Tuesday, January 31, 2017

Joseph Abboud NYFW fall 2017 menswear

Let's make this short, sweet and to the point :
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Slick…  chic…  debonair …  sexy…  grown up…  sophisticated…  elegant…  stylish…  urbane…  natty…  ageless…  fashionable… refined…   luxurious…  insouciant … timeless…  well cast… put together… shades of grey… subtle patterning… layers… 
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Well… there’s a combination of words that I have hardly ever used all together in one review except to point out what a collection is not! … Sad but true BUT Bravo Joseph Abboud and thanks for being true to menswear for men of any age in a most tasteful way.
 

Friday, January 27, 2017

Haute Couture round-up spring 2017



Alexander Vauthier is the undisputed rock and roll provocateur of haute couture week. The clothes are... to say it simply and succinctly...  young and hot! He does what others aspire to... the collection is in your face with no pretense... it is the house’s DNA to the core… there is no repetition as seen in so many collections in terms one outfit in skeighty colors ... One exit, one way, one reaction, one HOT piece after the other... all exquisitely rendered… all pushing the envelope of what can be considered young couture! And that would include Lesage stoned waistbands on cut offs! Yeah baby!!
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Guo Pei is all about spectacle. Maybe it is fairy tales, maybe pure fantasy but it has little to do with any reality other than story telling. It seems  a pity to waste that kind of workmanship on what appears to be little more than stage costumes which surely carry the influences of so many designers who came before… case in point “the egg lady” who you might recognize from St Laurent days of glory.. Nuff said.
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Elie Saab is a beading wunderkind especially during haute couture. Here we need to really concentrate as there is such a tsunami of beadwork that the standouts are those which have the least amounts and make the maximum statement. Apparently he feels the need to show each style in multiple color ways which bloats the presentation but blurs the memory of what was shown... one might say it is overkill and works to his detriment rather than advantage. I believe him to be a wonderfully talented creative designer who designs but with shows like this he needs to redefine on how his collection is presented.
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Ulyana Sergeenko is all about who knows what and why. I guess it is good to have the dough to produce a show like this and I guess there is a client but talk about girls gone wild with tulip bra cups and crocheted ruffles to vintage Saint Laurent, she is all over the place and yet no place in particular.
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Zuhair Murad is another king of beading. This show while big on spectacle and high voltage drama and glamour could have used some efficient editing which would have exponentially increased its impact. The man has something to say about making an entrance and being noticed... it is just too bad that almost everything is shown at the same high decibel level and that the “simplest” had almost as much impact as the more in your face. There are pieces which if dialed down a notch or 2 or 3 might have been far more spectacular than the OTT versions. The pity is that there is plenty here but again a redefining and a more focused eye might have been of great benefit as presently the clothes by and large seem to be more suited for the stage rather than real life... so to speak.
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Thursday, January 26, 2017

Jean Paul Gaultier & Valentino haute couture spring 2017



What can be said of these 2 collections other than one is positively and patently ridiculously minimal made with maximum labor and the other is a designer who designs and celebrates fashion in every way. It never occurred to me that there is such a thing as monastic and funereal frocks that are pale in color and yet here we have oodles of them here.
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Valentino is a yawn inducing exercise in how to make deceptively simple boring clothes with maximum pricing for little to no reason other than ego.  A friend referred to them as burial sheaths and that sure seems to be as accurate and apt as it can get. I see these clothes as heavily influenced by peignoirs, nuns, vestal virgins and night clothes and not in a sexy way. They are if anything erotically void and bland in the extreme, maybe you can just call them benign. Couture is about grand gestures and emotionally provocative clothes but it is rarely if ever boring; it may be “been there done” that or "it's been done before” or even just plain hideous BUT it is rarely if ever BORING! Apparently this designer has opted to stay his course and allow for the easiest comparison to his former partner who sticks to the same mindset and neither move on yielding 2 brands with less than thrilling collections. Take note of the slip dresses with straps too long as if to show off a sagging bust line and that silly tubular quilted bust line. Of course we can speak of the preponderance of duster coats and the complete absence of day wear but why bother... onto the next season of ennui and monotony chez Valentino. Sadly Valentino has lost the excitement and panache it once possessed. 
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Moving right along we arrive at destination Gaultier, home of the ribald color explosion and over the top presentation that has become a benchmark for the designer. He is a designer who designs, who massages and utilizes his DNA and produces clothes that are to be worn, coveted and collected by the cognoscenti of fashion. Yes, you must look past all the brouhaha and antics of each show but if you can see past that, you find amazingly beautiful well designed feminine clothes. 
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He is a celebration of fashion and of the haute couture with his flamboyant color palette and the OTT styling but what a joy to watch. I was told many decades ago, that one must always remember that Gaultier is a tailor at heart and he reaffirms that with fabulous jackets of every possible incarnation. Season after season the Gaultier vocabulary is defty spoken and season after season it remains strong and ever expanding, you might say JPG is expansive yet focused on all that he created and has yet to create. In essence it is distinctly and consistently what haute couture is all about ... taking fashion to the extreme especially in manufacture and embellishment … JPG is a celebration and homage to haute couture in every way. 
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Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Vetements mens fall 2017



WARNING! THIS REVIEW CONTAINS PROFANE LANGUAGE AND REALISTIC OPINION!
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Who the fuck are they kidding? You can spin this any way you want …..  1000 ways to heaven and back and the end is the same ... this is a joke….right?? The fraud that is perpetrated here by presenting not even thrift shop clothes as new fashion is patently absurd. The fashion business can’t be that desperate they need to put a collection, if you can call it that,  up on a pedestal and call it anything but what it is … a pile of shit!
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If it wasn’t so pathetic it would be comical and if you buy into it then my suggestion is to consult your personal physician and seek some professional help accompanied by copious amounts of drugs!

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I AM NOT LAUGHING!