The Duckie Brown fall 2011 Show: Ruminating Backstage With the Duckies

Text, Vivian Kelly

"Is this a 'men's collection" or a "women's collection?"
UGH.
Like Steven Cox, 1/2 of the Duckie Brown label, I find the question rather, well... dated. Perhaps a better word would be, "anachronistic"".
Back in the early Eighties, we had Grace Jones and Brigitte Nielsen. They looked FAN-TAS-TIC. They made the point that you could be masculine AND feminine - all at once. Both sported looks such as white "wife beaters" and "men's" black tuxes in now-iconic photographs. They helped spout the notion of "androgyny" which photographic legend, Helmut Newton, helped to make fashionable.
Another famous example is Bianca Jagger, back in her Studio 54 Days. Her most famous outfit was a white PANTsuit. In the Seventies though, it was considered "daring" to wear pants to work.

Then-Vogue Editor, Grace Mirabella, was considered to be "daring" to propose this as "a work option". As I later learned, as one of her Assistants, in the early Nineties, Miss Mirabella meant what she said. I cannot recall a SINGLe day she did not walk into the office in slacks. Her favorites were: Geoffrey Beene, Calvin, and Bill Blass, not necessarily in that order.

Even in the mid-Eighties, when I was going on my first job interviews, I wore SKIRTS - no question. Pants, were not really an option.
The whole topic seems ridiculous in retrospect. Just a year earlier, I'd gone on a road-trip to UVA [The University of Virginia] for a weekend of party hopping. The scene I lived out that weekend was straight out of Tommy Hilfigger's tailgate glossy ads. What's interesting is that when you inspect it closely, "preppy style" can ALSO, like "East Village Punk", look quite uni-sexual. We college co-eds were from a dozen or so different colleges and universities but we all looked like the frat boys whose parties we attended.
The uniform: Lacoste shirt [untucked], Levi jeans [unwashed and stiff] and Sperry Top or Docksiders. Sounds limiting? Not really, when you consider how many different colors the Gator shirt was available in.
Okay, I made-up that word, "unisexual". At the end of the day though, most of us are looking for clothes that we, as people, can just wear.
SOME "PEOPLE'S FAVORITES"
-The "wife beater tank
-Converse "Chuck Taylors"
-A really WELL CUT pair of trousers - Duckie Brown! Oftentimes, they will be black.
- Levi's original 501's. You need to break them in, it just takes time. Be patient.
-A Woolrich red and black buffalo plaid jacket
-Docksiders, the originals.

So, why can’t a man wear women’s clothes and vice-versa? Duckie designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver ponder the question in our pre-show interview, here.

The Farah Angsana and Mara Hoffman s/s2011 Collections

TEXT, VIVIAN KELLY
In the last few seasons that FARAH ANGSANA has been showing at NYFW, she has evolved into an eveningwear designer to be reckoned with.


I've been following Farah since the days when she and Kevan Hall were the star attractions at MBFW [Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week] LA. With the right Public Relations Firm, Paul Wilmot, at her side, Farah’s realizing her potential. Now that she’s got the right representation behind her, she continues to hone her craft while staying true to her signature look, which she told me post-show
is also her mantra, " sexy, elegant, NEVER vulgar".


Like nearly every designer out there, she’s got an eye on producing some Red Carpet looks, but she’s also got some great day looks for the soigné woman who as Tom Ford pointed-out, is willing to put time and energy into looking great.

Farah had lots of cocktail looks to choose from. There was a gorgeous pink and green chiffon print that's stunning, in both the long and short versions. The Red carpet bid came when she showed the gold lame Oscar statuette gown.
My favorite though, was the finale mini dress I’d like to see the likes of Natalie Portman or Carrie Mulligan in. The green draped silk chiffon Kebaya mini dress embroidered with gold thread and Swarovski crystals was a feat of craftsmanship, and earned her a well-deserved round of applause.




I then shifted gears from an evening wear mind set to day wear, and went a few miles South, down to Pier 59, to go see what one of my favorite daywear and swim designers, MARA HOFFMAN, had in store for s/s2011. While Farah clearly designs with the Red Carpet in mind, Mara Hoffman's demographic is something entirely different. You see a diversity of stars as different as Jennifer Lopez
and Lauren Conrad,
rocking their respective Mara Hoffmans, but even more importantly, you see a lot of non-celebs wearing it too.
The true barometer of a brand's success is if the question, "are people (other than the models, celebrities and public relations team) wearing it?” Looking around the crowded presentation space, I glimpsed over a dozen cool women, some tall, some short, wearing Mara Hoffman. They weren't celebrities who were paid to attend and to wear Mara Hoffman. They were real women wearing these clothes because they love how they look in them.

Upon entering the Pier 59 space, we were treated to vacation-themed vignettes
complete with calypso music, palm trees and Mara’s bright batik prints. It’s tricky to design a good print, and Mara’s one of the best when it comes to creating a winning print. As ‘Ari’ of Entourage is won't to say, "it's all good".
I fixated on the stunning red batik print.
Wanna wanna! I left, mentally planning-out how I’d coordinate that piece with other items in my wardrobe for my spring break trip to the Mexican Riviera post the fall 2011 NY shows.

ENDNOTES
To view the gallery of looks from the Farah Angasana s/s2011 show, visit www.exposay.com