Chalayan
PARIS, March 7, 2010
By Sarah Mower
In these days of reduced budgets and the pressure to sell clothes, the art of the fashion show as theater—which Hussein Chalayan and Alexander McQueen both pushed to a pinnacle of creativity in London in the nineties—has, much to the detriment of audience fulfillment, been shoved to the back of the agenda. Now meanings and messages are often delivered only aurally, but in some hands they can still be powerfully affecting. Such was Chalayan's voice-over preface, a tribute to McQueen, in which he honored his peer as a man whose work probed a raw, dark beauty and through his work became a mythical hero himself.Sound was also the guide to understanding Chalayan's theme for Fall: a car engine firing up, followed by snatches of radio-station music and weather reports gleaned from across the U.S.A. He was on a road trip. Once you tuned in, it was clear he was setting off from New York, with a clever observation of the urban mix of tailored coats, jeans, hoodies, and sneakers that has become a city street uniform since the nineties. Soon, we were heading through Pennsylvania and Amish land, as the hoods took on the structure of bonnets, and the modern world was briefly silenced. From there, Chalayan took a turn south, making glitter-sleeved, formfitting dresses with diagonal necklines suggesting beauty-pageant sashes. Then it was out through hurricane country: Steel gray pleated twister dresses whipped around the body, then up and over the head, accompanied by emergency on-the-spot updates from a radio reporter.
In a way, this narrative is too literal an explanation for either Chalayan's thinking, or the fact that the clothes followed a completely wearable, on-track route for Fall. On one level, the collection traced the concerns with landscape, history, environmental crisis, ethnography, and culture that have always informed his work. On the other, Chalayan's American explorations allowed him to tick off trends and stop by every category needed in the span of a day-to-evening, casual-to-formal collection. Somewhere in Utah, he brought up a shearling coat with matching binoculars and a camel poncho. Later on, he worked through sportswear in gray sweats and then, maybe on the West Coast, arrived at a place where sinuously glamorous full-length gowns (beaded in dégradé patterns suggesting headlight flashes at night on a dark freeway) made complete sense.
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Fall 2010 Ready-to-Wear
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D&G Davidelfin Dennis Basso Derek Lam Devi Kroell Diane von Furstenberg Diesel Black Gold DKNY Dolce & Gabbana Donna Karan Doo.Ri Douglas Hannant Dries Van Noten Dsquared² Duro Olowu -
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Elie Saab Elie Tahari Elise Øverland Emanuel Ungaro Emilio Pucci Emporio Armani Erdem Erin Fetherston Erin Wasson x RVCA Etro -
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Fashion East Fendi Francesco Scognamiglio -
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Gabriele Colangelo Gap Gareth Pugh Gary Graham Generra Giambattista Valli Gianfranco Ferré Giles Giorgio Armani Givenchy Graeme Armour G-Star Gucci -
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Haider Ackermann Halston Helmut Lang Hermès Hervé Léger by Max Azria Holly Fulton House of Holland -
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Iceberg Isaac Mizrahi Isabel Marant Issa Issey Miyake -
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Karen Walker Karl Lagerfeld Kenzo Kimberly Ovitz Kinder Aggugini Koi Suwannagate -
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L.A.M.B. L'Wren Scott Lacoste Lanvin Lela Rose Limi Feu Loewe Louise Goldin Louise Gray Louis Vuitton Luca Luca Luisa Beccaria Lutz & Patmos Lyn Devon -
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Naeem Khan Nanette Lepore Narciso Rodriguez Nathan Jenden Neil Barrett Nicolas Andreas Taralis Nicole Farhi Nicole Miller Nina Ricci No. 21 -
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Paris 68 Paul Smith Pedro Lourenço Peter Jensen Peter Pilotto Peter Som Philosophy Pollini Ports 1961 PPQ Prabal Gurung Prada Preen Pringle of Scotland Proenza Schouler -
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Sacai Salvatore Ferragamo Sharon Wauchob Shipley & Halmos Sonia Rykiel Sophia Kokosalaki Sophie Theallet Stærk Stella McCartney Stephen Burrows Suno Sykes -
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Zac Posen Zero + Maria Cornejo
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