2011 February | ShinyStyle

Tommy Hilfiger, one of the USA’s biggest and most iconic fashion brands, showed at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week yesterday. The result was a surprisingly pleasing mix of Annie Hall-esque androgyny and 1970s glamour, with a bit of New York grit thrown in for measure. Much like in Alexander Wang’s catwalk show, fur and leather were key in adding sexy and feminine twists to masculine tailoring.

Anyone who’s seen the Woody Allen classic Annie Hall will remember the endearingly sloppy trouser suit and waistcoat that Diane Keaton wore when she fell in love with Woody Allen – like a small frail girl dressing up like a man. Tommy Hilfiger have perfectly modernised that look, creating loose, low-waisted suit trousers and masculine suit jackets in lush-looking twills, adding flashes of riotous 70s-looking silk here and there to add a witty twist. The result is effortless – as if the models, panicking about having nothing to wear, just slung on their boyfriends’ suits and suddenly though “Hey, this looks pretty good”. There is nothing contrived about this collection at all.

The fashion house have managed to seamlessly blur the line between formalwear and sportswear, mixing slouchy sweatshirts and beautifully knitted men’s jumpers with fur gilets, suit trousers and leather. Our absolute favourite piece from the whole collection is the stone-coloured suede outdoor jacket with leather lapels – a genius take on old-fashioned outdoors wear, every girl will want one of these to brave the cold in, whether you’re in New York or Grimsby.

Yes, tailoring has been a big trend for a while, but not quite like this – Tommy Hilfiger’s 2011-12 collection takes masculine dressing to another level. The fashion house has taken the next logical step from reinventing the tuxedo as a feminine garment to bringing Saville Row dressing to the female market. In fashion, it’s never just a man’s world. In a subtly cool palette of greys, blacks, browns and golds, it’s an understated assortment of clothes that we think will give any wearer immediate elegance and poise.

Forget cocktail dresses – make our next party outfit a Tommy Hilfiger suit.

Tags: 1970s, androgyny, annie hall, mercedes benz, New York Fashion Week, suit, Tommy Hilfiger, tweed
Posted in Designer Fashions, Events, Gallery, New York Fashion Week - Runway | 6 Comments »

Designer Fashions, Designers, Events, Features, Gallery, New York Fashion Week - Runway

NY Fashion Week: Victoria Beckham

By Andrea Petrou on February 14th, 2011

3 comments

By Emily Borrett.

Victoria Beckham A/W 2011-2012

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It may have taken some by surprise when former Spice Girl and occasionally tacky footballer’s wife, Victoria Beckham, had a complete style overhaul and announced a new career in fashion. Long gone is the black bob, purple lipstick and minidress that we remember so well from SpiceWorld – what has ensued is an impeccably chic sense of dress, a close friendship with Karl Lagerfeld and a much-anticipated runway slot at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in NYC.

But, a couple of years on and her venture into design has been far from a flop – several extremely high-profile celebrities (including Michelle Obama) have become huge fans of her beautifully tailored, sleek designs. The buzz around her show at NY Fashion Week yesterday paid testament to the huge success she’s become.

While her past designs have been extremely structured, form-fitting dresses that are reminiscent of Jackie O on her way to a press event, this season’s collection was a surprisingly relaxed and playful assortment of dresses and miniskirts in her trademark block colours; this season the palette of choice was a mix of black, sunflower yellow, crimson and maroon. The whole thing reminded us a bit of the genius of Jil Sander’s last collection. The glamour, however, was still there in spades; that much was obvious as soon as the first look was sent down the runway, a hooded crimson dress that looked like it should belong on a classic cover of Vogue.

What followed the first look was an elegant mix of bubble-hem dresses, origami-structured shapes and cowl necks that managed to look modern while giving more than a nod to the stark simplicity of the 1960s. It’s a style that I’d absolutely kill to pull off, but I’ve got a feeling these dresses require a wearer with a little more poise than clumsy old me.

The Victoria Beckham show was an absolute pleasure – not because of the talent shown in her designs, but the growth and development in her creativity that we can see since the last collection. We can’t wait to see what she comes up with next time – it’ll probably be spectacular. She just keeps getting better and better.

Tags: dress, mercedes benz week, New York Fashion Week, tailoring, VB, Victoria Beckham
Posted in Designer Fashions, Designers, Events, Features, Gallery, New York Fashion Week - Runway | 3 Comments »