Diane von Furstenberg Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

Borrowing from and interpreting menswear seems a theme in the fall-season in New York. But, as a trend watcher earlier this year told us, the men’s jacket is the new dress for the coming five years.

Diane von Furstenberg always wanted to live a man’s life in a woman’s body, at least that’s what she confessed in her show-notes. So it was no surprise men’s suits played a main part in the collection. She cropped the pants, mixed the gray felted wool with chiffon rosettes and a corduroy jacket with a ruffled minidress.

It was the old game of playing soft against hard. Luckily there were also a lot of dresses to choose from, from simple lbd’s to tunic dresses.

DKNY Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

For her winter collection Donna Karan dressed her models like college girls. Not your average ones, but well-dressed college girls from the sixties, complete with side-swept ponytail and mini skirts.

The great thing about the collection was the cohesiveness of it. Color-blocked outfits and autumn hues could be seen throughout the whole show. And Donna Karan had picked all the right colors to combine together.

Looking at the clothes we could only imagine how nice it would be to wear them. The woollen sweaters looked ultra-soft, the woollen coats seemed nice and warm and the pleated trousers appeared super comfy. Besides none of the clothes were too tight or revealed to much skin.

The layering looked just lovely and some sequins added a hint of glamor to a few outfits.

So, we fully embrace Donna Karan’s new collection, yet we have three remarks to make:

1. All models should have worn leggings or panties underneath their mini-skirts
2. The boyfriend blazer from the first look wasn’t very flattering
3. Those woollen hats…..

Tony Cohen Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

At the Salon in New York Dutch designer Tony Cohen showed he’s a true artist when it comes to making women look beautiful. He also proved he belongs at the New York Fashion Week as one of the few foreign fashion labels.

The models he sent out on the runway all looked very sophisticated and mysterious at the same time. Their hair and make-up and the dark shades (black, grey and Burdury red) they wore created that look. The use of luxurious silk, cashmere and wool added to that feeling.

Cohen’s well-known signature aspects – draping and asymmetry – again were the highlight of the collection. Yet Tony Cohen also introduced a third success item: hand crafted embroideries. He designed embroidered gloves, belts, shoulders and tops decorated with sequins. They made the models look even more elegant and will probably be the aspect of this show we remember the best.

A look from this collection we won’t soon forget either was a short black dress with extremely wide transparent draped sleeves. It really stood out and looked astonishing beautiful. Plus: many women would be able to wear it. And this brings us to the success aspect of the collection: every piece of it was wearable. And since many brands are experimenting with crazy shapes and fabrics we were happy to see some well-made, wearable fashion.

Y-3 by Yamamoto Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

On the most romantic day of the year, Valentine’s day, Yohji Yamamoto showed us a very dark side of love.

It all began so well with models handing out red roses to all people sitting front row. Yet after that it turned dark as the Prisoner of Love theme took over.

On his designs Yamamoto had written text like ’23 Years in prison – 20 = Y3′ and ‘Marriage – Love = Run’. Combined with Paul Simon’s track ’50 ways to leave your lover’ it all made up for a dejected vision of love.

Still, the dark side of love seemed to work for Yamamoto. His unexpected proportions, layering and mix and matching never looked this good. We liked his long coats, loose pants, asymmetric skirts and loose woolly capes. And through his use of black and gray the designer managed to add some refreshing bright red, orange, yellow and blue.

Lots of black and white stripes represented the Prisoner of Love theme and on some shoes, bags, hoodies and belts they stood for Adidas.

It appeared that after a miserable year in which Yamamoto almost went bankrupt the designer was able to show more of himself in the Y-3 collection for Adidas.

The collection appealed to us. Though it didn’t necessarily need the masks, bandit scarfs and the fight at the end in which Yamamoto punched a male model down and got punched by a female model himself.

Jason Wu Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2010

Everybody talked about Jason Wu’s inspiration, photographer Irving Penn, but you better ignore that. The designer just wanted to do something different than the princess-like clothes he’s famous for thanks to Michele Obama. So Wu took a good look at menswear – that’s where the personal style of Penn comes along – and morphed influences into pretty womenswear with a mannish touch. He presented short sleeved jackets, oversized cashmere coats,  mohair sweaters and fold-over pants. The overall look had an appealing, relaxed sensibility. Grey, black, white and blue were the main colors with splashes of mustard, orange, yellow, golden and green.

In the end Wu just couldn’t resist to design a few real princess-dresses, just for the fun of it. I’m sure a few of those will return sooner or later at the White House or some red-carpet event.

Remembering McQueen #2

Anne Christensen, Fashion Director NYT: “Walking into whatever venue McQueen staged his show in, there was always a sense of excitement. His shows were always about beautiful clothes with incredible tailoring and details, but also about the thrill of astonishing his audience. (Source: The Moment-blog)

Remembering McQueen #1

John Galliano: “McQueen was daring, original, exciting. He shook up the establishment with his creativity and understood what it takes to be a great British ambassador for fashion. I admired him very much. He was a fashion revolutionary that, like me, made the journey from [Central] Saint Martins to Paris where he put his own unique mark on the industry. He will not be forgotten.” (Source: WWD)

Ado Les Scents by Hyun Yeu Amsterdan Fashion Week fw2010

Fashion designer Hyun Yeu presented his second menswear collection for fw2010. He named it Rain, while the clothes in this collection were meant to be worn (with a smile) on a rainy day.

The main character in the collection was a coat. We saw a fur coat, trench coats and some shiny silver and blue coats. A cashmere pea coat was so popular that couturier Frans Molenaar already bought it right after the show.

Hyun Yeu also showed some suits in orange black and some long woolly sweaters. We spotted them already the menswear collections in Milan and Paris, but Hyun Yeu presented some old fashion long Johns as well. They were worn with short tight jackets (with only one button) and blouses.

When we asked Hyun Yeu which item was his favorite he said: ‘All the outfits are my babies. I cannot pick one favorite, that’s like choosing between your children. I love them all.’

Besides the trench coat, we loved the pleated silk wool pants in his collection. They fit perfectly and were very well executed.
Actually they look too good to wear on a rainy day, if you ask us.

Supertrash Amsterdam Fashion Week fw2010

“A new era has begun in which power is back where it belongs, women finally will take over authority. SuperTrash tells this story with her new winter collection, specially created by Power women for Power women! Who can we honor better to celebrate this than the most famous queen of our history that ruled over a whole empire: Miss Cleopatra.” This was according to their pressrelease.

And it was a strong woman indeed that walked the catwalk at the Supertrash-show. And she couldn’t care less what others would think of her ultra-tight, short dresses, high heels, glitzy leggings and comfy cardigans or leather jackets. Colors moved form black to brown, green and off white. Silver studs, golden tinkles and long zippers made it look more tough, while big flower-prints added a touch of femininity.

Linda Valkeman Amsterdam Fashion Week fw2010

The winter collection of Linda Valkeman had some handmade materials mixed with futuristic shapes. We saw patchwork clothes with frayed ends and large visible seams. The models walked the runway in a slow pace wearing clog-like shoes. Linda Valkeman used diverse colors like faded blue and green.

Linda Valkeman (25) is a graduate of School of Arts in Utrecht and followed the master-program at the Fashion Institute Arnhem. At her website she tells more about herself in a short, telegram-like way. She is a night-reveller, a huge fan of Maison Margiela, born blond, lives in structured chaos, is inventive, fashionated by timelessness and searching for a clash. And she likes  vintage, the 20-ties, new york, simplicity and deadlines. Well, enough things a good designer needs to get somewhere.

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