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Wednesday
5:25 p.m.
The first four looks, which include a chic peplumed tank and slouchy skirt with beadwork running down a ruffle on the right side and softly tailored oversized coats, get Alessandro dell’Acqua’s debut collection for Rochas off to a strong start. The clothes are chic and near perfect, causing me to drop my journalist hat and covet the looks purely as a consumer.
But things take a turn, giving way to a line-up of creations (they’ve now gone past the point of just being clothes) that are so weighed down with extra fabric, crystals and beadwork that a few of the models can barely seem to walk normally. I can’t tell if it’s the shoes, stunning stilettos with chunky clusters of jewels covering the backs, or the clothes, heavily embellished with stones and sometimes featuring yards and yards of rich fabrics, that’s causing the girls to walk in such a labored way. But it doesn’t do much to make a woman want to wear the clothes. By the end of the show, poor Malgosia Bela looks like she is dragging the enormous embroidered jumper and outsized ball gown skirt she’s been dressed in. All of the clothes are stunning, right down to the densely beaded gloves. But too many in the second half of the show look heavy and fussy, like a wardrobe malfunction waiting to happen. That said, this collection falls right in line with the memo that clearly went out for fall ’14: glamour and all of the decorative trappings that come with it, rules.
The mood
Rich, opulent glamour.
The major trends
Dense embellishments, outsized volume, experimentations with texture and longer fuller skirts.
What this will mean for your wardrobe
Crystals, beadwork and trimmings galore.
