while
gabrielle is asking herself
"why fashion can't be art", i'm dealing with a whole other problem. closely observing this season's fashion weeks i noticed a phenomenon of epic proportions among many designers and their collections. it's called under design! this is actually old news but for some reason it started to disturb me more now than ever. i probably wouldn't even notice if we weren't talking about some of the highly praised design houses and their oh so loved and in my opinion overrated design chiefs.
what bothers me is how in some clothes or even whole collections there is no design what so ever. going trough runway images i often asked myself what was the designers input in this since i was looking at ordinary clothes you can find in any department store anywhere in the world. i mean i even have some of the pieces in my closet and you all know i'm not a big spender. so why in god's name would you pay hundreds of dollars for a basic top with a designer label if you can get practically the same thing in your local h&m, target or primark? quality aside of course - there are many quality options with acceptable prices. it's one thing to be a minimalist or a classic but a whole other if you design basic pieces that were designed about a million times before. what exactly is the designers aesthetic than? choosing a more or less interesting fabric is hardly called designing now is it?
i never thought i could be a fashion designer since my ideas are very poor and limited to what i've already seen, but man i bet i could put together a basic sweater or a top. i could take any sweater from my closet and simply make it in a different fabric. fantastic right?
don't get me wrong some of these clothes are beautiful, i'm just confused what exactly did the designer do in the process of designing since these cuts were the first thing he learned in design school and can also be found in instruction manuals such as "tailoring for dummies". i know not everyone can be like mcqueen when it comes to design and tailoring but for god's sake make some effort would you! at least spice it up with the styling or make it a
chewbacca thing like karl did a few seasons ago...
i'm interested in your opinion! am i completely of track here? or just simply expecting too much?
by marlene birger
this is a classical example of under design. the collection is full of basic pieces we've seen times and times again and what makes it even worse is the horrible styling. what the hell is up with that? all together it looks like how a 6 year old would describe his fancy aunt that he doesn't really see that much. oh, i can't get over the pearls!! have to... look... away!
christian siriano
pretty much the same goes for christian siriano. the whole collection is just one huge blah! there are some interesting fabric choices but that hardly makes it up for the lack of creativity and design. moving on...
chrisopher lemaire
military uniform from the 40s, jeans and a pajama. great thinking! why had nobody though of that before?? i get the depressed mood and everything but seriously so much could be done with just a bit more imagination put into the styling.
paul smith
i saw all these pieces seasons ago in one of the department stores i used to borrow clothes from. the demographic of it being women over 50 (no offence to them). paul smith used to have such beautiful collections with
hip and youthful stylings, i have no idea what stole his modjo?!
marc jacobs
i know marc jacobs is a genius for some but seriously, there's nothing special about this. same cut in all the coats and jackets, only difference being the color, fabric and number of buttons. genius! and than a very basic pencil and a-line skirt, a sweater you can buy literally anywhere and pajamas again. it all looks so old! who want's to look like their grandma? choosing a sparkly fabric doesn't make it any more modern. as a stylist i would never pull a marc jacobs on a person. sincerely i liked him much better
before the rehab. maybe that wasn't the best career choice for him.
rochas
miss plain jane is who the rochas girls is. paul smith at least had the decency of choosing some color but this is just too boring! these models look like they're on a death row. nothing appealing about that!
saint laurent
wow, so many things gone wrong! maybe the biggest being that this collection simply looks cheap. would you ever associate ysl with cheap? me neither! i have nothing against grunge, i love it actually, but done in a sophisticated way, not like you just pulled an old topshop jumper from a pile of clothes that haven't been washed since kurt was still smelling like a teen spirit. and did you spot the pearl necklaces? what's with the pearls again?? is that how you make up for being trashy instead of classy? so disappointed!
photos:
style.com
