A Word with your Wardrobe: Galleria Fashion Show and Tell

By Deanne Nguyen     3/19/09 7:00pm

While the Big Five - New York, London, Paris, Milan and Tokyo - are showing collections for Fall 2009, the fourth-largest city in the U.S. is celebrating the here and now with some Spring '09 fun. Last week at the Galleria, Simon Fashion Now presented Houston with its very own three-day fashion presentation, complete with runways as well as bonus style stops to discuss beauty. The first evening, however, was a high fashion event that was invitation-only. Luckily, the Thresher happened to get me and Joel Kahn, a staff photographer, on the guest list.We arrived to see that there was already a socializing buzz about and that almost every fashionable woman in sight was in a pair of pumps, while the men were sharply clad in suit and tie. Shortly afterwards, an omnipresent voice ushered everyone to their seats, and the show began right at 8 p.m., with Saks Fifth Avenue, featuring Christian Louboutin shoes, as the opening act.

Yes Men

With each brand's walk out, I started to notice the competition of varieties. There were menswear paired with women's wear, but then each switched roles from accessories to tailoring. There were casual play clothes quickly followed by sleek evening looks. The juxtapositions were clear and a rather enjoyable way to see what these designers and stores pictured their customers would be wearing from them, day and night.

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The Dresses vs. the Suiting

It was a battle of the sartorial gender styles, sometimes within the same brand. Ferragamo's crimson 1940's-style, hourglass-figure wrap dress was followed by its doppelganger in jacket and cropped pants form. Billy Reid's striped shrunken blazer and tailored white skinnies gave his ultra-feminine, playful polka dotted dress a quick once- over before exiting.

Luckily for the dresses team, Fendi and Carolina Herrera stopped the show with their girlishly-shaped tea and pencil dresses, which were belted and flared accordingly. The ethereal fabric details, whether cut out, draped, appliquéd or coaxed out at the right places, seemed to nip and tuck perfectly to the body's form, saving the day by making every woman appreciate curves.

And while some designers dabbled in the day leather jackets and shorts area for men, everyone seemed to concede to Billy Reid and Nordstrom, which showed only menswear, that even in pieces, nothing looks better than a man in a well-fitted suit. (Amen to that.)

The Formal vs. the Casual

This one is for the girls. Missoni's girls were all fun and games and ready to hit the beach in their summery short dresses of sand and ocean-pebble colors. This is, of course, not before meeting up with their friends clad either in Neiman Marcus's colored shifts, Barney's city-street-cool jackets and jeans or Billy Reid's striped tights for lunch on the promenade. Their Ferragamo and Saks Fifth older sisters keep changing their minds: artsy dolman sleeved day dress or princess-style ball gown?

Their mothers, all decked out in floor length Carolina Herrera, have other plans in mind. Day and evening wear for women were at times a matter of transitioning between fiercely feminine to unstoppably elegant, but as the presentations sang the chorus together, there's no need to compromise.

The Bags vs. The Shoes

The victor is obvious: shoes. Their numbers and reception of ooh's, ahhs and double-takes overruled the handbags, though they do deserve honorable mention. The shoes ranged from heels to flats, Choos urban gladiators to Louboutin's S&M Mary Janes to Fendi's suede wedges with a false printed heel.

Ferragamo's and Carolina Herrera's bags' reds did pop out in their carry-on structure, but the ease and folds of neutral tones of Saks' and Missoni's slouchy hobos were just as college-girl appealing. Simple evening clutches with metallic fastenings stepped up to their patent pump counterparts.

In the end though, some designers omitted the bag entirely, while shoes are essential to the look. Plus, giving a girl a little lift adds bonus points for multitasking adornment. I'll admit that I am more of a shoe person, but I began to question, with all the soft and beautifully-displayed craftsmanship, why I wasn't already a bag lover myself. You know a fashion show is good when it makes you want things you really don't need.

From start to finish, there's just something surreal about seeing the clothes from famous brands. You see them all the time in magazines, looking distant and untouchable, but when they are parading themselves out in front of you as if you have the funds for them, it is something else. It is like window shopping on a whole new level; it's a dream in decadence.

But back in reality, where we exist as college students, the best we can do is extrapolate onto our own wardrobes. Whether that means DIYing a Fendi dress, or styling a la Billy Reid, or even saving up one day for the real thing, ultimately, what I got from the collections was that it's not so much a matter of affording, but experimenting. I saw this in action post-show. The guests, of all ages, had their own unique sense of stylistic flair: a group of young models donning hipster accents, a cute girl with a covet-worthy necklace, a woman with a cupcake purse straight from Sex and the City.

On the runway and off, there was a real sense of adult play on classics there that night and a message that declared there would be no minimum on how old you have to be to have fun with your clothes. The show, as all shows should, ensured that everyone who has Peter Pan syndrome - us included - won't be neglected and need not fear giving up their childhood delights of dress-up.

See you next week!

Deanne Nguyen is a Will Rice College sophomore.

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