NYFW: An all-American affair

Altuzarra S/S '15; image source: nowfashion.com

Long gone are the days of experimental American fashion. What used to be a Saturday reserved for young innovators going by the names of Gurung, Wang and Altuzarra has now turned into a snooze-fest as all three designers showed coll-ections that appear to have been created just for the purpose of generating profit.

Just two years ago young designer Joseph Altuzarra had his breakthrough collection thanks to a 'gut' telling him to go where very few begi-nners have gone - an expensive route filled with high-quality astrakhan fur, exquisite tailoring and excessive embellishment. Today, possibly as a nod to his collaboration with Target, he chose to create an all-American collection that brought very little to the table.

The silhouettes were well-too-known - the show opened with a classic Altuzarra white suit con-sisted of a crisp jacket and a high-slit skirt, con-tinuing with an army of knee-length dress clad models, cigarette pants and distressed chiffon gowns. One has got to applaud the designer's successful decision, however, to include laser-
cut leather pieces in the form of skirts, dresses and vests that almost have a fence-like feel to them, thus serving also as some sort of shields.

There can't be said much about Prabal Gurung's latest show, mostly because it looked like a mash-up of everything the designer has done over the past few seasons. The skirts yet once again had chiffon extensions hanging from the sides; there was a lot of asymmetry and excessive complications regar-ding the cut of the clothes; the outfits were fairly repetitive, and the whole mess ended with a weak evening-wear part of three gowns that had shower curtains covering basic white underwear.

Alexander Wang's story is very much similar. Just recently I read New York Times' Vanessa Friedman's profile of the designer and him shuffling between two brands, and funnily he mentioned how he is afraid of succumbing to the pressure and creating the same items for both Balenciaga and his own brand. I assume his fear is coming true, because what we saw at his show last night barely had its own identity.

Alexander Wang S/S '15; image source: ehads.com

Yes, there were some classic Wang-moments like the three consecutive scuba diving mini-dresses in orange, green and blue; the relaxed maxi dresses with a color-blocking technique that relied on fabric rather than color and the white and mint Adidas-inspired tennis pieces, but most of it felt like a scaled-down Balenciaga show down to the structured tops and immaculately tailored black satin pants.

For more photos of the collections go to Style.com and don't forget to follow me on Twitter!

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