By Ka Yee Chan
How are you guys doing in this cold winter? It seems like this frigid cold will continue, but that won’t stop us from featuring the upcoming Fashion Week in February! Fashion week will feature F/W 2014 at Lincoln Center, Chelsea’s Milk Studios, Brooklyn’s Navy Yard, Pier 59 and many other fashion studios. For the next two weeks, New York City will be filled with fashion bloggers, fashion medias, and fashion-interested celebrities from all around the world.
This coming F/W 2014 will be an exciting one. Although cool colors or neutral colors were often used for winter, this season’s collections will be filled with a base of warm color palettes. According to Fashion Snoops, the seasonal colors are categorized into seven groupings: Brights, Highlighter Brights, Jewels, Industrials, Neutrals, Romantics, and Soft.
Simply describing these groupings:
Brights will include colors such as Blood Orange, Tangerine, Cherry, Fuchsia, Caution Yellow, Lime, Cobalt and Cerulean.
Highlighter Brights, just like its name, include highlighter colors. (For menswear)
Jewel tones include colors such as Cranberry, Hot Pink, Deep Emerald, Teal, Orchid, Honey Mustard, Wine and Crimson. Jewel tones are most popular out of all these groupings. Jewel tones are similar to the usual winter tones, but also incorporate a warmer base where they bring a subtle pop for the winter.
Industrials include colors such as Olive- Pea Green, Steel Blue, Mustard, Rust-Copper; these colors are great for menswear.
Neutrals are no longer just black, white and greys. There will be colors such as Pea Green, Camel, Cocoa, Toffee, and Ivory. The greys will have a warmer tone instead of the usual cool tone. Navy/ Royal blue will most likely replace black.
Romantics include colors such as Pine Green, Claret, Navy and Plum, which work well for menswear.
Soft is basically the pastel colors. Instead of a pale white/blue base, this season will have more of a warm pink and peach base to it.
This is a general analysis of what colors will be featured in this F/W 2014.
Now, let’s go into the core. What are the Asian fashion designers going to feature this season?
(Left: Anna Sui, Right: Lie Sang Bong)
From F/W ’13, Anna Sui presented a great mix of colors, textures and geometric patterns. Sui always has great themes/inspirations for her collections. Her collections often give a nostalgic-feeling, or some youthful fantasy. Will Sui continue the mix of vibrant colors and textures, or focus more on her theme in this season?
Very different from Sui’s play of geometric patterns, Lie Sang Bong’s play of geometric patterns have more of a modern architectural feel to it.
Vivienne Tam’s F/W '13
Punks and rockers never die. There are constantly newer interpretations of punk fashion. Vivienne Tam’s F/W ’13 collection presented a sense of punk fashion although mixed with some sense of pop-culture and political humor. Punk fashion will still be available for this coming season. A leather biker jacket will as well be a potential element to show-case in this season.
Bibhu Mohapatra f/w '13
Looking at Bibhu Mohapatra’s last fall season, the silhouette dropped. Many of Mohapatra’s evening gowns were fighting the traditional “fitted to the body” silhouette with a loose, and more relaxed, yet elegant look. The looser/wider silhouette style is believed to be continued.
Marissa Webb P/F '14
Marissa Webb also featured a loose silhouette in her P/F ’14 collection. The casual menswear influences in Webb’s collection wins many hearts from the female audiences. As well as her sweat-style pants, which are very comfortable, but still have that professional look.
Richard Chai’s Resort '14
Richard Chai’s Resort ’14 brought tailoring looks into their most relaxed form. The use of light-weight materials, wide leg trousers, and styled with casual crop T-shirts, provided the comfort of a pajama set.
Alexander Wang s/s '14
On the other hand, Alexander Wang kept the boxy tailored look of tops, but played more with the volume of the bottoms and outerwear. The baggy short of Wang’s S/S ’14 collection also had a high volume of positive responses.
Prabal Gurung f/w '13
Unlike many designers, Prabal Gurung kept his tailored looks. With his tailored silhouette, he played with cutouts and geometric shapes.
Parkchoonmoo f/w '13
Parkchoonmoo’s collection had a boxy/ wide silhouette. There were some fun accents on the pockets, and an experimentation with the placement of geometric shapes.
Jason Wu f/w '13
Jason Wu also worked with floral prints in his previous collection. Floral prints were styled with a very relaxed jumper.
(Left to right: Derek Lam, Right: Peter Som)
Derek Lam, Peter Som, and Zang Toi all played with fur. Derek Lam and Peter Som mostly kept to the classic silhouettes. Peter Som played with a mix of floral prints and plaid with vibrant colors of blue and blood orange.
Zang Toi f/w '13
Many of Zang Toi’s pieces have a curved hem. Simply stunning!
(Left: Opening Ceremony, Right: Yeohlee)
Opening ceremony and Yeohlee’s designs were more functional and athletic pieces. Opening Ceremony’s boxy utility vest was styled with fencing-style shirts. Yeohlee Teng focuses on both sustainability and functionality. Her water-resistant coat and hooded rain slicker were highlights of the collection.
(Left: Monique Lhuillier, Right: Naeem Khan)
Monique Lhuillier, Naeem Khan, and Tadashi Shoji all have really great red carpet pieces.They all incorporate the use of very intricate embroidery and lace.
Tadashi Shoji f/w '13
Shoji’s was especially good with proportion of the garments, and was on track with the Jewel tones.
Son Jung Wan s/s '14
Son Jung Wan’s previous collection was as well on track with the soft seasonal palette and great use of sequins.
What these designers will present the day of the show is still a mystery. Above was a little recap of the previous collections. It is often very fun to see the transition from one collection to the next. According to the forecast, this coming season is all about casual, comfortable silhouettes working with warmer base colors.
Can’t wait to see what’s going to surprise us from this coming Fashion Week F/W 2014!
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