He opened the show with a model wearing a green
tweed zip Chanel-esque skirt suit and we were off to the races.
The list of daytime pieces of worthy mention have to include his
sunflower silk knit top paired with a sunflower tweed flare skirt
(and all the tweed pieces shown at the top of the show), his lovely
pastel crochet dress and cardigan, the versatile lilac tweed cropped
jacket (with cutaway sleeves) and skirt with white silk chiffon
hater top, his most excellent sunflower silk chiffon halter dress,
the empire-waist shell pink pleated chiffon column gown, and his
nude–pink striped silk chiffon gown with its front kick-flap detailing.
Equally great designs include his Oscar-red carpet
ready apple green silk chiffon beaded halter dress, a truly flattering
sunflower silk chiffon bias-cut gown and gloriously flirty leaf
Of the designs themselves,
Luca Orlandi toned down the sometimes overpowering "sex,
drugs and rock n roll" elements of seasons
past, sending out lightweight, delicate separates |
green silk chiffon gown. The presentation ended with a sea of white,
starting with a sexy silk gauze ribbon-slashed gown. One after the
other, his blonde models floated by us, enticing us with their simple
elegance. Mr Hannant was pitch perfect with this collection, an achievement
we hope he will be able to sustain in future collections to come.
Luca Luca
LUCA ORLANDI was a pink mood this
season. With the exception of an occasional injection of blue and
nude, he showed almost very variation of pink known to man. Of course,
this is not to say that it was a bad thing. It was just … pink.
Of the designs themselves, he toned down the sometimes overpowering
"sex, drugs and rock ’n’ roll" elements of seasons past,
sending out lightweight, delicate separates in silk, jersey and
leather.
Oluchi opened the show in a ruched, form-fitting
printed jersey dress (à la Hervé Léger).
Alek rocked the house in a body-skimming lame halter dress and Erin
Wasson wore his silk jacket and satin-and-georgette skirt over a
stretch silk shell top (his version of the official ladies-who-lunch
uniform). His silk sating flare pants, paired with an off-the-shoulder
knit top, had that aura of resort, while his scoop back silk jersey
draped top worked well with the accompanying silk satin pencil skirt.
He touched on that other trend, the goddess look,
with his lilac jersey single strap long dress, his stretch lace
jersey long dress and an indecently sexy blue jersey cross wrap
long dress.
Vivienne Tam
VIVIENNE TAM, much like Yeohlee
Teng, is known for Asian-inspired designs.
Early in her career, she found her niche and has pretty much stayed
there since. However, she, too, stretched her wings this season
and widened her horizons to include more western-influenced pieces.
She explored new territory by turning her focus to flirty, light
pieces in soft, pastel tones in satin, chiffon and graphic-printed
silks. To some extent, she was successful,
but not everything she sent down the catwalk hit its mark.
She was most successful when she paired daywear
pieces (for example, crisp white walking shorts) with eveningwear
pieces such as flowing baby doll tops and delicate cocktail dresses
with contrasting shrunken jackets. She also hit the mark with her
black silk flower print strapless dresses with their asymmetrical
handkerchief hemlines. Once again, we bitch and profess boredom
when we think that a designer is in a rut. We even tune them out
because of this belief. I commend Ms Tam
for trying to test the boundaries of her talents and hope that she
will continue down this road where I am certain she will eventually
find total success and acceptance from the critics. •
Phillip D. Johnson is features’ editor of Lucire.
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ABOVE: Luca Luca.
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