Stacey Bendet named her Fall 2013 collection "Fantasy Street Style," describing her ideal alice + olivia girl as a "cool, clever free-spirit wandering the streets of Paris." If all goes well, that should be me in five to seven years. That's not to say I intend to become an alice + olivia model, but based on how rad the Fall collection was, I'd be down with walking around in some of Bendet's designs.
The designer used the burgeoning concept of street style as inspiration for this season's clothing. As
I've said before, as
Suzy Menkes has said before, as a million people have said before, street style is becoming more of a spectacle than an honest representation of peoples' everyday ensembles. That idea fits hand in hand with Bendet's more is more tactic that she uses consistently in every collection. Why the hell not, amirite? If more makes the outfit work, do as Tim Gunn says and
make it work.
I can understand how someone might think that being a maximalist is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done right now, what with our unstable economy, rapidly deteriorating environment, and global social unrest. What we really need to do, one might say, is give up our consumerist and capitalist ways and go back to basics. There are two approaches to this situation. Either to live simplistically and attempt to make peace with the world that we've so mercilessly harmed, or we can enjoy the way we live now for as long as we can because time is obviously running out. I personally would choose the former option, but that's just me. Stacey Bendet, no doubt, would choose the latter. She might even say, in the spirit of my generation,
carpe diem! (As you can see I'm doing everything I can to avoid using that
dreadful acronym.)
[Photos by me.]
Are they looking at each other? Are they just stretching their necks?
A motorcyclist in a tiara. That's something new.
I'd willingly let Stacey Bendet furnish my apartment.
Also, brocade.
I love brocade. I made a pair of shoes out of it for my
colonial shoemaking project in middle school, and I
just bought a pair of Victorian-esque brocade heels. Fun facts of the day.
Flower crowns are becoming less of a
Coachella thing and more of a cool chick thing.
Elly wore one the other day to school, but hers was woven into her hair.
This may have been my absolute favorite of all of the looks in the collection.
REDredredred. I want to be red.
Note the brass instruments hanging in the background.
When I showed my mom this picture, her response was, "What nice hose!" If you say it out loud, it takes on a whole new meaning.
Sparkles on leather on fur.
Shirts on shirts on sexy.
Black lace shoulders are another Victorian detail.
PLAID shoes. How about that?
I loved this whole display. Every garment was beautiful, the setting was interesting, and the models rocked. Plus it photographed wonderfully.
The alice + olivia show was easily one of the most exciting events I've ever been to. The second I walked in the door at the location in the Meatpacking District, I saw Zanna Roberts Rossi and engaged her in conversation. She was so nice, and even claimed to remember me from when I met her at the
ADAM show a few season ago. I ran into a few of the resident New York City bloggers (
Natalie Suarez,
Claire Geist), and saw my fair share of celebrities (the two laydeez above, Katherine McPhee, and several others; Vanessa Hudgens was there but I didn't see her). I even saw two girls from my school, funnily enough. I drank some bubbly beverages, ate some macarons, and spent the full two hours looking at the beautiful clothing, talking to some people, and chasing down anyone that looked like they had cake pops.
Anyone else feeling like listening to a lot of French music?
