Spring 09. the "A"s.

It takes a long time to go through fashion shows on the internet after Fashion Week in NYC. I have only just made it through the A's. I will give you the highlights according to me. It should save you time and frustration, not having to hit the "next" arrow over and over and over and ov...

So let's start with a newbie. I am not so far familiar with the work of Amanda Wakeley. But I found her things to be pretty, wearable, and clean looking. She should stay away from swim, though. But almost everything else was lovely and she used a color I love that my mum and I call Monkey Vomit Green. It's like an olive drab. And everything she showed made sense, which is a huge must for me. I have a real problem with designers that have a show that makes it look like they sketched the first three looks after watching a Tarrantino film and then the next following a gypsy wedding and the last bunch while visiting an Aunt in Winnimucka. I like it when someone has a cohesive plan to their show and knows what they want and goes for it.

I could recant all of these comments in the case of the Antoni and Alison show. I think they got high and watched Dirty Dancing. So they knew what they wanted and had a cohesive theme and boy howdy they went for it. But in this case that's unfortunate. The stills show unhappy, nearly embarrassed girls in ugly hawaiian catastrophes holding fruit and ukeleles on a yellow stage decorated with a left over drop from the local community production of South Pacific. I am sure this was all kitschy and intentional. And that's even worse.

I also hope to never see a show by Armand Basi ever again. If you like dressing like a Goth/Punk 80's pop Genie, he's your guy.

Anna Sui. I have a soft spot for her. I always have. Even for a while there when she seemed to have lost her way, when she thought that boho was never coming back and she had better succumb or lose her business. I love those years for her because as soon as she saw the light at the end of the repression tunnel she got out her pen and drew up the best stuff. Those boots she's been showing lately are fierce. This season she has some similar boots again and also the cutest ankle ruffle shoes on the planet. I heart them in white. It wasn't all perfection though. She lost her way a few times from the rocker indian theme and tried an outright spanish bullfighter bolero look with a lace stacked hat and all. Ugh! And the snoods were spread waaaaay too liberally around. I thought they worked on two girls with the most 30's inspired looks and no where else. She had in my opinion the BEST models and the BEST hair and make-up hands down, though. So even on the looks that seemed too contrived I found I didn't care so much having the pretty faces to look at instead. This is why she's genius. She didn't forget that's the whole point of the model. Her shows are blissful.

Then there are design houses like Abaete that I don't at all enjoy. And I know they have a following, but I am no part of it. Some people really like severity, or Alexandra Kotur wouldn't have clothes to wear. I kid. Sorta. But I think stark really is for a limited audience. Not many women want to look like a cubist painting. And if they do it's a mood they soon get over. Like Proenza Schuler. It seems like a fun idea once and then you wear it and wonder why you just feel...off. But never do in Temperley. Because at the end of the day most of us just really want to look like pretty girls. I think it's why Rachel Zoe resonates with women and her girls do, too. Fashion has been stuck for too long without the breezy sexiness of the LA influence. And it is needed. New York is the fashion capital of the world but it's not the breezy/fun capitol. And it shows in what it bleeds out of it's designers a lot of the time.

Bless the girls that bring the fashion sunshine. And now off to the B's...