love-sence

PARIS, March 11, 2009

By Nicole Phelps

After a few seasons of playing catch the trend, Collette Dinnigan returned to her strengths for Fall, and wouldn't you know it? The trends have caught up with her. Slipdresses have been big news at Paris' important collections, which means Dinnigan's practiced versions should prove alluring to retailers and customers shopping for the look for less. The collection was mostly in black, but it didn't feel dark or brooding. A silver beaded tank dress with metallic lace ruffling at the neckline looked like a good time. And for something more dramatic but just as youthful, there was an Edwardian white lace blouse tucked into a strapless black lace gown with crinoline skirts. Dinnigan usually emerges for her bow arm in arm with a couple of models, but this time, in a new smaller venue, she walked out alone—she must've known she'd got it right.

 

PARIS, March 11, 2009

By Sarah Mower

Chloé has been struggling to get its mojo back since Phoebe Philo departed, which is rather a long time ago now. After several swift turns of the revolving door in the design studio, Hannah MacGibbon is now at the desk, and after a somewhat rushed and skimpy debut last season, she's showing signs of getting a grip. What came out for Fall was a soft version of the early eighties, all big blanket coats, high-waisted fluid pants, wrapped belts, and, for evening, a much-needed dose of the easy glamour Chloé has been missing.

MacGibbon said she'd found her bearings by looking at illustrations by Antonio Lopez. For day, she passed through khaki, beige, and loden coatings, pleated pants, and suede shorts (she's a girl who loves them), supplying enough realistic pieces to give buyers something to go on. But it was the eveningwear that took off. Her dark green velvet pants cuffed with crystal and the slouchy black velvet overalls hit a nice semi-casual note for girls who have the confidence to walk into a party in flats (albeit pretty special ones, with bows and sparkle attached). As MacGibbon notched up the formality with a one-shouldered black velvet jumpsuit with a drapey wide-hip, narrow-ankle silhouette bound with a satin cummerbund, she was hitting a spot that evoked something of Saint Laurent. There were probably too many drifty, semi-sheer dresses, but generally, this show put Chloé back on a firmer footing, especially in the footwear department. A pair of frill-cuffed, dark green suede, thigh-high pirate boots just have it in them to cause a Chloé It-object sensation, just like the old days.

 

PARIS, March 12, 2009

By Sarah Mower

Roland Mouret might be fixed in many people's minds as the designer of supereffective figure-hugging cocktail dresses, but he's canny enough to foresee he'll need another string to his bow now that future Champagne expenditure is likely to be just slightly more on the meager side. With this collection, he trained his thoughts far more on day clothes calibrated for women whose primary focus is keeping employed, rather than pleasing (or snaring) a man.

Thankfully, this was hardly "careerwear." Mouret had gone away and developed knitwear for the first time, factoring in his observation of how the young professional women around him really dress. Sleek legs, tops, and jackets were his answer—and that lithe silhouette came across, with the luxury amplified, in gilded dégradé crocodile-embossed jersey dresses and skinny leggings. Mouret also had plenty of short, zippered jackets and pleat-front, narrow-ankle pants, covering "separates" before getting too deeply into evening. He'd concentrated especially on developing what he calls the "TTD," a drapey multitasking wardrobe tool that can be used as a tunic, top, or dress. It appeared layered under short jackets and over pants.

The low-frequency erotic charge distinctive of Mouret's look was fully present, though. The touches on his signature dresses—like the back zippers and the inside-out seaming (where the surplus seam allowance forms external, wavy demi-frill, which shivers when the wearer walks)—were now displaced provocatively to the left of the spine, so that the eye was forced downward to mull over where these ended, at the top of one buttock. He included evening dresses—one in bottle green with long sleeves and a thigh slit looked new for Mouret—but the overall impression was that this was a carefully muted outing, using plenty of almost no-color shades. If at times the pace smacked too much of the "selling collection," there was more than enough here to reinforce Mouret's reputation as someone who works hard to find creative functional fashion solutions that speak to needs rather than mere froth.