RESORT COLLECTIONS 2013
ALBERTA FERRETTI - DONNA KARANThe Resort Collections for next year have just finished their showings all over the four fashion capitols - how long will it be before we have four proper Fashion weeks for the Resort and Pre-Fall Collections just like for the RTW Collections in Spring and Autumn ? The deciding factor, of course, is exactly how much running round the Press has to do - if most of these collections are pretty small and are presented as a photo-shoot with just a Press Release, then they will stay as they are for the time being - the minute more designers show a full-scale fashion runway show, and it becomes untenable to attend every show, then they'll get organised !!
Anyway for the moment, just look how many of these are simple photo-shoots, instead of runway shows...many beautiful dresses presented this time, with a slightly bigger emphasis on red carpet dressing, it seems to me anyway !! Here is the first of three posts with my selections for the red carpet:
ALBERTA FERRETTIBeautiful dresses of billowing silk, in brilliant shades of turquoise blue, mocha and purple - tie-dye effects, tiers of lace, crochet trims and giant-sized bead embellishments all made for a lovely red carpet selection over at Alberta Ferretti's collection - as Style.com's reviewer pointed out, she dressed quite a few stars at Cannes recently, and now she is going all out to capitalise on that success, because she knows that any red carpet exposure is one of the best adverts for your brand around !!
I really liked the full length dresses here - they're all very adaptable - perfect for a posh summer wedding or a dressy garden party, or even a film festival, and yet casual enough for a beach party...
BADGLEY MISCHKAApparently, the design duo, Mark Badgley and James Mischka, have moved their home up to Long Island's North Shore, and therefore their Resort Collection reflected the excitement over the new film version of '
The Great Gatsby' - a collection for Daisy Buchanan then?
Well, I couldn't see it myself, but I have to admit that I
could see the star of said film, Carey Mulligan, wearing quite a few of the cocktail dresses, and maybe some of the full length dresses too, on the ensuing red carpets of Hollywood over the next year !!
There was plenty to like here, especially the first two beautiful white and gold cocktail dresses with embroidery all down the front - these were my particular bets for Carey to wear...not to mention a few other stars too !!
Several beautiful black evening and cocktail dresses to lust over of course - what's the betting we'll see some of these before the year's out ? Black is still the fall-back colour for many stars, as it's believed to be universally flattering, although that's not always the case as it can make some people look drained !!
Beautiful embroidered details on these red dresses above, particularly over the shoulders and round the neckline - and the next two below were very eye-catching, for very different reasons !! I love, love,
love the gorgeous teal-blue flower-print in the kaftan-like dress on the right - there's nothing that says '
Look at me' better than an oversize flower !!
CARLOS MIELEI really love Carlos Miele's work - in general, he produces some of the best evening wear around every season, but for some reason, he isn't that widely worn on the red carpet, and I can't fathom why !! This season, for his Resort Collection he created some higher quality dresses that are being released under a new atelier brand which should gain him some A-lister attention, I should think.
Here are my own favourites from his Resort 2013 Collection, including some gorgeous blue dresses in Charmeuse silk, a finely crinkle-pleated chiffon-like textured fabric, which resembles the overlapping wings of a bird in close-up - these were in shades of rich teal-blue and darker navy...
There were also various cocktail dresses and evening gowns with intricate beading in the Art Deco style, which is something I always love, and is very popular with the red carpet stars of Hollywood...and finally, the gorgeous gold sunray pleated gown with intricate folds and layers was ravishing !!
CAROLINA HERRERAThis was a much lighter collection for Carolina Herrera than her last one for Autumn 2012 - more playful prints involving wiggly stripes, colour blocks, brush-daubs of colours in a more or less stripy arrangement, black and white dots in positive and negative versions used together, a red or black lace print on cream silk gazar, and a pair of bunnies cavorting around together too...and all in much brighter colours, as is appropriate for holiday wear !!
The entire collection will appeal to more people this time around I think...and there will be more where these came from now that her atelier has expanded into a much bigger space this season.
CHRISTIAN DIOREveryone will be very interested to see the Christian Dior Resort 2013 Collection as it's the final collection designed by interim designer Bill Gaytten before Raf Simons takes over with his first Couture Collection in July, and I for one will be sorry to see him go - he understands this brand inside and out, and his designs have been reflecting that for the last few seasons perfectly !! So why wasn't he given the top job at Dior, instead of Raf Simons, when he has been working for them for the last decade or so under John Galliano ?
Well, the truth is that sometimes, the powers that be don't necessarily
want someone who understands the brand to the point where they are designing the same sort of thing season after season - maybe they wanted a fresh approach to the whole Dior look and this was a fine opportunity to bring in some new blood !!
So what happens now to Bill ? He will still be designing for the John Galliano label, but to be fair, I kind of expect him to branch out and set his own label up, which is what any other self-respecting designer in this position would do - however, he has expressed the acute lack of desire to run his own business, and I, of all people can understand that !!
If he agrees to continue designing for the Galliano brand then, shouldn't that be renamed '
Gaytten' to give him the credit he deserves ?
The Resort Collection was a refined reworking of the many classic Dior looks, with many references to the original
New Look that Dior himself was responsible for back in the late 40s. Nipped-in waists and exaggerated peplums over full mid-calf length skirts, tall elegant column dresses and flirty little short cocktail dresses with fitted bodices and full above-the-knee-length skirts - this collection was a fine swan-song for Bill, and should be featured on many red carpets to come !!
DONNA KARANOh
my God - this collection from Donna Karan was simply to die for !! I LOVED all of it - very 80s in styling, it featured both on-the-knee full and pencil-slim skirts, wide-legged pleated trousers and graceful portrait-neckline jackets with wide draped collars, and evening gowns that were all supremely elegant, and everything was beautifully thought out and executed...see what you all think :-
First a set of dove-grey, charcoal grey, steel blue, white and pale peach separates:-
A whole mini-collection of black and white designs - all amazingly elegant...
Lo9ads of shocking pink and black too...
This is probably the first time that I've ever really fallen for a Donna Karan Collection, but she did really well with this little lot, especially the subtle colour palette and the beautiful cutting !!
My next two posts looking at the Resort Collections will continue after my annual hat report from Royal Ascot, which has been happening this past week over here in the UK, so keep watching !!
piratesorka - [+1]
One odd note. I know designers hire models carefully but I have to say I was quite put off of the Herrera collection because of the use of those same two girls. Very odd looking, not attractive in the least and it really made me want to scroll through that collection as quick as possible.Made me wonder what Herrera was thinking.