Posts filed under 'Runway Reviews'
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: The Iisli enthusiast can be a dancer, a matron, a schoolgirl or a vixen, depending on the piece she sports. She doesn’t dress with simplicity, but rather sports layer upon feminine layer of clothing.
Color Palette:
Though the collection consists of little color, ensembles are rarely all one hue. Instead, silver, beige, black, grey,
brown, olive green, maroon and blue are worn together.
Silhouettes: Loosely pleated short dresses underneath knit jackets;
deep v-neck stretch dresses; chiffon blouses with
long sleeves that bubble from shoulder to wrist. The only hint of tight
is black and grey leggings.
Accessories Report: Pointy-toed oxfords were everywhere, whether with daring thigh-high socks or with long, thin scarves.
What’s Wearable:
A glittery silver wrap jacket is the perfect way to spice up a
colorless outfit.
What’s Not Wearable:
Silhouettes too fussy for the eye, such as a schoolgirl jumper; bunched-up,
high-waisted skirts that exaggerate the feminine pear shape; an overly
bulky olive green minidress; leggings with everything.
February 8th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: Luca Orlandi has opted for cleaner lines, flowier pieces and an entirely different set of colors, resulting in an uncharacteristically neutral fall collection.
Color Palette: A refreshing spectrum for fall: winter white, watercolor blue, chocolate brown and cream set against steely greys and neutrals.
Silhouettes: Buttonless coats, skinny trouser pants, pencil skirts, ruffled blouses and tie-neck tops.
Accessories Report: Leopard stoles, oversized ombre enamel necklaces.
What’s Wearable: A simply elegant wool camel coat reminiscent of Zoran.
What’s Not Wearable: Oddly smocked empire waist cocktail dresses. You don’t want to look like an oversized preschooler!
February 8th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: Cinch your waist with a bow, an obi or a skinny belt for a flattering hourglass shape.
Color Palette: Steely greys and neutrals, with pops of rich color such as garnet and charmeuse.
Silhouettes: Dresses and skirts with wide belts with exaggerated buckles. Tulip skirts and cropped jackets are both here to stay for at least one more season. Stiffer, more ornate fabrics — like embroidered silk and jacquard — replaced flowy spring fabrics.
Accessories Report: Uber-wide belts are back! This doesn’t mean, however, that you have to put your skinny belts away — both are wearable this season. Bows were huge at the show as well, manifesting themselves as large ties at the neck and also as cute adornments elsewhere on the body.
What’s Wearable: An above-the-knee strapless dress with black-and-white chevron stripes. So classically Bill Blass.
What’s Not Wearable: Full-sized ballgowns with wallpaper patterns.
February 8th, 2006
Key Takeaways: Last season was about controlled volume, and while this season continued that theme, it was more about volume and less about control. Key trends include (1) Bubble skirts, (2) Waistline emphasis, (3) Oversized collars, (4) Voluminous Sleeves, (5) Asymmetry, (6) Ruffles, and (7) Boatneck necklines, and (8) Fur trim detailing.
Color Palette: Mostly neutrals and muted colors, with splashes of red, blue, and gold.
Silhouettes: Three major silhouettes: (1) Slim all over, (2) Full over slim, (3) Slim over Full. Perhaps the most memorable silhouette is the bubble skirt with fabric gathers at the waistline. Oscar also showed oversized collars, boatnecked styles, cape-like jackets, tuxedo detailing, poufy sleeves, and an overwhelming emphasis on the waistline.
Accessories Report: Long gloves, trunk-like purses, necklaces with giant beads, and clutches.
What’s Wearable: Eveningwear Standouts: A little black dress (shown above) that’s anything but ordinary–short sleeves, cinched belted waistline, and an cross between a boatneck and a funnel neckline. And that sexy black lace strapless number that accentuates a woman’s hourglass figure.
What’s Not Wearable: A blouse with a leg of mutton sleeve…reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld’s "Pirate shirt." The bubble skirt, as is, is going to be a tough one to pull off.
Want more Fall 2006 trend information? Check out Omiru’s Mid Fashion Week Trend Recap!
February 8th, 2006
Key Takeaways: Carolina Herrera’s collection encompassed both business-appropriate daywear and eveningwear. Key trends from this collection included (1) Emphasis on the waistline (throwback to Spring 06), (2) Voluminous sleeves (seems to be a Big Thing this season), (3) Natural to High waistlines, (4) Square sunglasses, (5) Boatnecked styles, (6) 3/4 length coats, and (7) Tights. Embellishments included fur trims, beaded styles, and bows (also So Spring 06).
Color Palette: Both warm (red, orange) and cool (turquoise, lilac) colors complemented Herrera’s base of neutrals.
Silhouettes: Waistlines were either at the natural waist or above, though bottoms came in both fitted and baggy varieties. Sleeves tended to be voluminous, either at the shoulder or at the wristline. Herrera seems to have a thing for asymmetry–and 3/4 length styles (both coats and sleeves came in this length).
What’s Wearable: Personal standout: An exquisitely detailed pintucked black sheath dress. We also appreciated her asymmetric suits, her slim pencil skirts, and her boatnecked jackets.
What’s Not Wearable: Huge medallions around your neck…what are we, on the Sopranos? The Victorian-inspired getup with the pouf sleeves and Full skirt isn’t going to win anyone any Best Dressed awards. Traci would also frown upon the vinyl-ish black and clear polka dotted dress.
What’s hot for Fall 2006? Check out Omiru’s Mid Fashion Week Trend Recap!
February 8th, 2006
Key Takeaways: Key trends in Monique Lhuillier’s day-to-evening collection included (1) capes and capelets, (2) bell (and other voluminous) sleeves, (3) the Bubble silhouette, (4) higher waistlines, (5) oversized collars, (6) waistline emphasis, (7) oversized fabric brooches, (8) tuxedo-style detailing, and (10) fur.
Color Palette: Black, grey, turquoise, sky blue, and greyed out shades of rose and yellow-green.
Silhouettes: Lhuillier’s silhouettes tended to be either (1) big over small, or (2) small over big. Either way, they balanced out the body nicely (at least on a model’s figure). Particularly oversized items included sleeves, collars, capes, and bubble skirt silhouettes.
Accessories Report: The ubiquitous long gloove and an oversized fabric brooch.
What’s Wearable: A black cocktail dress with poufy ruffles caught our eye, as did a grey double breasted coat in a trapeze shape. Both daywear and eveningwear were highly wearable in this collection.
What’s Not Wearable: The heavily oversized brocade coat with 3/4 sleeves would be better left on the runway.
February 8th, 2006
Key Takeaways: In the past three seasons, Narciso Rodriguez has been loosening up his silhouette. Even though fashion is heading towards the more voluminous, we wish that Rodriguez would stay true to his roots and give us more of the svelte, understated style that earned him the praise of the CDFA in the first place. For women, key trends are: (1) short sleeved dresses, (2) bubble shaped skirts, and (3) colorblocking. For men, the key trends are: (1) the Three Button Suit, (2) narrow ties, (3) knee length shorts, and (4) short sleeved sweaters.
Color Palette: Black and white, with shades of cream, peach, and bluish grey.
Silhouettes: Not the classic Rodriguez "fits like a glove" silhouette–even the fitted items were worn looser. We also saw capes, short sleeved dresses (a new trend?), and slightly bubble-shaped and flared skirts for women. For men, we saw slim cut three-button suits, narrow ties, knee length shorts (paired with a button down shirt, tie, and jacket!), 3/4 length coats, and short sleeved and sleeveless sweaters.
Accessories Report: Structured handbags, bags with chain handles, capes, and colorblocked knee-high boots.
What’s Wearable: Most everything shown, both for men and women, is wearable, though we would appreciate a more structured fit to the clothing.
What’s Not Wearable: Shiny vinyl-type fabrics don’t generally translate well off the runway. We also won’t be wearing Rodriguez’s long sleeved dress with a center front lower torso vertical cutout. And because of the generous cut, some of the dresses ended up looking matronly.
February 8th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: A major turtleneck comeback is in the works. For one, BCBG has elongated the traditional turtleneck into a slimming mini dress. Turtlenecks were also layered beneath dresses, saying goodbye to the bare décolleté. Knee-length boots are old news, but this collection saw knee-length tights peeping out from under the boots. This BCBG girl is less sophisticated and more medieval and carefree. Tres innovative!
Color Palette: Black, teal, blue, rustic orange, purple, brown, mustard yellow, khaki, and grey.
Silhouettes: Things are pretty loose around here: Chiffon dresses, puffy shorts, knit jackets, cropped cardigans. The turtleneck dresses are the exception to this rule because of their stretchy nature.
Accessories Report: Knit beanies are a must; almost every outfit in the collection has a matching one. White and black square and tiny glasses (looked more like reading glasses than shades) were also prevalent. An occasional mid-size handbag with a chain-link strap was seen. And the latest trend brought back from the Clueless era: knee highs.
What’s Wearable: The turtleneck dresses should definitely be sported with a pair of tights, especially on a rainy day. Many of the fancier dresses are quite practical as well.
What’s Not Wearable: If you choose to work the knee highs under the boots, you take the risk of looking like an agricultural farmer. One kimono-like jacket with wide sleeves is quite unflattering, even on a stick skinny model. Finally, one fancy gold dress with a turtleneck underneath looks more like a walking lampshade than a dress.
February 8th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: Knit sweaters, knee highs, and heavy scarves worn like neck braces dominated this collection. Although feminine and girly touches existed, only a really confident woman could pull off these clothes with great ease.
Color Palette: Black, off-white, neutrals, pink, grey, brown, grayish blue, and olive green.
Silhouettes: Steffe riffed on some common fashion week themes: bubble skirts, flowy dresses, and knit jackets.
Accessories Report: Thin belts worn at the waist, scarves worn like neck braces, knee high stockings, t-strap heels, and once again, the ubiquitous long leather gloves.
What’s Wearable: Many of the pieces in this collection are wearable, but like we stated in other collections, there needs to be a bit of modification. A knit short-sleeve jacket paired with a knee-length khaki skirt is doable without the black knee highs.
What’s Not Wearable: The knee high comeback may not translate as well on the streets as it did on the big screen in “Clueless.â€
February 8th, 2006
Photo Credit: NY Metro
Key Takeaways: Tights were a lot sheerer, dresses a lot shorter, and the entire collection a bit more grown up than usual Betsey Johnson. Some aspects of the 80’s were revived with sweetheart cuts, humongous shiny bows, and puffy short sleeves. Although this new Betsey Johnson girl still has a bit of edge and spunk, she’s outgrown cartwheels. (Of course, Betsey will always do cartwheels…but then again she gets away with doing more than anyone her age).
Color Palette: Mostly black with hints of gold, navy blue, off-white, grey, lime green, pink, royal blue, green, purple, red, teal, and yellow.
Silhouettes: There was a lot of short, leg-revealing dresses, but they were by no means tight. Many sweetheart (Hello 1985!) and v-neck cuts showed up, as well as some babydoll dresses.
Accessories Report: We saw a few handbags with colorful embellishments floating around. Shoes were mainly pointy ankle boots and open-toed sandals. Occasionally, we saw a thick studded belt and a thin silk neck tie.
What’s Wearable: Some dresses are appropriate to wear at a fancy soiree, but they must be paired with tights as they are so short. Various skirts suits and jackets are also wearable.
What’s Not Wearable: It’s better for everyone if the ‘80s stuff stays in the closet. One dress with cutouts in the stomach area oozed less class and more trash.
February 8th, 2006
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