Storm Irene: Maria Kashleva

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Collette Dinnigan Spring 2010 RTW.

Stephanie Carta (FORD)

Fantasy is one theme of the Spring collections, and Alice in Wonderland was the muse Collette Dinnigan channeled.

Kirsty Macphail (IMG)

It took a while to get to the fun part, though: The designer opened this dress-focused show with a passage in pre-rabbit-hole black and white.

Laragh McCann (FORD)

There was a little lace, some tulle, and rhinestones galore, but no organizing theme to distinguish these frocks from those of another designer on the occasion dress floor of a department store.

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

After Alice took her notorious fall, however, things got more interesting. The boldly colored, painterly floral prints of Dinnigan's ruffled and tiered dresses—the models wore them shrugging off of one shoulder—had a real personality.

Jaine Schuh (WM)

Of course, we all have to come back to terra firma sometime, but it was a bit of a disappointment to see the designer return to the safety of black and white in the long evening looks at the end.

Maria Kashleva (NATHALIE)

Ernesta Petkeviciute (NEXT)

Adina Forizs (IMG)

Alex Sandor (METROPOLITAN)

Ana Gilca (METROPOLITAN)

Stephanie Carta (FORD)

Laragh McCann (FORD)

Kirsty Macphail (IMG)

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

Jaine Schuh (WM)

Alex Sandor (METROPOLITAN)

Maria Kashleva (NATHALIE)

Ernesta Petkeviciute (NEXT)

Adina Forizs (IMG)

Ana Gilca (METROPOLITAN)

Laragh McCann (FORD)

Alex Sandor (METROPOLITAN)

Kirsty Macphail (IMG)

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

Jaine Schuh (WM)

Adina Forizs (IMG)

Maria Kashleva (NATHALIE)

Ernesta Petkeviciute (NEXT)

Ana Gilca (METROPOLITAN)

Laragh McCann (FORD)

Stephanie Carta (FORD)

Collette Dinnigan

Sunday, September 20, 2009

Badgley Mischka Spring 2010 RTW.

Kendra Spears

Mark Badgley and James Mischka channeled the tropical glamour of mid-fifties Cuba for Spring. The pair sourced their visuals by digging through old photos of friends' parents snapped during Havana's heyday. (The friends, incidentally, were in Palm Beach—the perfect locale to wear these clothes today.)

Maria Kashleva

Badgley and Mischka mostly worked a formula of clean, breezy fabrics with a well-measured dose of embellishment. By day, that would mean a lovely bell-sleeve white jersey dress, totally plain but for the vibrant coral bib necklace; and for evening, a fluttery black silk halter gown, casually belted and worn with a chunky crystal cuff.

Ali Stephens

Jewelry was important here, seen in big, sparkly costume tangles of chains and found objects. It's far from a fresh idea, but it brought a welcome off-kilter twist to the designers' straightforward elegance.

Arlenis Sosa

As their notes explained, this old-school island set also wore Parisian couture, and there was certainly a touch of Rue Cambon in all the black and white, and evidence of atelier hours in beadwork and the hundreds of tiny white petals embroidered on a ball skirt.

Heloise Guerin

The first two terrific daywear looks in salt-and-pepper silk tweed were also a nod to the same. The graphic palette far outshone the shots of color in lipstick red and highlighter pink: The latter is a hue that's become a clichéd way to add runway excitement, but that's a minor quibble for a mostly solid collection.