La Parisienne

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

The Fashion Spot (Pslocke)

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

February 28, 2013 PARIS By Maya Singer Well, that was a lot to look at. There was such a super-abundance of colors, prints, materials, embellishments, and themes at today's Manish Arora show, you sort of owed your eyes a break when it finished. How pleasing it would be, you thought, just to stare into the infinite blankness of a freshly painted white wall for a little while…At any rate, Arora does himself no favors by throwing so many ideas on the runway; the profusion makes it exceedingly difficult to extract key propositions, or standout looks. There were at least three collections jammed together here: one emphasizing splashy digital prints, another that hewed to the very Indian colors of pink and yellow and featured vaguely Deco black crystal embroidery, and then a natty group in textural navy and black that Arora had decorated with various kinds of jewel-like embellishment. In addition to that, there were a few ideas, distinct from the rest, that he seemed a bit less invested in, like the navy and green Lurex pieces or the velvet dresses heaving with chain. The textural black and navy looks formed the collection within this collection that should have been the basis of the entire show. A little black dress with sculpted hips, which Arora had dappled with varied gold sequins that looked like they had spilled out of a junk drawer, was particularly fresh; it would have been nice to see him elaborate on that idea a bit more. But the trim skirts and tops with multicolor stones were nearly as fine and felt just as distinctive. You wouldn't mistake those pieces for the work of any other designer. There were some strong looks elsewhere in the collection as well, but none of them came quite so fully formed. Arora has a lot to say, but this season the message kept getting lost in the mix. Source: style.com

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

The Fashion Spot (prettypouf)

March 1, 2013 PARIS By Nicole Phelps Designers An Vandevorst and Filip Arickx partnered with filmmaker Dirk Braeckman to create the evocative six-minute video that played at the beginning of their show. In it, the choreographer Lisbeth Gruwez channeled some sort of wild creature, or at least a possessed woman, writhing on the cement floor of a warehouse and struggling down a ladder, her face completely obscured by the long bangs of an enormous wig. The models wore the same hairpieces when they stepped off the tableau vivant that was exposed when the video scrim dropped. According to Vandevorst, the clothes themselves told a different story than the film, one based on the novel The Time in Between by María Dueñas, of a couturiere turned spy in 1930s Spain and Morocco. That's a whole lot of background for a show with just 16 looks. If appearances suggested that the duo had spent too much time and energy on this season's origin story and not enough on what really matters, in the end the fashion didn't disappoint. With its dark palette, abundance of paisleys, and concentration of floor-scraping dresses and skirts, the clothes had a nice sense of drama. It was a mood aided and abetted by a pair of military jackets that featured large, slightly askew patch pockets, and fastened on the side as if they'd been pulled on in a hurry. The jackets pointed up the designers' tailoring skills, as did a wrap coat in green and navy paisley cinched by a wide leather belt. This was a vivid outing from the A.F. Vandevorst team. Source: style.com

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

The Fashion Spot (Psylocke)

February 27, 2013 PARIS By Tim Blanks Christophe Lemaire says he thinks of his clothes in context, so the venue for his shows is important. Today's was an old printing works, and its perfectly proportioned theatricality made an apt backdrop for a presentation whose subtle drama had something of the stage about it. Lemaire has distilled his fashion formula for both men and women to seven key elements: overcoat, blouson, suit, pants, sweater, boots, belt. If that sounds like death to free creative rein, the designer managed to produce, within those strictly defined limits, a collection that was filled with character. Last season was so intimate that Lemaire felt like taking Fall outdoors. Outerwear—oversize, mannish coats, some with a strong military caste—was the spine of the presentation. The rest of the clothes, a few incongruous printed pieces aside, took their cue from the coats. Lean, high-waisted pants, strong-shouldered jackets, and Mao-ish combos defined the reductive essence of Lemaire's proposition. The soundtrack—it evoked an Anna Karenina-like meeting on a train station platform, with Françoise Hardy's smoky, lovelorn vocal accompaniment—drenched the whole thing in thwarted romance. And as always there were the subtly decorative accessories—the tiny immaculate leather bags steam-molded by Florentine artisans—to suggest the rich inner life of Lemaire's women. Source: style.com

The Fashion Spot (Marc10)

The Fashion Spot (Marc10)

The Fashion Spot (Marc10)

The Fashion Spot (Marc10)