NYFW Spring The Detritus

Collections

Michael Kors: being a fan of the designer brings me to the need of mentioning the collection for Spring 2014. Mr. Kors offers his clientele easy to understand clothes that can be chic, stylish and wearable all at once.  He operates under the awning of being … commercial and even though this has become a dirty word in the fashion business, it is what has propelled the brand and designer to stratospheric success as well great wealth.

Calvin Klein: Mr. Costa has certainly put his imprimatur on the brand and has certainly taken it far afield form tits original roots.  Yes one might say is indeed modern and pared down and then another might say it is simply unattractive and who wants to look like that... I am of the latter school.  What was once said to be an American Armani is now a second fiddle to like-minded European designers.

Rodarte: if one wants to discuss going far afield from their original roots, the sisters will win the award and surely a booby prize for what they think is now a collection.  The Spring presentation was a laughable excuse for a collection and there is no amount of spin that can qualify these rags as retail worthy...at any price.  The media should eviscerate these women for giving American fashion a bad name and not tip toe around the fact is that they have little talent to produce collections season after season.

Norma Kamali: giving credit where credit is due... Alexander Wang... look at it!!! Ms. Kamali did it first, did it better and continues to do so.  She is one of those who should be recognized for her contributions to the world of fashion and not treated as an aside or after thought because of the newbies who only use her as “inspiration!”

Having had several discussions with veterans of the fashion wars, there are a few issues that should be dealt with when presenting a runway show.  What do you think would happen if one could actually see the clothes instead of them whizzing by you at breakneck speed?  What do you think would happen if a model impersonated someone who belonged in the clothes or even looked like she was happy to be wearing them or walking a runway?  A smile might warm up the peanut gallery instead of those blank robotic expressions that make one believe that these models are only thinking... Gee! I hope I don’t fall!  Then there is the problem that not one model knows how to turn or remove a jacket or do a 360 turn and no designer demands any of the above... how sad for all concerned!

Think about that it wasn’t all that many years ago when the CFDA and a very verbal Donna Karan fought to have NYFW positioned as the locomotive for the fashion train.  Back then there were issues with budgets so when stores had completed their European buys, the domestic budgets had already taken a bite out of the NY designers; all well and good except that there were specialty stores and there were department stores and not a handful of retailers as there are today.  Another huge problem seen by NY designers is that they were always accused of copying what had already been see in Europe and had already been established as trends… in essence, NY became a me too fashion destination with few exceptions.  As far as I can see, the only thing that has happened is that NY has shown itself to be unworthy of being that locomotive due to lack of direction and the constant need to please an uneducated media in order to get their 15 forgettable minutes.  NY has become a circus of commercialism; the thing they hate about collections is embraced in their presentation venue… sadly!

In my opinion, the saying goes why fix what isn’t broken except that NYFW is broken and needs fixing!

P.S. ... what’s with the epidemic of gum chewing and all of these people with their i-phones taking images ... are the photos used as proof that you attended a show .. why do so many people need these photos??  One last thing, why does anyone think it is acceptable to wear evening clothes at 11am?