway.
What’s Wearable: We’d recomend Lam’s empire-waisted tulip dress with thick straps (pictured) and a breezy asymmetric chiffon dress–a real stunner.
What’s Not Wearable: Big over big layering–leave that for the models on the runway and the stylists who dress them.
September 21st, 2006
Key Takeaways: With themes ranging from 20s glamour and the mod 60s, the Marc by Marc Jacobs collection felt like a microcosm of Fashion Week. Just as the Spring 2007 season is all about pieces–not outfits, the Marc by Marc collection is all about specific looks, not a focused message.
Color Palette: All over the map. Neutrals–olives, whites, and greys–were accompanied by celadon green, grass green, orange, turquoise, yellow, and purple.
Silhouettes: Key silhouettes included mod 60s shifts, drop waist styles, trapeze style coats, cuffed shorts, voluminous sleeves, and oversized tops over dresses. For men, loose pants, shorts, cuffed styles, deep v-neckline styles, three piece suits, and trenchcoats.
Accessories Report: Oversized top-handle bags, caps, long, thin scarves, white-rimmed glasses, long necklaces, and sneakers for women. For men, caps, suspenders, nerd glasses, and sneakers.
What’s Wearable: An indigo-navy drop waist shift with a curved waistline ruffle (pictured). For men, we love the three piece suit with sneakers.
What’s Not Wearable: For women, a patchwork hippie print dress that confuses the eye with its multitude of patterns. For men, a white deep-v shirt that would feel right at home in the women’s collection.
September 21st, 2006
Key Takeaways: Peter Som followed key trends for Spring 2007: neutral colors, tops with wide straps, voluminous sleeves, trapeze silhouettes, and shorts. Playing with sheers and solids, Som experimented with volume and loosely fitted looks with oversized sleeves, layers, and fabric gathers.
Color Palette: Muted colors: greys, pale yellow, beige, navy, and white.
Silhouettes: Jackets were cut a little loose and included collarless, trapeze-shaped, and double breasted styles. Voluminous sleeves balanced out shorts and cigarette pants. Tulip skirts and trapeze styles provided extra volume. Dresses included babydoll styles, strapless styles, and floor length billowy gowns.
Accessories Report: Thick strappy shoes adorned the feet of the models.
What’s Wearable: Our favorite look came during the parade of evening gowns: a billowy peach stunner with a black tie at waist (pictured). Som’s babydoll dresses are flattering on most figures, and the emphasis on a higher waistline is good news for longwaisted girls.
What’s Not Wearable: Tulip skirts are tricky to wear, as are the conical voluminous sleeves.
September 21st, 2006
Key Takeaways: Structured, chic, slick, monochrome or bright? We’re having a hard time putting one word to Jay McCarroll’s (of Project Runway Season 1 fame) debut solo show after winning back in 2005. (By the way, check out the adorable different colored headphones from his ‘05 collection.) Having met Mr. McCarroll backstage for an interview, we can see why it’d be hard for him to stick with the neutrals and strict shapes that many of the other designers preferred for this season. We loved that his show spanned the spectrum of literal black to white to yellow to blue to green to a mix, but the varied shapes made it occasionally hard to draw a cohesive sense from the line. Nevertheless, the rooster and helium blimp-prints in varying sizes along with the patchwork feel set this collection aside from others.
On a side-note, no fur was used in this line. Jay paired up with the Humane Society of the United States to reinforce the fact that fur does not need to be obtained from cruel sources. We applaud you, Jay McCarroll! You can see us wearing the red and white heart-shaped "no FUR" button during his interview. As a gift for our loyal Omiru readers, we’re giving
away five of these exclusively-designed buttons for the first five commenters on this post — just leave your name and email!
Color Palette: We saw solids in plain black and white along with blends of canary yellow, yellow-green, blues and turquoise and browns separately and sometimes all at once (see image above).
Silhouettes: Mirroring his balloon prints, lean and volume-infused silouettes dominated Jay McCarroll’s collection. A bright turquoise tank dress with side detail and an A-line see-through raincoat paraded after a gothic stiff crinoline "Little-Bo-Peep-Meets-Black-Sheep" dress complete with hooded shrug and sheer lace footless tights. Loose, long coats for men came in silver and charcoal black for a true rockstar feel. We took note of cuffed short-shorts, long flowy patchwork dresses, and minis and skinny pants in a variety of colors.
Accessories Report: Watch out! Sunglasses in white, black and smoke and blue (pictured) are here for Spring 2007. We loved the adorable etched flat plastic globes made into necklaces and other accessories and the singularly outrageous bird in a cage looped casually around a model’s neck. Male flipflops and flats and wide-strapped heels for women adorned feet in whites and blacks. Bowling and duffle bags in various colors were also paraded down the runways.
What’s Wearable: The short-sleeve patchwork dress in the mock-turtleneck with the complementary squares of color is just too gosh darn cute to pass up. Also, the striped off the shoulder sweater works well for Winter ‘06 along with the calf-length tights in heather grey with three buttons on the side of each leg.
What’s Not Wearable: Highly structured and puffed shoulders along with a bee-like black and yellow striped sweater are more theatrical then off-the-runway wearable.
Hear what Jay McCarroll has to say about the Humane Society in our exclusive backstage interview.
September 21st, 2006
Key Takeaways: An overly complex collection that contrasts with designer Francisco Costa’s last effortlessly ethereal collection. Floaty, gauzy layers are overworked and sewn into voluminous shapes, from bubble styles to harem pants.
Color Palette: Cream, beige, and yellow are accompanied by metallics.
Silhouettes: Key silhouettes included bubble shapes, fitted sheaths, 3/4 sleeve oversized coats, harem pants, and parkas. Detailing included oversized collars, off-the-shoulder sleeves, U-shaped necklines, and pockets on skirts and dresses.
Accessories Report: Of note were the oversized unstructured bags and ankle boots.
What’s Wearable: Despite the tricky bubble silhouette, we love the poufy ethereal dress with multiple layers.
What’s Not Wearable: See through garments are generally best left layered or on the runway. Many of the styles read as too complex, with overly worked fabric.
September 21st, 2006
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