Christian Siriano kicks off New York Fashion Week in full color
AdvertisementAdvertisement By Leanne ItalieAssociated Press | Sep 08, 2021at12:31 PM
NEW YORK — With Katie Holmes and Lil' Kim front row and singer Marina at the microphone on the runway, Christian Siriano helped kick off the first major round of in-person shows of New York Fashion Week in times of pandemic with a burst of neon and lace inspired in part by all the Italian women in your life.
From ornate Gotham Hall, under a stained-glass skylight more than 70 feet (21 meters) high, Siriano's commitment to the inclusion of women of all sizes was never more clear than on Tuesday, when he opened and closed his show with plus-size model Precious Lee. Her first she walked in a stunning yellow pantsuit with baggy wide leg pants and an asymmetrical jacket, a matching wrap bralette under it.
AdvertisementWith her audience reduced to 300 of her usual 800 guests due to the pandemic, Siriano told The Associated Press that she wanted to bring glamor to today's dark times. In some looks, he conjured up vintage photographs of his paternal grandmother vacationing in Positano on Italy's Amalfi Coast in the 1960s and 1970s. He donned vintage sunglasses on some of his models in bright yellow, orange, and orange dresses. twilight and long dresses emerald green or with huge ruffles instead of puffy sleeves and skirts.
“Fashion Week is back. It feels so good. New York feels great,” Siriano said, with Kristin Chenoweth, Alicia Silverstone and muse Coco Rocha also sitting in the front row.
The pandemic, said the designer, has caused bouts of nostalgia for many, himself included. She remembered an apricot polka dot dress among her grandmother's favorites.
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“She is still alive at 101 years old,” Siriano said. “I just felt that and she has the glamor that I love. He was surrounded by women who really dressed up every day. It was lipstick, hair and makeup, every day."
She wanted this spring-summer collection to be “very strong and powerful”, but also sexy.
There were barely-there black lace, tiny bras paired with full pants and skirts, and body-hugging dresses cut from neck to calf. As Marina sang from a platform at the end of the catwalk, models of all sizes also walked in classic black and white evening wear, including long-sleeved one-piece dresses with a bare midriff. Others were adorned with vertical rows of feathers.
“I love that, I miss it,” she said of her touch of drama and old world glamour. “I think that's what people miss about fashion as well. We have friends who are going, let's say, to a birthday party and they want a dress. It's very interesting to see what we were missing."
Fashion, Siriano said, “is in a really tough place” right now.
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“Business is really struggling everywhere. It is nothing like what people used to buy. But luckily, for our world, people are really looking for that aspirational piece. They are spending more than ever on it. My best friend just got married. She called off her wedding three times. I made her the biggest dress I could make for her. she wanted it. She's a curvy girl and she's pregnant, and she said, I don't care."
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