Layered whites, lace trim and silk fringes, and a row of black buttons intentionally left unlooped for that haphazard sexiness. Derek Lam discovers feminine silhouettes for his spring-summer 2016 collection, creating great outfit compositions, and of course clothes. Fur stoles were carried by the models in a non-chalant way while the long, medieval-esque gowns looked weightlessly on Grace Hartzel. Although I felt A LOT of references to Celine and Chloe (as usually), the collection is lovely.
Thanks to this collection, Victoria Beckham positively updated her importance in the fashion syste,. Why? It was her best NYFW outing up to date. She showed, that her clothes can be commercial and edgy at the same time. Spring-summer 2016 was simple, but bold and optimistic. Childish patterns of circles (or rather “moons”) and squares appeared in forms of suede elements and bags. The tank-tops had fantastic cut-outs, while the suede harness-vests looked pretty interesting on white t-shirts. Also, the designer paid attention to prints, which weren’t her strong side lately – it got fairly breezy when surfer prints showed up on sweatshirts and culottes. It is clearly visible, that Victoria enters her much more playful side – she puts her cocktail dresses aside and lets more over-sized, wearable clothes come into her clients’ wardrobes.
You could suspect, that after leaving the French house of Balenciaga, Alexander Wang might have changed his style. Well folks, Wang is the same Wang from 2012 – the year before he arrived at Balenciaga. Same grunge affairs. The “girl from Bronx” attitude. Hoodies thrown over leather skirts, track-suits with studded heels (see this nightmare above), slouchy pajama shirts. This highly S&M black suede dress with Harley Davidson-driver inspired fringes is too much for me. Whateva dey say, Nicki Minaj approves these maxi slip dresses – even though she has never intended to be a fashion icon (but it was her who stole the spotlight in the front row). This collection was purely about the designer’s signature aesthetic and feels like a grand recap of Wang’s all-time best-sellers. Maybe because of the fact that it is the 10th anniversary of the brand? Well. I admit I prefer this Alexander Wang rather than the one that tried to be sleek and neat in Paris. However, I need to confess once again, that I am not a slave to Alexander Wang’s fashion.
Not only Rosie Assoulin brought the sun to our lives through her collection. Altuzarra‘s spring-summer 2016 is basically a fantasy of vacations in Tuscany, with Italian wine and beautiful sunsets over the vineyards. Joseph Altuzarra always keeps the femme-fatale attitude (the unbuttoned shirt, flesh exposing skirts), but this time his woman was much more relaxed. Flawless dresses were kept in warm colours of ombre, orange and emerald-green. Intricate embellishments adorned peekaboo pencil skirts and slouchy, cotton blazers felt perfect for breezy evenings. The accessories game for Altuzarra is strong – by expanding his brand, the bags and shoes look even better and better each season – the bags with leather tassels are the instant must-haves. And the heels with espadrille finishes perfectly matched this laid-back collection.
Rosie Assoulin‘s collections are always full of joy. For her SS16, the designer took us to one of New York’s public pools, which has its murals painted by Keith Haring. The location had a lot to do with the collection – swimwear was the key, and that was visible by looking at the very first looks. Bikini tops were worn over shirts, while happy, slightly trippy stripes covered the voluminous flares. The colours were bold and nutritious – intensive red and orange made me want summer to comeback as quick as possible! Assoulin’s signatures gowns are famous among New York fashionistas for their carefree attitude – they are not all about precious embellishments and a typical, heavy couture feeling, but about an old-school, Diana Ross glamour. Ruffles, bows – and beautiful silhouettes are as usually ruling. That’s sure – Rosie truly enjoys her play with fashion!
Design & Culture by Ed 