Peter Som, Jason Wu, Christian Siriano

JAX

PETER SOM

Peter Som was quoted as saying that, "[he] was thinking about bringing joy to clothing," in designing this collection, and he has succeeded by far.  All I could think after viewing the slides of candy colored pieces was how happy I was.  With a mixture of tweeds, various patterns, and ultra bright solids on super short hemlines, this is probably the ultimate sweet summer wardrobe for every sixteen to thirty year-old woman (or it is for me, anyways).  I was getting a sort of fifties mixed with sixties mod sort of vibe, but the California girl relaxed hair and minimal makeup kept things modern.  And can we talk about those Charlotte Olympia shoes?  I think I would give my right ring finger for a pair.

JASON WU

I know Jason Wu is fashion's little darling designer right now, but I can't say that I've ever really gotten it.  Admittedly, a lot of his pieces are a little grown up for my taste, but even when it comes to his heralded cocktail dresses, I'm not super impressed.  I will say that I liked this season better than his fall collection, and there were definitely some nice looks for Michelle Obama in there.  Mr. Wu is focusing more on separates now, rather than just relying on evening ware to carry him through, which I do have to commend.  Overall a nice collection, but it's hard to review a designer whose aesthetic just really isn't my cup of tea.  Sorry.

CHRISTIAN SIRIANO

Christian Siriano was just the worst of the worst so far for me.  I can't imagine that any other collection from any fashion week this fall will top the hideousness that was his spring ready-to-wear show.  I really don't try to get catty, but c'mon.  When asked what his inspiration was, he replied that it was, "a bit of African, a bit of Asian, a bit of Mediterranean-Greek."  Yeah, he's never been to any of those places, and he's obviously never researched them either.  Meenal Mistry from style.com said that his clothes "were a catchall attempt at sophistication and glamour," and I think that is about the nicest way that you could put it.  The proportions were ridiculous, the fabrics cheap looking, and the tailoring tacky (just look at the pockets and buttons on the middle skirt suit).  

The most infuriating thing about Mr. Siriano, and excuse my gossipy tidbit here, is that he seems to think much too highly of himself.  When Christian's assistant tried to convince him to let Haylie Duff have a set in the front row at the show based upon the premise that his young fans might look up to Haylie, the designer laughed and said, "They do not look up to the Duffs.  I'm a huge fan of the worst, trashiest people.  But frankly, I'd rather have buyers from Bergdorf come to my show.  Tell them, 'Christian's not sure if the show's right for Haylie.'"  Whether or not he wanted a Duff in his audience, surely this was not the best way to go about the situation.  Christian Siriano is just a flash-in-the-pan designer to me, hardly better than Jessica Simpson putting on a fashion show.  The highlight of his career was surely dressing Christina Hendricks at last years Emmy's, and her dress was panned by everyone from People Magazine to Andre Leon Tally that night.  I honestly hope that this is just the beginning of his fade to oblivion, or worse, back to his roots in reality t.v. where he belongs, because that is what he is, simply a character.

I won't even begin to critic his closing dress, it's so stupid that I might hurl.