À La Mode: Designer's Spring-Summer 2019 Collection
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| Prada Spring Summer 2019 |
PRADA: Mother Nature comes in full circle in a cycle. Earthy tones imbue in a fall’s season. As seasons change —the old, decayed soil seeps in the undergrowth —and new seed germinates, sprouts, and sets up fresh for spring. The same happens in fashion. Fashion recycles in cyclical periods. What you have once seen and worn few years ago is often reused, recycled again for the upcoming season with a different twist —tantalized, giving a new titillating turn.
Earthy tones are donned in this Spring/Summer Ready-to-Wear Prada collection. Head-to-toe, models dressed in earthy, neutral tones — brown, dark grey, golden mustard — enliven the Prada runway. Incased in tones you would find in your own backyard —colors of leaves, tree barks, grasses, russet leaves, earths — models donned earthy colors for the spring collection. Among many things, fashion has been inspired by our nature, our culture (historical or present), and our surroundings. Albeit the clothes be worn, but they are unexpected for spring/summer. First, the runway is enveloped by new “biker shorts.” Like the Capri pants women wore in offices a decade back, the shorts have seams with the likes of Capri pants. Over ten years ago, during spring summer season, girls, women wore Capri pants that were cut below the knee. Imagine a model wearing a pair of white Capri pants —a bright, two-tone color, striped boat neck t-shirt or a solid, one-color bikini or a halter top (black or blue) as a matching top —splayed out on the sun in a lounge chair, soaking the sun on a cruise in the Caribbean while holding a slim Carmel light cigarette. A perfect picture ad for Capri pants. Slim, fitting, not binding, they were once long enough to wear to work. The only change in this spring is the biker shorts have been cut above-the-knee. Showing full set of your knee caps! Yes, there is no sliding into third base with these shorts. A sharp distinction. Fitted like the Capri style pants, the shorts cut few inches above-the-knee. They are called shorts, (but I like to call them) “biker shorts.” Gosh! Shiny, synthetic fiber (shine like polyester meshed with a fabric like cotton or rayon) top this look with a glittering golden metal-clasp belt, which is cut narrow, cinching around your waist for a complete look. The shorts are form-fitting and the golden belts that go with the shorts are thin, transfiguring a slender frame. If you got a slim, slender frame, you have got to wear them. Wear it on a weekend. Reminiscent of uniforms designed for errands (bus boy, paper boy or the UPS driver) the occasion for these shorts should be saved for the weekend or a casual Friday. It is not a resort look (because I love the resort collection for sunny getaways); instead the pants are made specifically for casual sportswear. So as I take a look at these shorts, what is the first drawback I notice? Crud. Some strict office guidelines require pants hemline be worn below-the-knee. For girls or women, check with your HR offices if they have dress codes; hence you may not be able to wear these if you work at strict, conservative offices. Then try it on a weekend.
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| T-shirt with dress trend from 90s |
Keds, clogs, plaids, T-shirts with dresses: all part of the 1990s look. Ah yes, the dress stylishly worn with a white t-shirt under it. The dress look recycles this season. Cut like a paper-doll dress, these dresses give a fresh new take for spring. As a twenty-year-old, I wore a dress much like this one. Journey back to late 1990s —1999, specifically. But before then, these dresses came in floral prints or solid blacks and white t-shirts were worn under them; besides trending right around the time when NBC’s Friends became a hit TV series, girls were fashionable wearing dresses over white t-shirts. A casual sportswear look matched well with a pair of white Keds or blue denim Converse sneakers. Not bunching nor cinching around your figure, the paper doll-like dresses hangs than contour around your body. No crinkles. Wear a shirt, a tank top, or a garment under it. A modern finish is obvious to the dress. But getting back to late 1990s—gifted by a friend of the family, I wore an outfit much like these dresses in college —a dark grey charcoal ensemble, closest thing to black. My female acquaintances did not get them. Why? Because they were trending right from Europe and Americans were not and are still not as fashionable. New fashion trends begin in Europe, which is widely known as the epicenter of fashion. People take notice of fashion in Europe. Europeans dress up more than us Americans. Americans: North Americans, Central Americans, South Americans dress down than up. Undeniably so, compared to the Europeans, we dress down. Europeans also take longer vacations. And they take pleasure—pleasure in foods, pleasure in clothes, and pleasure in romances. So when I wore a dress like this in college, some of my female acquaintances did not get the style. It takes a highly-trained eye to discern fashionable wears. Fashionable attire and designs can only be appreciated by someone . . . who likes fashion and by someone who knows it —inside, outside, and all the way through. Someone who is only privy to conventional clothes or designs of the local malls would not get the up-and-coming high trending fashion (which has many unconventional looks). These paper doll-like dresses have hard-line edges for that fresh spring, summer finish. Neither soft nor flowing, but built like a utility suit or an overall, they are sleek, loose and shapeless. And they come in variety —whites, browns, blacks, dark beiges. Shaped in a form similar to a lab apron or even better aprons worn by sales reps at retail stores, they are shiny and reflect refract light. Crisp and hard, a model walks down the runway wearing the dress, but the dress does not shift nor budge. This sets the modern designs above the rest. Modern structures do not easily shift nor singe. They have been simplified, structured like a heavily pressed, starched white shirt. Give off a cool, crisp summer feel by wearing these dresses. Models don similar design tops.
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| Prada Spring Summer 2019 |
Before Kate Moss and the waify looks were trending in the early 1990s, they had Twiggy. Yes, fashion models are thin, but in the 1960s, Twiggy made skinny “in,” fashionable. Donned with long false eyelashes, Twiggy was part of the 1960s pop culture. A model adorned this Twiggy look at the Prada runway with long false lashes and a thick hair band —a retro look, a homage, a flashback to the 1960s. Oversized sunglasses and bulky head bands are adorned on the models; likewise this look is reminiscent of the Pop Art movement in the 1960s. A retro look, however, entangled with an element of futuristic style. Designs are ergonomic and contemporary, not outdated. Accent the look with an accessory —opt for gold, silver drop, Chandelier, or large art deco earrings (in the category of not fine jewelry, but affordable costume jewelry), and further accessorize with bracelets (or any thick, chunky, shimmering bangles) on summer-tanned skin and you’ve got a great look! (Tanned skin is a nice contrast to shimmering silvers.) Up next are A-line skirts —designed to spread out from the lower waist to the hips — the skirts have been hoisted above-the-knee. Skirts are made of blotches of bright colors, an Avante Garde look and blocks of color. Redolent of the 1940s or 1950s, the style’s only change is its shorter cut at the hemline. Only available in 2, or 4-5 color schemes, the knee-length skirts flare out in an A line. Shorts are decorated with the same color scheme. Bright colors flare like the reminiscent works in Fauvism. Prada spring collection has another skirt design: a bubble shape. (We have seen these skirts decades back.) Bubble-shaped skirt designs have a style from a century before, which gives flair than the usual flat shaped skirts. Like the skirts, coats hang loose, baggy, and shapeless. Few color scale are found in contemporary works: art or fashion. Here lies no exception. The central feature expected in modern designs: minimal uses of color.
Softly, feminine dresses flow when women walk in them. Celebrate femininity by gracing in the free-flowing, see-through tops and dresses. Wear a sheer nylon which lay on your body transparently. Loose and unbinding, get the sheer, sexy, and feminine —all in one. The dresses flow and move gracefully to a women’s silhouette, but they are worn subtly sexy and feminine. Black dresses worn with sheer black stockings intensify the sexy dress subtly. Figured around your arms, shoulders, legs, and décolleté—the touch of sheer gives a look, an irresistibly sexy and feminine. Leave viewers wanting more. They are worn with chemise or camisole underneath to get this kind of look —sheer, feminine, transparent. As a teen, I wore a white transparent dress like the design in this year’s Prada’s spring collection. Gifted and imported from Asia by a family member, the dress had a cream-colored silken sheath with small printed dot patterns and white transparent mesh laid over it, sectioning into a conic point. The dress had short sleeves and white transparent top, cut on a heart-shaped line. I wore it to school in spring; then some liked, few disliked. (Most of my peers were not that knowledgeable in fashion.) The style is designed to wear sexy. Save it for a special occasion.
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| Saint Laurent Spring Summer 2019 |
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| D&G Spring Summer 2019 |
Having shopped in Soho for the majority of my twenties, I know D&B, even owning a bright D&B bag when the 1980s look was recycled in fashion more than a decade ago. D&G bag was priced at a discount because of one minute flaw, a small mark: a bright pink bag with light blues, magentas, and golden buckles. Soho is the place to shop if you wear D&B look or dare to fearlessly spunk the edgy, funky, risky, fashion. Uptown is more conservative, a conventional choice of wardrobes for consumers. Downtown is the place for young, hip shoppers that go for colorful, vibrant, eclectic designs. Some of my peers like to shop in the village (close to the neighborhoods at NYU), but I prefer Soho for the fashion variety. And my gosh! D&G does not disappoint. Woah, you’re in store for an eclectic mix, a spectacle for the spring, summer collection.
The D&B starts on with a traditional off-the-shoulder black-and-white polka-dot dress, asymmetrically cut by the knee to the ankle. First it can look like a bland, insipid collection. But it is Dolce & Gabbana. Nothing bland or common is in D&G. D&G explores variety of colors, designs, cultures, of all walks of life. It is the kink, the quirk, and the foible I have been looking for—the extra ummph, punch, with a dash of originality, which deviants from the ordinary —I have so longed for. Don a Dolce and Gabbana and you must be quite an individual, an original because D&G it not for everyone, certainly not for the dull. You certainly will stand out donning anything D&G in the crowd. If you order a plain sponge cake at a café, for example, you have a bland taste. But if you are like me and prefer an extra glaze, extra cinnamon or spice to sweeten or spice up the flavor, you are right at home.
After the first dress, a model sweeps the runway in a black dress, a signature of what is to come. D&G designs have their flair — a daring flamboyance, boldness, life-of-the-party types. Coat an extra glitter on a plain opaque nail polish and make it shine and shimmer—and you’ve got Dolce & Gabbana style. Look at it this way: Do you brush on matte make-up or shimmering shine on that special night out? Second dress: an elaborate floor-length dress with tier layers. A black dress sweeping the floor —a long train at the hem of the skirt as the model strut the runway. Golly, something to grab my attention! Then follows ensembles of this spring and summer’s collection: fine details of shiny silver and gilded gold prints on vests, pants, and jackets. The intricate designs have been sewn with great detail: leaves, grapevines, floral arrangements, tinged hues of gold and silver, metallic shine and finish. Looking at it, I’ve traveled to a monarch and lived in reign, a royalty of 18th century Europe. Amen to that! Pants also remind me of traditional Asian costumes, China or Thailand. The sheen, the cut and style of the pants have that oriental taste. One embroidered jacket has a shawl collar that I like (I’ve seen shawl collar coats in previous decades and been meaning to purchase it.) But the too casual look sets me back (like a bath robe). It is in black, so I wouldn’t buy this one; however, silver and blue jackets with gold prints shimmer —a one-of-a-kind D&G. Third ensemble: a pair of regular-fit pants, a vest-and-jacket ensemble. Take a breath for the irregular resides in the embroidery —shiny silver and gold prints—spruces up a regular dress to an utterly, stylishly chic.
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| D&G Spring 2019 |
Look at it this way. Do you take your coffee black or with an added dash of hazelnut, chocolate, whipped cream (you get the idea)? Do you prefer to drive a car with a regular hubcap or with a latest design on the rims? (Nicely rimmed cars look way nicer . . .) Are you a regular white shirt or a shirt encrusted with jewels, studded stones to jazz up the look? I am the latter.
Dull, prosaic, and mundane is not me. D&G jackets have a contrasting element in solid colors on the lapels, trending for spring. What am I talking about? Jackets come in variegated colors: black on silver lapels, deep reds on black lapels, purples on ruffled black lapels, green highlighted on neon lime green prints. A theme look for the season, cigar-like jackets or lounge jackets have designs that person wearing them would loll around in the den, parties and soirees; and color-accented lapels (color contrasts), transform the common to the flair of rich styles —rich in design, rich in details, rich in color, rich in accessories, rich in intricate patterns, rich in imagination, rich in stretching out-of-the ordinary. And oh my, they’re over-the-top accessories. The dresses come in variety: printed dresses, patterned dresses, bodice dresses, binding dresses, tiered dresses, one-of-a-kind couture dresses. And what motley of colors can you expect from them: a full spectrum of colors ranging from bright to subdued—reds, yellows, light baby blues, deep ocean blues, tans, greens, lime greens, purples, oranges, burgundies, browns, beiges, blacks and whites. Hooray! Dolce and Gabbana covers a full spectrum of colors, a full scale of tones, shades —of bright colors, of subdued neutral tones, of synthesized shades of metal, of copper and bronze, of gold and silver. Donned on models are tiered layers of flowing dresses, like chiffons —and oh how they flow, buoy up when the models stride in them. Prints on dresses —a long dress with black-and-white mesh all over, like a newspaper. (I’ve seen this design before at Bloomingdales). Their ethnic, cultural influences spill onto dresses and wardrobes: Spanish (strapless, off-the-shoulder dress), Far East Asian (e.g. a cone-shaped hat like at rice patties, embroidered jackets, pants), 16th and 18th Century European (puffy Shakespearean shoulders tops, couture dresses). South and East Asia had (before the twentieth century) traded teas, spices, opium and tapestries; similarly, accented accessories on hats and jackets connote influences of Asian tapestries and draperies of tassels. This ensemble is like a traditional Far Eastern costume. Waa — bam — and the last piece of Dolce and Gabbana collection —a one-of-a-kind couture ball gown. Big, puffed out, crinoline skirt with layers of petticoats is a fashionista’s dream. It is like a Lamborghini for a guy, a monument for a politician, a private jet for a businessman. Dolce and Gabbana is not for the atypical. So if you are willing, take a risk with D&G!
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| Traditional Thailand Costumes |
Take a look at the wide range of D&G’s skirts on the runway: Bell-shaped, micro-minis, rah-rahs, full, pencils, gored, tiered, floor-length, crinoline. Ahhh, need I say more for? a complete look for a young, hip trendsetter. They are paired with corset tops, bustiers —seamed, structured. Dresses are divine, so wear it with confidence and ease; likewise pants are powerful, and empower yourself to run your schedule by wearing them; furthermore, skirts are sacrilegious, so express your femininity in them.
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| Givenchy Spring Summer 2019 |
Earthy tones are introduced in Prada’s spring collection; accordingly, earthy tones are reintroduced again in Givenchy —two of the lasting brands in fashion. Neutral, mauve colors — grays, browns, sands/mustards, yellows, beiges, blacks, greens, muddy greens, retro-blues, khakis, light blues —strut and strike up the runway. The only exception: a bright peach-colored top. Other than that one piece, the rest of the colors have been subdued and neutral. Earthy designs have been implemented in the dresses. Dresses with long floor-length skirts have smooth, round, curving contours which ring in concentric circles.
And upon closer look, contouring loops have similar lines in our nature —in a butterfly. The shapes of the circular patterns are like the earth’s stratosphere. Remember eighth grade science? Earth’s layers of the stratosphere from the earth’s bedrock to the top rise above. How about taking a look at the circular pattern in the forecast? Watch the forecast before heading to work in the morning — a live-cam image of moving winds, clouds. The wind directions are drawn in circular motion, hoops and rings moving upwards, downwards, north or south. Take a look at the insides of a tree trunk and you see ringlets —circles of rings which run in concentric layers, one over the other — which hint the age of the tree (the number of ringlets a tree has tells the age of the tree). Look at your own unique fingerprints, see ringlets, loops in circular patterns, layered on top of the other. Regardless of how you look at it, earthy, natural elements are designed naturally to run in circular, contouring lines; hence, here in fashion, it is used in this spring dresses. They are available in few selections to choose from: black with white ringlets of loops, silver with black ringlets, or black with silver ringlets. Silver enlivens against the white wintry drop; likewise, the silver illuminates like the lunar eclipse in the blackness of the night. Silver can be donned in bags, shoes, capers, belts, clothes. (I had a silver Marc Jacobs $250-$400 bag once. The only word of caution is silver color can stain easily. So don’t hang them on the office chair or leave them on top of your office desk. Please use the slip-on cover bag).
This spring season’s look has high-waist pants — loose, baggy, wide-legs, cut above-the-ankle. The pants are redolent of the 1980s pants that trended until the early 1990s. (I wore a design like this in kindergarten; high-waist beige colored pants like the models wore on the runway with a top and long sleeve shirt and topped it off with a sandy-brown woven handbag, a natural earthy colored outfit put together by my mother. The period was 1980s.) Casual variant to the pants are cargo pants, but accessorized with belts worn unusually longer; however, belts are tied not in a straight-lace around the loops, but wrapped once or twice around the waist, opting a style of your personal touch. Not of leather, they are stretchable fabric but fit for spring, summer look. (I’ve worn belts like this where you loop around, giving control to the wearer in how they tie their waist. If you wear belts like these, I recommend you wear them with a natural fiber like cotton.) The pants are for casual wear; indeed a look for a journey out in the safari, either way, weekend looks. Colors in this collection are like minimalist: monochromatic solids or dichromatic colors minimized, simplified.
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| Tom Ford Spring Summer 2019 |
Ford’s spring has contemporary urbane looks for men — wintry whites, chic blacks, cashmere beiges, mustard sands, metallic grape-wines, shimmering grays, toasted copper-browns — shimmering with a metro, sexual vibe (oops) and shine. (FYI: I’ve made up the color names.) Men and women’s attires match colors in an ensemble —all black, all white, sandy beige, and it goes on. Uniform colors have been used. Jacket and pants have been paired with same colors. Outfits with a fabric heavier on top, but lighter at bottom have been paired.
I have a thing for leather jackets. (Sometime in elementary school, I must have worn leather— a brown knee-high boots— to greet Santa Claus, back when I still believed in Santa Claus. Only I haven’t found many designs that suit my tastes and wearable in public.)
Having the best of both worlds is hard, but leather dyed in color gets me. Black and brown leathers are typical finds, but color is atypical. Tom Ford’s black leather begins with a model enveloped in an all-black ensemble — leather jacket, skirt, and black-laced top. The models stride in black ensembles like a snake slithering in-and-out of grimy soil, then sliding in a straight line. Skirts paired with jackets are form-fitting, binding tightly on a woman’s figure, and pencil skirts press you to walk a tight straight line. Alike to the mermaid dress, they bind on your waists and hips. So if you’ve got it, flaunt it. Embossed in crocodile-prints, get the rock-star look because this black leather is atypical. Whew. (I have worn crocodile-print black leather ankle boots, a pair of Stuart Weitzman $160-$225, and what I noticed distinct about them is their shine —more so than any other leather boots. Even from the distance, I’d notice it. Like laminated wood to sanded plywood, waxed car to a car that has weathered through storms, Roman marble floors to plastic tiles, crocodile-prints make their mark.) The key lies in the embellishment which adorns the base foundation. Tom Ford’s crocodile-embossed leather infuses urbane style — sleek, chic, and a lighter shade which suits my taste. Take a sip of a bland flat drink, and after fizzy, bubbly champagne, you’d notice a difference. Now which would you take a second sip of? I think the latter, wouldn’t you say? Ford’s has a shade in purple, and I coin it “light eggplant,” because eggplants have nutritional value and it’s got the shade of purple (put by the sunlight). Purple hue resonates a soft spring season, the more the reasons I like this shade.
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| Tom Ford Spring Summer 2019 |
Jackets are made simple: two buttons at the collar, a zipper at the waist, and a shade of lilac and lavender. Cut short, they hit above the hip bone. Available in assorted designs and in glazed emerald forest-green, the green jacket is paired with a pencil nude-beige skirt and a detail of a see-through eyelet-lace at the bottom. Pencil skirts are paired with laced camisoles, U-shaped tanks, and turtlenecks. Two of his ensembles have an attached cape — long, flowing, light, weightless, nude bisque-beige — the piece harmoniously flows with a feminine silhouette. (This is the resort look I’ve mentioned.) Perhaps the color close to bisque, reminiscent of pure white sands at a pristine, blue-green crystal waters on a beach prompts me to imagine a resort. (The resort look has an embellished touch, like a sheer, elongated wrap-around head band or a long cape that has a light, weightless feel.)
Ford has assorted skirts: floor-length, long-layered, fringed layers (over underlay of satiny sheath). Fringed layers look shaved and contrast a heavier fabric to a light shell. Colors on longer skirts vary: light brown to coconut brown. Colors you would see on a trip to the tropical islands. Fabrics stray to mohair or angora, and the models look like wild leopard huntresses prowling in the safari jungle. And so, slip one on. Then glide and slide in the urban jungle.
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| Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2019 |
Pick a theme and stick with it. A new idea presented to the public has to have a clear theme that you stick to. Stronger core messages elicit responses from your viewers. Cogent and convincing, Marc Jacob’s Spring 2019 collection has a central theme: oversized dresses, giant cuffs, ruffs, ruffles, and enlarged rose heads or petals. Accented and accentuating the dress with a new modern pattern are petals — rose petals, specifically. Colors in Jacob’s collection are light, bright pastels —right for spring. Pastels are especially good for spring and summer. It feels so right.
Who remembers Studio 54? Virtually everyone that is in pop culture was in this club. Studio 54 brought people together for a night. Jacob’s Spring/Summer has a Studio 54 vibe —tunneling you down to a decade past. Marc Jacob’s designs not only shoots, plummets you down the rabbit hole to a new enchanting world, but in a world where everything is dramatic, modern, oversized. Like Alice in Wonderland, anything here goes. And it is not that you have shrunken, the designs have just become larger-than-ordinary, a life-size and an impetus which makes you smaller. Eclectic blends of colors, shades, tones keep you, the audience, riveted onto the show. And this is a real fashion show.
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| Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2019 |
Begin with color. Wow. Look out for these colors for Spring/Summer: deep, bright, shimmering, and pastels (again!). And I have given them names: celery-lime green, sunny-side-up yolk-yellow, champagne beige, chocolaty brown, dessert sand, toasted tan, glittering silver, midnight cobalt blue, singed toffee, Big Birdie yellow, gilded neon green, soft turquoise, whip cream white, creamy peach, electrifying metallic pink, hot pink-magenta, cotton candy pink, metallic gilded ecru, cookie-n-cream coral, creamy antique white, jet black, glazed spirulina green, baby sky blue, granny smith pastel-green, earthy brown, neon yellow, deep ink blue, hyacinth blue, pale peach sorbet. Pastels colors at piqued passion and fervor. (Latest from the late 1990s, circa 1997, definitely before the millennium, pastels were used then; and it is recycled again with an added new twist. Pastels are fit for spring/summer.)
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| Marc Jacobs Spring Summer 2019 |
Marc Jacob has retro looks for the spring’s collection. Jackets, coats, and wide, curved edges on collars give a retro vibe dating back to the 1960s. Enlarged sleeves and layers — layers of light ruffles —magnifies the retro 1960s, 1970s look adorned on tops, dresses. As seen with other designers for the spring, tiered skirts have its place here also. Cuffs and puffs on tops and dresses have enlarged folds — large folds of lineated ruffles — wave, careen like the oscillating ocean waves. Lobate and rotund, the ruffles have multi-folds which orbit in intricate folds that make you get lost looking at them. The puffs are large and elaborate in oversized dresses. Transparent or shimmering, the ruffles stand out in a dress. Rose heads wrap around the waist, neck, and collar — dramatically rotund and enlarged they are— and like rose buds in spring, they enrapture the models with a romantic, dramatic finish. Roses have not bloomed, not fully yet. Like the early buds of May, roses have been incased. Still making its mark, daring risk-takers can take on these dresses and anything else in the collection. Push the envelope by wearing the collection boldly, dramatically, outrageously.
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