ERROR:
subscribe to style file blog via RSSJulian Louie Has Us At Olé
February 20, 2009 12:51 pm
If the tight, high-waisted pants and geometric bolero jackets weren’t enough to clue you in, the Spanish guitar coming through the speakers at Julian Louie’s presentation on Thursday made the case clear: The
designer found himself in a Catalan state of mind this season. “The matador thing is pretty easy to read, and there’s a touch of Velázquez over there,” Louie acknowledged, pointing to a pair of his bouffant miniskirts. As he went on to explain, however, the Fall ‘09 collection sourced material not only from the land of bullfighting but from football players and samurais, too. “I was interested in taking
these masculine activities and perverting them into something elegant and feminine,” noted Louie. To wit: the gridiron-esque shoulder pads on a top, which Louie crafted out of rayon woven with enamel-coated wire, or the Swarovski embellishment that created an armorlike effect on a dress. “I didn’t want to do masculine/feminine in the usual way,” Louie noted. “It felt more interesting to me to invest in the ritualized kind of costume element of these masculine activities, and see where that got me.”
tags: Julian Louie
