Fall 2013 was a bit disappointing overall. I feel bad saying that because it was clear the designers were trying really hard to impress...but sometimes that's the problem. The runways were flush with designers who were obviously trying to get attention, which can be the point at first but at the end of the day the clothes have to endure. And
not many collections were great all the way through, which is why it seemed so disappointing. I found myself pinning one maybe two looks from most designers that I had expected to love, in some cases none at all which broke my heart a little bit, but I'll get over it next season I'm sure.
As usual the different countries tended to have similar themes with some exception, but in general New York felt retro, London was quirky, Milan was...hmmm...undeniably European, and Paris was experimental. I had planned on doing the whole season in one post, but after looking over all the photos I realized that was a bit ambitious. So I broke them into 4 parts, one for each city. This is Part One:
New York
As I said New York was very Retro overall, but more than anything I noticed how much the clothes looked like costume. There are so many wonderful period shows on TV at the moment that must have had an influence on designers. Perhaps they are turning to costume designers for inspiration. Perhaps people would rather live the glamorous and dramatic lives they see on the screen?
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| 1940's @ Carolina Herrera |
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| Some 1960's @ Marc by Marc Jacobs |
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| Oscar de la Renta revisits the 1960's |
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| 1960's Mad Men looks at Kate Spade. I love these classic Leopard pants BTW |
Also there must have been free tickets to James Bond for designers because there were Bond Girls all over the runways.
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| Bond @ Badgley Mischka |
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| Classic Bond seductress at Pamela Rowland |
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| 2 Bond Girl looks of many by Kaufmanfranco |
The other major trend was Black, and not just the typical few black pieces, there were many collections that were almost totally in black.
Regardless of color here are some of my favorite looks from the New York Runways:
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| Hipster + Rock n Roll always cool @ Diesel Black Gold |
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| The styling here is key, this is a cool girl. @ 3.1 Philip Lim |
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Zac
Posen. A master when it comes to cut.
Amazing as always.
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| I'm loving the florals right now, and these Vera Wang outfits are so clever. The masculine suiting with the over sized floral then pairing with the soft gossamer fluid tops. Unexpected and refreshing. |
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Love
the detail in the seaming and the bold choice of the red stripe in the Jill
Stuart Dress.
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This
Diane Von Furstenberg dress is so kittenish and cute
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Prabal
Gurung did some amazing things with
drape and accessories.
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| Clean and Modern without being boring or pretentious. Bravo! Harder to do than it seems...Narciso Rodriguez |
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| I'm a sucker for a fitted suit. This is awesome together and would be equally cool in it's parts. I can't tell if this is foiled fabric or a metallic Jacquard, whatever it is I dig it. J. Mendel |
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Stunning
Slinky number at Naeem Khan
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| Marc
Jacobs...I cannot pass up a
sequin dress. Can't. And I love that he cut it so that it just seems like a
simple conservative dress, that just happens to be covered in sparkly madness!
I would live in this dress. |
London up next in Part 2...
