To quote Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny, “No, there’s more!” Head to our Sophie Theallet’s Franco-American draped dresses, Reed Krakoff’s neon cellophane-y separates. It’s the last day, soak it up while you can!
If Sophie Theallet‘s show Tuesday night proved one thing, it was consistency. The collection was almost all dresses, which is what Theallet does best. This season was heavy on the elegance, with a number of gowns begging to be seen on the backs of Hollywood actresses. Glamorous and a little sexy (especially from behind), but in an understated way, they’re the kind of dresses we always hope to see on red carpets. There were also several options for one of Theallet’s best-known fans: Michelle Obama.
Every season New York fashion week gets bigger and bigger. When Ruth Finley, who is the keeper of the Fashion Calendar (aka your hard copy fashion week bible) started planning and putting out the New York fashion week calendar 65 years ago she estimates there were, at most, five shows a day, no more than one an hour. This Friday alone, on the second day of Fashion Week, there are 34 shows.
“When [New York fashion week] started there was only one show an hour and now we have almost 300 in eight days,” Finley says. “There’s quite a bit of overlapping and there used to be no overlapping.”
While New York fashion week’s exponential growth is undeniably a sign of its health (and that’s a good thing!), that “overlapping” of shows that Finley refers to–when you have five or more shows crammed into an hour–can also hurt the designers who’ve put in all that effort and money to show their wares. As more designers flood the New York fashion week schedule, it becomes more challenging for designers to make sure their collections are presented the best they can be. Top models and styling teams go to bigger labels with more pull and more money. Editors and buyers–though they might not always look it–are human, and can only make it to a limited number of shows per day.
Designers are feeling frustrated.
Sophie Theallet’s resort woman likes her suiting as she likes her sheets: made of fine silk, deliciously rumpled and falling off shoulders. For the 2012 collection, Theallet channeled that innate French girl ability to appear impeccably put together from the moment she hopped out of bed. She waves both her Parisian and American flags with the navy, crème and deep pink palette and sportswear sets that are tweaked just so; a baseball-jacket-style cardigan over tailored white shorts says U.S.A., while her French shines through in slouching jackets over trousers. There’s an especially wonderful red-trimmed white blazer that hints at a cool evening on a yacht, the topper to nothing but a bikini and a tan. The most gorgeous pieces are the down-to-there silk shirts, like half of a wrap dress that begs to be undone. There are a few short pleated frocks, some playful button downs in prints of orange and pink or navy and white–the resortwear staple–but the stand-out dresses are the longer gowns, slinky yet flattering. This is not a skintight bandage affair. A navy, one-shoulder sheath positively drips down the curves of the body, as does a raspberry silk number with shoulders peeking from small cut-outs in the short sleeves. This is a woman who can both take and bring the heat with equal nonchalance, producing equal amounts of desire and jealousy. Click through to view the collection.
Faye Dunaway’s Bonnie Parker was Sophie Théallet‘s muse for fall 2011. Bits of dialogue from Bonnie and Clyde were spliced in with the show’s soundtrack, which featured Serge Gainsbourg’s “Bonnie and Clyde.” Models wore black berets and black ribbon chokers were tied around their necks so that the ribbon hung down their backs for a bit of a girly touch.
Théallet gave Bonnie Parker’s iconic 1967 wardrobe a subtle, slightly more feminine update: the hallmark slouchy men’s style suiting was there, as were shimmering silk blouses wrapped in a deep vee–the collars made to look like the lapels on a jacket, but there were also cute color blocked knits paired with A-line skirts and precious little cardigans over gauzey dresses. Théallet is known for her dresses (Mrs. O is a fan), and usually her creations are fuller and flouncier, a bit more boho. It was almost as if Théallet’s sweeter girl of seasons past was fighting to be seen amidst a collection to dress bad girl Bonnie Parker–and sometimes the good girl won out, adding little bows at the neckline of dresses.
Sophie Theallet is always wearing red lipstick. Except for, that is, the day the Nine West team visited her Brooklyn flat to begin work on her capsule collection for the brand. (It’s set to hit select stores this May.)
“For my first meeting with Nine West I wasn’t ready for them…they all came into my apartment and I said, ‘Oh, you’re here! But I don’t have my red lipstick on!’”
Luckily, it worked out. Because Theallet was most certainly wearing red lipstick–a lovely Bordeaux color, if you must know–at last night’s event celebrating her collection with the shoe super label. It’s the first collaboration Nine West has done with a ready-to-wear designer in years. (Vivienne Westwood, Thakoon and Sophia Kokosalaki teamed up with the brand in 2006.) The French designer, who lives in Brooklyn and works at a brand new studio in Manhattan, was not only excited to team up with Nine West, but the brand’s creative director Fred Allard. (Who also happens to be French.)
TSA Considers Spiked Loubs “Weapons”: Some guy named Taz Arnold was traveling with his $1,245 Christian Louboutin Rollerboy Spike shoes and according to his twitter account, the TSA deemed them weapons. {Yahoo! Shine}
Get Ready For Snooki the Brand: Snooki–though she recently told the NY Daily News that she prefers to be called Nicole–has hired NY firm SRG Ventures to manage various Snooki-licensed gear to be rolled out over the coming year. Up first? Slippers, jewelry, oversized sunnies, and then possibly denim, sportswear, lingerie, handbags, personal care, beauty products, fragrances, swimwear, bedding and home goods. What about solo cups, Snooks? {NY Post}
WWD Devotes New Section To the Boys: WWD has launched a new section devoted to men’s fashion and style called Mensweek, that will appear in the paper every Thursday. “We wanted to amp up our men’s coverage,” a WWD spokesperson told us, ” looking ahead it’s such an important market and continues to strengthen.” Today’s section features a story that credits the recession with the recent spike in menswear retail and another that ranks quarterbacks (really). {WWD subscription NOT required this time}
It’s the last day of New York Fashion Week, which means its time for reflection. Tonight I head to London to hang out with Nadja Swarovski and attend the city’s shows, so I’ve got little time to look back. But I will say that two of my favorite shows this season, thus far at least, have been Jason Wu for Tse and Sophie Theallet. Lovely how that rhymes.
Wu presented his Tse collection on Wednesday afternoon in Industria Studios–one of my favorite show spaces because of all the natural light. While I appreciate his main collection, I tend to prefer muted, darker colors for myself, which means I’m not sure if I’d actually wear it. Wu for Tse, on the other hand, was most definitely a dream wardrobe. The design used elements of his Spring 2010 collection–the pussy bow blouse, the striped shirt–but translated them into grey, black, cream, washed out navy, and washed out brick red.
