Givenchy resort 2022

This collection now seals the deal when it comes to so called fashion designed in Paris. Kering and LVMH have tossed the DNA of all their heritage brands out the window and instead opted for season after season of generically unseasonal collections appealing to an audience who would hardly be able to afford them even if they were diffusion collections.

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Matthew Williams decimated and disrespected the name and legacy Givenchy even more than that it girl designer who preceded him. Paris is no longer the fashion capital of the world... it is the brand capital.... swooping up every name their target audiences have no clue about and supposedly creating collections that suit the times and fulfill the fashion hunger of this audience.

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There is a problem with this thinking... firstly these designers feel free to knock off or just plain copy anything that is out there and secondly the back-office pyramid game of manufacturing and moving the money from one pocket to another has created the notion that clothes are very low on the list as cash cows for these brands. Case in point is Givenchy! Who are they selling these too and why wants to spend $1000s to look like this?  Save a maybe a half dozen pieces have some minor validity but no one needs more generic clothes.... they can go to the back of their closets or the GAP or H&M for that and for a fraction of the price.

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Quelle tristesse! It’s like spitting on your mother’s grave!

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PS... think of the irony... a train wreck in a train yard!

Giambattista Valli resort 2022

How refreshing it is to see Valli understand and render that life is not back what it was a year ago and how women will look at dressing in a different way now, hence so much of the bells and whistles that he has taken too in the past few years are gone and what is left is a collection of pared down clothes that are easily understand able, pretty, easy to wear and pretty much ageless.

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What flummoxed me is his referencing on Chanel in so many cases or maybe he is angling for Virginie’s pedestal and the fact is that Valli could so easily assume that position. He is a designer who designs, he is more than capable when it comes to embroideries and decoration which is you notice are at a minimum in this collection.

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I’d call this Resort grouping well thought out, intelligently rendered and most appealing as it is extremely feminine. Lots of dresses and suitings but again I’m not sure why he took the Chanel route for the jackets but all in all this is a collection built for current times and not created as if the last year never happened.

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I tip my hat to “Giamba” for having the wherewithal and the brains to take such a stark turn from what he has been doing of late.

Norma Kamali resort 2022

“You have to feel casual [in] dressy and you have to feel special in casual, and that mix is where the magic is” ... and that is precisely what she does!

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There is no question that Kamali is an acquired taste and that she has an almost cult like following that allows her to keep going and doing what she does exactly how she wants to.

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It’s not fashion that sets the world on fire but it is fashion as seen by the designer’s eye and it’s just so her.  She has never strayed from her point of view and consistently shows collections that are almost incestuous in that you can mix and match from any season any way you want and its pure Kamali.

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Crazy about the gold, crazy about the sheer insets, navy, camo and crazy about these clothes that don’t require an instruction manual... put it together as you see and possibly its way she does and maybe it’s not.

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It’s hard to believe that some of the DNA is almost 50 years old and yet it still looks fresh and timely... if you are a believer that age is but a number then you might also say these are classics and for women of any age.

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Without a Grecian arena and 100 models Norma Kamali makes more of a fashion statement than that heritage maison that is no longer about design but just another brand with the emperor’s new clothes. I tip my hat to Norma Kamali who has weathered ever storm possible that has transpired in almost half of a century and the best part is that the clothes never look forced, maybe a little theatrical...   but never truly far from its home base.

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P.S. Norma understands how to inject athleticism into the clothes without showing in a sports arena or showing homeboy clothes!

Dior resort 2022

I’m embarrassed to admit that I quite literally nodded off somewhere around midway through the unbelievably extravagant of some of the most generic, mediocre, mind numbing and meaningless clothes, complete with clumsy draping that I’ve seen in one place at one time other than perchance in a Lerner Shops in 1975.

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The millions that this must have cost should have been used to buy covid vaccinations for 3^rd world countries as this could not have been more of a waste of money and time than anything in memory. The poorly produced film (BY DRONES) seems to distract you from the signature sheerness, school crossing guard vests, the leather harnesses and the tsunami of sneakered models walking as if in a funeral procession or off to a human sacrifice... it’s inconceivable that this is out in the world as Dior and yet the meatball believes these are clothes designed for now. I ask in what galaxy or which planet.

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Apparently, someone told the genius that Dior also makes jewelry and sunglasses since after I’m not sure how many seasons we never saw a piece on the runway; no sense talking about the foot wear or the gym bags or the sudden interruption of street wear to mix with the supposed Grecian theme....  and yet not one crisscross laced Greek sandal seen.... but we have breastplates and warriors printed on dresses... rationales don’t cut it!

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Aside from the wildly repetitive pieces, the clumsy draping of no particular beauty ... khaki, black, white and royal blue/metallic gold homeboy clothes do not a resort collection make. It is shameful that Monsieur Arnault has permitted this untalented clueless woman turn the brand that made him a megawatt star of the fashion business into a schlock pile ... Dior is now just a brand with no visible signature and very little credibility despite the fawners.

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Insult to injury, even the presentation was not original... think Eiffel Tower and YSL and to end the show with the Bjork’s swan’s neck dress that made her a laughing stock of fashion and is just inexcusable on every level other than that Bjork must have been a trendsetter obviously since she wore it 20 years ago.

Versace resort 2022

Ponder this if you will... if Karl Lagerfeld, Jeremy Scott, Liz Claiborne, Vivienne Westwood and Donatellamamamia took LSD and designed a collection it might look something like this. I duly note that apparently the demographic of the Versace clientele must have gotten considerably younger with a taste for cartoonish clothes and much much richer.

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There is noting subtle about it, nothing sexy about it other than blatantly purposely intended to be and clearly wants to attract the vertically challenged. In essence WTF is this shit? Even the palette is offensive and yes people want “happy” clothes but that doesn’t mean they want to be the brunt of a joke!

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So, no matter what the blah blah blah that surrounds this, I find it offensive to the heritage brand, an insult to her brother’s name and just plain fugly!

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Proenza Schouler Resort 2022

Okay, let’s start by asking what season is this... I know what it’s supposed to be but I’m confused due to what I see! It is incomprehensible to me that these two joy boys turn out collection after collection that mean nothing, say nothing and certainly don’t bring anything to the fashion table.

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I have yet to figure out who their customer is other than one who likes to buy clothes just because of a label...oh yes, the label whores! Someone needs to tell me who, what kind of woman, what aged woman is running by any means possible of purchase to own these clothes.

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I have said time and time again, every season they shop for a new client and this season is no different except that the it reminds of that Vivaldi hit...The Four Seasons.

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When anyone can rationally explain this all to me, please let me know as it’s been puzzling me far too long.

Gabriella Hearst resort 2022

“couture level embellishments” ...   does that make up for deadly, bedraggled clothes that are shapeless, literally hanging off a body and pretty much   boring not matter what they are made of or how they are embellished these clothes are just plain sad...

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At a time when people truly want to be happy, these get ups do nothing but make you shake your head and wonder who in the hell wants to look like this no matter what the pundits and the designer are smoking saying and think you’re   believing!

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CPO shirts, prison uniforms, Carnaby row suits and a plethora of just plain ugly clothes .... I can’t imagine any woman leaping out of her chair and running to the nearest Saks or Neiman’s or phone to own a single piece of this.  For some reason these clothes remind me of death and mourning and certainly not resort, but the hands down winner is the puff sleeve pumpkin dress.

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She can have her hype; the clothes speak for themselves and they don’t have much to say.

Chloé resort 2022

Gee, Gabriella ...   you created a bouillabaisse of your eponymous collection, the Row, a riot of rick rack, Ulla Johnson with here prairie wear and then 2 slick side tie suits that come out of nowhere. This is just one more example of “name that brand” as there is nothing identifiable here that says Chloé ... thank God.

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Chloé once known as an it brand morphed into a suburban housewife it brand and again morphed into an it handbag and in its present iteration morphed into that of a souk with one extraordinarily unhappy “full” size model and who could blame her.

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There must be one designer out there who studies the roots of a heritage brand and extrapolate that information and creates a collection that resembles what the brand once stood for and what made it the success it was!

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NAME THAT ... BRAND RESORT 2022

One has always been known for exquisitely fabrications with an artisanal boho mood. One was known for its clean wearable slick urbane classics and lastly the one that was known for its incomparable knitwear.

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You mission, should you decide to accept it and decide which pieces belong to which brand and then explain why each  of these distinctive and well-respected brands turn out generic clothes that serve no other purpose than body covering.

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This is what it’s come to ... piles and piles of pedestrian, useless and absurd clothes that scream look at me or just keep walking nothing to see here ... it’s up to you to decide!

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