FASHION WEEK 2011 -NEW YORK

nyfw: julian louie

(images via style)
collage has always been an important art form in my own life, so after reacting to the immediate visual stimulus that julian louie’s s/s 2012 collection, presented at new york fashion week, gave me, i retreated into my research form, wondering why the designer (whom style says is also quite moved by the format) had never crossed my radar before.  but no matter, it’s always a pleasure, after the requisite (and okay, sometimes deserved) nods at the big kids, we get to see which quieter ones are tiptoeing around the playground.


besides drawing on the collage aspect for the spring show, wwd reports that the designer also used his own photoshopped prints from the brooklyn botanic garden, the outdoor ideas of which also descended into the footwear (platform clogs, which resembled a somewhat more fashionable garden slipper).  these helped to give the collection a slightly surrealist quality, with the blown-up and juxtapositioned images of grass and the like sitting next to colourblocked squares of fine fabrics like silk tassar and taffeta.


style suggests that some of the drop-waisted numbers rather evoked “a very awesome tennis dress,” and there was a certain sportswear quality that pervaded the short (only 15 exits) show, with at least a couple of appearances (as second from top) of the strongly-trending-for-spring anorak.  the pops of magenta, peach, burnished metallic gold and indigo, and viridian alongside those more practical athletic hues of sweatshirt gray, black, white, and beige also fell in-step with other nyfw exhibitors, but the pure artistry and intricate detail of these almost quilt-like works were uniquely mr. louie’s.

September 20, 2011   4 notes

nyfw: hexa

(images via wwd)
i’m not sure whether it’s funny or not, but leave it to opt to be transfixed by the shows, even at new york fashion week, with the least publicity.  though for the past couple of seasons (sees/s 2011 & a/w 2011), i’ve been developing a great fondness for the label hexa, i was nevertheless met with a gaping zero when searching for news results (bearing in mind that most all the exhibitors, no matter how small, get at least something) on the brand.


but that’s perhaps opt’s job, then, no?  and fortunately wwd takes it upon themselves to leave no obscure, art gallery-worthy label unturned (at least at nyfw), so we’ve got a little from them.  accordingly, the site says that designer kuho jung drew on ideas from russia’s last imperial dynasty, the house of romanov (perhaps best known for the final tsar, nicholas II, and tsarina, alexandra, and their involvement with dubious peasant rasputin, thanks to their son alexei’s hemophilia; they and their five children were later executed in the revolution of 1917), with their crest translating to a particularly important display in the runway lineup.


“It’s the perfect blend of severity and wearability,” said lucky magazine (the only other site to have made mention of the label), and indeed they were right.  interestingly, though the suggestion of a storied russian house might have suggested a lavish display, this was an almost militaristic, rigorous turn through sleek and lean minimalist creations.  in addition to the aforementioned crests (and some multicoloured military medals, some of which were quite alluring in single doses, and rather outlandish when stacked on), the main decoration was colour: wedgewood china blue and deep wine supplemented the black and white.


as to the pieces themselves, “(l)ooks included beautifully tailored jackets, slim trousers, crisp shirts and playful skirts with car-wash hems,” wrote wwd, with plenty of the modern suiting looks we’ve been missing in this youthful, blingy spring.  of course, there was some of that too, and here is where the collection began to falter: some of the particularly embellished dresses (as second from bottom; rather charming, but bordering on too much kitsch) and the fact that a lot of the looks were downright bloody short (as at top, third from top)—were these meant to be actual dresses, or were they just tops exhibited without pants for emphasis?  either way, i was lingering more on that than i should have been, brooding over the absence of bottoms.


but i wouldn’t want to unfairly suggest that the collection wasn’t good (if it didn’t quite live up to my rapturous feelings of the house’s preceding two shows); no indeed, there were plenty of smart staples, particularly in the sharp blazers with their little quirky details (a mao collar here, some swordlike fringe there, a medal or crest on another) and the lean trousers that recalled the best of the helmut lang archives.  it seemed a little like mr. jung was trying to play to both crowds this season: those sophisticated, older minimalist enthusiasts and the younger ones, looking for a fetish piece to wear to the club later.  i wish he hadn’t done so much of the latter, but fashion is a political game, after all.  and the outcome of this one was still better than most.