There’s no better cure for the back to school blues than the foretaste of next summer’s catwalk offerings. Starting with New York, this fashion month will give us the chance to hold on to those insta-bikini and cocktail by the beach moments just a little longer.
To begin with, Prabal Gurung’s Spring collection with its cat-eye sunglasses, pastel satin sweetheart dresses, nipped waists, and mid-calf length pencil skirts and trousers, was clearly inspired by 1950s Divas like Lana Turner or Marilyn Monroe but beautifully ‘revisited’. Gurung gave his models a contemporary touch by using PVC for swagger raincoats, skirts and tops, and keeping some elements of the quintessentially American ‘baseball jacket’ to modernise his tweed suits. Gurung’s signature abstract ‘Oriental’ floral motifs were present throughout the collection in the form of typographic prints in varying ‘font sizes’. Overall, a delicious mixture of decorative tradition, graphic design, Pop art, and movie glamour!
FIT graduate and Paris-trained designer Michelle Smith a.k.a Milly, who launched her brand in 2001 after interning at Hermès and Dior, has become increasingly successful and today counts 170 outlets worldwide. Milly’s Spring 2014 collection also tended towards the 1950s with similar high-waisted calf-length pencil skirts, thick waistbands and straps, comfortable pullovers with rolled up sleeves, 1950s wide short-sleeved shirts and pockets borrowed from the male wardrobe, vintage brassieres and slips, and a few sexy, body-hugging straight floral outfits for easy-going sporty style amateurs.
Young Chinese designer and Central St. Martins graduate Deng Hao showed a spectacular collection of Haute Couture-inspired designs like Belle Epoque frilled ball gowns, princess ‘crinolines’ and short soirée dresses with trains. The high-fashion statement was subverted, however, through a pixelated chromatic twist, according to a trend embraced by many other young London designers: a taste for the ‘staged’, the ethnic ‘mix and match’, the found object and the digital collage aesthetic.
New York-based designer Mara Hoffman, best known for her incredible prints and stunning swimwear, re-mixed Art Deco and ethnic motifs in acid tones for exotic outfits and dresses: Egyptian or Mexican geometry and African prints for ethereal summer dresses, chic resort wear and an ultra fun attitude!
Classic American designer Michael Kors, well-known for his trendy bags and small leather goods, presented a vintage resort and leisure wear collection in his typical earthly tones: 1950s bathing suits, high-waisted everything, Safari style short suits, impeccably cut trenches, bi-coloured loafers and leather belts: in short, Kors’ usual Long Island chic for select college girls on yacht escapades!
Last but not least, Australian sisters Nicky and Simone Zimmermann who are internationally known for their swimsuits, made their New York debut this season with light frilly silk summer frocks, cut-outs, floral prints and white and black stripes for all-bow summer cute look!
Louise Kissa