ULTRAS designs: Tadashi Shoji Fall 2011 Collection

Saturday, February 12, 2011

Tadashi Shoji Fall 2011 Collection

Gorge.

Set to Florence + The Machine's "Cosmic Love," the quiet, simple femininity of this collection, with its rich colors and beautiful movement, provided a perfect counterpoint to the pounding and wailing of the music, making for a very dramatic experience. As people who spend way more time than anyone would consider healthy examining the clothes of celebrities on the red carpet, this collection seemed to be tailor-made to address T Lo's most common complaint: fear of color. For stylists and starlets wedded to their neutrals and nudes, here is the collection you've been waiting for. The colors are sophisticated, striking, and (most importantly) photograph well. The dresses are relatively simple and uncomplicated (another boon to the famously conservative celebrity red carpet), but so many of them are dramatic and powerful in their own way simply because they move so beautiful and the colors are such a treat to the eyes. One-shoulder dresses are not going away any time soon, it seems. If we can put on our pretend fashion editor's hats for a moment, one of the ongoing trends reflected this season is the accentuated shoulder. It's interesting to see how he worked that element in, even in the one-shouldered dresses. We're not big fans of the lace pieces, but that's because we're not big fans of lace generally. A minor issue, because with the staging, the music, the styling, and the pieces themselves, the show was a hit and everyone left the tent buzzing about it.

Now, play Home Stylist. Pick who should wear which gowns to the Oscars. That black gown pictured second (which was actually last in the lineup but getting these pictures in exact order requires an editorial staff which doesn't exist for us. Yet.) would look great on Meryl Streep, who favors gowns that mostly cover her up and provide a little volume. Anne Hathaway for any of the purples or reds (it's her color). You pick the rest.