Asian Designer Spotlight: Tadashi Shoji Fall 2012

Japanese designer Tadashi Shoji showed at New York Fashion Week yesterday and here are some notable looks from his collection (influenced by the Golden Age of Shanghai); featuring plenty of lace, chiffon and velvet fabrics perfect for the fall season.

Dark emerald greens were featured in three of my top favorite looks from this collection. I especially loved the scalloped trim lace dress (center).

 Lace embroidery give a classic elegance to collection and the high collars of the two photos are reminiscent of the cheongsams from Shanghai.

Velvet makes a small appearance in the collection but he ties them in with the on going color scheme of emerald greens and dark reds

Though I see the Asian influence of the florals, I found that this print mixed with the colors and drop waists that Shoji decided to go with, aged the models by an extra 10 years.  And no woman wants to look older than they already are...

I think Tadashi made the "Golden Age of Shanghai" a lot more glamourous than it really was. I like to judge a collection by how wearable it is and while I find the designs to be beautiful, it would be difficult for most girls to pull off the drop waist dresses. It could be blamed on the models for being thin, but found that most of the dresses to looked really baggy. It made me miss his past collections of simple pastel dresses with soft ruffles and florals, but of course no designer can design the same thing for every collection.

I give this collection a 2/5, I just liked his past collections more...

Click here to see the entire collection and let me know what you think in the comments below!

Asian Designer Spotlight: Richard Chai Fall 2012

Ahh Fashion Week in NY, there is no better time to ogle at clothes I can't afford and wishing I was at a show instead of at my dead end job. Wait, where was I going with this post? Oh right, 'tis the week where I will feature all the Asian designers debuting their Fall 2012 collections at NYFW and there are A WHOLE LOT of them this year. So excited and happy for all of them! And to start things off we have Richard Chai's fall 2012 collection (Richard Chai Love), here are some notable looks:

 Chai throws some dark tie dye in the mix with this dress and pairs it with a large boxy coat

 Darker florals make this trench coat more fall appropriate

 Oversized women's jackets are prevalent throughout the collection

 Multi colored stripes are also another pattern Chai plays with 

 I would probably be swimming in a jacket like this but I'd be doing so in such a chic way ;P

     

How sick are those large pockets? It's like the new fanny pack!

Richard Chai kept this collection simple with the running theme of menswear for women or as I like to call it Girl becomes Boy.  Unlike most designers he wanted to make the collection more "approachable" so that even a woman not in the fashion industry would be drawn to it.  While I am all for wearing menswear, I can never wear anything oversized because at 5'0" I am undersized. 

I give this collection a 3/5

Click here to view the entire collection, and let me know what you'd rate this collection.