Pucci-ing the Envelope

So I stopped by Sister Wolf's hilarious blog Thursday morning and saw her post about how this dress

is sold out on Net-A-Porter. Her point was that, good googly-moogly (although she uses less curlicue'd language), the stupid thing cost about five large and it sold out in about 90 seconds. What the hell is up with THAT? is the gist of her much-funnier and better-written observations.

Yeah, amen to that, but here's the part that really kicked my seatback into an upright position: that dress? Is Pucci.

Um, WHAT????

Yeah, really. It's Pucci.

I knew that Matthew Williamson had left as head of design at Pucci and that Peter Dundas had taken over. Dundas has done design duty in assorted capacities at places as varied as Cavalli, Lacroix, and Ungaro -- he's been around a long time and has an impressive CV, but I certainly couldn't give you any sort of brief on his vision or style -- he's more a journeyman designer than a household name, and there's no shame in that. Currently, he's creative director for the French fur company Revillon, and is remaining with them for at least the next two years to serve out his contract. (Which will 'splain a few things to come.) Anyhoo, I realized that even though I am an enormous fan of Pucci, or at least I definitely have been while Williamson was heading it up (Really, was there ever a more perfect combination of designer & existing house? I can't think of one.) I didn't ever check out the collections that Dundas has shown so far. (Because there is SO DAMN MUCH FASHION stomping down the aisles these days that a serious person cannot possibly hope to pay attention to all of it, which is just frustrating.) So I did.

Hmmm...

Fur & leather are not what I think of when I think of Pucci, but I'll try to stay open. I just wish those pants fit better.

It's a yeti! A super-expensive, exceptionally well-groomed, Evian-sipping, cigarette-inhaling Fashion Yeti!!! Honey, get the camera!!! (To be fair, I do not know for sure that Lily Donaldson smokes. But since all I've ever seen models raise to their lips in photos & videos are cigarettes & those little individual bottles of champagne with straws in them, it's a fair bet.)

Helloooooooo? Is there a Pucci in there? Also, that dress doesn't appear to fit very well, either.

Oh, hooray! A print! In possibly the most depressing color combination I've ever seen on a Pucci runway. I wilt.

Now I yawn. Did Elie Saab stop by?

Now we're talking -- color and print! It's color and print in service of the ubiquitous and tired super-glam rock chick thing that only works if you're under 30 and built like a ski pole, but hey! I'll take it!

Now we're talkin'.

And then... they harsh my buzz with those muddy colors again.

I really wasn't getting the eagle and wolf motifs at first, but all the notes about this show say that Dundas was influenced by the Palio of Siena, which is a centuries-old horse race in which the wards of the city of Siena are each represented by a horse & rider. Each of the wards is named for an animal (some real, some mythical) and Aquila ("eagle") and Lupa ("wolf") are two of them, and their colors and symbols make up a big part of the pageantry of this famous event & festival.




Too bad Dundas couldn't see his way clear to make it as colorful as the original.




How fantastic is that? I want to go there!

So the Palio thing explains some of the other motifs, too.

Which is good, because at first I thought, Oh, great, yet another designer-embellished t-shirt. (This item seems to be de rigeur these days -- little cutesy t-shirts from expensive designer labels. I guess they serve the function of being "accessible" items for the various lines, price-point-wise. So sure, they're usually cheaper than say, a dress from any given designer, but in my opinion it takes some damned nerve to charge 500+ bucks for some damned silkscreened & be-dazzled t-shirt, no matter how many famous fashion designers rubbed their little paws all over it. Harumph.)

The collection was not entirely devoid of color

Speaking of over-the-knee boots -- yowza. Even a skeptic has to admit those are pretty yummy.

But don't get too excited. And the best prints?

Black & white. Lower-case woo, lower-case hoo. Although I really, really do dig that dress -- I love the simple shape and the great pattern, and the placement of the pattern is fantastic -- see how it creates such a great body shape?

But this was a Fall/Winter collection, after all. Maybe, I thought, Dundas got a little more exuberant for Resort, typically a good season for color & sartorial whoop-de-doo.

Um, not so much.

This is another really amazing pattern. Nicole Phelps on Style.com's review of the collection said what I thought when I saw it -- in those tones on that fabric, it looks a bit H.R. Giger-esque (he's the guy who designed the alien for the "Alien" movies). It's beautiful slightly weird & hypnotic and a little unnerving, but good googly-moogly, do I hate that bandage bodice with the keyhole. It robs the garment of all its potential elegance.

Again I shake my fist at the sky and curse Christophe Decarnin.

This is a nice enough dress. Actually, no, this dress is lovely. I think this dress, given correct sizing, would be extremely wearable and flattering on many different sorts of women -- thumbs up for this one. And I do love a good white dress.


Oh, goodie! Here comes some print!

Oooh, and some more!

I really love this dress -- this is a classic item that you could wear for yeeeeears. (And you'd better -- Pucci is dayum'd expensive.)

Now we're right in my sweet spot -- it's jersey, it's print, it's fantastic. Only two colors, but that's okay. I love it.

Oh, dear. Oh, we should have quit while we were ahead. Oh. Dear.


I'm still reserving judgment. I think you have to give any designer a pass on his first collection when he steps into another house, especially one that's been so successfully headed by someone else as Pucci has been by Williamson. And I'm encouraged by the direction that the resort show took. And I'm trying not to be an old fuddy-duddy about one of my favorite labels, but I do SO love Pucci and all its bright, brash, printed exuberance. I fully understand that it's important for a house with a history to keep moving forward, but I'm getting plenty cheesed about the formula some of the mega luxury corporations seem to be using to make it happen. Take a label with decades of fashion history behind it, pop in some happening new designer, and use the name as a veneer to cover designs and products aimed primarily at hip young models, model-types, model-wannabes, model-worshippers, and other people whose names & faces are found inside fashion magazines and whose apparent profession is "go to gallery openings and smoke." The prototype for this is Nicholas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, and Christophe Decarnin at Balmain and Tisci at Givenchy followed with equal success. I'm not saying none of these designers is talented (okay, I have said that about Tisci & Decarnin), but Balenciaga is not about Balenciaga anymore, it's about Ghesquiere. (And as for Givenchy? Well, may I remind you that he was one of Audrey Hepburn's favorite designers. 'Nuff said.) That's fine, I guess, but then why are we calling it Balenciaga? Or Givenchy? Why not just give them their own labels & be done with it? Why call it what it's not?

And then, like a dog chasing its own tail, I wonder, does it really even matter? If I'm so gosh-darned fashion-forward, why does it even bother me? Shouldn't I just get over myself and judge the stuff for what it is, not compare it to what it was or what I think it might have been? After all, I can't seem to be made happy ever -- not too long ago I was complaining bitterly about a house that was SO determined not to move forward that their runway looked like a morgue.

So I'll wait and see what they do to Pucci. It seems like a house with so strong a signature and look would be hard to screw up, but it may be that the PTBs behind it want to create yet another go-to label for the hippest of the hip, who wear their jeans low & skinny, their eyeliner thick & black, and their expressions blank and blasé.

Oh, the idea depresses me. I'm going to go put on some shoes to cheer myself up. I've got just the thing.



There. That's better.



images: Style.com, wikimedia.org, about.com, Style Spy

The Other End of the Island -- YSL Resort 2010

Not too long ago, a couple of friends of mine went to Honduras for a vacation. They stayed on one of the islands and had a wonderful time snorkeling and swimming and all the things a person does on a tropical vacation. About midway through their stay, they found themselves on a charter boat ride with a bunch of folks who were at a different resort, one on the opposite end of the island from where my friends where staying. Everyone was talking and laughing and having a good old time, but mid-way through the cruise, something started pinging my buddy's hinky meter and he began to get a smidgen uncomfortable. Not much later, after some well-placed and careful questioning, his suspicions were confirmed. His new friends weren't just from any ol' resort -- they were staying at a nudist resort that's evidently located there.

Happily, the situation didn't go worst-case-scenario on my friends. The naturists were respectful of the fact that this was not a nudist-organized activity and kept their suits on. But it's hilarious to hear my friend tell this story, describing that moment we've all had where it begins to dawn on us that the situation we've just found ourselves in is not... quite... what we expected. Which is kind of the moment I had looking at the YSL Resort 2010 collection. Because about, oh, two looks in I found myself thinking, "What the heck kind of "resort" is this, anyway?"

I don't think we're in Palm Springs anymore, Toto...

While it's obviously not a nudist resort (way too many layers for that!), it certainly doesn't strike one as the sort of lounge-around-the-pool-with- umbrella-drinks vibe that one often associates with the idea of "resort." Obviously Pilati is not thinking of this collection so much as the clothes you pack for your midwinter getaway as simply clothes for midwinter.

Or not. I don't know. Honestly, I don't know what's going on here. I do know it's awfully directional for a mid-season collection. I thought Fall 09 from YSL was actually more filled with classics and "basics" (as basic as you get from Pilati) than this one, although this is far from bereft of gorgeous, timeless pieces.

All three of these have that classically chic Parisian thing I love so much. I wish I could get a better look at the fabrics (Attention, Style.com! Fashionistas everywhere beg you to please put up detail shots from the mid-season collections!!) and the jewelry, which looks fantastic. Also, Style Spy thinks she very much loves those oxblood closed-toe ankle wrap shoes. Mmmmmm, yummy.

I'm nuts for this trench, with its great big shawl collar and the trumpet sleeves. And goodness knows I love a good slouchy trouser. There's not really any woman, no matter what size or shape, who can't look great in something like this.

This pant is a familiar shape from the last few seasons.

They're quite high-waisted and a bit boxy and obviously not for everyone.

He's also still on this zouave thing which I know most people still hate and I still like. I find this terribly chic, with all the flowy layers and the sheer fabrics.

Even if you don't go for that, you couldn't hate this:

Although you might be a little skeptical of those... leggings? Jodphurs? Pants? I don't know what those are, but I don't really think I like them. The fabulous orange trench, on the other hand? Yes, please.

Speaking of orange...

Love the slouch in the jacket. And, huh. Lace leggings. I keep thinking we've reached the apotheosis of leggings whenever I see some new type in things like metallics or leather or sequins or macramé, but the legging tide continues to roll in. I like them in theory -- I like that they're a pretty low-investment item that can be used to radically change up a look. Strangely, though, I haven't bought a single pair for myself, even though I've seen some that made me think, "Ooh, cute! I really could work those!" I think for me it may be more about the weather than the fashion aspect -- it was over 100º here today, and we're only midway through June. (I do wear a lot of tights in "winter.")

There was more color in this collection than last (which isn't saying a lot -- if memory serves it was entirely black), and they're quite beautiful.

Amethyst and jade -- lovely, and I so love the brown with them instead of black. I wish more women would think more of brown as their baseline neutral, instead of black. It's warmer, and with a lot of colors so much better.

More green, emerald this time. My one quibble with YSL is that Pilati does work mostly in neutrals, especially black. Of course, this makes sense in investment pieces that you want to last for many years, but Style Spy loves color. Style Spy also loves an Important Shoulder, and this is certainly that. The entire fashion world still seems to be in love with shoulders, which is just fine by me.

More shoulder interest of a different sort. Good googly-moogly, do I adore this dress. This has everything that I love about YSL and love in a dress, especially an evening dress -- it is so sexy without being revealing, or skin-tight, it looks like it would feel dreamy to wear, you don't have to do anything to it to make it look great (no styling or belting or foofing around required, just put it on), and it is, let's face it, just a wee bit weird. I like a wee bit weird. Omigosh, do I want to stand around in that with a glass of wine in my hand and discuss art or politics or the price of apartments on the Left Bank (C'est un scandale!) or something equally grown-up. Augh!! Killing me! Killing!! Me!!!

Here it is in the chiffon print shown earlier:

Seriously -- could you just die? I think this dress is part of YSL's Edition Soir line. This line features 25 or so evening looks that can either be bought off the rack or semi-custom ordered in a range of fabrics and colors. (They're calling this "demi-couture." Which is funny. Because a lot of companies have been doing that for years: "Here's a sweater we make and you can choose what color you want." Sound familiar? Yeah. It's called shopping. Does that mean that Eddie Bauer and the Gap count as demi-couture?) But of course this line can't have a show all to itself because it's not really a season, so I guess some of them crept into the Resort Collection presentation, and...

Oh, I dunno. I give up. I know all these many, many "collections" are making a lot of designers crazy (although they're good news for all those up & comers spilling out of design schools all over the world -- more seasons mean more opportunities for more design assistants). Some of it is due to demand from retailers who apparently don't believe that their customers can be relied upon not to grow so bored in the space of one season that they stop shopping (gasp!) and so must be tempted with more & more new goods all the time. Some of it is pressure from huge multi-headed corporations who own fashion lines and whose bottom lines demand that sales stay up up up and therefore new goods must be churned out incessantly. I don't know how much longer this can be sustained -- pretty soon it seems like the irresistible force of these snowballing fashion shows is going to come up against the immovable object that is a globally depressed economy wherein luxury spending has taken quite a hit in the last year. (However, there are people who seem to think this is only a temporary dip and that we'll soon be back to our spendthrift ways.) What I know is this: fashion bloggers the world over are probably facing an epidemic of carpal tunnel syndrome as we try to keep our readers abreast of the newest & latest.

But back to the topic at hand, YSL Resort 2010. Overall, I'm going to give this collection a grade of "C." The thing about Pilati is, even when he's not at his best, he's still better than most of what's out there; but I've never agreed with grading on a curve, and this is not his best. There's some really good stuff, but it lacks the greatness I've seen from him at other times.

What do you guys think? Let me hear it!


Photos: Style.com

3.1 Phillip Lim Resort 2010 -- Put That In Your Pipe

Phillip Lim showed his Resort 2010 collection in New York Monday. I won't go so far as to say that it's my favorite collection ever, or even my favorite Lim ever, but it doesn't do anything to dissuade me from the fashion crush I have on this very talented designer.

I think I've stated before that I feel like Phillip Lim is our next Oscar de la Renta. He makes chic, gorgeous clothes that most every woman admires when she sees and looks good in when she wears. There is a definite, inescapable femininity and youth in Lim's designs, but he is very young himself and there's no reason to imagine that his clothes won't mature as he does. (Lim is 35. His company, 3.1 Phillip Lim, is called that because he was 31 years old when he started it in 2005. There -- you learned something today!) And while they are youthful, they are not childish or twee in the way many labels at this price point often are (I'm talking to you, Marc by Marc!) and most of the clothes can be worn successfully by a woman of any age.

The collection starts out with some really, really gorgeous lace.

I'm a big fan of lace in general, especially tape laces, and this looks like a really nice one.

Of course, we have the problematical length to deal with. They may call this a dress, but we grown-ups know that in no world we want to live in does that actually qualify as a dress. On the other hand, it's too long to be a top unless you are 6 feet tall and have a way with belts. Still. It's pretty, non?

We're just going to ignore that hideous patchwork denim mutant masquerading as pants. Everyone is entitled to a miss now & then.

Also, the jumpsuits seem still to be with us. Just hold tight and ride it out, ladies. This too shall pass.

This skirt strikes me as very "Lim-y." Love that sensuous drapey-ness, he's really good at that. Mr. Lim is a dab hand with chiffon. And I always love a dressy skirt paired with a loose, casual top.

Speaking of chiffon, I'm all excited about that polka dot blouse. Wonderful.

Speaking of excited -- can we talk about the polka dot trench coat? ::swoon:: Actually, I don't want to talk about it so much as I want to own it. Fantastic.

Honestly, I don't know what's up with this. I believe Lim is putting out (or has recently put out -- who on earth can keep up with all these people?) a lingerie line, and this collection had a few pieces that seemed to be playing on that with big loosey-goosey chiffon bits attached to lingerie-like top gizmos. Whatever. Roll on.

But hooray for lamé pants, and hooray for the cropped narrow pant, which I am still craving, especially paired with that prim/sexy blouse. I love this.

More lamé pants, still narrow, longer but again with that looseness at the waist and the slouchy top. I'm still in love with this whole silhouette, and I'm dying to see these pants up close & get a feel for the fabric.

At this point, I can't say that Phillip Lim is pushing the boundaries in the way that a lot of designers do. Sure, it's wonderful to be Rei Kawakubo or Hussein Chalayan and have your raison d'etre be to challenge people's perceptions of what fashion is on a daily basis. On the other hand, it is no mean feat to make beautiful, wearable, desirable clothes that are not off-putting and yet not boring year in and year out. It may in fact take more genius to ongoingly move the generally accessible forward in small increments than to burn the house down & start over every season. Sure, there is a tiny percentage of people for whom it is realistic to sport $5000 Balmain jackets. * The rest of us? We just need a good pair of pants and a pretty blouse that's going to get us through more than one season. Phillip Lim is both talented and savvy, and he's hooking a generation of young (and not-so-young!) fashionistas with his pretty, wearable, reasonably-priced fashion crack.

I for one am not going to tell you to Just Say No.



*(Please note that that bad boy is sold out. Seriously. Also seriously? My car is worth less than that coat. There are a myriad of reasons that tragifies me -- I can't even begin to decide which is the worst.)



Images: Style.com