Reviews

The Great Beauty. Danielle Frankel AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

The topic of bridal-wear might be a dull for some (like me!), but the moment I’ve discovered Danielle Frankel, I instantly changed my mind. Danielle Hirsch, the designer, made her mark as a bridal designer, yet her autumn-winter 2021 collection is a hybrid between a wedding gowns line-up and fabulous eveningwear. Many of her clients gravitate toward the idea of remixed bridal looks, choosing slinky slip dresses and silk separates. Moreover, Hirsch noticed that women are rewearing their pared-back, yet elegant wedding looks beyond the altar. So, the designer’s transition to ready-to-wear is a natural one, even though the body-skimming white dresses with Hirsch’s signature flourishes certainly look like they’re made for getting married in. Also in that vein is a standout column dress with sheer sleeves and exaggerated shoulders created with layered lace flowers. One of the best “ready-to-wear” pieces is a royal blue dress with a pleated waist that gives the body a severe and beautiful whittled effect. The neckline opens up to reveal a slight décolletage, and further flows into sculpted, voluminous shoulders. Hirsch will always have her bridal clients, but she definitely feels the ground in less ceremonial (and equally entrance-making) garments.

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Lockdown-Era Avant-garde. Puppets & Puppets AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

It’s great to see some of the most exciting New York-based labels gradually returning with their new collections. How about some lockdown-era avant-garde? There was a time not so long ago when Carly Mark’s Puppets & Puppets might have seemed more like an art project than a fashion brand. Mark is, after all, one of New York’s most well-known mixed-media artists. But over the course of this pandemic year, she has recalibrated her fashion work, turning it into a true business ( new production manager was brought on and factories in Italy were contracted, as were knitting artisans in Bolivia and Peru). Mark is charting a course in which Puppets & Puppets is just as much a clothing company as a creative expression. Her historically minded bustles, panniers, and corsetry remain as the label’s signature, only now there is boning interfaced into the garments to make them easier to put on and wear. Denim in a medium wash straight-leg style is new, and there is an expansive knitwear program that brings together artists in New York and South America over pomegranate sweaters, logo intarsias, and azure maxi-dresses. In the brand’s look book, cast by Anita Bitton, there’s Jane Moseley posing in a crinoline skirt made of sunny florals, and the stylist Patti Wilson, a longtime supporter of the label, taking a turn in card-print suiting and a patchwork dress. That’s the ultimate goal of Mark’s expansion project: to ensure that her community and collaborators can continue to be a part of her world.

“Live” collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Structured Softness. Gauchere AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Marie-Christine Statz filmed her Gauchere autumn-winter 2021 collection in the Centre Pompidou. The bold, colourful postmodernist architecture of the Parisian art mecca fits Gauchere’s style really well. Essentially, the collection is about the way contemporary women dress in life. Statz is an exacting tailor, and her vision of modern female dress hinged on a dropped and deflated shoulder, which gave models a friendly prowess. Navy suits and brushed mohair turtlenecks followed the same line – slightly aggressive, but easy. Statz’s models passed each other in the Pompidou’s corridors and on escalators but did not acknowledge one another. “They are crossing but not interacting,” she said over a video chat with Vogue. “They are locked in and isolated in their own worlds.” However, their clothing has a freeing effect. Even with such a no-fuss attitude, Statz found ways to inject warmth. She cut a swinging tank dress in a spongy, nubbly knit and color-blocked shades of azure and grass within a single spritely look. On their feet, models wore sneakers as part of a collaboration with Li-Ning or Gauchere’s first foray into its own footwear: pillowy slides and pumps that are stuffed to have a cushy, exaggerated effect. “Structure, but with a softness to it,” Statz called it.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Spice Up. Maryam Nassir Zadeh AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

When I think of a contemporary New York girl, I see her dressed in Maryam Nassir Zadeh. And even during lockdown, she wears Zadeh’s “oddly elegant“, always authentic and never forced designs. The designer hasn’t created a runway collection since spring 2020, and the extended pause gave her the space to reset, refocus, and design closer to her own tastes, without the distractions and noise of a show. Like her recent collections, autumn-winter 2021 felt simpler and stripped back, but also sexier. The heat mostly came from a handful of miniskirts (like one in metallic leather, shown with a matching blazer) and backless, thigh-grazing party dresses. As she often does, Zadeh predicted the miniskirt comeback early on. The designer foresees her clients craving clothes that feel bolder, happier and lighter. Zadeh isn’t a moodboard-type designer, but she did make one surprise reference: Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City – the early seasons, filmed at the turn of the 2000s. Who didn’t rewatch all the episodes in the lazy quarantine days? You can glimpse SATC’s protagonist in the asymmetrical party dresses, vibrant accessories and the plucky flower pin adorning a slip. Zadeh’s interest was less in the character or TV show and more in the balance of no-frills minimalism and “spice ups,” as she put it. In our stay-home-style moment, it was easy to picture Carrie (and many of Zadeh’s customers) in the opening look: a cobalt knit set paired not with sneakers, but block-heel mules. Definitely an idea for Carrie’s 2021 wardrobe in And Just Like That…!

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.

Past, Present, Future. Louis Vuitton AW21

| Design & Culture by Ed

Nicolas Ghesquière continues to induldge in his favourite theme: a journey through time. Past, present, future. He made Louis Vuitton‘s autumn-winter 2021 runway of the Louvre’s Denon wing, his models mingling with ancient Roman, Greek, and Etruscan sculptures to the tunes of Daft Punk’s mega-hit “Around the World.” The notoriously hard-to-get duo agreed to lend the song for the show weeks ago, he said, pre-breakup. He also divined a collaboration with the Italian design atelier Fornasetti, and its famous hand-drawn faces of women from antiquity peered out from all manner of clothes and leather goods. “Since we are all in a motionless situation, we have to double our imagination of inventing an extraordinary journey,” Ghesquière told Vogue. That goes for the collection as much as the production values surrounding it. Propelled by the concept of movement, he alternated between blouson jackets and cocooning capes on the one hand and elongated torsos punctuated with skirts that bubbled around the knees on the other. Nearly all the looks were accompanied by wedge-heel boots with a slouchy, swaggering disposition. In general, I found most of the looks too clumsy, even though this collection was a showcase for the LV atelier’s savoir faire: jewel-encrusted tunics peeked from under color-blocked parkas and bombers, and otherwise simple ’60s-ish dresses in A-line or sack shapes were minutely embroidered in graphic patterns and motifs. The closing pair of gladiator dresses were canvases for Fornasetti drawings of ancient statuary. “I wanted something impactful, something that conveys hope and joy for what’s coming next, and for people to have a good time watching,” Ghesquière said. “A moment of fashion.” Well, there were better Ghesquière fashion moments in history, but this will do as the official end of digital fashion month.

Collage by Edward Kanarecki.