Thursday, February 26, 2015

Fashion Week Fall / Winter 2015: Iijin, Malan Breton

This collection by Cassian Lau and Christina Minasian hit the head of the nail with its Fall/Winter 2015 show. Overall, the theme evoked the grunge rock/punk style of the '90s through red plaid, leather jackets, gray flannel, bomber jackets, combat boots, sneakers with femme dresses and, my personal favorite of the moment, dark merlot stained lips. The show also had a young feel to it, showcasing letterman jackets with asymmetrical materials and goofy patches of cartoon pandas and smiley faces.

With clothing for men, as well as women, iiJin designed a three-piece flannel suit for men. The pants are tapered and slightly short to give it a more edgy look and paired with sneakers. In the same vein a model walked in a navy tweed skirt with a hounds-tooth waist and matching jacket with white piping on the lapels, and a soft pink crew neck shirt. Also paired with sneakers, this time with a wedge.


I had two favorites from the show, the first was a tan knee-length vest with matching cropped pants in suede, a light black crew neck sweatshirt underneath and black patent sneakers. So wearable, so comfortable, so cool.


My second favorite was this oh-so-gorgeous multi-color sequin material, pictured below. iiJin made a few pieces out of this, including cropped sweatpants with a slightly dropped crotch and an over-the-knee pencil skirt. Pretty much anything made in this was fabulous, but if I had to choose it would be the first dress with slightly belled long sleeves and a deep v-neck. Perfecto!


 *All photos from mbfashionweek.com

Malan Breton
The show opened with a bang when Frankie Grande walked astronaut-like onto the runway in a shiny scooter helmet, removed it slowly (for effect) and then strutted buoyantly towards the photographers in a shiny raspberry suit with a metallic cummerbund. The crowd went wild, building up the energy for the rest of the show.

Inspiration seemed to be drawn from the swing era's zoot suits with wide ties, over-sized double breasted jackets and wide leg pants. There was even a wide brim fedora a la Tex Avery wolf. In contrast the materials were quite ornate, reminiscent of the Rococo era, but in some cases the colors were more flashy.


The women's pieces followed the same style, but were in more subdued whites, blacks, champagnes and lilacs.


While this seemed to be the cohesive theme, there we are few outliers, such as a man sporting tighty-whities with a large M on the elastic band and long gray sweater, and his counterpart wearing boxer briefs (with the same M) and white dress shirt with a gray print.


The biggest outlier of all was the final piece that came with it's own theatrics: an orange gown fit for a medieval princess accompanied by a fleet of men in equally orange suits. The dress has a long train, empire waist, and spiked gold crown outfitted with an orange tulle veil.


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