Burberry Prorsum Catwalk Fashion Show ss2010

Well Done Iris van Herpen

Dutch designer Iris van Herpen took her ss 2010 collection to London and created a serious buzz. The ten creations of ‘Radiation Invasion’ were all made by hand and luxury departments store Harrods announced an exhibition of her work. Vogue, Dazed & Confused and Vanity Fair were all speechless. Some even said it was the most beautiful show of all London Fashion Week. We can only say: we regret we were not there and we are very very proud of Iris.  You go girl!

All pictures by Michael Zoeter

Ralph Lauren Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

The Great Recession we’re all living through got Ralph Lauren thinking about the American power to deal with problems. He was inspired by the character of the worker, the farmer, the cowboy, the pioneer women of the prairies.  Models in newsboy caps wore faded and torn oversized jeans with blue work shirts, patchwork overalls, and nightshirts in  stripes, or sweet flowerprint dresses with white ankle socks and  heels. It was cinematic, like most of Lauren’s collections. And it goes without saying that his vision is a romanticized one.

Proenza Schouler Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

They  wanted something young and fresh, so the guys from Proenza Schouler looked to surfing and skating, the things they grew up on. They took the notion of track jackets wrapped around waists and built those elements right into tank dresses and shirtdresses, and they teamed a pair of color-blocked track pants with a great tailored jacket for a sporty-chic effect. It’s the sort of nonchalant look a lot of designers are looking for,  and these guys nailed it perfectly.  For evening, the silhouette was short, short, short. A few of the cocktail numbers featured the bra-cup bodies the duo has made their signature, mixed with tiers of micro ruffles. Other dresses floated away from the body.  The models wore wedge-heel woven sandals as colorful as the clothes.

Michael Kors Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

Michael Kors was thinking about architectural shapes, and sent out a sleek collection that seemed an ode to the city in springtime.  The strong yet rounded shoulders of his jackets and vests put the power in power suit. Overall  he was more interested in sleeveless shift dresses, a favorite of his  client Michelle Obama. They came in silver crinkle lamé, crushed techno taffeta, draped jersey, and soft leather. Kors created surface interest elsewhere with zipper accents that zigzagged around the torso or with bold cutouts that exposed a flash of rib on a cocktail dress.

G-Star Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

G Star took over the Hammerstein Ballroom again this season, pulling off an extraordinairy and well-choreographed fashionshow on an elaborately constructed runway flanked by celebrities (Lindsay Lohan, Taylor Momsen, Jared Leto, et al.). Models in all white denim emerged from behind scrims to plot their zigzagging, overlapping course through the theater—an army of tough, monochrome urbanites. As always, G-Star is experimenting with the ways in which denim can be worn. A long white tuxedo jumpsuit with revealing slits cut up each side, had a trompe-l’oeil bolero in the brand’s signature fabric attached at the shoulders. Teeny-tiny denim bikini shorts and fitted and flared blazers in a classic dark wash.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

The Marc by Marc Jacobs line he presented for Spring  was one of his liveliest in a while. Maybe it’s because Marc Jacobs borrowed some of the details from his own recent oeuvre. To start with, the models all wore bunny bows in their hair, like Madonna’s Vuitton getup at the Met Ball, but in a smaller version. Then there were the jackets and coats with the still-directional forties-by-way-of-the-eighties  shoulders. Fall’s neons reappeared as well. But not everything was taken from Jacobs’ previous collections. The African-inspired prints he used for easy, belted day dresses played into New York’s  tribal trend. And Jacobs also showed a lot of jumpsuits—the cutest in sporty blue. How daring.

Rodarte Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

The Rodarte-girls have created their own world. An imaginary world that’s ferocious rather than precious, not to mention very influential. And with its gothic character, it’s particularly in tune with the moment.
This collection, which married primitivism to futurism, was one of Rodarte’s most fully realized. The silhouettes were familiar, the  construction of the garments represented the apotheosis of the techniques—in knitwear, printing, draping —that the Mulleavy-sisters have been refining season after season. They aged, painted, burned, shredded, sandpapered, and otherwise destroyed all of the materials—including grungy scraps of plaid, plastic, cheesecloth, wool cobweb, crystals, macramé, leather, and more—until they bore only traces of what they had been originally.
The idea that someone could “be scarred and still beautiful” was the collection’s leitmotif. The designers made up their own story about a woman burned alive and  who is transformed into a California condor. Forced to survive in a war-torn landscape, she pieces together her attire from rags that only serve to expose her wounds.

Madonna at Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show SS10

Life is a theater. And so is fashion. Look at the front row at Marc Jacobs, with Madonna, Juergen Teller and Rachel Zoe amongst others. But that was not the message at Marc Jacobs, he is  tired of seeing young girls wearing only black.  They don’t express their individual style, he thinks. And that’s what Jacobs want to change next season. If last season was a trip back in time to the eighties, his new collection is a trip to the theater, the ballet, the opera.  The references, as usual, came at fast speed: touches of Zandra Rhodes, a nod to Rei Kawakubo and the all-Americanisms like sportswear.  The show opened with a conventional raincoat belted above the waist. Later, Jacobs teamed trim military jackets with long, full skirts. There were also lamé dresses, lace openwork coats and suits in white and black sequins and sparkly, leg-baring eveningwear.

Tony Cohen Catwalk Fashion Show

Amsterdam based designer Tony Cohen showed his signature flowing, asymmetric dresses and tunics. Colors shifted from silvery white to greys, blacks and bolder colors like green and red. Graphic black&white animal-like and smokey prints added some excitement.

« Previous Page — Next Page »