Fashion Week
S/S 2011

Collections News Past shows

Day 1

Lacoste Alexander Wang Altuzarra

Day 2

Derek Lam DKNY Diane Von Furstenberg Thakoon Tommy Hilfiger

Day 3

Zero + Maria Cornejo Diesel Black Gold Marc Jacobs

Day 4

Rodarte Marc by Marc Jacobs G-Star Narciso Rodriguez

Day 5

Philip Lim Proenza Schouler

Day 6

Ralph Lauren Calvin Klein Collection

Lacoste

For Christophe Lemaire's swan song at Lacoste (he's twirled around in the designer's chair for the last decade), the French designer is already channelling his new place of employment with a healthy dose of Hermès' unmistakable tangerine orange hues. No matter, for the runway was the sort of pure sportif affair - complete with polo dresses, net tennis skirts, simple tunics and of course those crisp collared alligator shirts - for which the brand is adored. Pleated pants with full carrot shapes made the black and white section graphically modern and the models smiling (scandalous for a fashion show) was refreshingly playful.

What Wallpaper* will not be playing tennis in: the oversized, tri-striped terry cloth kaftan. It will do double duty as a beach outfit and towel

Lacoste

Alexander Wang

Frequent night-crawler Alexander Wang appears to want to spend some time in the daylight next spring and so will his gaggle of droopy t-shirt worshippers. Fresh flowing whites in every formation - sheer tops, harem pants, floor length skirts - ruled the runway, as well as a healthy sprinkling of complex cuts and extras (like overall straps or the bronze duct tape that appeared to be pasting together a long white denim skirt). Still, all that white would not have stood up at the Country Club. The models, with paint crusted hair, looked like they'd pulled an all nighter painting the living room walls.

What Wallpaper* will wear when Frank Gehry visits the offices: the crinkled mint green tinfoil jacket

Alexander Wang

Altuzarra

Joseph Altuzarra is one of the lucky few currently setting New York's youthful fashion scene on fire. And with this season's tools of choice - hot white (not to mention unforgiving) satin, navy blue suede and slithering, graphic python skin - you can see why. The raw materials were used for puzzle-pieced creations, in which slits, strips and bits (think bandeau tops, peeping panties, tribal scales, etc) created strikingly original effects on sculpted dresses and sleek suits.

What Wallpaper* will wear: the lemon yellow body builder turtleneck (well, at least it makes the model look like she has muscles) paired with a patchwork python skin skirt with curved hem.

What Wallpaper* will leave by the coffee maker at home: the boob saucers built-in to satin tuxedo jackets

Altuzarra

Derek Lam

Remember denim from the good old days before bleaching, streaking, ripping and acid washing? Derek Lam does and has poured the cornflower blue hue onto equally as retro silhouettes, like blazers and wide-leg pants atop platformed feet. Sweet and neat, with crisp unadorned white tunic dresses and tops, and stencil cut jersey dresses, this collection taps into the 70s vibe that is picking up speed in New York without taking a wrong turn into overplunged hippiedom.

What Wallpaper* will wear: the black body suit with built-in leopard print cummerbund and light as air tobacco pleat skirt - all in one (we love a designer that does our piecing together for us).

Derek Lam

DKNY

The Celine effect is rippling right out of Paris and into DK's NY. Cleaned up and super tailored, even the decoration of the DKNY collection looks tamed, like the seductive micro floral print dresses with flounced trims. Most striking were the structured black blazers, perfect taupe tapered pants, and severe white blouses. The only real extras were neat French silk scarves, black bow belts and two tone stilettos, which gave the proceedings a decidedly French intellectual feel without any of the snob factor.

What Wallpaper* will wear when pulling out the St. Louis champagne glasses: the ilk blouse tucked into an architecturally ruffled skirt with blood red stilettos and black bow belt

DKNY

Diane Von Furstenberg

It's the same woman on the shopping bags and label (and every party from Manhattan to Mumbai) but the man inside the design studio toiling over the dress patterns is brand new: former Gucci designer Yvan Mispelaere. A new set of hands contributed to a neat, feminine collection that was big on graphic prints without being over done. Colours were bright but toned: lemon, peach, and purple. Not complicated. Very workable.

What Wallpaper* will wear in Paris to match our lattice-iron balcony: the two-tone arabesque-printed shirt dress

Diane Von Furstenberg

Thakoon

A former Princeling of prints, Thakoon Panichgul has largely forsaken pattern this season and gone down the hallowed halls of springtime white. But decoration was never far from this inventive collection, which saw assymetrical cutting and cool net-like fabrics hardened up with rows of metal hooks and oversized pockets. Indigo blues and greys – plus a sprinkling of very blurry printed dresses - rounded out the good looking offering.

What Wallpaper* will wear for architectural tan lines: the black net trench coat.

Thakoon

Tommy Hilfiger

Clearly happiness can be bottled, as proved by the Tommy Hilfiger runway, which was spritzed from top to toe in the heady stuff. From the cheerful colour combinations - lemon yellow with cherry red, royal blue with mint or lavender - to the lively mixes of plaids and piping, bandeau tops with flared skirts, grosgrain belts and topsiders, turquoise socks with leopard print loafers, this was a collection that screamed glee from the rooftops. Hilfiger, who is celebrating his 25 anniversary this year has certainly hit his 'classics with a twist' ball out of the park - pleasing all of the girls who just want to look like girls and the well-groomed boys who want to stand colour coordinated next to them.

What Wallpaper* will wear while reading 'True Prep' - the sequel to 'The Preppy Handbook'?

Him: the piped khaki suit with pink sweater, green belt, lavender socks and leopard loafers

Her: the red white and blue (and yellow) extravaganza.

Tommy Hilfiger

Zero + Maria Cornejo

The beauty of Maria Cornejo's designs are the simple adjustments she makes on a cut, pattern or a seam that result in a hurricane of fashion difference. Pulled, tucked, and lifted just-so - it's those last few millimeters that count on an asymmetrical shoulder, an extra hip gather, an uneven hem and, most importantly this season, on her patched dual-print or two tone dresses. The mood was sober but the effect most certainly was not. These are coolly minimal clothes for a colourful, chic woman.

What Wallpaper* never knew they always wanted and absolutely must have: a leather cardigan

Zero + Maria Cornejo

Diesel Black Gold

Welcome to Diesel Black Gold's jungle, where the clothes are Jane-like tight, the hems brief and the hair is teased into lionesque tresses. The collection is skin-central in more ways than one. There were generous flashes of long legs under leather patched leaf skirts, suede miniskirts or itty-bitty suede shorts. And, of course, there was an animal kingdom's worth of exotic skins moulded into rugged tobacco leather jackets and soft, second-skin suede pants with low-tech lacing front closures.

What we'll wear to our next jungle-theme luau: a leather, suede and feather micro mini hula skirt with suede blouse

Diesel Black Gold

Marc Jacobs

There is always enough inventory in a Marc Jacobs show to fill a Wal-Mart but sadly for the masses, Wal-Mart doesn't do Jacob's double faced voiles. Nor does it do candy-coloured, bun gripping satins and certainly not voluminous taffeta that is crispy enough to stand on its own. This collection was packed with visual delights (including, in the material madness, a playful skip down to Missoni's Varese knitwear factory) and it shouted uncomplicated fun. There were stiff, oversized suits with safari influences, silky jumpsuits, highwaisted shorts, hotpants, and long, unbridled dresses aching for a dance floor. The 1970s feel was brought to life further by maximalist styling, which included enormous 3D exotic flowers.

What Wallpaper* will wear with our vintage roller-skates: cinnamon coloured, satin skin-tight overalls with ochre satin jean jacket and flying saucer straw hat.

Marc Jacobs

Rodarte

Rodarte gave us a lesson in how to do home-spun vintage and futuristic at the same time. Ignoble offerings like blown up lumberjack plaids, folk prints and plain jerseys were given a miraculous boost by inventive layers and patched-together pieces. Many of these featured intricate curved hems, car-wash flaps and long, slim peplums. The Mulleavy sisters are masters at fabric manipulations and this season played with increasingly tactile materials, like heavily embroidered leaf tops that slowly morphed into draped silk bottoms or china-pattern blues. To comprehend the extent of their craftsmanship, consider for a moment the mix of this one magnificent dress: intricately stencilled leather flaps affixed to a pebbly crocodile base and a chiffon bodice printed with the veins of a giant redwood. It was magic.

What would Wallpaper* do with this collection? Frankly, the possibilities are endless. We'd start by dusting our collection of Delft china decked in the blue and white fauna print hostess dress with double peplum and sheer black underskirt. And end by scaling the Colosseum in one of the gilded gladiator dresses - preferably the short, sexy one with giant gold stitching.

Rodarte

Marc by Marc Jacobs

The sailor's stripe trend last season was clearly just the tip of a very major stripe iceberg. The horizontal lines are getting bolder and beefier, especially at Marc by Marc Jacobs, where big juicy stripes in lemon, mandarin, acqua, white and taupe highjacked knee length feminine dresses, mid-calf A line skirts and men's polos. The collection featured easy, uncomplicated shapes, but Marc still managed to have some fun with rolled silk pajamas shorts, the shrunken men's shirt worn with nearly everything and hot pants which, in the designer's cheeky hands, were more like hot girdles.

What Wallpaper* will wear the next time we sprain an ankle: One of Marc's chic tangerine patterned ankle scarves tied up in a floppy bow to mask the bandage (minus the high heel, obviously)

Marc by Marc Jacobs

G-Star

Here's some spring news you can use from GStar: jean shorts are shrinking to underpant proportions, the camel craze is hitting Northern Europe, and the denim of choice these days is an umblemished mid-to-dark blue raw version that looks about as soft as sheet metal. The upside of this clean, crisp denim is that you can go for a full denim look (with a stiff coat, jacket, or shirt on top and loosely hipped jeans on the bottom) without causing too much heckling from your friends.

Wallpaper's top three most eye-opening denim discoveries from this collection:

1. Stiff, flared, and very voluminous denim Bermuda shorts (um, for men)

2. A tie between Denim Palazzo pants and denim harem pants

3. A denim halter top ballgown

G-Star

Narciso Rodriguez

Are we safe to assume that Narciso Rodriguez is doing back flips in light of fashion's return to more minimal dressing? Or maybe he's just kicking back with a cigar from his Cuban motherland. Regardless, he appeared in pleasant cruise-control with his spring collection, which featured mid-calf dresses in muted shades that somehow managed to be both tight and loose at the same time. How did he do that, we would like to know? Deep front slits and sheer overlays looked new, while he revisited the geniusly simple satin slip dresses that made him a poster boy for pared down dressing almost 15 years ago.

What Wallpaper* will wear after the TechnoGym Kinesis wall panel has been installed (and regularly used) at home: the sexy lingerie dress with sheer abdominal panel

Narciso Rodriguez

Philip Lim

We were intrigued by Phillip Lim's first look, with its uneven layers of a camel sweater, striped shirt, black flap and white A-line skirt, which together resembled a scattered pile of magazines. For the remainder of the collection, Lim engaged in decoration of the subtle kind - meaning no print, but a lot of texture. The crunch factor came into play with several techniques, including a sea of all-nude or all-black paillettes, heavy rope appliqués, or a prickly black thread fabric on a chiffon base that looked like frightened (or frozen) arm hairs.

What Wallpaper* will wear to channel Roy Lichtenstein at the Leo Castelli Gallery: silk pajamas with eye-popping, gold polka dot embroideries

Philip Lim

Proenza Schouler

Prim silk tweed suits, collared blouses and A-line dresses sound remarkably unremarkable from fierce fashion duo Proenza Schouler. But that's before we mention that the tweed was brief, snug and popping in tangerine, black and celadon. And the dresses and tops had dustings of sequins in vaguely animalesque patterns. Packed with interesting fabric techniques - from shibori treatments to net lace that looked like squiggled fauna - this collection was a study in radical, yet reachable chic.

What Wallpaper* will wear on our next excursion to Pompeii: the long sleeve silk dress that looks like it has been dipped in volcanic ash.

Proenza Schouler

Ralph Lauren

Oversized Albuquerque belts, fringed suede jackets, Victorian lace tops - worn all together? There could be no doubt in anyone's mind that we are referring to a Ralph Lauren show. The designer's love for the wild west made those elements - along with metal steer buckles and fringed Navajo satchels - ubiquitous touches in a collection that was almost entirely cattle-coloured, in white and brown. But the fringed, glittering skirts (worn with hunter's plaid flannel shirts), white lace dresses and crisp colonial white suiting gave the proceedings a distinctly feminine air.

What Wallpaper* would wear to disco night in Sun Valley, Idaho: crystal embroidered suede fringe trousers with a shiny silver silk jacket and silver cowboy buckle.

Ralph Lauren

Calvin Klein Collection

It's not easy creating perfection in something as simple as a halterneck, but Francisco Costa has the right eye - and scissors - to get the job done. His exacto-knife cuts on the sides of tank tops or backs of racer-style dresses were dreamy. Not to mention the plunge-fronted, loose-fitting, long-sleeved dresses (in a Calvin original mid-calf length), with those knife pleat details that are sure to become a craze come springtime.

What Wallpaper* plans to discuss at our next visit to Litrico in Rome (home to Marcello Mastroianni's tailor): the black tuxedo dress, comprised of half of a man's jacket.