sheer genius (resort '14 review pt. 1)

Today my mom and I went to MoMA for the Rain Room exhibit but left after waiting for a bit after realizing that it probably wasn't worth it. (I got the same experience later on when I walked through actual rain with an umbrella, for free.) We walked around Rockefeller Center for a few hours, stopping at various shops and such. We went to H&M, and I wasn't sure if I would find anything worth buying, but I did. There was this amazing pair of jeans that my mother persuaded me to try on, which I am grateful for because WOWZA. People say that the right pair of jeans can transform a person. I don't know if it was that extreme, but I definitely felt upbeat wearing them and a tad more self-assured. (I don't base self confidence on what I wear, but these jeans are different. They are on the same level as those pants from The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, except these are not to be shared. Ever. I don't care how close we are.)

Anyway, I didn't think that my outfit was really worth posting on here; it was nice, and gave me a chance to wear my giant Heathers button, but not particularly blogworthy. Since I still wanted to do a post, I decided that I would use today to sum up some of my favorite looks from the Resort 2014 collections.  

1. Jean Paul Gaultier
             
             


             
             

My three absolutely favorite parts of JPG's Resort '14 collection are the use of sheer material (especially in the second picture, for the sheer coat that is incredibly lovely), the use of fishnets, and the jacket in the last picture (click to enlarge). The silhouettes and tailoring in this one were really good (see: last two pictures). But back to the use of sheer material: I like the fact that the subtly of it made it quite blatant if you think about it. Instead of having outright sheer pieces, the material was used as sleeves, parts of tops, and different places in dresses and pants. 

There are an equal amount of good draping and tailoring which I mentioned before, and then there was a mixture of the two, which is even better, because why choose between the two? There was also a balance between prints and more minimalistic colors, although I chose not to add pictures of a good amount of the printed pieces because they weren't really anything that would make you look twice. Overall, I would say that it was a pretty good collection but definitely could have been even better.

2. Maison Martin Margiela 

              

              

Clean, structured, well tailored clothes from M.M.M. I like the contrast between the white and the black. (There were also splashes blue and grey in the collection, but the only piece that I really liked that used one of those colors was a blue trench-coat.) Like the JPG collection, there could be more standout pieces in this once, which makes me sad because I love Maison Martin Margiela.

3. Marc by Marc Jacobs

             

             

So far, this is my favorite out of all of the Resort looks that I've seen. It has, as annoyingly overused as this phrase may sound, a youthful yet sophisticated look to it, which stays true to the general spirit of the usual Marc by Marc Jacobs collections. It's great. I really admire the use of black and white because it isn't trying to be cool, it just is. That effortless cool is what defines this collection. I like the fact that the clothes are incredibly amazing and still retain their fashion credibility while being something that you can really visualize yourself wearing.

              

              

4. Alexander Wang

              

              

YES to the dress(es) and NO to those shoes. I know that the Alexander Wang girl is about maintaining the relaxed yet interesting cool of a model walking down the street...laid back, but laid back enough that you won't hesitate to look twice. 

But those shoes.

I would not look twice.

In fact, I regret even looking once. I don't know. I have a serious aversion to Toms, anything that LOOKS like a pair of Toms, and nice outfits that are killed by the overpowering, satanic aura of Toms or Toms-like shoes. 

Alexander (first name basis, obviously), I love you. I love you so much that when I was nine and my mother got one of your bags, I stayed up all night wallowing in sadness because she refused to let me use it. (Five years later, I realize how much sense this made.)

But those SHOES. 

Okay, I'm done. Let's move on to more outfits without THOSE SHOES. (But first let's analyze these outfits while pretending that you-know-what doesn't exist. Great use of leather, good mixture of masculine and feminine; I like the message that it sends that you don't need to choose between the two. This is shown in the more obvious choices like the pink pencil skirt and  the black leather peplum shirt, and in more subtle outfits like the second picture featuring the black dress with the sharp lines.)

                 

                 

I like the fact that the third picture brings to mind high school (ignoring the Toms-like shoes, which don't look too bad with this outfit). Did anyone else get that vibe?

Basically: pleats, leather, effortlessness with structure (a fashion paradox, essentially), masculinity and femininity coexisting, youth, and leather. I like this collection.

5. Alexander McQueen  

                  

                  

I really like the clothing shapes that were chosen for this collection. They were based on what women wore during WWII while men were at war; for a good amount of the pieces, I felt as if they were also based on what one might wear one a safari in Africa, only with more taste. The major points (sorry if it seems like I'm not going into detail enough; it's getting late and I want to finish up this post for you guys before I go to sleep): pockets, structure, war/1940s' colors (brown, light blue, white), femininity evolved, belts and buckles, and prints that didn't work as well as the more simple-colored pieces. It started off well and then just ended up as dresses with prints, sort of losing the original artistic vision.

                  

                  

Well, I'm off to bed because my mother is on the other side of the room glaring at me, and because I'm tired and need to wake up early tomorrow. I didn't get to do a collection flashback which I really wanted to do in this post, but I'll make it up to you in the next one. Goodbye, lovelies! 

                                                                                     xxBritney