Fashionclick® News |
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| September 2001 | ||||
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and Views |
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This installment: Roberto
Verino Presents "No Frontiers",
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| Roberto Verino | New York | |
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Roberto |
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Madrid (Spain) – Madrid’s National Museum of Anthropology (previously the city’s Museum of Modern Art) was, once again, the venue chosen by Galician designer, Roberto Verino - a Pasarela Cibeles dissident for more than three years -, to present his spring/summer 2002 collection titled "Sin Fronteras" (No Frontiers). Verino inspiration this time came from the Gypsy culture: "I always look for a pretext to identify an idea with an aesthetic concept," the designer told Fashionclick.com moments before the beginning of his show. "I believe fashion must not only offer aesthetic guidelines, but also transmit enthusiasm and hope, inviting the world to find solutions to problems and to look at society in other ways. That is why I chose gypsies, people who are travelers, mysterious, wise, who love their freedom and who, when faced with any adversity, are capable of moving away from where they live, rather than fight." "Globalization is a tangible reality now and it’s essential to find intelligent solutions for people to accept each others. Racial tension should not lead to wars such as the ones we have experienced in recent years and humanity should not have to suffer new attacks such as the deplorable ones that took place recently in New York City. Life under these circumstances makes no sense." Thus, as the designer's ideas walked down the runway we saw dark-skinned (a result of body makeup) men and women wearing suede and distraught leather garments, which were well received by the local press. The Spanish designer also featured classic, but always-elegant Prince of Wales and pinstriped pieces, as well as denim. His spring 2002 women wore skirts, short jackets and straight-leg pants paired with gauze floral-print, ruffled or bell sleeved shirts. He also showed beautiful one-shoulder dresses and off-the-shoulder tops. His color palette was full of black, toast, chili pepper red, leaf green and lime, and the light blue shades. Accessories
included, belts adorned with old coins (for both men and women),
necklaces, bracelets and drop earrings, as well as fringe-trimmed scarves worn on the head or around the neck, which gave the designs the
ethnical/sophisticated touch the
designer had in mind.
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| Attack on New York > | ||||
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New York (USA) - During the last few hours of September 10, 2001 I had attended Marc Jacobs' spring 2002 show, which was followed by a party to launch his signature fragrance. It was near 14th Street, at Pier 54. Hours later, the Big Apple’s destiny would be radically altered by the attack we all know, and access to lower Manhattan would be blocked by the authorities at 14th Street. On Tuesday the 11th I walked out on the streets of a Manhattan with no public transportation (practically no cars, yet a lot of pedestrians walking home). Communication by phone was difficult if not impossible and, most importantly, the city was immersed in a state of shock in the aftermath of what began as a Hollywood-style sequence of events that ended being real, too real. Obviously, New York Fashion Week, the reason why we were there in the first place, was immediately canceled. Keenly conscious that I had suddenly found myself in the midst of a moment that would indelibly be etched in people’s minds, I dedicated my unplanned ‘free time’ to gathering images of the city, as well as comments from New York-based designers regarding that unprecedented moment. With some difficulties I was finally able to meet with Sully Bonnelly and Margie Tsai. I asked both to give me a moment of their precious time to share their impressions with our readers.
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Sully
Bonnelly "Its situation was already quite difficult before the beginning of this edition of New York’s Fashion Week. The reason was the [financial] crisis and impending recession affecting the US. But the shows are always focused with the hope that things will get better." "Unfortunately, this has not happened. Even before the attack, there were already difficulties due to show cancellations from designers such as Badgley Mischka, Randolph Duke, Vera Wang or Helmut Lang, who has preferred to show in Paris this time. On the other hand, a large amount of specialized press had decided not to cover the shows due to cost concerns, preferring to purchase the images from local photographers or press agencies." "Yet,
I must say, that even though this was the situation, the show
schedule was fuller than ever with new names or, perhaps, lesser known designers." I
believe it is because they want to change, be different... but it is
also true that there are many European designers who want to show here. First of all it has affected us in an immediate way because we have had to postpone our shows; it has also disrupted our shipments (carriers where closed for several days), which had to be in by mid September. But it is difficult to know what is going to happen in the next months. We will have to wait. Maybe there will be a war, maybe not. At this moment all this is unpredictable.
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 Sully Bonnelly 
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Margie Tsai I
met with Taiwan-born designer, Margie Tsai at a café on the Upper East
Side of the city. Her show, which was scheduled two days after the
terrorist attack on the Twin Towers, did not take place due to the
cancellation of Fashion Week. I wanted to know first-hand how the event
had affected her and what her plans were regarding her show. "I feel fashion is not important in comparison to what has happened. My apartment is in the TriBeCa area, which is quite close to ground zero, and by coming uptown to have this interview I could feel the difference. This is still normal New York, but I live in downtown where you still see no cars, my windows are dusty and all I hear is sirens and see trucks and truckloads of debris as well people, military personnel, fire fighters, police and rescuers." "This makes me very sad to the point where I just can’t put on a fashion show in October. It is going to take me a long time to recover. I mean, normally I could see the WTC buildings right outside my window and the whole thing is very depressing. I can’t see anybody who would be able to watch a fashion show in the same light today and be able to get into what is going to happen next season. It is very difficult, I think the mood is gone." "I
will wait to present a runway show again when I introduce my fall 2002
collection next February."
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Freddy Galiani reporting from New York.
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 Margie Tsai 
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"Face of Africa" to Blaze
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