Sunday

TRUE BLOOD

Someone needs to pump some major money into Joseph Altuzarra pronto, because as far as I'm concerned, his is one of the handful of collections worth their excitement at New York Fashion Week.  I have always been a sucker for ferocious tailoring and sex-bomb slits (a side-effect of being an 11-year old who worshipped late 90's Tom Ford and Donatella Versace) and Altuzarra carried on that legacy with his F/W 2010 collection.   His was a Vampiric take on S+M that borrowed heavily from Tom Ford's legendary F/W 2003 Gucci collection with Edward Scissorhands detailing to make it all the more sinister.


Sharp-sleeved jackets funneled into dramatically exaggerated collars which are fresh enough to convince me that a sharp, oversize collar is the new aggressive shoulder.  POWER COLLARS.  The collection as a whole was a very literal translation of Tom Ford's star-making velvet hiphuggers, knife-edge jackets and thigh-slit pencil skirts.  Even the finale, a drop dead series of blood-red variations on a 2003 Gucci gown was unappalogetically Tom.  What kept this from entering unforgivable copycat territory was in the finishing.  One gets the sense that Altuzarra is nowhere near the meticulous perfectionist that Tom embodies.  There is an unfinished feeling in these clothes, much due to the scary, imperfect seams which create a tension that is very intriguing.

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