COOL CHIC. Tangerine tiered chiffon blouse paired with army green jogger pants
“AGAIN?” —Teresin Mendezona charmingly blurted out, still obliging to the lady photographer who requested for two more shots of her in the front row. If the images would come out anytime soon, what she wore that night would be the most memorable footprint of why we were all summoned in the first place—to unearth what was lost two seasons back.
A thousand floral trimmings embellished the entire circumference of the black scoop neckline blouse that Teresin paired with a champagne A-line, knee-length skirt all manufactured at the fashion house of Arcy Gayatin where she is the most prominent muse among the clients. Her ensemble was the first nod ofapproval to the trends presented on the runway of Fashion Forum—SM Store’s luxury line of ladies apparels flown in from New York and Los Angeles—at the Mountainview of SM Seaside last Saturday night. Something to look forward to in the coming months, it highlighted floral cut-outs, black and nude tones.
One of its designers, David Meister spent months on the road this spring, touring department stores and speaking to salespeople and customers. It posted
a question in his mind: “Can I sell this?”
TROPICAL ALLURE. Chiffon tropical wrap dress
But actually, it’s a point that seems regularly taken for granted in some corners of the fashion family. Years in the design room tutored him the importance of brand identity. The bottom line this season, he didn’t play it safe. Rather, he seemed interested in stirring things up a bit. See: the emphasis on the trumpet silhouette Amparito Lhuillier wore on the runway; the bolero glistened with floral patterns, too.
Adrianna Pappell put to electric use on a Chantilly lace dress and matching under-slip; it turned up on a terrific intarsia shearling, among other pieces. One look combined a black-and-champagne mullet dress and a red- and-navy zebra T-shirt dress—full-on and casually fab.
Earth-toned culottes were another brave move that looked good with a black ribbed knit
jersey with ruffled sleeves. As confident as all of those items have been, Adrianna didn’t ignore the more decorous aspects of her aesthetic. Case in point was a burnout silk and velvet dress dyed a rich panoply of different colors. It’ll sell. In fact, it will be hard to find a prettier dress this season.
BABY ON BOARD. The rise of the baby doll dress was prominent during the show.
R and M Richards nailed his trademark on the label’s look, firmly yet gently, as his personal style dictates. Unfailingly polite, the label seemed well suited to give SM both flair and consistency. His elegant taffeta has been favored by society women in the front row, obsessively discreet types so understated as to be snobbishly
horrified of even the smallest evidence of showing off. Its signature neutral palette is so widely spread that the word beige is translated into countless different variations, probably at least as many as the Inuit have for snow.
“I wanted purity, simplicity, a lightweight approach,” said the designer in an interview with Harper’s Bazaar months back. Yet there was nothing simple in his stylistic vision for the label. “I delved in the archive,” he said. “It was full of hidden gems. In the ’50s, the house’s founder worked alongside the modernist movement on textile design, innovating the fabrics’ development; it wasn’t just a mill.”
