I’ll be honest, I wasn’t really looking forward to the Manish Arora SS07 show last night. Overly colourful, shiny and kitsch-esque designs swirling around all mixed up is not really my cup of tea but nonetheless I was intrigued. When the show started however, I suddenly got why a catwalk show can seduce even the harshest naysayers. Case in point, a dress covered in sequinned birds and tiger stripes would have normally sent me crying help for the assult on my eyesight.
However, with the perfectly co-ordinated music, bright lights and a close up view (well second row is pretty close-up ish) coupled with flawlessly eccentric makeup and the models’ natural swagger (note to self: must strut hips), I felt enthusiasm and admiration for Arora’s work even though it’s nothing I would wear personally. Is this the purpose of shows? As well as being live adverts, are they there to seduce and lull the audience into a false sense of security before quickly being brought straight back down the earth when you see the clothing itelf static in stores? It does also have something to do with seeing clothes in person as opposed to staring at low-res pics on vogue.co.uk that illicits a more positive view. Perhaps my childish giddiness at the experience of London Fashion Wekk has me getting enthusiastic anything and everything. It’s almost as if a show purges my fashion bitchiness.
So Manish Arora may be a little tacky, with too much kitsch and glitz but it is in a sea of minimal/clean collections, unashamedly colourful and even though the references to Arora’s own culture is a less than glaring, you sort of have to respect him for wanting his clothes to stare back at you.
Pics from a mixture of Yahoo, my own personal photos and Telegraph.
Yep, that was my experience at NY Fashion Week last week. It’s so mezmerizing, the models are so skinny that all you see are the clothes, the beautiful fabrics with their beautiful swing, bobbing down the catwalk to a musical soundtrack. By the end of the 15 minutes, you’re hypnotized. I wish someone would do a phd thesis on this from a psychological behavioural science perspective.
hey – hav to admit, i’m a bit of a colour freak and so I LOVE the first dress! it just looks so fun!the 3rd and 4th pics are also really pretty – and probs a bitmore wearable tha th first lol… The last fashion show I went to – moschino – a couple of years ago was brilliant but not particularly inspiring. My fashion ethos is always to have an element that catches the eye – these clothes here certainly do that as not many other labels do (in my humble apinion – innovative tailoring/’sexy’ details aside). xxxc
I love these. It’s a shame they’re not wearable, but I think that’s something wrong with the world rather than the outfits!
I don’t get the impression that these were designed for shock value, they look like they were created with unbounded joy.