AFP, published on Tuesday, February 14, 2023 at 07:12
Elena Velez is inspired by her native “Midwest”, Palomo Spain by her childhood, while Tory Burch never stops reinventing herself, Monday during the fourth day of New York Fashion Week.
– The “Midwest” at Fashion Week –
“I’m from the Midwest, it’s not New York, or Los Angeles, or Paris, and that doesn’t really matter in the eyes of American fashion,” the 28-year-old designer told AFP. the year” at the awards of the American fashion union (CFDA) in 2022. So, to do justice to her region, and in particular to her hometown, Milwaukee, Elena Velez very often incorporates accessories from the craftsmanship of the “Rust belt”. Behind this tight and pleated gold dress, two stained glass discs hide the chest.
The collection alternates elegant outfits, such as this beige jumpsuit in brushed cotton, loose but cinched at the waist with a belt, with long gloves and matching black boots, and much less classic creations, such as a graceful dress. to a multitude of cords. The dominant colors are black, beige or gray.
The woman imagined by Elena Velez? “She is very inspired by my mother, who is a boat captain on the Great Lakes,” replies the designer. “He is someone who is assertive, who values functionality over perfection, and who lives in the urge to live his life in a way that is both very romantic and very wild,” she adds. . Like the parade, which sometimes looks like a wave. In the setting of a converted factory in Brooklyn, on the banks of the East River, the women walk quickly, in a dark atmosphere, under saturated and chaotic sounds.
– Tory Burch continues its transformation and dares –
Quite predictable for a long time, American designer Tory Burch continues her reinvention that she began a few seasons ago. Her new collection presented in a former bank branch was made up of very assertive, even imposing silhouettes, far from the bohemian lightness that characterizes her.
To create these looks, she had chosen opulent materials, a lot of satin, wool or leather. “We deconstructed the traditional wardrobe to rebuild it with an unfinished side,” explained the adopted New Yorker in the collection notes.
“I wanted women who weren’t corseted by rules, who asserted their individuality, to make it a strength,” she told AFP after the parade.
The one who will celebrate the 20th anniversary of her house next year wanted to slip details into her outfits that celebrate “the beauty of imperfection”.
Recurring motifs from this theme, belts, worn in an ostensibly asymmetrical way, XXL safety pins, or two unequal lapels of the collar of the same coat.
But Tory Burch affirms above all a totally controlled audacity, which gives his pieces a powerful creative breath.
Striking example, green fringes that protrude from the bottom of a long black dress, with a deep cut in the back that reveals a mesh back, also green. Another prominent piece, a green satin dress with long sleeves and a very high collar, looking like a glamorous cassock.
As she allows herself to experiment, Tory Burch attracts a new generation of fashionistas and a younger audience.
“It’s super exciting,” she said of that welcome. “It’s a creative reinvention for me,” she adds, claiming to take “a lot more risks.”
– Palomo Spain’s childhood –
His father’s quilts, sheets and large shirts are all childhood memories that inspired the latest collection of young Spanish designer Palomo Spain. From plush towels in which he wrapped himself as a child, he made colorful coats with embroidery; outerwear fabrics have been worked to make a sophisticated suit; a men’s XL poplin shirt, was turned inside out, as he did with his father’s.
The star of the collection? A quilt-like coat, or rather, a coat-like quilt, like the one he used to “dress or disguise himself when he was little and stayed home alone,” he explained to the media. AFP the designer, who parades this season in New York. From his studio in Posadas, his hometown in southern Spain, 30-year-old Alejandro Gómez Palomo wants to create to exceed standards.
“We don’t live in the 19th century anymore, where it was established that men had to wear a suit,” he says. “Why can’t men wear a skirt or a dress?” he also asks.