Face Beauty Girl

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, July 12, 2009

Alexis Mabille Fall 2009 Couture.

Hanna Rundlof (MARILYN)

Alexis Mabille is the young contender at Paris couture—a new talent with a romantic touch, a French sensibility, plenty of skill at his fingertips, and a refreshing way of thinking about merging old ways with new.

Bojana Reljic (IMG)

For Fall, he said he started by imagining a girl waking from a languorous night of dreams tangled in her bedclothes.

Kelli Lumi (MAJOR)

Well, she comes from a very nice home, this one.

Skye Stracke (VIVA)

Apparently, she sleeps on exquisite white Swiss lace-edged linen pillowcases, shell-pink silken sheets, and luxuriously hand-worked cotton coverlets, which were variously cut into everything from fragile dresses to scallop-edged peacoats to drapey tuxedos to simple togas with a beautiful flow about them.

Alina Ilie (IMG)

If that sounds like high-flown concept, Mabille's knack is that he's able to take the precious materials of couture fabrics—weightless organdy, guipure, and elaborate broderie anglaise—and treat them with a degree of reality that defuses theoretical grandeur.

Jourdana Phillips (SLIDES)

"I wanted it to look loose and casual-fitting, so she can wear things with the attitude of pulling on a T-shirt," he said. "I tried to play with simple graphic shapes, so everything floats. She's not such a girly-girl."

Jules Mordovets (IMG)

The collection also demonstrates an ambitious range—Mabille can turn out structured cocktail bustier dresses for ingenues as well as smart tailoring and chic evening suits for sophisticates.

Siri Crafoord (VIVA)

The show could've benefited from a tighter edit, but that's forgivable from a designer who's still stretching his wings. Credit to him for developing a signature, and for the pragmatic focus that underpins his enterprise.

Samantha Rayner (NATHALIE)

"It's not just a question of having fun. I have couture customers, but I'm also offering ready-to-wear options alongside these things," he said. "I want to build a business."

Daria Strokous (IMG)

He's certainly come a long way from being pigeonholed as the guy who does cute things with bows and bow ties. Now the bows are the basis of a large collection of bags, jewelry, and accessories—and are still evident in the satin sashes and shoe decorations sprinkled through the runway collection. But to judge from the growing accomplishment of this show, Mabille's set to go a lot further still.