Sunday, October 15, 2006

Review on the Marc Jacobs SS07 collection-post trunk show

It's finally the right time to share my view on the Marc Jacobs collection after experiencing the clothes at the trunk show.

Marc always has great ideas, and he is not afraid of using the elements from other designers to complete his ideas. This time around, Marc wanted to present the lightness. He used fabrics such as gauze, muslin, and lightweight silk that look like candy wraps. To balance the sheer looks, he used metallic leather, metallic sequins, tweed, and cotton gabardine to form more structured looks.

There were three kinds of metallic shown on runway: a metallic shirt made of paper, metallic leather, and metallic sequins. The Japanese made clothes with durable paper many years ago, but Marc introduced the paper fabric with a metallic coating to create a worn yet shiny effect. It was priced at $300 range, and I won't be surprised if many young people fall in love with it: I tried the silver shirt on, and I saw an updated "boyfriend's shirt" look on me instantly. The dress with metallic sequins was gorgeous. Not only the sequins reflected the light with a metallic shine but created great draping looks. The beautiful dress full of sequins was priced at more than $7,000, expensive but it made sense. The metallic leather jackets, however, felt stiff and lifeless. I'd rather pay less and purchase a jacket made of synthetic fabric to get the same look.

Another group of clothes were the deconstructed pieces. There were shredded T-shirts, shredded T-shirt dresses as well as deconstructed knit wear. They reminded me Martin Margiela, Comme des Garcons' "broken bride" collection, and Cristobal Balenciaga. Marc was not afraid of using bold reference to complete his concepts, but the dress on Stam showed so much reference that I felt slightly uncomfortable.

The prices on the T-shirt dreses were not sensible at all: the printed T-shirts with the simplest construction and the most common cotton fabric were priced at around $860 each. When a nicely made tweed jacket was priced at $1,500, it looked like a problem to me.

The dresses impressed me very much. I put on several size 4 dresses (the one worn by the model but two sizes bigger on me) and yet I was amazed by the beauty of them. One dress made me feel like wrapped in a beautiful flower yet it looked so abstract and well constructed. Another dress worn by Chanel on the show was the most amazing piece to me. It was a highly "Cristobal" looking little black dress with a great deal of volume, but Marc made two poufs on it with a sash belted between the two to define the waist. The brilliant design made it a statement piece without overwhelming the girl in it. If I had the courage to shed $3,900 on it, I would definitely do so. It is going to be a LBD never goes out of style and follows me for the years to come. (I should start buying lottery tickets, seriously!)

The "Arabian nights" looking pants were interesting but they looked hard to sell. The good news is that they are being perfected, and by the time they reach the stores, you'll see the slimmed down version. I expect them to be very flattering.

(all pictures were from style.com unless noted)

Sunday, October 08, 2006

SS07, The best collections

Instead of listing the best and the worst, I figured that it might not be a bad idea to do an "Academy Award" style list:

Perfection
-they lead the trend and they satisfy our fantasies. They have the best clothes for day and for evening. They have perfect presentation with beautiful settings. They have the most consistent spirit and execution.
  • Alexander McQueen
  • Yves Saint Laurent
Runner up
-trend makers but with less "wow" effects
  • Louis Vuitton
  • Marc Jacobs
Execution
-for the consistent concept and execution
  • Yohji Yamamoto
  • Junya Watanabe
Daywear
  • Marni
  • Max Mara
  • Fendi
Special events wear
  • Balmain
Best shoes
-in a season with countless beautiful clothes, most of the designers forgot to make shoes that look nice and feel comfy. The special shoes award shows my appreciation to the designers who designed beautiful and practical shoes for us modern women.
  • Alexander McQueen
  • Chloe

Sunday, October 01, 2006

Heels and a whole new perspective

Have you ever tried doing housework in heels?

It's probably routine for you, but it's totally new experience to me. I just purchased a pair of Alexander McQueen heels I was eyeing on for a long time (that's a totally different story, and I promise to tell you later), and I decided to break them in before their debut in public due to the heel height: four and half inches with a half inch of built-in platform.

I felt nice and tall the second I put them on. Then I walked around to do my routine. Things looked different. With my 5' 8.5" new height, I saw everything in our living room from a higher perspective. The chairs were low, the shoe boxes on the top shelf were easier to reach, the further away the door knobs were, and I found the sink so low that I had to bend over very hard to wash off the facial mask on my face. Were the furniture made for migits?

I felt like living in a different life. I suddenly wondered how my husband felt everyday. The skirts falling on my knee probably looked like falling on mid calf. My hair maybe looked totally different from high above. We're preparing our daily looks from our own perspective, but what do other people see from different angles? Growing up, I adjusted my own perspective to this world gradually and I never felt any changes. Now that I am in my four and half inches of heels, the world seems different.

So if you have not tried wearing heels around the house, give it a try, and let me know how you feel. It's different, isn't it?