Everyone has an opinion, you can count on that, and opinions on the designers and their fashion shows at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is no different. Here are videos from various designers from Fashion Week in NYC with reviews from fashion editors and fashion bloggers alike. Be sure to check out Chic.TV coverage of fashion week on You Tube, for all the videos check out Chic.tv website, it's some of the better quality fashion footage I've seen this year.
Oscar de la Renta Watch Video
WWD: De la Renta’s collection was, in a word, dazzling, and not only in its well-controlled embroideries. It shone as well in its security; its grounded, cross-generational appeal and its fabulous expression of sporty luxe.
Fashion Week Daily: Oscar de la Renta's latest collection was designed with dames in mind. It’s all the contradictions real women have been clamoring for since the babydoll dress came back into fashion. We say: vive de la Renta!
Godfrey Deeny, Fashion Wire Daily: Oscar de la Renta is twice the age of most of the 200 odd designers who will stage shows in New York this season, yet when it comes to the attitude of his classy fashion, it's probably fresher than any of them and more in step with the real world.
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan, WSJ Heard on the Runway: Designers may be collectively heralding a return to more polished dressing and tailored looks, but that’s probably not news to Oscar de la Renta, who has never veered far from his core mission of creating luxurious suits, ballgowns and accessories for the rich and famous.
Diane von Furstenberg Watch Video
WWD: Typically savvy fusion of the sensual and the sensible, but with a notable upgrade to the sophistication level, starting with the palette.
Fashion Week Daily: Though DVF's collection was decidedly dress-centric, that didn't equal a lack of variety. Even the black frocks, of which there were many, had an eye-pleasing uniqueness, and each one she sent one down the runway felt as fresh as the first time.
Nicole Phelps, Style.com: Her collection was singular in its focus on dresses. Many of the dresses came with matching coats, a nod toward the designer's sense of practicality, an asset that should serve her industry well in the coming months.
Godfrey Deeny, Fashion Wire Daily: Von Furstenberg’s fall 2007 collection was a swaggering tour through Iberian culture that inspired prolonged applause in Bryant Park. Though not exactly demure, it was ladylike, poised and entirely fitting for a stroll across St Peter's Square.
Rachel Michaela, Style Bites: The fall collection opened disappointingly with black on black. Sad, since DVF does color so well. At the worst moments (there was the linebacker-like jacket, then the metallic pewter monstrosity of a top and skirt, and at least one graphic dress nightmare) the models looked positively fat.
Doo. Ri Watch Video
WWD: The collection she presented on Tuesday wasn’t groundbreaking, but it showed hints of a step forward. The second half of the show, comprising variations on the jersey dress, often embellished with architectural crystal harnesses, felt a bit one-note and even lackluster.
Fashion Week Daily: Doo-Ri made a tentative foray into color, mixing a mellow, muted turquoise with burgundy and even a pop of lemon yellow. The collection seemed to find her in a transitional phase, gone were the cinched waists of seasons past, replaced by elongated torsos ending just above the hip.
Nicole Phelps, Style.com: The crystal cages and harnesses worn over her signature jersey dresses got a little complicated, and it would've been nice to see her work in colors other than bordeaux, emerald, and navy.
Suzy Menkes, International Herald Tribune: Doo-Ri Chung had a soft and graceful take on silk, draping it into a top over a bib of sequins and scooping up the sides of a jersey dress. The palette of wine, blue and peacock green made for a repetitive show, but its effect was youthful with a touch of romance.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: The bubble-hemmed jersey dresses and frocks began looking very repetitious, but the bordeaux and emerald printed Georgette dress with Swarovski crystal blew me away. She will do very well with this line. She is a crowd pleaser and so darn adorable and talented, you can't resist.
Carolina Herrera Watch Video
Fashion Week Daily: The designer seemed to be juggling a widening scope of references: a square, three quarter sleeve fur tunic worn over a straight plaid skirt paired with substantially spangled stockings for an almost grunge-like layered effect, adapted for the Park Avenue set; when the skirt's pattern showed up again in a bustier dress, the effect was nearer to Anglomania.
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan WSJ Heard on the Runway: A polished collection featuring dresses made with perforated felt, coats with dramatic funnel-necked collars and tailored, slouchy jackets with wide lapels. Color-wise, she said her subdued palette of blue, “grape,” ash and bark was influenced by Edvard Munch’s somber portrait of Norwegian philosopher Hans Jaeger.
Nicole Phelps, Style.com: With dark menswear plaids and jacquards juxtaposed against the artistic detailing that has lately become a Herrera signature, the effect was altogether different from her confectionary-sweet spring outing.
Godfrey Deeny, Fashion Wire Daily: Herrera’s collection for fall 2007 oozed haute sophistication, from the remarkable jacquard coats to the stockings finished with jade.
Girlawhirl: Favorite new look are the pants, high waisted, slim through the hip and thigh and full through the rest of the leg to the ground where they flipped and flickered as the models walked.
Erin Fetherston Watch Video
WWD: Erin Fetherston showed froufrou dresses in fabrics that appeared a bit cheap, but her PYT friends are likely to find at least one star in the collection.
Fashion Week Daily: Erin Fetherston sent a sweet and lowdown little collection down her silver, star-spangled runway. For demurely divine, goddess-like evening gowns that closed the show, we'll be dreaming 'til they hit stores for sure.
Lindsay Sammon, Fashion Wire Daily: A memorable addition to this season’s collection was Fetherston’s use of the cape, shown with constellation and butterfly prints, and affixed to the back of dresses in a way that gave the garments lift and endless fluidity.
Meenal Mistry, Style.com: The collection occasionally ventured toward the less-sophisticated side of girlish with a couple of Lurex pieces, it was a solid effort that will keep the growing Fetherston fan base more than happy.
FabSugar: Erin Fetherston's designs are what little big girls dream about. Super feminine and girly, while remaining modern, here is a collection that wisks you away to a beautiful boudoir floating in space.
WWD: Easy, layered and effortlessly cool. Graceful, fluid cocktail dresses, not too loose, not too tight. Daywear in unfussy lines with just a hint of button or pintucking details.
Fashion Week Daily: Lim has rapidly gained a highly exclusive following of fashion girls and the non, all of whom know that Lim basics; the gabardine trench, tuxedo trouser, knit tunic, and jersey dress will be pieces that last.
Jeannette Park, Fashion Wire Daily: Phillip Lim showed a sublime and sophisticated collection.
Nicole Phelps, Style.com: The designer showed his most ambitious collection by far. Lim perfectly evoked the studied insouciance of the swish set and even with all those layers, a head-to-toe look could still run less than a blouse on the designer floor.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: Not for fans of the frilly or the purveyors of the merely pretty, Phillip Lim's fall collection may be difficult for those who are oblivious to detail and subtle irony.
WWD: Among Nanette Lepore’s standard girlish fare, strong this season in beautiful plums and chocolate browns, were great cozy knits and matelasse coats punched up with a shot of sparkle.
Cheryl Lu-Lien Tan WSJ Heard on the Runway: Comfortable knitwear was prevalent in all forms–from oversized sweaters to long gowns dressed up with sparkly sequins.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: While punctuated by pieces that were simply gorgeous (like a velvet swag dress with ribbon belt) Nanette Lepore's carnival of sequins, feather, mohair and multiple velvet hues crowded out nuance and charm.
Girlawhirl: Loved the Pucci-esque pattern, done in browns, purples and burgundy on velvet dresses and other blouses. There were other prints as well, and it all just added to the luxe look of the layers.
Mary Jo Matsumoto, She Knows: Effortless chic.
WWD: Jason Wu featured several playful cocktail confections and sophisticated dark brocade and cashmere day looks, but some of the satins, silks and embellishments looked a tad cheap.
Joanna Rodger, Style.com: Fall was discernibly edgier than previous seasons. Wu's strength is his immaculate tailoring, a solid foundation for beautiful clothing. Look for young socials and starlets to start appearing in his front row sooner rather than later.
Rachel Michaela (Style Bites) for Dream Brizo: Wu's girl also seemed to venture out of her uptown look, incorporating a few punky details (brightly colored belts, metal beading) to spice up her always timeless wardrobe.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: The look was edgy, sexy, and a little bit tough, like the bad girls from high school all grown up. Black leather, metallics, and bold shots of red, tempered with graceful chiffon, created a look that reminded me of a futuristic Bond girl.
WWD: This collection was positively sedate, done mostly in black with nary a peek of pink tulle in sight.
Renata Espinosa, Fashion Wire Daily: It was sophisticated, but in a girlish way, but for a night out, after one has put in their hours learning the art of being demure at finishing school, Johnson offered an endless array of frilly party frocks - tiered organza ruffles being a key theme, along with lace.
Laird Borrelli, Style.com: Her prototypical sex-bomb baby still strode the catwalk in a suit with pinup short shorts, and any number of blowsy (okay, to be frank, tarty) dresses. Meanwhile, the more mature, if not strictly demure, minx dressed the part in formfitting frocks with a whisper of Dietrich.
Omiru: Style for All: Has Betsey Johnson grown up? If the answer lies in her Fall 2007 collection, then the answer is a resounding yes! Betsey is known for her flirty, flamboyant and oh-so-girly dresses, but this time around, she toned it down—way down—and went the menswear-as-womenswear route.
FabSugar: She showed the world a more reserved collection for Fall 2007. Still packed with ruffled, lacey party dresses, there was definitely more grown up pieces than usual. This is not a bad thing, just different.
WWD: Alice Temperley’s strength was found in her cool-toned Victorian separates, but she lost focus with oddly placed Pucci-esque prints and vivid colors.
Fashion Week Daily: Temperley hopped on Le Train Bleu for fall; white, grey, and electric turquoise anchored in copious amounts of black was Temperley's story and she stuck to it while still displaying a striking variety of looks ranging from bistro-ready stripes to wrought iron embellishments to patterns channeling the sober swirls of Moscow church domes.
Erin Skrypek, Fashion Wire Daily: Alice Temperley’s fall 2007 show was bound to smack of lost time when glamour and art fused as one – and not the way it does today. Although the entire collection was wearable, Ms. Temperley might have done well to edit out or at least update a dress or two brought her show to an end.
Meenal Mistry, Style.com: Shaking off her reputation for being solely a frock star, Temperley ventured further into more structured pieces. Tailoring isn’t exactly her bag, but the jackets, especially a pintucked Le Smoking, were very worthy of attention.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: Temperley's interpretation of this fascination with the color and extravagence of Russian nobility that makes her vibrant interpretation of Art Nouveau (in contrast with the Deco trend) inspiring and innovative.
WWD: Matthew Williamson’s fall presentation overshot the mark with odd color combinations and prints, not to mention a bizarre range of silhouettes.
Meenal Mistry, Style.com: Matthew Williamson is a dyed-in-the-wool fashion nomad, plucking inspiration from all around the globe to weave into his colorful wares. The collection may have been intended to capture the frenetic energy of a teeming neon metropolis where fashion statements are a national pastime, but on the runway the effect was overwhelming.
Fashion Week Daily: By God, Matthew Williamson loves his color and he’s going to show it! What really stole the show were the simple printed silk georgette pieces that have become Williamson’s trademark.
Godfrey Deeny, Fashion Wire Daily: His aesthetic always attracts attention, never ridicules.
Mary Jo Matsumoto, She Knows: Williamson is obviously talented beyond the norm. His use of bright print and color has a modern sophistication that very few designers ever master.
WWD: An unabashed celebration of delightful prettiness and femininity that was hard not to love.
Laird Borrelli, Style.com: These are good-looking pieces meant to appeal to the good-looking inhabitants of zip codes 10021 and 10012 alike. Not every look was a winner, and we didn't totally lose our heads.
Fashion Week Daily: Love was certainly in the air at Bryan Bradley’s Tuleh show. Fur was the order of the evening, either trimmed or full-on attached to the backs of the models who donned his ever-eclectic designs. Love is in the air, yes, but it’s puppy love this time around.
Renata Espinosa Fashion Wire Daily: Though Tuleh has an abundance of young socialite customers, something felt too matronly about the collection's day looks - too many fur trims screamed "mature" - but that's par for the course when you're a "lady."
Laura, Style Fix: There was the kind of understatedly sharp tailoring and a mix-and-match sensibility that one imagines a fashion editor demands in her wardrobe. If you were looking for functional yet elegant, versatile yet distinctive (which, I mean, who isn’t?), it was easy to find at Tuleh.
WWD: He flexed some serious ready-to-wear design muscle for fall, mining an Eighties-inspired collection that referenced everyone from Janet Jackson a la “Rhythm Nation” to Azzedine Alaia.
Joanna Rodger, Style.com: Alexander Wang focused on a combination of eighties hip-hop and seventies Parisian chic. As unlikely a mix as those influences are, Wang managed to pull off a modern and polished, not to mention commercially viable, collection.
Fashion Week Daily: Super-’80s was the recurring theme. For the everyday girl, his oversized cape cardigan is a must for fall, as are his trapeze skirts.
Rania Abu Eid, ZOOZOOM Fashion Magazine: Judging by the enthusiastic show audience, Wang’s downtown sensibility has hit the mark for editors and fashion gals alike.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: While others designers relied on the shimmy and shake of the season Wang took what appears to be a calculated risk. Instead, Wang relies on the fluidity of matte fabrics, the density of knitwear, the scholarly disposition of tweed, a fling with animal print and even the soft embrace of the sweater (oh no, we might actually stay warm this season!) to complete his collection.
WWD: Lacoste’s Christophe Lemaire offered up some terrific outerwear looks amusingly accessorized with French sportif knit caps and suede granny boots, but as a whole, the collection lacked the spirit of recent seasons.
Laird Borrelli, Style.com: He offered some good youthful options (knit minis and crepe-heeled granny boots) as well as a few grown-up looks. There were lots of desirable separates that fairly screamed “fall,” some had an undeniable je ne sais quoi, but at times things got a bit syrupy and over-Frenchified.
Fashion Week Daily: Exploring the French countryside during a bustling winterscape, the Lacoste girl was a bookish one, perhaps an art student even, who’s happy, carefree, but conscious of her style.
Renata Espinosa Fashion Wire Daily: A brand name beloved in the ‘80s, the show could have been a page copied from the 1980s classic for wannabe prepsters, “The Official Preppy Handbook,” with an emphasis on the New England collegiate wardrobe staple, the oversized sweater.
Tatiana Smith, Lavish Magazine: Lacoste, long associated with the upper-crust preppie fashion, made a slight turn towards rusticness in its Fall 2007 debut yesterday. While the familiar neutral seafarer flavor was still evident, it also made way for an autumn collection that is more at ease with horseback riding and brisk walking.
Fashion Week Daily: There was a touch of the English gypsy afoot at BCBG, but Lubov’s whimsy transcended the usual bobo frippery; art nouveau influence entwined with flapper-esque insouciance and Bloomsbury earnestness made for a preeminently wearable with substance to back it up.
Meenal Mistry, Style.com: There were the sort of swingy frocks with a touch of detail that are bound to appeal to the BCBG customer, though the dresses were occasionally weighed down with copious amounts of applique, crocheted trim, and chains. It's hard to imagine any girl, It or not, opting to look quite so tricked out.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: Large sack dresses reined supreme (they seem to be lasting yet another season) and the colors and mood were somber. Oddly, the photos look better than I remember the clothes being on the runway. In the end the dark room had a somber feel.
FabSugar: BCBG delivered a morbid, yet feminine collection. Dark, flowy things out of a Tim Burton film graced the runways in dark, muted greys, olive green, ivory and a cameo of chili pepper red. Dresses were the main silhouette and underneath were grey opaque tights.
Rachel Michaela, Style Bites: BCBG Max Azria's collection brings his fans personal style in a pop culture capsule. While knit caps and drapey shapes harkened back to mind the early 90's alterna-rock days, excellent details and refined fabrics brought the looks into a more modern interpretation.
WWD: Abandoning her girlish Sixties-era muse of last season, Alice Ritter sent out a collection of soft romantics; flouncy cropped jackets, wearable satin dresses and tie-front blouses, but the tricky pants and overly tiered separates proved to be one ruffle too many.
Fashion Week Daily: Alice Ritter sent out a sweet darling of a collection that made it easy to see why she’s become a fashion insider’s favorite.
Aesthetics & Economics: Alice succeeded in producing original, wearable pieces imbued with her signature charm and sense of subtle stylishness.
Lauren Dimet, Second City Style: Shiny, shiny. Using a sensuous mix of silks, linen, and even the volume of Edwardian ruffles and even a Victorian-inspired bodice-fitting jacket, Alice Ritter dazzles and delights. Whether it's a subtle black print atop muted copper or a solid wall of champagne, she turns up the shimmer.
Lisa Martinez, LA Splash Magazine: This was a very romantic collection of fitted, cropped jackets with gathered sleeves and flounce back, alongside crisp, button-front shirts and dresses that Alice Ritter has become known for.