Pre-fall 2014 ... Andrew Gn

Having been a fan of Andrew Gn for quite some time, this collection registers seismically on the Richter scale. Mr. Gn is hardly a man who believes in minimalist fashion and yet the clothes he executes and designs are rarely overdone. In this “non-season,” Andrew Gn proves that yes there are designers who design and those who believe that every season deserves a statement of some kind.

To my eye, these clothes are just exquisitely sharp and rendered in the most flawless way. Sharp does not mean harsh or rigid, it means perfectly pressed and hemmed, every shoulder line perfection and every look is put together. The “extended” jewel tone palette is superb. The only detraction here is the model that seems abnormally long from the waist down and abnormally short form the waist up but even that cannot take away from what one sees here.

There are dresses, gowns, suits, blouses, laces, wools, brocades and embroideries of almost unequaled beauty; this is of course to say that you must first be predisposed to Mr. Gn’s vision of fashion. He is in his own way an old school designer who manages to massage his vision into the 21^st century by incorporating old school techniques. Once again, these are clothes of the “non blah blah blah” school that require no explanation and no need of esoteric inspirations ... in other words the clothes speak for themselves. A novelty at best these days!!

Of great interest here are a few blouses which are incredibly beautiful, the laces, the gowns and of course the Gn idea of perfect day clothes. He surely emphasized paisley, safariennes and embraced jackets of almost every proportion. One of the great facets of his clothes is that they never look heavy handed, no matter the weight of the fabric; he has what some would say “a very light hand.”

Personally the shorts didn’t make much sense to me but then again I am not 25 rich and fabulous enough to wear them!

Seeing is believing so here is a much edited look at Andrew Gn for pre-fall 2014….

Pre-Fall 2014 .....Christian Dior

In the reimagining process of the house of Dior Raf Simons is quickly destroying most of the brands DNA and trading it for a much more generic “common design room” type of look. Why on earth   this designer thinks he is the 21^st century incarnation of Monsieur Dior remains a mystery and how on earth LVMH is allowing this in quest of selling another handbag is far beyond my scope of comprehension.

While waiting for the remainder of the slides to appear, my research included learning that all the fabrics were developed especially for the collection and my reaction would be why bother? Just so you can further deepened your mark on the collection is just plain hubris especially when the end result is almost comically banal. The green nylon look fabrication used for that army “flight jacket” coat really doesn’t need any kind of research as the iconography is clear and the end result is amazingly good, it’s just too bad it is Dior. Actually it is far more palatable than most of collection in that it does reflect the vocabulary of the house.

Yes Raf managed to use some tailoring and yes he seemed to utilize some of the older codes of the house but why opt for those which might be confused with Cristobal Balenciaga and not Christian Dior. It is not to say that my belief is that CD was a design god but since no Kool Aid was consumed here, my emphatic belief is neither is Raf Simons. Slapping a flower on some simple Jil’esque silhouette is not exactly revelatory. The platform shoes are boring at this point and the NEW wedge will sell to all the victims but I’m guessing anything that might be construed as chic is out of the question. This last statement will include his take on the handbag which now sports photo images much like the tote many use for the supermarket.

The voluminous shapes  are somewhat boring and the leopard is at least a breath of fun but on the whole this is not exactly a collection that makes one’s heart sing with the glories of Paris Fashion or the glories of Maison Christian Dior. Quel Dommage!!!! Yes, there are some wearable pieces but yet there is nothing here that couldn’t or hasn’t been done by others. While being in that train of thought, who would have thought that Rachel Zoe’s pant lengths are suitable for this brand?

The Dior/Simons collaboration remains a mystery to me and am guessing it will remain so until all the brand recognition will be reduced to CD charms hanging off a handbag and maybe some interpretation of the new look.

Valentino .. pre-fall 2014

From the get go, the one thing that must be made abundantly clear is that I have not an iota of difficulty or criticism about neither the quality of material nor the manufacture of this collection. These factors or aspects are far above any type of criticism... even mine!

Due to the enormity of the collection, we’re going to address it from a different kind of review and that will be observations and or words that came to mind during the viewing. Hopefully this will help coalesce my feelings as well as set the tenor of the review.

Monolithic, double faced wools, crepes, wings, feathers, flight, birds sharp edges; while on the subject of feathers and in this case flying “animals” let’s talk about the  butterfly pattern which is oddly reminiscent of an old Gucci scarf pattern and the owl sweater which is a kissing cousin to the Krizia of 30 years ago.

Let’s chat of the “Prada-sizing “of the collection which personally offends my eyes and lowers my opinion of the designers i.e. those hideous brogues with delicate lace frocks or the very graphic printed furs. Maybe it is that ugly is the  new pretty but no matter the clothes would have been far better served with footwear that was more in keeping with the feeling of the clothes.

Okay, onward here, can we talk about mink trimmed cropped pants and shorts? I thought not! May we can chat about the excessive use of feathers which I am pretty sure surpassed that of Alexander McQueen’s in that historic collection. Upon further examination, here are some more descriptives for Valentino … monastic, young, odd, exquisite, matronly, laughable, clumsy, delicate, heavy handed and ethereal. Therein lies all aspects of this collection as well as all bases covered.

We need to point a finger at those 2 pieces with the clear plastic ruffle and nun’s bib … WTF were you people thinking? For me, the black and white grouping was just gorgeous and the simplicity of the red gown was just perfection. The shirtwaist dresses, while beautiful in their execution fall on matronly eyes.

With a seasonal collection and selection that is as varied as this, the retailer is afforded the opportunity to buy the collection with their own personal vision as well as the designers’ point of view. What it does for the consumer is provide endless possibilities for their own personal edit of the collection.

P.S. much to love and much to dislike intensely ... your choice!!

Pre-fall 2014 .. Balenciaga

For every yin there is a yang and so for every triumph there is a failure so in keeping with that theme for every Ralph Lauren there is a Balenciaga.

Alexander Wang started off propitiously enough and now he surely has shown his true colors as this collection bears as little visual reference to the master as possible and not even in some demented extrapolated way either. What we have here is some more blah blah blah and now we add techno babble about fabrics to the equation and it all adds up to same … disappointment!!

What we see is beautifully rendered clothes that are hardly worth the label they bear. No one can convince me that a blazer with toggle closures or a toggle coat, no matter how exquisitely made, and should carry the label Balenciaga. If anything, the brand looks suspiciously Ghesquiere-ish and if not that then, the Alexander Wang imprimatur has now unloaded itself onto the name. The end game here is over worked, over explained, over flanged, over imagined and over fabricated clothes for the contemporary customer and maybe a few editors. Good luck with that Monsieur Pinault!

Maybe the proper description would be the collection is generically gimmicky and esoteric as to fit with the modus operandi of designers who place verbiage ahead of product! Has the die now been cast?

We are once again reminded that it is the clothes that speak the loudest and not all the inspirations and intellectual imaginings or ramblings.