This one's going to be tough. There's just not much to rip here. Kara Saun's collection was gorgeous and impeccably made. Unsurprisingly, we think her runway show was the slickest out of the three. Not that Jay's wasn't near- letter-perfect, but Kara Saun's the pro and she knows how to pull it out when she needs to. Her models were uniformly gorgeous (if slightly conventionally pretty) and it looks to us like they were chosen for their ability to evoke '30s movie stars.
Something else we just HAVE to compliment is her music choice. Not only do we consider it perfect walking music, but the GayBoys have been known to play it themselves while sashaying up and down the length of their loft with a dustmop. You can download it here. It's called "Fly Girl" and was produced by Jason "JFK" Fleming and engineered by J. Ali.
Let's start the show.
This is a welcome variation. The silver leather and knits bring it to a different place. The lining on that coat doesn't look so hot, although we'd be remiss if we didn't point out how beautifully tailored the rest of the piece is.
Miss Hepburn, table for one. Miss Hepburn, table for one. We kind of wish KS hadn't mentioned The Aviator as her inspiration because some of the more conventional dresses are right out of the 1930's Hollywood playbook and we can't help thinking that they look, as we said, a little too derivative, too literal. We will say that this is one dress where she updated and interpreted the look a little more. Love the color, the cut out back and the belt.
[Photos: FirstView]
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41 comments:
The best stuff in this collection is the stuff in which she deviated the *most* from the "Aviator" theme. I mean, geez, aviator? Yawn. Seen it, and seen it done BETTER! Loved the first long dress, and the green dress. But don't even tell me that you can look at that green dress or ANY of the styles that have boots without looking at the shoes. This was really so unfair.
I didn't think that belt was "Wonder Woman" at all, I loved it. And it covered the shoes.
Anne
(Yes, I'm still obsessing about the damn shoes, why do you ask?)
And you know something else? (Where ARE all you guys?!)
I think the aviator glasses was a stupid choice, since it wasn't something all the models could wear. I think with a stupid-ass prop like that (not to mention an EXTREMELY explain-the-joke kind of prop) you either have to have it on everybody or nobody.
I see why she didn't want the models to go barefoot though. It would have destroyed the collection. And $150 shoes from Macy's would have seriously damaged it, IMO.
Anne
(Yeah, the shoes again. Suck it up!) :D
Gorgeous collection, period.
T&L said "...some of the more conventional dresses are right out of the 1930's Hollywood playbook and we can't help thinking that they look, as we said, a little too derivative, too literal."
Exactly. Most of these outfits looked like costumes to me, which is not surprising considering Kara's background.
Looking at the stills, I actually don't like the shoe choices at all. After all that.
This collection reminds me alot of some of the 'period' movies made in the late 60's and 70's: not really accurate to the period (funny how they look dated), and not innovative enough to make a strong statement of its own.
Well crafted but 'meh'.
SNF in VA
The avaitrix stuff was too costumey for my taste (but was well done).
I guess I am glad that she latched on to a movie like The Aviator. She, Kara Saun, could have hooked into some of the other big movies that year.
We could have ended up with a runway full of 1960's Vegas tuxedo jackets paired with backup singer shimmy dresses and dark glasses(Ray), Edwardian formalwear mixed with pixie & pirate references (Finding Neverland) or models in long silk shorts, hooded robes and leather boxing glove handbags (Million Dollar Baby).
If she had to go Hollywood, she went the right way.
Beautiful? yes.
Original? No.
She's a costume designer who made a collection based on a movie.
Yes the first outfit is gorgeous to look at, but when you ask the question "Who is this woman and wear is she going?" I really can't think of an answer except either the airshow or to work public relations for the movie. The same could be said for for several other outfits. Way too costumey.
Sorry, I hate to disagree, cause I love you guys. BUT, I really didn't think this show was all that. I hated the first outfit -- who can wear slouchy pocketed leather pants? And the asymmetry of the fur at the collar and the oversized fur at the cuff just irritates me. The dresses are lovely, but the first one is so long the model has to hold it up, and the others all look derivative.
In fact, I think the whole collection is derivative of Ralph Lauren's show that year, http://editorial.gettyimages.com/source/search/details_pop.aspx?iid=52182503&cdi=0. And though I've said before it's not fair to compare given the time and resources available to each of them, I do think that his work is less costumey and more wearable.
i wasn't so keen on that music. Her collection was a little too costumey. meticulously executed, but costumey.
i love everything '30s and '40s. it was a pretty collection. there was just something missing and it's hard to put into words, but whatever it is, jay nailed it.
I think what Kara lacked was the "OMG, I *want* that!" factor. Jay had it in spades, and his new collection (Bryant Park 2006) was even better. For me, the *suggestion* of old-time aviator would have been so much better. This collection just screamed it, I found it very off-putting.
Although Jay's red dress made the model look like Elmo, I can't possibly be the only person who thought so. But still, most of his pieces made me wish I looked like the models. Most of Kara's pieces just made me think the models looked silly. But then she comes out with a fabulous piece like that first long dress, and you see what the collection could have been.
Her second collection is really costumey too, they all look like Paul Revere.
Anne
that green dress was amazing - i loved it , it was my fav piece out of her collection
But i HATE HATE HATE HATE fur- its ok on 1 or 2 looks but not 8
and i couldnt stand when she had the models just carry the fur like on the cho brown dress or on her finale piece where it was just stapled to the top of the dress hangin there like she just skinned the poor thing before the show started
me no like.
Derivative, seen it before, yada yada yada.
Help me to understand why the slit down to the navel here was great but Laura's designs were bad.
me no understand.
Technically terrific. She knows how to sew and style.
But it lacks something from within.
- Barnaby
What bothered me when I first saw this collection go down the runway still bothers me. It looks not so much like a designer trying to show their particular point of view--but more like a designer trying to show how she might have designed for a particular movie. Most of this doesn't really look modernized for the present, and there are very few pieces that anyone could/would actually wear now. Given her career, it's not surprising that Kara Saun would show a collection this costumey, and it may have been a really smart career move. But this collection looks to me like it's Kara Saun screaming out: "I could design for a big budget movie. Please hire me." That said, most of the pieces are beautiful, well made, and flattering to the models.
I liked it period. Were some of the pieces costumey? yes but in her defense, she put her twist on an easily identifable look. A lot of the pieces have that suggestion of a corset built in (the 2 tone leather)
As far as the goggles, they wouldn't have worked for the entire collection like Jay's earphones did, but they were an important detail for the pieces they were on.
BTW I wear johdpurs like the model with the goggles and LOVE them. (no I don't ride) Glad to see she went that way.
WTG Kara
I liked the collection but it reminded me of a lot of other designers. It didn't strike me as unique and different.
The collection is FAB-U-LOUS!!!
And anyone who doesn't agree is wrong and (clearly) part of a fashion axis of evildoers!
xxoo
Laura Bush
Random thoughts. . .
The green dress reminds me of what Michael (Mykel?) tried to do and did do well with his Foxy Brown look, but failed to do well in his BP collection. KS did it well, but that green---bleccch.
All those dead animals. . . sorry, but all that fur & leather: also, blecch.
The aviator looks are very cool looking and attention-getting; putting aside for a moment my aversion to that much fur & leather, I think they work, goggles and all. Costumy, yes, but she may have wanted to make a statement, and those did.
All those plunging necklines seem more unrealistic even than jodhpurs and goggles.
PR Boys, you like that music?!? It's not really exactly music, even. It seems a funny choice for '30s inspired clothing, but maybe it worked. I don't remember.
Wasn't that music sampled from the "Hitch" soundtrack? Or maybe Will Smith sampled that for "Hitch". I agree with SNF: meh, meh, meh. I was underwhelmed. What a shame.
We'll miss you guys tomorrow!
I love her collection, very glamorous, very Hollywood.
This might be as good a time as any to bring up my bewilderment over the whole plunging neckline concept. The second dress (with the Wonderwoman belt) has exquisite fabric and color coordination with the fur, but the top practically looks like she's wearing suspenders with nothing underneath. What woman on earth would wear something like this other than for the red carpet? I imagine that any woman who wore this to a party would constantly worry about falling out, causing too much of a response from (straight) men, or making everyone, men and women, self-conscious about staring at her.
(This is not a slam on Laura, who is much more tasteful and practical)
Throughout the challenges and in her collection, Kara Saun's tops revealed way too much. In challege 1 there was nothing there at all. Who besides a model would dress like that?
This is the only fashion blog I'm on. Can anyone here explain this look to me?
Is it just me or does that last ress look strange? Like it's on backwards or something?
Seriously I stared at it for at least 5 minutes. Somethings just not right with it....
:/
I loved this collection, but I am in agreement with a lot of the responses here in that it was too costumey (and too clearly directed at moviemakers--the minutes she mentioned a specific movie as inspiration, I groaned. Come on.) Now, I LIKE costumey in my clothes, and would totally wear the green outfit and especially some of the leather coats here, but I know that most people wouldn't wear this stuff on the street. So...who exactly is she designing for?
(Also, am I crazy or is one outfit in each designer's show completely skipped over, even on the DVD? I swear I kept seeing things in the final walk that definitely hadn't come down the runway before.)
Anonymous said...
(Also, am I crazy or is one outfit in each designer's show completely skipped over, even on the DVD? I swear I kept seeing things in the final walk that definitely hadn't come down the runway before.)
No, you're not crazy. They skipped a few.
T&L
More agreement with the costume-y thing. The first piece is really interesting and would make an AWESOME costume. I commend her creativity and mixing the different fabric types (I am not a fur/leather person, but I can accept it). But the fit of the pants? Fugly. The headgear + glasses? Too literal. The boots are cool, but then there's that Shoegate thing.
The third piece is super gorgeous, but would've been better without the stupid headgear again. The headgear definitely works better with Jay's collection, where it's a real statement, not an explanation of the design.
Loved the first piece (although I admit that not many women could pull off a look like that) and the third piece -- the leather dress with the slightly longer jacket. I don't usually do leather myself, but that was one outfit that made me go "want."
But I do have to agree with the commenters that wondered what sort of woman would wear those dresses, and where they would wear it, if they did wear it (it's like "how much wood would a wood chuck chuck" now, isn't it?) The dresses, while lovely (although, yeah, some of them showed a little too much skin) were not exactly suitable for "normal" evening wear. I can't imagine wearing any of those numbers to anything other than a costume party -- and that's saying something, since I've been known to wear some outrageous stuff. And of course, not only does one need the occasion, one needs a perfect body. Not for the masses, these outfits. Lovely to look at, not much use for anything else. Still, Kara Saun's work was extremely well done, and I admired her for that.
I think it's been conclusively proven that the show will ALWAYS reward innovation over execution. It doesn't really matter if your sewing or fitting is perfectomundo; it DOES matter if you are creative and, uh, "edgy". Different. The judges respond to new kicks, not old ones, no matter how well done they are.
Loved the choc brown dress (sans bow).
The green dress did make me think "Michael" also.
BTW, did anyone catch KS on Style Network's "How Do I Look?" The fashion victim actually picked KS's collection. Pretty unusual in that show for victims to select the professional's collection.
http://www.stylenetwork.com/ssms-site/style.do?actionId=1&showId=6143&showFeatureId=74b3c9c7d18564523a3e1b17fdea57&contentItemId=f57c881ad18564523278fcef593ec&pageIdx=0&navType=FreeFormListDetailModel
Sweetheart Andrae was also a guest designer/professional a few episodes before KS.
A little Fashion History:
Ever wonder where the shape of the flapper hat comes from? The aviator headress! Yes.
The 1920s marked a sharp divide between "corsetted" 19th century fashion and modern clothes that we still wear today. What women's fashion started doing was borrowing masculine iconography -- trousers, cigarettes, aviator caps and completely reimagining the female form -- both in terms of silhoutte and in terms of gesture. So before everyone says this collection is "derivative" of a movie...give Kara Saun a little credit for being knowledgeable about the history of 20th century fashion and going back to that revolutionary moment when the female silhoutte was radically changing.
Yay, no more watermarks.
"Falling out" of a dress with a low cut is not an issue if you use double sided tape. My mother used to copy dresses from Cher in the 1970's. She just taped herself in with some sort of tape she bought at a costume store when we lived in NYC.
Random thoughts:
* LOL. Looks like Wendy is posting here now. Pretty funny...
* Seeing the looks come down the runway, you see how irrelevant the shoes were. First, there was nothing even special about them. Second, looking at them in the still pictures, you se that they could have easily been replaced by anything off-the-rack at Macy's, and it would not have mattered one bit.
* Maybe Kara was making looks that were costumey, but that's great. She's working in Hollywood and the odds of making a name for yourself as a costume designer.
* And BTW, could anyone seriously say that Jay's Big Red Gown isn't costumey? Much as I love it, it DOES look like the dress Big Bird's girlfriend wore to the prom.
* There was nothing any more derivative in Kara's collection than either of the others - she just clearly identified (stated) her inspiration for everyone to hear. I've seen many a big designer with a collection more derivative than Kara's.
--Gotham Tomato
I think Kara's collection was the best of all three. I think she didn't win because of her color.
Seriously. The ratings for the show would sink, all the homos that cheer for each other would cry foul, and Madison Avenue have an easier time promoting a GWM or woman. I am only trying to be honest here. Not too many other reality shows have black winners other than Joyce and Ushena on Amazing Race.
And I don;t think P Diddy has any talent at this level to compete.
I think Kara's collection was the best of all three. I think she didn't win because of her color.
Seriously. The ratings for the show would sink, all the homos that cheer for each other would cry foul, and Madison Avenue have an easier time promoting a GWM or woman. I am only trying to be honest here. Not too many other reality shows have black winners other than Joyce and Ushena on Amazing Race.
What a big bag of hateful bullshit.
I am only trying to be honest here.
"I think she didn't win because of her color."
I think she didn't win in part because of her color choices....hot pink and turd brown leather jacket? Fugly is too kind a word for that color combination. No, she rose and fell on the merits of her clothing.
"Ever wonder where the shape of the flapper hat comes from? The aviator headress! Yes.
The 1920s marked a sharp divide between "corsetted" 19th century fashion and modern clothes that we still wear today."
Right...and drop-waisted dresses were all the rage in the 20's: corseted looks such as a few shown here (even if only hinted at with a wide belt) were what flappers avoided.
Kara mixed up a bunch of different fashion styles here: 20's 30's and 40's, and ended up making a collection that looked more 60's, 70's and 80's rehash.
The whole keyhole thing would never have walked out the door back then, either!
The short white dress with the "wonder-woman" belt makes the model look like she's a stewardess on Air Force One. Randy baby!
"I think Kara's collection was the best of all three. I think she didn't win because of her color...."
"What a big bag of hateful bullshit."
Yeah...that's EXACTLY what BIAS is for any group! A big bag of hateful bullshit. But pretending it doesn't exist makes it that much easier to step in and hard to get rid of the smell once you do.
If we can recognize that, Mr. Hot Rob Plotkins got by a couple of rounds because a) He's hot. b) Certain judges acted like giddy school girls to him while being all business & critique to Wendy and c) Television shows keep hot people around for ratings, then we should be able to recognize the uglier realities of Bias...especially in the fashion industry without soooo much protest, dahling.
Were words like "entitled", "superior", "mean" "annoying" used in such volume when our Patron Lady Laura Bennett went OUT-OF-HER-WAY to "raise her concerns" about Jefferey when (based on her "opinion") SHE didn't think he was capable of that level of sewing? Not this much they weren't.
xxoo
Nelson Mandela
Yeah...that's EXACTLY what BIAS is for any group! A big bag of hateful bullshit. But pretending it doesn't exist makes it that much easier to step in and hard to get rid of the smell once you do.
No, claiming that "the homos" would "cry foul" --THAT's hateful.
Claiming bias without any evidence of it whatsoever? That's just moronic. And then there's the extra added strawman bonus of trying to posit that people who don't agree with your unfounded claim of bias somehow don't believe bias exists at all. That's the biggest bullshit of all.
Were words like "entitled", "superior", "mean" "annoying" used in such volume when our Patron Lady Laura Bennett went OUT-OF-HER-WAY to "raise her concerns" about Jefferey when (based on her "opinion") SHE didn't think he was capable of that level of sewing? Not this much they weren't.
Oh yes they were. Along with bitch, c*nt and a host of other niceties. Where were you?
I was busy drawing moustaches in Wendy Peppers Family album:)
The remark re: "Homos" was offensive (and not mine, btw) but it's a slippery slope on a blog that regular uses provacative terms., i.e. "bitch", "Fairies", "fag" etc. If that was your beef, you've no argument from me.
I stand by my point that bias is a fact of life (in all of its benign and cancerous forms) that effects groups both negatively and positively. Hence my reference to the 2055 episode where it was clear (and called out on this very blog) that disporportionate criticism was meted out to Wendy vs. Robert.
I'm sure that judge would react with your same strident umbrage that she was completley professional and fair.
As to my point about Laura public opinion vs. Kara. I love both women as designers. As personalities it DOES seem to me that Laura was a much more polarizing figure b/c she was such a strong personality...but for every detractor she had an equal or greater number of supporters. That's not the case here w/ Kara thus far. Could it be b/c she wasn't as vivacious a character. Possibly, but surley she wasn't as consistently vituperative as Jefferey from Season 3 or as incompetent and looney as Vincent...yet judging from the majority of comments you'd think she was...that's all I'm sayin'. As for evidence, if you're not open to finding it, you never will. Although a shift in the Kara Saun rungay public opinion; from talented professional to haughty upstart could arguably be traced back to the "I, Kara Saun" reunion joke. But really it's not worth a gallup poll.
If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck...then you know what, kids? Let's just call it a chicken, 'cause duck just gives most indigestion.
Back to playtime:)
Nelson Mandela
Yes, "Nelson," bias is a fact of life. I don't think you'll find anyone to argue that point. What's arguable is that Kara Saun is somehow a victim of it. You haven't made one point to support that.
"the homos" would "cry foul."
***************
Hey, I think the Grey's Anatomy actor is blogging here now."
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