crystalballfashion

I don’t subscribe to many magazines and Vogue is the only Fashion magazine that I get.  I prefer to surf online to see what’s going on.  I can see the entire runway show of all designers, go to celebrity gossip sites to see who’s wearing what and go to obscure websites that are doing their own thing - which will eventually be picked up by middle of the road designers.  So after being extremely disappointed with the January Vogue I had low expectations for February.  I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw.

Every so often I will come across a garment that makes me stop in my tracks. To my surprise it is a knit dress made by Michael Kors.  I was surprised because up until this point I have never liked anything that Michael Kors has made.  Because I was so struck by this I began wondering if this was a trend.  This is a time when I need to use my intuition and possibly consult my Tarot cards.  Well, without using the cards, I paged through the rest of Vogue to see what I could see and indeed found a trend.  That is the reason the title is ‘Window Panes or long Geometrics”.

Without doing any online research I found at least a dozen examples that I can see showing up in Spring and probably in the less expensive retailers in Summer and Fall.The reason I don’t think it will be played out this Spring is that all the examples I saw are from very high end designers and it usually takes 4 - 9 months for it to trickle down.The Michael Kors dress is a black and red knit dress.  Probably something you wouldn’t look at twice from the front.  The back however is cut out stripes showing much skin behind 5 black stripes.  It’s this element of mystique that pulls you closer.  The element of looking at someone thru a window and the promise of what might come next.

The first example that I saw with a similar element was by Akris.  By looking on their website http://www.akris.ch I found many similar elements.  The one in Vogue, however, looks like a very loosely woven jacket.  It seems to be woven together with 1/2″ leather straps.  The model in the picture is wearing a strapless top, however you don’t know this until you look closer.  It’s the type of garment that brings out the voyeur in a person.

The next example is by Fendi.  This is a white sleeveless dress.  While the top of the dress is plain the bottom is in two layers.  The bottom 8 - 9 inches of each layer look like paper cutouts.  It’s reminiscent of how you would make paper snowflakes, except the design is more like the lead that divides a stained glass window.  However you look at it, the dress only goes down to around mid thigh.  The see through panes almost make you want to look at how far up they go.  Again, it’s a subtle voyeuristic detail.

Louis Vuitton has also used a similar design element which is worn by Madonna.  It’s for their Spring/Summer 2009 line.  While many will immediately see the green feathers, in one shot, it shows her leaning up against a bar (as in drinks).  The back of her garment is transparent black, but has solid black lines running vertically from top to bottom.  it’s not clear whether it’s boning or thick seams, but it does give the same window pane effect.

The last example is not with clothing but with accessories.  This is coming from Yves Saint Laurent.  The model is wearing a burgundy sequin jumpsuit (something I think only my crazy 60 year old aunt would wear).  The third thing you notice (first is hair, second is outfit) is a circular necklace.  It looks to be made of silver, has 5 circular rings held together by many straight vertical pieces of silver.  Of all the examples given, this is the closest one to an actual window pane because it looks like little squares, almost.There is a matching wristband, but you can’s see it that well.  Finally there are the ‘Cage Heel’ shoes.  Yes they look like a mini cage where actual heels go and are shown on two different photo shoots.  This shoot it is silver heels and silver uppers, the other shoot it is silver heels and black uppers.  There are a few other designers creating similar cage heel shoes.

I did mention that the hair on this photo shoot is the first thing to notice.  The best way I can describe this is, having your hair put into a pony tail on top of your head, pulling the hair together so tightly that it could give you a face lift, then by twisting and turning the hair, it is bound with different items until it looks similar to a barren tree branch.  On the particular burgundy dress shoot, they stabbed the hair branch with three silver chop sticks.  The picture I’m adding is with three red chopsticks. Joking aside, this does lead me into the next trend, geometric shapes.

What I am seeing for geometric shapes is an element of window panes.  The lines are thick and long, but identifiable as a line and not a rectangle (for the most part).  Since I’ve been going on about this hair photo shoot, the first example is from there.  This is a black jumpsuit by Channel.  The geometric shape are the ribbon ties.  The ties are very long and you have to look closer to see where they are tied.  These long black lines are what I expect to see more of.  Also by Channel on one of her more classic looks is a white jacket with black trimming.  The black trim looks a bit like a raw edge fabric, but has the thickness to stand out more than just piping and the youthfulness to be worn by a 25 year old.

Phi is another designer featured in Vogue using geometric shapes.  When I visited their website http://www.phicollection.com/ I saw that they were also using the window pane effect in a 1950’s Betty Page sort of way.  Think of long strips of white polka dots on black fabric or transparent black cage shirts.  I think they just moved up to my top ten list.  You really need to check them out.

Oscar de la Renta has a pretty amazing white dress that is geometric and transparent.  Think of hundreds of 1″ X 2″ rectangles sewn to a dress in vertical lines (smaller rectangles at the bodice).  This has elements of the Michelle Obama’s gown that had hundreds of poofy things sewn on it.  I really like the dress and obviously don’t like the gown, but it’s still a trend.

Prada has two dresses featured in Vogue and both of them have the geometric element.  One is a dress with red mermaids on  white fabric with a long thick black stripe going down the left front.  The other is a skirt with black mermaids on white fabric and two thick black stripes going down the front.  Along the line of stripes is Isaac Mizrahi’s tank dress for Liz Claiborne.  This is a simple yet elegant black dress with white diagonal stripes.  I might add that I was surprised that it retails for only $169.

The last garment I’ll comment on is by Albert Ferretti.  This is a pewter colored dress that  is embellished with macrame.  I’ve seen macrame last year, but it was actually micro macrame.  Both are time consuming but regular macrame is easier and will perhaps make a comeback.  This particular style has the window pane effect with the knotting but by having 15 - 18 inch stands of fiber, incorporates the geometric element.

Last comment is on graphics and backgrounds.  While many garments do not fall into either of these two categories, it is interesting to see them used in photo shoots.  Lady Dior is a good example of this.  it shows the model in a Dior dress holding a Dior bag but she is on some sort of bridge.  You can’t tell if it’s the Eiffel Tower but the bridge architecture if very clear.  Balenciaga is using grey faux granite stairs that have a white trim.  There is a shot of a tree lined path in the Botanical Gardens in Rio, all vertical stripe/tree trunk pattern.  On the Pollini ad the background has black, light blue, red, and  pink stripes going vertically, horizontally, and diagonally.

Based only on this months Vogue, I would say that we are moving away from tightly woven garments into looser ones.  Fit may be looser, weave will be looser, probably fuller skirts.  In the less expensive selections, you’ll see window pane graphics as well as geometric shapes that are fresh and bold.  You may see the return of macrame in ways that you’ve never seen before.  Designers may even decide to experiment again with burnout.  This is a process of taking a fabric that has two different fibers (cotton/poly) and applying an acid paste in the form of a design.  One fiber will burn away while the other will stay intact, but will give a transparent image.

I hope you enjoyed reading this and of course I hope that my predictions are correct.Until next time,

Gary SutoCreating your future, one dress at a time.

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