Fashion Notes: Best in Show, F/W 09 (Part I)

When it came to Best in Show, I had difficulty this round deciding between two equally worthy shows. Both Isabel Marant and Miu Miu came up with collections that made me stop and look again and again. Ultimately, Isabel Marant won out with a factor that Miu Miu simply didn't bring: the clothes looked wearable. In fact, they looked like they had been worn as they came down the runway, and that is exactly what I want right now. I want to see women wearing clothes that look like they've been worn and loved, not clothes that look like museum pieces to be worn gently or in outfits that look like something that came from a magazine. As much as I love fashion, I am tired of the current phase of dressing in editorial styling. I am all for aspirational dressing - I will never be won over by the likes of Celine or Ralph Lauren - but I am so tired of everyone copping the same look and same attitude to pronounce themselves "individuals." You know what happens when everyone, individual and corporation alike, adopts anti-establishmentarianism? Hot Topic. We are living in an Alexander Wang/Rick Owens/model streetstyle of a Hot Topic moment. Now onto some real clothes.


The Isabel Marant show managed to achieve something very difficult; that is, present very wearable clothes that, when put together, look cool. This is something that fashion largely strives for and that, at the moment, is failing to do. There's a lot of cool clothing out there, and there are some wearable clothes, but rarely do the two meet. This is an example of that meeting. There's nothing very special about the clothes themselves: they're just a mismatched blouse and skirt, an oversized blazer, a belt, a pouch, and boots. It's the fact that they're all roughly within the same color palette, paired with a very slim foundational silhouette, that allows such experimentation with proportion, texture, and assumption (rough with soft, masculine with feminine) to succeed. Plus, the clothes are fundamentally cool. Though impossible to wear, there's nothing cooler than an oversized men's style blazer, or studded ankle boots, or a skinny belt encircling Erin Wasson's waist, or, when it comes down to it, Erin Wasson.


One of the particular successes of this collection was Marant's ability to adopt the best of Paris's fashion-forward designs and translate them in an arguably more tolerable, and certainly more wearable, style. Take the overemphasized shoulder. Marant's placed it on a tweed Chanel-style jacket and paired it with clothing that is neither couture nor immediately identifiable - that is, she made it normal. This is a definite look, but without the excesses and vulgarity that define the work of other designers. It may not be for everyone, but this jacket could realistically be worn through your day-to-day activities. Marant also successfully interpreted the 80s-inspired floral dress so strongly represented in the fall collections (top picture), as well as 80s inspiration overall.


In addition to interpreting fashion for the masses, Marant also took on the trends that would be heavily adopted by streetstylists both in pre-fall and fall, one such trend being leopard print. Leopard print's slowly built up to being everywhere, including Marant's leopard print coats, but I prefer this print skirt. Given how it hugs the body and its neutral print, it both punctuates the oufit while staying in the background of what is an all-black outfit. This is a print that couldn't be seen as ostentatious, matronly, or vintage. It is a very clever way of appropriating a trend to make it wearable and cool. Other trends Marant adopted included studding, leather, knee-high boots, and fur.


I think at least part of Marant's success comes from her basically telling the audience how to wear her clothes in a very realistic manner. Walk away from this show and you know what to pair each item with, and half of those items will come out of the clothes you already own. There are no unrealistic couture embellishments here. It's just a tank top with skinny jeans and a coat, and if you provide the tank top and skinny jeans, Isabel Marant will provide you with the coat. Perhaps a bra is in order, but it seems to me this is a much surer sell than a higher-end designer cutting the perfectly fitted jacket that ultimately, realistically only goes with the rest of that designer's perfectly cut collection.


Overall, I have to say this is my favorite look. It has everything I love: a well-fitted dress, visual depth, eccentricity, and a bit of not really caring about it all. It's that last bit that gives attitude and what we call "cool" to things and to people, and it's that identifiable, personal cool that sold me on this show.