
NEW YORK BRIDAL WEEK. Bridal fashion from the Naeem Khan
collection is modelled in New York. Khan staged a runway show in
his cozy garment district atelier, complete with huge disco
balls and a dance party at the end with models dressed in minis
sparkly with gold and silver sequins and crystals. (AP Photo/Bebeto
Matthews)
From The Asian Reporter, V27, #20 (October 16, 2017),
pages 9 & 16.
Vera Wang, Naeem Khan among New York bridal
week highlights
By Leanne Italie
The Associated Press
NEW YORK — Vera Wang’s latest bride is feeling a touch of
baroque romance and Naeem Khan’s is ready for an afterparty
worthy of Studio 54.
During a recent round of bridal shows in New York, Wang
showed her Fall 2018 collection via appointment and dreamy,
black-and-white look book shot by famed fashion photographer
Patrick Demarchelier in the Jardin du Luxembourg, a Paris garden
created in the early 1600s by Marie de’ Medici, the second wife
of King Henry IV.
Khan staged a runway show in his cozy garment district
atelier, complete with huge disco balls and a dance party at the
end with models dressed in minis sparkly with gold and silver
sequins and crystals. But those were just half the story. Other
looks by Khan are intended to please all his brides, from Japan
to Dubai, New York to Nebraska.
Naeem Khan
Khan embraced his global bride in opulent and edgy looks with
dramatic lace capes and shoulder bows with long fluttery ends to
the floor, only these models walked to ’60s standards like the
counterculture Buffalo Springfield hit penned by Stephen Stills
known for this line: "I think it’s time we stop, children,
what’s that sound? Everybody look what’s going down."
When the slow walkers disappeared, the party began with a
finale of dancing models in metallic beads, fringe, and ostrich
trim that put a smile on Khan’s face as he greeted guests on his
front row.
"We need a party to change our minds from all this craziness
of what’s going on in America," he told The Associated Press in
a backstage interview.
Khan apprenticed for Halston in the ’70s, working with Liza
Minnelli and Elizabeth Taylor. He’s also tight with former
President Barack Obama and former first lady Michelle Obama,
whom he dressed often. He wanted to say something about today’s
times under President Donald Trump.
"I feel that we are going on a journey with our political
situation where it doesn’t look very right, and we don’t have
strong leaders who can really take the bull by the horns and
make things happen. We’re still divided,’’ he said. "All the
music is from the time when it was Vietnam, it was rebellion. We
got the music to say we are part of what’s going on right now."
Khan finds bridal a challenge because, he said, "brides
always think of themselves in a certain way," usually
princesses.
"Each dress is important on its own. It’s not one story like
ready to wear. You have to really create a collection that
caters to all different women of the world," he said.
Vera Wang
The bride from Wang wears bushy fur stoles and corset
bodices. One of her new gowns has a peplum made to look like
garters.
In Wang’s Demarchelier-shot look book, her models wear large,
loose feathers on their heads, their hair long and wavy, and
with heavy black eyeliner as they take to the sixth
arrondissement garden, palace in the background.
"I was awarded the Legion of Honor in February and having
lived and studied in Paris it was my personal connection to the
Sorbonne in the Latin Quarter that made me choose the Jardin du
Luxembourg as my location," Wang said. "The Jardin du Luxembourg
has always been a very special place to me."
She displayed the gowns in her showroom and allowed guests to
touch her finely crafted fabrics and trims. One, a light ivory
ballgown, had long sleeves with macramé lace to the skirt. The
skirt was stiff and gathered in the baroque style above the
waist.
Wang did Marie proud with that one.
On other gowns, Wang used the quilting style of trapunto.
It’s puffy and padded and produces a raised texture. She created
trapunto on a silk corset and gartered gown of buff and ivory in
an A-line silhouette, along with the front of a soft white silk
crepe ballgown that had long sheer sleeves and Chantilly
appliqué.
"I feel it was a fashion statement for this season. The
silhouettes and detailing of the dresses inferred a certain
sense of scale and modern romance. Our clients create all sorts
of weddings, but this collection was intended to create a sense
of importance and celebration."
Sometimes, Wang’s skill comes in the tiniest details. She put
a fishnet pattern of lace over a floral lace for a little extra
oomph on one gown. |