The 2 designers started in the same place and that was at the
altar. Bother were initially known for bridal gowns which eventually morphed to
red carpet which eventually morphed into cocktail hour. This is where it all
gets sort of blurred as both are superb dressmakers each knows their way around
a yard of lace or chiffon but this is also where they hit that fork in the
road.
From what can be seen of Monique LHuillier’s collection, it
is safe to say that if “comfort” is her M.O. then she might have overshot the
mark here. Again, do not suppose or assume that the collection is unappealing
as that is far from the truth but we need to take into account the poor styling
and some poor silhouette choices here. While the satin flat is very tasteful,
it surely misses the mark with lace gowns, dresses and puddling pants. On the
flip side there are fabulously sexy asymmetrical mules and flats that are a 21st
century of what Armani did oh so many years ago. Back to dresses, there is loose sexy and
there is loose matronly and Ms. LHuillier hit both ends of the spectrum, but
why was there such a shortage of her beautiful, georgettes, chiffons and
jerseys?
Reem Acra has been honing her skills for the past few
seasons and surely she has figured out how to design great gowns and cocktail
dresses. My question is why on earth do you show a collection on a model who is
about 2 steps away from rehab or who forgot to brush her hair that day. Then of
course, there is that odd booty which made no sense with the clothes. She has
steered the collection to sexy and it may have been even more so if there
wasn’t such a huge amount of black lace involved. To her credit, she employed a
fabulous color palette and for the most part there are some truly beautiful
pieces and like Ms. LHuillier, she hit both ends of the spectrum when it came
to chic and not so much.
