Last Thoughts on Resort

So after this, my work with the Resort 2011 collections is over. And by "work" I mean pausing "Monty Python's The Meaning of Life" on the dvd and add some text to these photos I chose from style.com and collaged a few days ago. Forget the fact that I should be preparing English classes for a Spanish Cooperation consultant for tomorrow monday, which I'll give at some point after spending all day on the streets with anthropoligist Adrienne Pine getting footage for a documentary about the anniversary of the Coup d'etat of June 28th, 2010 in Honduras.That and coordinating a conference to honor 1998 Nobel prize writer José Saramago taking place on Thursday. While attending a theater workshop every morning. People ask me, "Raúl, how do you do it?" (Actually nobody asks but it sounds like I'm inspiring or something) and the truth is I just throw things into the snowball behind me and run a little bit faster. *DEEP BREATH* ANYWAY getting this done.

Lanvin

Lanvin is just.. sublime. But even so Alber Elbaz (who is in fact photobombing the sixth image) came up with these shifting garments, some of which are reversible and one can be transformed from a coat to a shirtdress. It's not like the morphing Hussein Chalayan Spring 2007 collection, but rather a more wearable, budget friendly one.

Proenza Schouler

Colors and patterns. Sort of carpetty, in a good, Stanley Kubrik's "The Shining" hotel way, specialy the brighter ones. It's just a matter of time before Chloe Sevigny gets her 90's hands in these.

Givenchy

I like the way these sort of send me the question "How goth can anyone get?" and then there's animal prints which do not ask anything but to be used with caution. The symmetry is flawless and the shapes interesting, the kind of thing you expect from a Paris couturier.

Chloe Sevigny for O.C.

I love this girl. So this has to stay street-fashion-y, and I wouldn't want her to change that. Her way is just the 90's and doc Martens and cotton and falling in the same category as Courtney Love.

Celine

I couldn't bring myself to chose only three or six looks, you can click to enlarge. It's simple, bright, flowing and majestic. The colors and textures are beautiful, I want to compliment it so badly the best thing I can come up with is betting my eyelashes that Anna Dello Russo will be photograph by Tommy Ton walking in the streets wearing Celine Resort 2011 anytime soon.

Bottega Veneta

I like Bottega. The casting is one of my favorites, and I like the clothes, and they always book Rose Cordero (upper left corner). The assembly is funny and bold and the colors bright and distinctive, a bit distant from its last Fall collection which was more about flow and elegance.

Anyway I have a hectic day ahead so, Ciao cari amici! or whatever.

Resort 2011 Part I

I'm still undecided about what to think of Resort/Cruise collections even after my friend A. made it very clear they are as important as the air we breath or the gravitation forces holding the universe together, in a comment essay on this post. And though I don't think the world would cease to exist as we know it if there weren't any of the 75 Resort 2011 collections, there's still very much to be said about some of the clothes. Beginning with

Yves Saint Laurent
The jumpsuit thing is awesome and 70's and classy here. And though this is definetely my favorite look, I chose the images of the wide A dresses because they represent the rethro uptight/naive-meets-slutty trend I often enjoy so much (See Prada Fall 2010) and anyway I always agree when a house sticks to its core and keeps its characteristic mood.

Chanel
Well that's some seven-digit model casting budget going on right here.
Up, from left:
1. Hanne Gaby Odiele 2. Georgia May Jagger + I don't know in a motorcycle
3. Anja Rubik
4. Abbey Lee Kershaw
Down, from left:
5. Baptiste Giabiconi/Zoolander 6. Eniko Mihalik 7. Anastasia Kuznetsova 8. Freja Beha Erichsen.
About the clothes, I'm too distracted to think, and prefer to stare at Anastasia who is my new model love because even though she has the face of an unborn baby, she can walk the runway so fiercely it makes me cry, die, shriek, etc. So I'll just drop the words St.Tropez and the rest can be figured out.

Donna Karan
These three looks (wore by Constance Jablonski) are my favorite. There's so much variety in fabrics and shapes and still you get an underlying cohesion achieved by the colors and I suspect also from the location, which I thought was kind of.. organic? Anyway these clothes are so nice they flow and fall in all the right places.

Jason Wu
1. Rose Cordero 2. Hanne Gaby Odiele 3. Lindsay Wixon
A long time ago I decided everytime I saw Puerto Rican model love Rose Cordero in a runway I would mention it, but ever since the Milan Fashion Week of Fall 2010 it's been rather difficult. I mean she walks everything lately, though she rarely gets editorial job, except for the cover of the Paris Vogue of March 2010. On the clothes, they're good I think, pretty and sobber and very much like the thing Michelle Obama loves Jason Wu for.

Zero + Maria Cornejo
The collection was inspired its Chilean designer María Cornejo's travels around the world. Wherever she went, there must've been some perfect, clean cuts and wise tailoring for her to come out with this. It's not really groundbreaking (hate that word btw) and the colors could've been crazier/funnier to better suit the radical architecture of the pieces (which would've resulted in something much more like the upper right corner look) but aside from that, this collection is exceptional. I even dare to say that if Hussein Chalayan had a resort collection, it would be in sort of the same category? Maybe? No? Not at all? ok nevermind.

So.. there's still Lanvin, Bottega Veneta, Celine, Givenchy and Proenza Schouler and I'll be done with Resort 2011. And I got the Men Summer/Spring 2011 among my priorities so this can stay fair and gender-friendly. Hasta pronto!

Resort Collections So Far

I'm not really sure about Resort collections. Not like anybody cares anyway, as I'm sure Karl and Galliano don't spend late nights at their workshops thinking, "would that 21 year old boy from Honduras approve this?.. would he!?" but I think Resort's a bit vague and ambiguous. You're a designer, you work for six months to get your Fall/Winter collection out in February, and from the next day you start working for six months to get your Spring/Summer collection in September.. and that pre-fall thing they've invented? You have to be super creative, but mostly you have to be part of LVMH, Prada Group, the Gucci Group, etc to get $uper $upport. Besides I could only think of two types of women who would use most of these clothes:

1. Wives of rich, middle-eastern/Italian business men who yell at the phone while they're taking the sun in a yatch at St.Tropez; and

2. Blonde, tacky, disoriented and easily amazed tourist women who actually go on a cruise on vacation.

However.. it's painful enough to realize you're slowly getting tired of so so much Miu Miu SS10 in editorials, and the next Summer/Spring collection is still three months away, so let's indulge in some Resort 2010-2011 review starting with

Jil Sander

This one I like. It's very in tune with the fall 2010, but with much more color (fall was mostly black) and a certain Balenciaga-ish architecture, only much more minimalistic.

Missoni

I'm not that familiar with Missoni except for spreads in the several "Hello!" magazines my mom keeps. Since women who read "Hello!" are usually rich, I-know-the-line-to-the-English-throne type of women (except for my mother) I have a certain prejudice about it. However, if my mom would go on vacation, this is what I would like her to wear, a somewhat ethnic, colorful and falling-in-the-right-places line.

Elie Tahari

What's with the Balmain theme here? Tacky. Also.. it made me giggle to think.. whose idea was it to show the collection in an audience-less runway with the same model walking in all 26 different outfits? Poor girl..

Alexander Wang

I always get the feeling that everyone loves whatever A.Wang does. Specially shoes, as in open-toe-laced zipped-Freja-heels and I admit the fall 2010 collection was great. But what is this? Maybe in his mind everyone will have a 90's themed vacation? Was he inspired by Julia Robert's golden Notting Hill era? Seriously, this is what any common American would wear to walmart, and those flat sandals look heavy, dumb, and.. smelly? The person who wears this has clearly left all sense of style and surrender to comfortable clothing.

Burberry Prorsum

I like the blue coat. Other than that it's.. nice I guess, not really my style. Very conventional, like what all the non-front row attendees would be wearing a a fashion show.

Christian Dior

I'm reluctant to give my opinion on pastels.. or industrial amounts of lace.. but hey it's me and if somebody likes Barbie meets tranny it's ok, I'm no hater. So I'll talk about something else, like how this show included live violins and Bjork soundtrack, or...

Ok this is too long for a single post so I'll leave the rest for later, including Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Yves St. Laurent and anything else showing these days (hopefully Prada).