| Opinion | Feb. 12, 2008 | 9:23 pm |
Off-the-mark: Fashion Week’s not-so-hot looks
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Last week was New York City’s Fall Fashion Week. While it’s unlikely that most — hell, any — of these looks will be seen around campus next fall, there are still a select few that shouldn’t have even seen the light of the runway. Thankfully, though, these unfortunate looks took nothing away from the collections (Calvin! Oscar! Hervé!) that never fail to impress. So instead of waiting for some poor, misguided celebrity (ahem, Sienna) to show up wearing one of these things on the red carpet, here’s your advanced screening. Just click on the links for your viewing pleasure. And yes, we charge extra for the sarcasm.
After last fall’s toned-down collection, Anna Sui dives off the deep end into full seizure-inducing pattern and color. But the greater tragedy here is model-cum-style icon Agyness Deyn, who seems to have repeatedly gotten the short end of the ready-to-wear stick in New York. What’s a size 2 girl to do?
Benjamin Cho’s collection was one of the few without fur, but that didn’t prevent him from keeping his four-legged friends out of the show. With that reindeer hat, ringing in the holiday season a little early might be on the mind of the designer, who (fun fact) dropped out of Parsons when he was 21. Stay in school, kids.
Betsey Johnson has made a career out of designing ridiculous eyesores, and this season’s collection was no different. But couldn’t she at least try not to make this model’s hair look like what happens when Morticia Addams discovers a hair crimper?
Designer Peter Som for Bill Blass isn’t afraid of a little fur. But how many dalmatians did Cruella have to poach for this cuddly garment?
Even though Diesel has started to put the nix on the Brooklynite-scenester-gone-LA look, these dingy denim knickers still scream hipster scum. Thankfully, Diesel creator Renzo Rosso is sparing us by closing the Rush Street store for a few months for renovation.
Calvin Klein’s menswear designer Italo Zucchelli was really onto something when he showed a grey, slim-fitting nylon short a season or two ago. Then, it was like a fashionable take on bicycle shorts. Here at Nautica, it’s just Johnny Wier’s daywear.
Kate and Laura Mulleavy of Rodarte keep getting high marks for their homely clothing. Interestingly, this model got away with a good pair of stockings. Others’ had the appearance and texture of the mesh found on the underside of a piece of salmon.
It makes sense that Thom Browne set his show inside a circus ring. However, considering the other pieces of his menswear collection — including suit jumpsuits, cape-skirt combinations and argyle restraints — it seemed more like the sideshow, not the main act. As it turned out, shrunken tailoring is just the tip of the iceberg for Thom Browne.
Zac Posen has become as archetypal an American designer as Ralph Lauren. So it makes sense that for this look he pay homage to two great American lineups: the Mickey Mouse Club and the Rockettes.
New York wunderkinder Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler keep churning out hit collections, but they should be careful of any misstep. As you’ll see here, they managed to turn this perfectly lovely waif into a high fashion Sasquatch.
Putting men in dresses isn’t anything new for Fashion Week. But rarely do we see preppy New England studs playing on the idea of a shirt dress. Apparently, Perry Ellis still can’t shake that 1992 grunge collection.
Yohji Yamamoto channeled early-90s Marc Jacobs for a series of radioactive plaid suits in his Y-3 line. What makes this fluorescent suit really chic, though, are the running shoes.
Donna Karan’s been pretty stressed recently, what with PETA breaking into her house and all. Perhaps she thought that the animal rights activists would leave her alone if they thought she was actually crazy.





Ricky Pai said,
February 12, 2008 @ 10:58 pm
the industry also has some odd sense of model selection:
http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Fashion-London-Fashion-Week/ss/events/en/080601fashion/im:/080211/ids_photos_en/r3953444454.jpg/
Layla said,
March 4, 2008 @ 3:13 pm
She looks like she belongs in Star Wars as a crazy Princess Leia.