At New York Fashion Week this fall, Herve Leger by Max Azaria showed an innovative take on the classic bandage dress with outfits that were form-fitting and featured cutouts and intricate detailing on a variety of fabrics. My two favorite outfits are featured below. The first is a black leather dress with lattice-like cutouts that reminds me of a Moroccan lamp (in a good way). The second is a form-fitting, metallic bandage dress which looks nearly sheer. What they lack subtly, they make up for in a demure length and cut.
Although the design elements of the dresses were stunning, my biggest criticism of the show was Azaria's choice in models. While Leger celebrated the curvaceous form of a woman, Azaria's models did not have the curves to pull off these designs. The two above luckily did justice to their looks, but the two models featured below, detract from their designs. I understand the need for models to be hangers but if the "hanger" is not helping the outfit then it defeats the purpose.
This is not a harangue of the fashion industry and emaciated models though. For the most part, I felt that Azaria took a classic idea and reinvigorated it for the 2010. Having gone to the Herve Leger store I know that most of the past seasons' looks have been exercises in repetition, so it was exciting to see something so clearly out of the box and shapes that embraced the female form without clinging to it. So overall, a stunning interpretation of the past.
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