Donna Karan Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

From what I have seen of both Donna Karan labels over the course of my experience with fashion,  I would say that this designer has two modes shown each excusively in its own label. DKNY is the super urban flashy label and Donna Karan is the super art commune comfy label. From pictures I have seen of Donna Karan herself, I think she prefers the latter. It certainly has its charms. The collection is flowing and diaphanous, evoking images of hippie chicks, pre-raphaelite artists, and princesses of the Australian Outback in relatively equal measure. I don't know how well I could wear it, but I definitely like it.

Marc By Marc Jacobs Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

I think I'm going to call this collection,  "Upscaled High School," because that is what most of these pieces look like. The dresses look like cheerleader uniforms. 

The suits look like satinized prep school uniforms.

 The tank tops look like they were made from men's pajama tops. 

On second thought, mabe I shouldn't call it, "Upscaled High School," maybe I should call it,  "Vamped Prep School, " as in, "Only Anne Rice's vampires would dress like this." But my biggest, "Why?!?" for this collection was the way the models' hair was held to their necks with scarves or fabric headbands (see above). Why would anyone do this? It just looks ridiculous.

DKNY Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

DKNY has always exemplified New York, or at least the way I see New York:  loud, proud, and graphic. Lots of graphics, actually, which is why I draw such parallels between the city and the label. The clothes tend to remind me of Times Square. In this collection, DKNY showed a big variety. I felt ambivalent to pleased about most of the outfits, some I really liked, and some things I really hated. My favorite piece was a pair of patched jeans that resembled a vintage suitcase. 

The piece that gave me the biggest feeling of "Why is this here?" was the racer back swimsuits worn backwards under a variety of sheer and not sheer layers.

Max Mara Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

As much as I rage against fashion's tendency toward the impractical, you can go too far the other way. A runway show is about spectacle, and this is just about the least spectacular, most boring collection I have ever seen. The first third of the show was all off-white before they showed any color. It's as though they were sending out the muslins, that's the outfits made of muslin that a designer starts out with and experiments on before cutting into the good material,  and then realized, "Oh yeah, this is a runway show. Guess we ought to send out the real clothes now." You could find most of these clothes at the Ann Taylor Loft store in the mall, and I wouldn't buy them there either. To me, this collection seems pointless except to people who care more about the label or price tag than they do about the clothes themselves.

Betsy Johnson Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

I remember the Betsy Johnson brand from when I was working at Macy's. They had a 50's Barbie doll feel about them, so I was never really a fan and I have mixed feelings about their spring collection. It's super girly-floral-punk pairing fluffy organza, floral and leopard prints, fingerless gloves, and everywhere pink pink PINK! I certainly wouldn't feel comfortable wearing any of it, but I can't help feeling good about this collection, possibly because of the enthusiasm of the models. I have never before seen runway models having so much fun. How can you not enjoy a collection when it's presented like this?

Alberta Ferretti Spring 2014 Ready To Wear

According to Ferretti, this collection is about color and youthfulness, inspired by a mix of Southern Italian and South American influences. The WWD article I read accuses Ferretti of overdoing it, showing a total lack of restraint in the use of color and pattern, such as this example of a white crop top with floral embellishments paired with a floor-length skirt sporting thick, punch-you-in-the-face-bright stripes. I have to say, I do not see the problem here. Only one or two dresses in the entire collection are all over stripes. The majority of the collection tastefully breaks up the stripes with plain white so it never seems too overpowering. A zoot suit in that fabric is overdoing it it - a selection of fun skirts and a couple short flirty dresses, not so much.

I Think I Have Something To Say About Fashion Week

I don't normally have much to say about runway fashion. I even tend to avoid actually looking at it. I have a live and let live philosophy about the whole thing:  they can make whatever overpriced monstrosities they want as long as I don't have to wear them. However, I have been casually looking at Womens Wear Daily's coverage of the Spring ready-to-wear shows for 2014, and I find, belatedly and in the middle of Milan's Fashion Week, that I DO have something to say about what's going on in these collections. In fact, I have several somethings I want to say. I'm going to go through these one collection at a time and give my thoughts on each one. I'm not going to go over every collection this time around because I'm starting late and I don't want to still be doing this at Christmas, so I'm limiting myself to the shows I had strong reactions to. I may even come back at these designers with a few improvements/variations of my own. So stay tuned:  Refashioned Runway starts tomorrow.