Storm Irene: Angelika Kocheva

Saturday, January 2, 2010

J. MENDEL PRE-FALL 2010.

J. MENDEL

PRE-FALL 2010 COLLECTION

"I'm really having a 'night moment,' " Gilles Mendel said of his pre-fall collection.

His core clientele—starlets readying for awards season, included—will surely be drawn to the draped gowns and elegant cocktail frocks Mendel has made his name with, this season in metallic golds and stoplight reds that almost call to mind the twinkling lights of a city after sunset.

But the designer wasn't focused solely on evening; he smartly experimented in other areas by playing with fabric combinations.

A cropped wool tuxedo jacket, for example, got a youthful twist with jersey insets, and the furs were not exactly your grandmother's variety: A mix of sable, muskrat, and raccoon jazzed up a standard winter topper, while a cropped multi-fur trimmed jacket with removable leather sleeves was about as hip a pelt as we've seen.

MODEL: ANGELIKA KOCHEVA

MODEL: DANIELA MIRZAC

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Giorgio Armani Spring 2010 RTW.

It was hard not to read between the lines at Giorgio Armani's exuberant Spring collection.

Jana Zapletalova

As reported, the designer was ill with hepatitis earlier this year, but he's on the road to recovery now, and he sent out a colorful, youthful lineup that veritably shouted, "I'm feeling just peachy."

Sara Blomqvist

The show started off predictably enough with a jacket: a sharp, narrowly cut red, blue, and white houndstooth number, worn over a deep plunge-front top, loose-fitting pants cropped above the ankles, and flat sandals.

Tonia Molyavko

Lots more jackets followed, some with origami-like pinches and folds at the upper arm (a subtle way to do the bold shoulder).

Angelika Kocheva

Others were woven together from delicate ribbon, and still more glinted with allover crystal embroidery. They were worn with that casual (not-quite-a-) sweatpant or baggy pleat-front skorts.

It was mostly after-dark where the color came in. In tune with the season, Armani kept everything above the knee, adding panels of multicolor sequins to the bodices of fuchsia and royal blue taffeta numbers and beading every square centimeter of others.

R'el Dade

That should please the party set tremendously. They'll simply trade in the flat sandals the models wore on the runway for spiked heels.

Agnese Zogla

This wasn't the classic, elegant, timeless Armani that his customers love him for; the designer was after something else here: a good bit of fun.