Fairy Tale Fashion: Georgine Fall 2016

Make a wish, hide in the woods. Georgine's Fall 2016 collection was inspired by Grimm's Fairy Tales. It had a fanciful, darker tone with lots of pretty embellishments. This was not the wardrobe of a fairy princess. The silhouettes were slim and body conscious. It was more the seductive villain just making her way through the castle.

There were whimsical embellishments like metallic candy appliques, dark flowers, dragonflies, and birds. Beautiful sequin embroidery embellished a slinky gown fit for an ice queen. Forest green sequins embroidered leaves onto a fur collar ensemble. There was a witty sweater with "Grumpy" across the front as a nod to Snow White's seven dwarves. Silk, fur, knits and glittering accents made the mix of outerwear, sportswear, and eveningwear perfect for a day into night lifestyle.

This is how I like to dress. I love the idea of a sensible sweater with exaggerated shoulders or a trenchcoat with beaded flowers and ribbon belt. I believe velvet and satin should be daywear fabrics. The makeup on the models had a bit of a Gothic edge. Lips were blood red or off-black and purple. Hair was often swept up and knotted high on the head to accentuate high-neck silhouettes. Many of the models wore dark sunglasses for that mysterious air or librarian glasses to pay tribute to the literary roots of fairy tales.

My favorite part of late summer is seeing all of the autumn fashions hit the stores. Georgine Ratelband's fall collection offers a sartorial happy ending for all.

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Fairy Tale Fashion at the Museum at FIT

Happy Easter Weekend my lovelies. I thought I would start it off with Manish Arora's Alice in Wonderland inspired costume at the Museum at FIT's Fairy Tale Fashion exhibit. This fantasy fashion tribute is one you don't want to miss if you are in town. It is a gorgeous mix of looks both from contemporary designers and historic costume. Some are inspired by ancient tales literally while some are more in spirit.

Alice in Wonderland's loopy dreamscape has Mad Hatters, a character driven insane from his own profession in fashion. Playing card motifs, tea parties, rabbits and a host of other characters tht inspire designers. Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland film inspired a bunch of designers like Haider Ackerman and Alexander McQueen to create tribute ensembles for the movie.

Cinderella is a romantic story with an epic makeover. Both her "rags" stage and ballgown stage has
served as muse to many designers. In the 1970s, designer Giorgio di Sant'Angelo created a bohemian collection of layered prints and stitch details to celebrate Cinderella's rags. Many a designer created stunning ballgowns. Christian Louboutin designed the drool-worthy Cinderella shoes to coincide with Disney's Cinderella movie.


Little Red Riding Hood is a story about a girl defined by her outerwear. There were historic red hooded cloaks along with contemporary designer counterparts. The Beauty and the Beast tale also displayed historic costumes to illustrate the story of the era of the 1700s.

The Little Mermaid and many under the sea creatures were the inspiration for some of the whimsical exhibits. Seaweed and coral motif appliques embellished a Rodarte fishnet gown. Hideki Seo created an elaborate Sea Witch ensemble for the exhibition. Nature also plays into the lore of fairies and Sleeping Beauty. Woodland creatures are a part of the Snow White and Rose Red fairy tale. The exhibit pays tribute to furry pelted looks from J. Mendel, Prada's 2008 collection with James Jean fairy illustrations and Alexander McQueen's collection of dresses with insect motifs.

The Wizard of Oz is a great story to inspire fashion designers. The hero of the day are those ruby slippers. Many shoe designers have created their own version of the famous footwear. Gingham and prairie looks, sinister black and green fashion illustrate the fashion tropes of this story. The Museum at FIT hosted their own exhibit of Tonner Doll's tribute to The Wizard of Oz movie. A huge collection of designers re-imagined high fashion updates to either the Wicked Witch or Dorothy.

While some of the fairy tale fashion is pure costume fantasy. Some of the gorgeous looks were perfect for bringing magic into real life. If you want to give your sartorial day a happy ending, get yourself to thehttp://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/ Museum at FIT's exhibit before it ends at April 16, 2016.

Photos by Mariana Leung

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Hacker Fashion for Geeks and Dreamers

A week outside of the mainstream NY Fashion week, a Season 2 Project Runway alum presented her high-tech project to the world. Diana Eng, self proclaimed "Nerd" has been working on her "Fairytale Fashion" project at Eyebeam Atelier. The audience was noticeably absent of self-absorbed editors, preening socialites and all of the usual Garmento suspects. Instead, it was filled with students, brainy crafters, and the mathletes that would be Diana Eng's supportive fans.

The show itself was creatively inspiring. I'm happy to say that after a week of seeing the same color palettes at Bryant Park and Milk Studios, I was witness to something truly different. Diana Eng applied scientific principles, wiring and LED lights as embroidery and hems to cocktail dresses. A chic wedding dress inflated into a dramatic over-sized bow. A whimsical ballgown was filled with balloons that were released into the air, with twinkling lights as anchors. There were jackets with geometrically calculated pleating that collapsed onto itself for a hood or collar. Origami pleated sleeve adorned another jacket. One dress had roses projecting to the surface from within.

Instead of a pretentious DJ doing the soundtrack, four hackers created digital music with a wired felt pillow, hacked sewing machine and a bunch of laptops.

The only thing I miss from regular fashion week are the cocktails...Guests here were served fruit punch and honey tea. So much for giving up sobriety for Lent...

Photos by See-Ming Lee

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