Ripping the Collections: Chloe, Part One

We're actually a little nervous about this one. We've set ourselves up as Chloe's Defenders and we hope we're up to the task.

Judging by online feedback, most people didn't think this collection deserved the win or that it won by default because the other collections weren't good enough. We can't speak to the latter but as to the former, we absolutely believe she deserved it.

The clothes aren't what we could call off-the-rack wearable and that may be part of the reason why people reacted negatively to them because up until that point, everything we'd seen from Chloe was totally off-the-rack-wearable. This collection required a little more interpreting than her previous work.

For all the talk of this looking like '80s clothing we say "Check the runways." This sort of look has been roaring down the runways and onto the fashion mag pages for the last year or two. Big, shiny, away from the body - all of it was on trend, which is why we think Nina loved it so much. Unlike the other two collections, it was very much of the moment.

Let's start the show.

We'll start off by saying our main problem with the collection came down to her fabric choices and color story. This is Exhibit A.

The look is a masterpiece of construction as far as we're concerned. Had it not been done in a shiny pink, we think a lot more people would have loved it. We love it except for the puffy sleeves, which could have been toned down a skosh. Although it is a "wow" piece.

As we said, it wasn't just the colors but the fabrics she chose that hurt the collection, in our opinion. Exhibit B. Her prints were just not very pretty.

This is a fairly basic dress and we can't help thinking that if it had been in a print that popped a little more, it would have had more of an impact.

And we just don't like the styling on this model.

Exhibit B.1. This is basic to the point of boring.

The straps are nice and whatever little business she's got going on in the back bumps it up a little, but for the most part this was a boring dress in an underwhelming print.

We agree with Nina that this was too matchy-match. We like the heavily structured, stiff aspect of it but we can't help thinking it would have been a better look without the jacket.

We're also not crazy about the pleated ruffles along the hem. Too heavy.

Geez, now it sounds like we hated the collection too. We promise we'll get to the parts that we loved soon.

Okay, maybe not too soon. We hated this look. The fabric is awful and once again, she's going for a too-monochromatic, matchy-match look.

We might have been able to overlook it, except for the utterly bizarre skirt on this thing, which makes her look like a drunk celebutante getting out of a limo. If it's not flattering on a size 2, who is it going to flatter?

Okay, this we loved. It's still got that structured look and maybe it's still a little too monochromatic, but it's more sophisticated than the previous couple of looks.

Love the cut on the jacket, the lace top, the tuxedo stripe on the pants. There's a lotta look going on here, so we could have done without the upturned cuffs in the sleeves, which tend to be a little distracting on top of everything else.

This is actually really cute, sofa fabric and all. We love the pockets and the fullness of the skirt.

But we HATE the bust on this thing. It's so tiny and restrictive! Even if the skirt was a little more streamlined, the proportions would have been off, but because the skirt's so full, it just accentuates how small the bust is.

We promise we'll get to the more fabulous stuff tomorrow, kittens!


[Photos: FirstView]


Post a comment