Brand Assassination

Courrèges, Nina Ricci, Sonia Rykiel, Paco Rabanne, Mugler, Emanuel Ungaro & Kenzo

 

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The names above are some of the greatest heritage brands to ever come out of Paris and yet look at the atrocities here and see if you can possibly match any of this garbage to any of these once majestic and revered brands. 

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The impetus for this piece is the “murderer” at Courrèges and then the others are just accomplices to the crimes. Do you blame the designer or do you blame the ownership?

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What's the point in perpetuating a brand that has a long and groundbreaking history and throwing it all out the window to produce generically ugly and absurd looking clothes that probably will never sell .... seems rather pointless

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Courrèges was probably the first to ever discover and espouse minimalism, Kenzo once known for his technicolor florals and happy clothes, Rabanne for his groundbreaking use of metal, Ungaro for creating clothes screamed sex, Mugler was one of the architects of fashion and the extreme, Ricci for its jolie madame/soigné and elegance and Sonia for her irreplaceable knits… can you match any of those names to any of these images? 

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It is a crime against fashion and fashion media that any of this crap is acceptable under these labels. Critics talk around the clothes since there are no clothes to speak about that anyone will want.  

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The French who are so full of their so called pride in product should be ashamed of themselves and as for the coverage that these collections that they receive... well the  least these eponymous designers deserve is the honesty that the collection that now bears their name is to be called out for what they are …. Tasteless generic crap!

Mugler resort 2017

David Koma is one of the very few designers who has successfully insinuated himself into a heritage brand without eradicating the brand’s history. The man knows how to mine an archive and knows how to massage the DNA of the brand that made its name on tailored, structured sexy pieces for power women of the 80s.

 

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Resort is clearly about the undulating hems and bands of color as well as the harsh contrast of black and white or the impact of acidic high octane colors. While Mugler might not be an uber-brand like Gucci or Saint Laurent, David Koma far outshines his colleagues with his consistency as well as his loyalty to the namesake designer. Respect!!

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Armani, Mugler & Lanvin Pre-fall 2016

Lanvin is officially a brand with no designer and no reason. To be blunt, it is just a freakin mess! Alber was such a breath of fresh air when he started and slowly he devolved into just another me too hype grabbing wannabe and that is terribly sad for him and brand. Always believing that where there is smoke there is fire, it has been common knowledge in fashion circles that the brand is and has been for sale but no one wants it and after a collection like this with no real designer... well I say au revoir and do not mistake that for a bientôt! C’est triste! Oui? Save for a few pieces there is not much to talk about but when one uses Rosie Assoulin as a jumping off point...pfffft … it’s  time to call it a day kids!

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.. if you dare

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.. if you dare

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.. if you dare

Now we come to Mugler by David Koma who has actually and literally reimagined the brand for the 21^st century. Hard as it is to conceive that a new designer has been loyal and cognizant of a brand's heritage but he has successfully accomplished what so few can neither do or comprehend. Whether this is a financial success is not known yet but there is an acceptance by retailers even though there is no ad budget and no excessive hype. The clothes are a lot of Mugler as in Thierry, a touch of Alaia and yes sexy and body conscious. No! These are not clothes for everyone but neither was the brand in its original incarnation and Koma has even managed to add a degree of chic. To my eye, David Koma proves and asserts and that  this is a REIMAGINED  brand and not just  a name/brand slapped on some me too collection of rags!

 

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It saddens me greatly when someone like Giorgio Armani bows or cows to popular trends and styles a collection with some bed headed models and anklets. For someone who has always been flagrantly anti-trend this is not something that befits the designer nor the brand. Yes, there is tailoring BUT no there is no chic here. In fact, there is a wee bit too much of me too in this collection which, in my opinion, will not resonate with the Armani client. Once again, just because you style it this way or adjust hems and use all sorts of trickery, the fact remains that all you do is kid yourself . This is Armani and to do what he has done degrades the brand and truly cheapens it. The only upside was that there was no runway presentation as that would have been the ultimate laughing stock.

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.. if you dare

CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO ENLARGE.. if you dare

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Mugler by David Koma .. resort 2016

It has been about a year since David Koma has taken the reins of Thierry Mugler now known as Mugler. In this short span of time, he has managed to do what so few of his peers have done or are even capable of and that is... he has created a signature, a look that actually has “brand recognition.” Don’t get me wrong here, yes, there are looks that might be confused for earlier Donatellamommamia pieces or yore but Koma pulls it all together as a collection that is Mugler.

Without dwelling on the DNA of the brand, it is evident to the trained eye, and there aren’t many these days who review, that this particular vocabulary of the Thierry era is present in a reimagined way. As said, Koma respected what was and transforms it into what is and that my friends takes talent, skills and vision.

The clothes retain that edge, not the fashion trend edge, but the edge that results from slick hard lines and great precision whether in dressmaking or tailoring. The now signature of the cut outs with some hardware detail is effective and again becoming a trademark of the collection. This trademark is what allows the clothes to be easily identifiable and has nothing to do with whether you like the collection or not. These are not generic clothes that seeming come from the “citywide communal workrooms” that apparently hatch collections in New York, Paris and Milan.

This season the clothes are more graphic with bold stripings and then there is what I call a scribble print which is apparently engineered to be body conforming. The color range goes the harshest and starkest of black and white played against the ice cream pastels that will no doubt appear again for Spring 2016. Once again the viewer is reminded that Thierry Mugler was indeed an architect of fashion as well as a designer who lived the precision of cut married to the art of fashion infused with sexiness. Koma seems to have a great deal of that esthetic and to his credit he utilizes it in the most appealing and modern way without looking dated or retro. Imagine not having a boat load of blah blah blah to make up for ugly clothes!

In short, to me, David Koma has reinvigorated the brand with a fresh look while retaining so much of the past. Koma has achieved what so many of his peers eschew in exchange for taking the easy way out and ignoring the DNA of a blue blood brand and replacing it with some half assed generic trendoidal vision of fashion and yes of course accompanied with some incoherent meandering treatise fueled by ego and faux intelligentsia yet has nothing to do with the clothes..