The first days of Fashion Week are sort of the children’s hour, when a lot of young designers show. But don’t expect bratty behavior from these kids. They’re so nice it’s sickening.
So far, about the only thing they seem to feel strongly about is a flower. They’re just too happy, I’m telling you. Peter Som had some smart-looking tweeds in his show, in bright blue and sunny yellow against cream, which he did as slim trousers and jackets with a panel effect to save them from being just another tweed blazer. To beef things up a bit, he added anoraks and sleeveless trench dresses in khaki drill.
But his blown-up rose prints, in blues and tangerine pinks, were forced to carry the load of the collection, and they just didn’t hold enough fascination. It might have helped if Mr. Som had manipulated the prints more than he did, made them seem invitingly creepy or poisonous, and not as perky as your aunt’s porch furniture.
Years ago, when John Fairchild was asked what he did to get respect from bossy French designers for Women’s Wear Daily (in the late 1950s it was really perceived as a rag), he replied, “I got mad.” You wonder what young designers feel about the times. Does anything bug them enough to express it with some energy and conviction? Or are they afraid to offend someone?
The designers of Cushnie et Ochs, Michelle Ochs and Carly Cushnie, used a neon picket fence at their show on Thursday, evidently as a subversive paddle for all those housewife reality programs. The collection was heavy on décolletage, with jagged necklines of slick white sheaths resembling a broken mirror. The silver metal peplums affixed to a few of the dresses also looked a bit dangerous. I couldn’t tell where Ms. Ochs and Ms. Cushnie were going with all this — and I don’t think they knew, either — but at least they weren’t afraid to be provocative.
Wes Gordon’s collection offered a lot of dish colors: Wedgwood and Prussian blue, cream and bone. Fortunately Mr. Gordon spiked the palette with deep red and citrus and a slash or two of silver. He obviously has worked hard to expand his collection, build up separates like cute shorts, tie-waist dresses and ribbon-edged knits, but the Sister Parrish colors and the dated feel of guipure lace (for a peplum top) crowded out the youthful pieces. Mr. Gordon was sensitive to that suggestion. “This is a real business,” he said during the presentation. “I’m not trying to do Alexander Wang.”
But it’s not all or nothing at all, and Mr. Wang’s business model is just one of many. It’s really more a question of relating to a generation and leading with authority. Essentially, tell us why the rest of us should care. Kimberly Ovitz made it perfectly clear the other day what she likes: slouchy Japanese knits and sheer muslin and polyester layers with a slight goth-meets-granola attitude that could be easily incorporated into a young woman’s wardrobe. Duh.
Marcia Patmos, who is primarily a knitwear designer, also had some cool, modern-looking pieces, in particular a slinky cardigan and other neutral-tone pieces with a glint of platinum shimmer.
Richard Chai seemed to be chafing against those poppy-bright colors he showed on Thursday, as well as the shorts-and-tunic sets, half hidden under a lanky cotton safari jacket. Mr. Chai’s natural inclination always seems the moodily urban, with a dose of original prints. He should stick to his guns, and find a way to make feminine clothes on his terms. He had the germ of something, I thought, in a smudgy rose-print dress with a long, asymmetrical hem and semi-sheer shoulders. It arrived near the end of the show.
“I wanted it to be calm and have fabrics that moved,” Ashley Olsen said just before she and her sister Mary-Kate presented a collection for the Row that was indeed as tranquil as a cocoon, but also included many more technical challenges. The Olsens met those challenges: shell-like embroidery on the bib on a creamy white high-priestess gown; Italian knitwear that vaguely suggested prayer-stole fringe; a well-executed suit in different tones of silver and white. The Olsens began the Row with long dresses, and added crisp tailoring (now a glacier-white pantsuit), but the volumes they attempted were also new.
A distinctly hard-edged Jason Wu surfaced on Friday, opening with an almost bubble-shape coat in black faille blowing over a white silk blouse and tight-fitting boy shorts with stilettos. Mr. Wu can’t resist the couture shapes and feathery fluff, and his chiffon prints remain drenched in sweetness, but at least this time he showed some toughness. CATHY HORYN
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