Off Target

When I whine about fashion being disappointing and conciously not promoting ideas that move humanity forward, I am talking about dresses like this.  This is Hussein Chalayan for Vionnet.  I love both this designer and this fashion house.  Chalayan normally has ideas that are exciting and push bounderies and expand what we think about fashion.  Yet, this dress is "same old" with a teenager with an ombre target on her crotch.  In his statement about the line, that's supposed to represent a spiral staircase.  No matter.  Target on a teen's sexuality or a spiral staircase to her lady bits, it reduces her to what is between her legs.  The dress doesn't let your eye focus on the model herself for something interesting about the dress.  It focuses you on her crotch.  

The over-sexualization of teenage girls and women does nothing for the wearer of the dress or the society she lives in.  It brings us back to accepting girls as objects of sexual fantasy.  This is not ok.  I demand something more than a dress that tells those around me that my most important feature is to invite them to consider me for their sexual pleasure. 

We need to do better.  Sexual fantasies about children should not be sales ploys or high-fashion.  Fashion, you disappoint.

photo from style.com

Inspired by Shoson Prints--Time to BE Spring!!!!!

I'm so sick of winter.  The cold, in particular.  I hate the cold, I hate the boring colors, I strongly dislike winter.  I'm so tired of being trapped inside!  I've found myself looking at Japanese Woodblocks and their beautiful images since a trip to a museum the other day and they make me look forward to spring like no other.  One of my favorites is this one by Shoson of cherry blossoms and birds, the ultimate image of spring.  I want everything to look like this right now!

Whenever I look at the Spring 2011 shows, I feel so annoyed.  Almost everything is black and white!  What's going on?!  Where's the color and celebration of being able to leave the house and wear something pretty without being swaddled in layers and layers of black coat?  Luckily, Dries van Noten had a few prints, and they remind me so much of Japanese woodblock prints.  The yellow is so nice, so warm!

The back of this dress is just delicious!!  I love it!  I want it both on a dress and a blouse!  The open back goes just low enough to be completely sexy and interesting but high enough to be able to find a bra to wear under it.  Dries van Noten is one of the few designers who is consistently unafraid of prints and this season, I'm so happy to see it.  I can just imagine wearing this on an early May day, out with friends.

This Spring 2011 Hanii Y dress just makes me sigh with relief!  Its not black or beige or white!  It looks like so much fun and thoroughly reminds me of the Shoson print.  Its got the same colors and captures that same spirit of warmth and beauty.  I love the shape, it isn't frumpy, and it looks like something that would be great to wear out on a Saturday when running errands.

I know I can always count on Tsumori Chisato for something colorful and happy!  This Spring 2011 get-up just looks so "spring-y"!  I love it!  All of the color and print just makes me smile.  The pink is that same pink in the Shoson print and just looks like candy.  What really makes this outfit are the shoes.  That little pop of yellow is the perfect finishing touch--like a warm vanilla sky sunset.

I'm so done with winter.  I want to wear a skirt and ballet flats and not regret doing so.  I want color and print and beauty.  I wish the world always looked like a Shoson print!

Runway pictures from Style and Shoson print from Ronin Gallery

Garden Party with Erdem!

Okay, so its no surprise.  I'm currently obsessed with antique-y looking floral prints on dresses.  I always have been.  Not everyone makes them look like something worth wearing, however.  One of the few who makes an awesome floral-print dress consistently beautiful is Erdem.

Erdem is a London-based design house led by Erdem Moralioglu.  He's of Turkish/English descent from Montreal, Canada and worked for a year under Diane von Furstenberg.  In 2005 he moved to London and started his own line.  Since then he won the British Vogue Fashion Award and is recognized as one of the top up-and-coming designers.  And, boy is he good!

 

One of the things he does so well is use print.  That's so rare!  His prints remind me of re-edited antique floral prints.  The yellow with the red and pink reminds me of this woodblock print by Kono Bairei from 1880.  To me, his dresses from Spring Summer 2011 look like he took prints like this, cut them up and made a collage and then painted over them with watercolors.  Lovely!

Another thing I like so much is the fact that the prints are strategically place to take your eye to the most flattering parts of the dress.  This dress is cut to slim the wearer and then the print leads the eye to the smallest part of the waist, the bust and then the hem to see the model's legs.  Its like a giant sign to "ignore my hips and admire the fact that I have a lovely shape!"  I love it!

Hands down, my favorite dress is the one.  It totally reminds me of antique Japanese woodblock prints of flowers, but in a modern, wearable way.  Love it!  Plus, you can wear this dress on your fattest day and never look like you've had too many cupcakes.  Its classic, its comfortable and its friggin pretty!  I don't know if you've ever played with these dresses in person, but the silk is to die for.  Erdem doesn't scrimp when it comes to materials.  Not at all.  Sure, his stuff is expensive but you get what you pay for!  In this case, its silk worth wearing for the rest of your life.  

Pictures from Erdem, woodblock print from A Private Collection

You may also be interested in my prior post about Peter Som

All Wrapped Up

There was some talk a season or two ago that the Wrap Dress is out.  DvF, the fairy godmother of the Wrap even basically stopped making them.  Some blogs were calling them "frumpy" and that they made women look like sad middle-aged housewives.

Happy to see that the WRAP IS BACK!!  DvF even put out a whole slew of them this season!  They come in almost every style and print imaginable!  What makes the wrap so flattering on most women is that it gives a very defined waist, creating a top, middle and bottom of the figure.  

The dresses pictured is a personal favorite.  They style name is "Jenny" in "vintage patch" print.  The print seems to be a collage of previous DvF prints!  The dress is cut beautifully and the print is unquestionably DvF.  So perfect for spring!

Picture from saks.com