Lawrence Steele
MILAN, February 23, 2004
By Sarah Mower
Lawrence Steele has a delicate way of tearing leaves out of fashion history and lightly rewriting them for a new generation. For fall, he said, he was thinking of "Balenciaga, Chanel, Vionnet. The beauty that once was, as an ideal—but we're in today." Almost everyone is referencing the twentieth-century greats these days, either literally or at some crumpled remove, but Steele isn't one of the shredders. His version of fall's now-familiar equation—silky dresses, camisoles, little skirts, and furs—comes out with a meticulous finish.Contriving to infuse a sense of chic into his collection, Steele also managed to sidestep the inherent pitfalls of both ladylike frumpery and saccharine girlishness that beset many designers who set off down the well-trodden retro road. Some of that came through his subtle way of mixing soft sorbet shades of the same color in the same outfit (a bois de rose angora cardigan with a flesh-pink skirt, say, or two mismatching tints of green), and resisting the temptations of over decoration. He also leavened the frilly fragility of the dressy look with a few cool yoke-backed coats and dresses taken from the book of Balenciaga. Simply styled with bead-encrusted satin pumps, the look had a certain abbreviated modernity that set it refreshingly apart from standard vintage rehash.
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Fall 2004 Ready-to-Wear
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A.F. Vandevorst Akris Alberta Ferretti Alessandro Dell'Acqua Alexander McQueen Anna Molinari Anna Sui Ann Demeulemeester As Four -
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Badgley Mischka Balenciaga BCBG Max Azria Behnaz Sarafpour Bill Blass Bottega Veneta Boudicca Burberry Prorsum -
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Calvin Klein Carolina Herrera Celine Chado Ralph Rucci Cher Michel Klein Chloé Christian Dior Christian Lacroix Clements Ribeiro Comme des Garçons Costume National -
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D&G Daryl K Derek Lam Diane von Furstenberg DKNY Dolce & Gabbana Donna Karan Dries Van Noten Dsquared² -
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Emanuel Ungaro Emilio Pucci Emporio Armani -
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Fendi -
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Giles Giorgio Armani Givenchy Gucci -
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Helmut Lang Hermès Hussein Chalayan -
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Imitation of Christ -
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J. Mendel Jean Paul Gaultier Jeffrey Chow Jill Stuart Jil Sander John Galliano Jonathan Saunders Junya Watanabe -
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Kenneth Cole New York -
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Lagerfeld Gallery Lanvin Lawrence Steele Libertine London Roundup Louis Vuitton Luca Luca Luella -
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Marc by Marc Jacobs Marc Jacobs Marni Martine Sitbon Martin Grant MaxMara Menichetti Michael Kors Missoni Miu Miu Monique Lhuillier Moschino -
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Narciso Rodriguez Nina Ricci -
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Oscar de la Renta -
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Perry Ellis Peter Som Phi Pierrot Pollini Prada Preen Proenza Schouler -
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Ralph Lauren Revillon Rick Owens Roberto Cavalli Rochas -
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Sebastian Pons Sonia Rykiel Sophia Kokosalaki Stella McCartney -
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Tim van Steenbergen Tuleh -
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Undercover United Bamboo -
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Valentino Vera Wang Veronique Branquinho Versace Versus Viktor & Rolf -
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Yohji Yamamoto Y’s Yves Saint Laurent -
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Zac Posen
