Carolina Herrera ... spring 2019

Let’s see ... for his freshman outing at the house of Herrera, Wes Gordon has decided to throw away her clientele as if it was out with the dirty dishwater! The brand has been around for over 30 years and yes it has had quite a few permutations but it has really been building itself back to a status brand much in the way  Oscar de la Renta has evolved over the years and now we have this!

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What’s to say, save for a few pieces there is nothing here that rings of Herrera and her slick soigné personage let alone the customer she has been building. Whatever this is, and it ain’t much, other than a hodgepodge of  a little present day Valentino some old Oscar styles, some Diane Freis inspired pieces and some wedding cake dresses….. There is an archive … there is enough to build a look based on any part of that archive but instead it might as well just be renamed Wes Gordon or Clothes for the Taste Deprived!

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Someone needs to explain to me what or why these designers take these jobs with established brands and then rather than build on it they completely throw it all away so that they can put their imprimatur on the brand. Alas and now you see what happens when you toss out that dishwater for so a supposed fresh look.

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 As if …………………yawning… I did however love the boots

Prabal Gurung et al. spring 2019

This is a collection that is emblematic of what is happening on Seventh Avenue. Apparently many designers have decided it is a wise move to grow their businesses by making a segue into menswear………………..wrong!

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The men’s market is equally at sea and as saturated as the women’s if not even more so stuck for newness. Most of these designers will probably never produce the menswear but oh the Instagarmmers! The influencers? The selfies? The swag! All for likes which I have yet to see what that translates to.

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My assessment of this particular collection … well it was colorful! I needn’t go further; you already know the rest of the story

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Why do I next envision all stores will only have leased shop in shops and no more specific men’s and women’s departments just stores full of clothes … sort of all like all gender restrooms!

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Dries & Yohji Spring 2019 men's

This is more editorial/commentary than review but this needs to be recognized for so many reasons which only those who truly grasp fashion will understand and that is THIS IS IN PRAISE OF DESIGN! Designers who design without the pressures of conglomerates and empires backing them looking for the next big cash in ... They are the independents in every sense of the word.

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Both men have been designing for decades and both have, if nothing else, given birth to a cult like following that waits every season to add to their collection of each designer. This is not about trend, what’s in, what’s out and it certainly isn’t about designing for the moment. These cohesive collections are products of evolutionary brands that have been retained their integrity, their DNA, their vocabulary and their point of view since the start.

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Unquestionably, each of the collections is an acquired taste and yet season after season they can be referred to as “designers’ designers”... They are committed to their spirit and point of view. These are not collections that morph to the moment but instead interpret and massage each brand’s ”voice” when it comes to the business of fashion. 

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Sometimes it is not about what I think so much as how I see a designer’s oeuvre as a whole. I tip my hat to these men for staying the course of time and having a developed a core of retailers and clients who think they walk on water. KUDOS to these and others who have not forsaken their ethics to resort to the lowest form of fashion which these days is slapping a logo on something and thinking that’s fashion!

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