The long and the short of it...

Versace

If you were to play a word association game and the chosen word was Versace, I'd be willing to bet that "restrained" wouldn't be a response. Let's face it, there are dozens of adjectives that can be used to describe Versace, but words like restrained, minimal and spare aren't among them. Leave it to Donatella when she's in the mood for something different to change that perception.

Everything about the collection feels extremely focused and considered, from the restricted color palette to the sharply tailored (and limited) silhouettes. Even the house's signature Greek key pattern, which hasn't made an appearance on the runway in a while, was used very carefully in abstract painterly prints or as PVC/patent leather insets or appliques. Nothing about the collection, not even the silk fringe that was the only embellishment on evening dresses, felt excessive. But despite the rigor displayed in the clothes the collection recalls so much of the house's past. Watching the video I saw a lot of Gianni in the collection, although to me the collection doesn't feel burdened by references to his work. It's classic Versace but Donatella really made the look her own. None of Gianni's work that I remember was quite this slick or controlled. This being a Versace collection there's certainly no shortage of sex appeal, but this time around there's something about it that's very grown up and, dare I say it, sophisticated.

I haven't been this nuts about a Versace collection in a few years. Something about it feels genuinely fresh, unlike anything that's been seen from the house in recent memory. While the fall collection also had a graphic quality to it, I think this collection achieved much more appealing results. I do have a couple of complaints which I almost feel bad bringing up, but can't avoid. The first is the total lack of pants. I can appreciate that Donatella presented an extremely uncompromising vision - that's something to respect a designer - but considering how sharp the tailoring in this show was I wouldn't have minded a few looks based around this season's pant. But then I may just be idealizing that in my head and in reality pants would have lessened the overall impact of the presentation. The second complaint is the gowns at the end. To me they feel less like the logical conclusion of the collection and more like meeting an expectation. People expect gowns from Versace, and if we're being honest Versace does them well, but the three that made it onto the runway, all of them made of fringe built onto bodices and swinging from the skirt, weren't as strong as all of the pieces that had come before. They weren't necessary, and they weren't the best I've ever seen from Donatella, though I will grant that they also were not predictable Versace gowns, either. Ultimately the good far outweighs the bad in this collection though. It's a wonderful synthesis between past and future, and the result couldn't be more perfect for the present.

all images from style.com

A clean slate...

Narciso Rodriguez

Once upon a time at the beginning of the decade that is rapidly coming to a close, I was a Narciso Rodriguez fan. His razor sharp, super spare dresses that were cut to hug the female form were some of the sexiest clothes around, certainly some of the sexiest clothes being shown on this side of the pond. There was, I would guess, a two year period where I really grew to love his aesthetic and the way he dressed women. Sex on legs is actually a pretty apt way of describing it, though it never veered into Versace/Cavalli/D&G levels of skin and sin. But, as with all good things, he had to change things up to keep people interested. In the years since he has played with volume, movement, shape and color, and while there have been times when I've liked the results overall they never really whipped me into a tizzy.

But for Spring Summer 2011 he sent out a collection that, while not quite the same as the good old days, certainly shared some similarities. Back was his familiar long, lean silhouette that ended somewhere between the knee and the ankle, though this time around, with many of his dresses rendered in soft, fluid fabrics, it was as if all the internal structure was removed from his signature sheaths leaving a languid fabric shell that barely grazed the body. God only knows why but pieces like a long white satin t-shirt dress with a scooped neck or a slip made of contrasting panels of gray silk held up by spaghetti straps and slit up the leg just looked damn sexy. Granted I'm not an authority on what makes a woman sexy, but even still I'd stop and look if the right woman walked by wearing one of those dresses.

While I realize that the length and shape of the majority of these skirts are extremely uncompromising, they're the kind of clothes that make me wish more women could be flattered by them because it's such a beautiful way to look. I feel like I say this a lot, but I really, really hope that this collection signals a change in direction for Narciso. Plain as they are these clothes are a welcome return to what made me fall in love with his collection to begin with.

all images from style.com

Love to love you, baby...

Marc Jacobs

One can always rely on Marc Jacobs to provide a solid jolt of electricity when fashion week is off to a slow start. It's not that the collections shown so far have been bad necessarily, it's just that most of them have been lacking a point of view. I guess it's not really a surprise that Marc's should stand out; it's just about as different from everything else that's been shown this week as it could possibly be. Everyone else is showing tons of white and barely-there pastels, Marc goes all out with rich jewel and spice tones. Everyone else does sharp, streamlined silhouettes, Marc does volume. And while I wouldn't go so far as to call the collection maximal, compared to the recent movement towards minimalism fashion has been experiencing there was a sense of frivolity and fun on Marc's runway that I just don't think you can achieve when you're stripping clothing down to their most basic form. I don't think this collection is such a departure from the beautifully restrained collection Jacobs showed last season. Yes this is louder and far more extroverted, but just like last season the focus here is primarily on the clothes. There's nothing conceptual about it, no message to decode, no figuring out what is and isn't meant for retail. Really the only difference, except for the surface stuff like color, shape and fabrication, is the mood. In that way this collection is last season's polar opposite. Whereas fall was sedate, soulful and romantic spring is sexy, vibrant and very, very glam.

While I was watching the live feed I kept thinking of "The Beautiful Fall", author Alicia Drake's non-fiction account of Karl Lagerfeld's and Yves Saint Laurent's individual but parallel rises to fame, a large part of which took place in Paris during the early 70s. In the book there is quite a cast of supporting characters, including model Donna Jordan who was something of a muse to both Lagerfeld and illustrator Antonio Lopez, and whose look must have inspired this collection to some degree. I also see bits of Donna Summer, Loulou de la Falaise, Pat Cleavland, Bianca Jagger and Jodie Foster's character in "Taxi Driver", not to mention vintage Saint Laurent and Chloe designed by Lagerfeld himself. Those are just the references I myself can spot, I'm sure I'm missing some. It's no surprise that the clothes are unmistakably retro when you can see style icons of the decade so clearly in the show, but that doesn't really bother me. Maybe it's because this particular look that calls to mind the transitional period between the early 70s bohemian and late 70s disco eras isn't something that's been big on the fashion landscape recently. There have been hints of it in stores with items like high-waisted flared denim and printed maxi dresses, but it hasn't been a main theme in fashion of late. Even though a lot of the clothes are fairly literal interpretations of the past I can still see a great deal of them appealing to women of today. Of course the styling, from the frizzed out Bourdin hair and vampy makeup to the flower and feather chokers and those fantastically kitschy parasol hats, really help make the look as fabulous as can be, but I accept the fact that those things probably won't catch on with the public. All in all this was a wonderful shot of energy in what's been a fairly lifeless New York season so far.

all images from style.com

Video: Haider Ackermann Spring Summer 2010

I confess, even though I have become a devoted fan of Ackermann's I have never once seen his clothes in motion, and actually that's kind of a mild tragedy. The man's designs are incredibly fluid as well as multi-dimensional, so not being able to see them move is like not being able to see Monet's water lillies in color. You can't really appreciate it. But this season I (and all his other groupies for that matter) have gotten lucky, because a full video of his mesmerizing spring show was published and let me just say that it doesn't disappoint. The designer and his team clearly know how to create a mood, and in a way I think creating real atmosphere for a fashion show is probably more difficult that creating a full on spectacle, because you're relying on a feeling to do the work that theatrics would otherwise do for you. In that way the presentation almost, almost reminds me of Tom Ford's old Gucci shows; spare, straightforward and hypnotic. The dim lighting pierced only by a spotlight at the beginning is pitch perfect for Ackermann's glam/gloom aesthetic, and even the slow, melancholic pace or moody, minimal soundtrack (things that would normally grate on my nerves) don't deter from the beauty of the show or from the clothes themselves. And I have to say, the image of Olga Sherer gliding down the runway with that haunting piano in the background, her smokey gown quivering while she moves is literally killing me. To. Die. For.

But don't take my word for it...

video from JalouTV.com

Video: Givenchy Fall Winter 2009/1010

So ever since I first saw the Givenchy collection for F/W 09 back in March when it was shown I've been dying to see the video. A big reason for that is because Riccardo Tisci tends to put a lot of detail in the backs of his garments, and unfortunately the "one-way runway", as I always call it, doesn't allow for many photos of the back view. Speaking of back views, in my review of the show I mentioned how I was dying to see the back of the white draped halter neck gown with feathered shoulders, and it totally didn't disappoint. I mean, I had a feeling that it would be backless, but still.....

Givenchy Fall Winter 2009/2010 -

I've got to say, in the month or so since this was shown and now having seen it in motion, I really do think this is my favorite Givenchy Ready to Wear collection that Tisci has ever done. It's well made, it's glamorous, it's a little hard edged and a little romantic too. But best of all, it's crammed full of gorgeous, wearable clothes, and that's not something that can be said about a whole lot of collections.

Video: Prada Fall Winter 2009/2010

In the weeks since the Prada collection was shown during Milan Fashion Week, I've gone from liking it but wishing the ideas had been taken further to liking it for what it is. Who knows why, but for some reason some collections, particularly those from Miuccia, require a little bit of time to digest. Whether it's a case of simply becoming more accustomed to what you've seen or eventually "getting" it I can't say for sure, my guess is it's something different for everyone. But I will say this, seeing the video of a collection can make all the difference because so many things are completely lost in still photography. Even though it was visible in photos that Miuccia chose to send the models out into a closed space surrounded by bleechers and scaffolding instead of a runway, getting to see it from multiple angles made it seem much more powerful. It was almost as if the models were being displayed to a crowd of on-lookers at some sort of bloodsport event, like they were the unwitting animal or criminal thrown into the ring . It could be Thunderdome, it could be some gladiatorial arena, hell, it could be some down and dirty dog-fighting venue in the Bronx. Once you have those sort of images in your head, the tweed skirt suits take on a whole new spirit. The music, too, is pretty great. And of course, having multiple camera angles lets you see all of the details that the reviewers always talk about but never show up in the photos, like the skirts and coats slit up the sides to reveal the leg. I love that detail, and I pray to God that at least some of the pieces make it into boutiques with that slit intact.

I still hate the waders, though.

video from TVModa

Video: Prada Spring Summer 2009...

So after seeing the collection in motion I've got to say, I still love it. Maybe even a little bit more now that I've seen the looks from different angles. The one concern I had about this collection was the fabrics. In photos the fabrics looked very crisp, the type of fabrics that are great for creating volume or tailoring but don't move very nicely. For the most part though the fabrics don't look overly crunchy (with the exception of the brief white section towards the end. You might as well just wear paper). I'm looking forward to seeing it in the stores come winter and feeling the fabrics for myself. I was surprised by the shoes though. For all that we heard about how problematic they were (fair enough, they took down 2 separate models and made some others noticably nervous), there were a fair amount of girls who managed to work them pretty well.

As for the show itself, the music is fantastic, it definitely created a mood. It has a real slinky, sexy, sweaty Southern blues joint feel to it. Cathy Horyn was dead on when she pinpointed a Blanch DuBois vibe in the show. My only complaint is the staging. I don't mind the stripped back concrete and wood set at all, but the overly complex movement of the runway is a bit grating to watch.

thanks to JadoreHauteCouture for the video

Video: Balenciaga Spring Summer 2009...

So, the sound quality is a little effed up, for reasons unknown on the Balenciaga website, but still, the visual is pretty amazing. This is definitely one of the most brilliant shows I've ever seen, up there with practically everything that Galliano and McQueen did back in the 90's. I definitely emphasize the word show here, however. Granted, it would hardly have the same effect if a bunch of LBD's and Oscar gowns were parading down the catwalk instead of the cyber suits and reflective dresses, but after seeing this video I think I've figured out why this collection didn't slam me in the gut as I had hoped. The clothes just aren't the most exciting factor.

Is it just me, or are the flashing lights a bit like Space Mountain at Disney World?