Vivienne Tam Fall 2017

Who is ready to go out tonight? Vivienne Tam brought Fall 2017 back to Hong Kong and its legendary nightlife. The city celebrates the 20th anniversary of its handover back to China. Their festivities are centered around youth and the generation that came of age in this era.

Vivienne Tam paid tribute to the 1990s of the turnover with a nod to the fashion silhouettes of that time but with her signature twist. Ruching details were popular in the late Nineties, and she worked them into unusual placements on skirts and jackets. 

There were some dazzling prints depicting the neon lighting and signs that define the Hong Kong nightlife scene. These were juxtaposed with tailored menswear plaids and metallic brocades. There were some fantastic crochet knits in chunky textures combining black and bright primary colors.

If you are ready to party on a global scale, Vivienne Tam has your wardrobe ready!

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NYFW: Vivienne Tam Fall 2016 - Turkish Redux

The Year of the Fire Monkey signifies ambition and adventures. Designer Vivienne Tam's Fall 2016 show shifted away from her native China as her collection's muse and moved her gaze to Turkey. Her runway for NY Fashion Week was created around looks observed in Turkish streetwear and mosaic tiles. It also looked at how its chicest citizens were adept at upcycling creative elements.

How did this translate into Tam's own clothing? You can see various patterns created in her dresses and separates. The prints are inspired by the various hand-painted motifs found on the tiles of Turkish architecture. Dresses with cut fabric appliques is tonal colors echo the pieced textures of mosaics. The larger embroidered applique graphics are exaggerated scale of tile patterns. There were handbags and garments that also had a folded, origami-like effect that echoed the trompe l'oeil overlapping tile look that is achieved with geometric tile layouts.

As it was a streetwear-inspired collection, the models were styled very casually for the runway. Hair was in loose, tousled waves. Lips were pale. Eyes and brows were defined but not exaggerated.

I have always been a big fan of how Vivienne Tam mixes texture and a tongue-in-cheek update of traditional inspiration and modern technology. I love her consistent use of rich red, purple and black because those are, selfishly some of my favorite fashion colors. Though I didn't show them here, I felt I should note there were plenty of black and white combos, camel and brown in the fall offerings as well.

If you love your fall looks embellished with culture and texture, Vivienne Tam Fall 2016 is the way to go.

All photos by Mariana Leung

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Vivienne Tam Spring 2016

My favorite thing about Vivienne Tam collections is how she bridges retro inspiration with cutting edge contemporary style. For spring 2016 runway, she thought about the androgynous attitude that was in vogue in the 1920's and how it paralleled the gender fluid attitudes of the 1970s and today.

Where exactly did that inspiration come into play? There were the dropped waist styles of the dresses that flattered the slimmer body type of flapper women. There were more linear, elongated silhouettes and a mahjong motif applique fringe that referenced the 20s as well. The contemporary equivalent of androgyny is the sporty looks and nods to skater culture of the 70s. Power mesh, athletic stripes, and bomber jackets walked down the catwalk with a color palette of black, white, sea green and Tam's signature red.

photos by Mariana Leung

Another signature feature is her modern twist on traditional Chinese embellishments. Dragons, lotus flowers and goldfish adorned her techno fabrics in laser cut appliques or stylized pop art embroidery with a bit of art deco thrown in. The mahjong tile embellishments were created with eyelets as the character motifs. This was a game that is popular with older Chinese generations but became very trendy stateside in the 1920s. Now you find the tiles used as a popular material for kitschy fashion accessories.

Vivienne Tam has such a distinct style that they are quirky, yet timeless. I love that I have pieces from her collections that span over 15 years, but I feel I can wear them at any time and still look fashion forward. When other designers use Asian influences, it often looks like it is just cultural appropriation of tired cliches. Thank goodness for Tam's multiple decades of tongue-in-cheek aesthetic to push Chinese design forward into the future.

Check out Fashion for the Year of the Monkey
by Ms. Fabulous at Mode

Here's $50 to shop the collection:

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#NYFW: Vivienne Tam Fall 2015

Happy Chinese new year!  Vivienne Tam's Fall 2015 collection brought the opulence of Chinoiserie as seen through the eyes of Europeans when they first encountered Asian culture. So what exactly does that mean?
You see high-necked silhouettes popular in the Victorian era. Nature illustrations were popular in the 1700's and 1800's in Europe. In this collection, there was a fusion of those illustrations mixed with traditional Chinese motifs of cranes and cherry blossoms in  beautiful prints on the fabric (always loved Vivienne Tam prints).

photos by Mariana Leung

The sexiest looks were the cocktail length dresses with A-line skirt with the bodice framed in lace applique. The lace motifs echoed baroque furniture lines popular in the Victoria era. The other Asian Euro fusion combo? Grey wooly tartans were paired with soft silk printed dresses. Proper British peacoats were a part of more tailored looks.

Vivienne Tam continued her use of high tech fabrics like power mesh and neoprene to execute classical cultural motifs. I have always loved her aesthetic of taking traditional elements of her heritage and breaking them out to contemporary pop art fashion trends.

Now, if I get enough red envelopes today, Vivienne Tam's boutique is where I will be spending them!

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#NYFW: Vivienne Tam Spring 2015 & the Forbidden City

Vivienne Tam is a master in merging traditional Chinese themes with contemporary techniques.  For spring 2015, the designer took her inspiration from China’s Forbidden City. 

Landscapes and nature patterns like waves and clouds were printed onto blouses or handbags.  Birds, flowers and trees were embroidered onto athletic fabrics like power mesh.  Printed neoprene was cut and appliqued onto other fabrics in a sports meets high fashion mix.  These motifs are found in historical artwork and handicrafts in China and treasures from inside the Forbidden City.  Her color palette was similar to her collections of the past. She used her signature red, black and ivory.  There was a pretty ceramic blue and bits of citrus yellow and purple in prints.

The big trend in many collections this season is wearable tech.  Vivienne Tam offered handbags that charged your phone when you put it inside.  Unlike many of the clunky pieces that many tech companies produced, the accessories on this runway were so stylish, I would be happy to buy them on design alone with the functionality being a big bonus.

The most popular jewelry was a variation on the knotted beaded friendship bracelet.  Unfortunately, my least favorite part of the catwalk was the footwear.  Normally, I would be enthusiastic about seeing a designer promote practical, comfortable footwear, but the socks and flat sandals the models wore looked like a bad tourist cliché.  Paired with the sleek, beautifully rendered pieces on the body above, it just did not make sense.  Was this a nod to the casual attire of Silicon Valley?  Sure, wearing comfy shoes should be a goal in real life, but on the New York Fashion Week runway, I realized I would prefer to see some nice heels on the models that are only spending 90 seconds in them.  Even the most professional of models, wearing socks and flat, duck-like sandals affects how they walk and the overall impression on the runway. 

With Vivienne Tam’s tongue-in-cheek design process, I think the models were lucky their feet were not bound instead.

photos by Mariana Leung

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Vivienne Tam Fall 2014

I absolutely love Vivienne Tam's Fall 2014 color palette.  The blue, dark red, steel, teal and purple are all the hues I want to see when the weather starts cooling down.  The inspiration for this season's collection was a mash-up of 1970's glamour the cave paintings in Dunhuang, China.

Can you see it?  The Chinese medallion embroidery and crocheted dresses echos some of the afghans of the 1970's but in much more sophisticated colors.  The plunging necklines and sexy slim gowns had their roots in the disco chic dresses of the decade.  Smocked peasant blouses were given a contemporary interpretation by being made in rich bold colors and more tailored placement in the smocking.

The cave reference is a little tougher to discern.  There was a cream ground print that at first glance looked abstract, but you see that has highly stylized, ancient motifs with a painterly effect.  The old frescos in the caverns had animal imagery, which were blown up into bigger graphics in some o the bolder prints as well.  There were a series of marbleized patterns that looked they took their muse from Italian marble papers popular as liners for posh leather-bound books of the era.

Handbags were an important presence this season.  Several of the purses had a structured, square shape that reminded me of my own mother's handbags in 1970's.  They had the shaped handle or colorblocked details.  Some had the square shape, but softer, shinier finish.  Some had a shaped flap that reflected the Chinese motifs in the clothing embroidery.  This was a great collection of bags that complemented the clothing well, but still stood on their own.  

I love that Vivienne Tam always executes the modern East meets West aesthetic in a fun, not-literal or cliche way.  There are too many non-Asian designers who cop to stereotyped, tired Chinoiserie ideas.  Vivienne Tam has shown us a more evolved, much more interesting way to go.

photos by David TW Leung

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NY FASHION WEEK: Vivienne Tam Spring 2014

Vivienne Tam took the city out of the girl and placed it right on her back. She opened the show with a city silhouette backdrop. Possibly Shanghai, home of Tam’s inspiration for this season’s collection?

Tam begun her 40 piece collection with crisp, simple forms, balanced by intricate lotus flower patterns, thoroughly evident in each incorporated look. The first few looks’ black and white palette leveled the detail of patterns.

This collection was all about delicate subtlety, the barely-there cutouts whose existence takes a second glance to confirm. From printed lotus shirt to short pleated skirt, the A-line cut dominated most looks.

What I’ve also noticed trending in other shows is the conservative top form. Straight or horizontal, high necklines and collars covered up what the midriffs and short skirts reveal.

Colours evolved from simple black and white, to pastels, to loud blood orange, to a blue and green hue, with a return to the black and white in the last two looks. The well executed color gradation allowed a successful progression and change without overpowering the elaborate cutout flower patterns, free form slash lines and the occasional  (one time) sheer top print image.

Tam’s success came through her collection sequence, I felt I evolved with the collection, moved from day to night with the exquisite color movement.

I loved the simple structure of the pieces, free flowing and fitted. Simple shoes and lack of accessories helped propel and focus the eye towards intriguing colors and slick cuts. Remember, less is more!                                      - Niko Nelson

original photos by David TW Leung

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NY FASHION WEEK: Vivienne Tam Fall 2013

It's the Year of the Snake!  Vivienne Tam presented her fall 2013 on Chinese New Year at Lincoln Center.  The striking red and black collection had me drooling for the upcoming season.  

The centerpiece print was an Obama inspired print with QR codes embedded as part of the artwork.  As the pioneer of the East Meets West aesthetic, a smiling Barack Obama seemed the ultimate symbol of both.  The rest of the prints also had high-tech graphic looks that drew on highly stylized Chinese characters.  The Chinese calligraphy was also cleverly embedded in the style lines and pieced seams of the dresses. The bold red on black and white made every piece pop on the runway.  Super dark lips and punk ponytail hairstyles gave the models a bad-ass  serpentine look.  

I even loved the shoes, which were shiny red or black patent leather with contrast straps.  

Ms. Tam is not just about fashion.  She does aim to do good with her brand.  This season, she partnered with Save Love Give, an organization that turns your overpaid wireless waste into funds that mentor and provides micro-loans to underprivileged women to become self-sufficient.

The only thing that would have made this show better?  If the runway started raining red envelopes...

Check out the full show photos here

Photos by David TW Leung

Watch our interview with Vivienne!

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Vivienne Tam Spring 2013

The Zen of fashion design...Vivienne Tam's Spring 2013 collection was designed around the 5 elements of Chinese cosmology.  The elements of metal, wood, water, fire and earth were represented in simple geometric shapes like fire triangles, circles of metal, the earth as a square (clearly pre-Columbus).  The New York Fashion Week show was also the debut of the designer's collaboration with TSL jewelry.

I have to say I loved this collection.  There were a ton of looks I was ready to buy.  I always liked this designer's modern, tongue-in-cheek take on traditional Chinese motifs.  This collection did too, but in a much more abstract, non-obvious way.  Layers of silk chiffon on organza in the classic palette of red, black, white.  

TSL is a jewelry chain where many of my relatives bought gifts for me when I got married.  It was also the boutique I went to after a stressful business trip in Hong Kong and needed to treat myself.  They have modern designs and tiny little diamonds to make them sparkly...

Your life may not always have balance, but now your outfit has no excuse.

photos by David TW Leung

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Hot Flavors of Summer Fashion

 Memorial Day is coming up, so you had better be ready with your summer style!  I'm looking forward to warm weather cocktails and bright breezy frocks!  The top shades this year seem the align perfectly with the top flavors this season...

Tangerine Tango was named Pantone's color of the year.  Designers Vivienne Tam, Carlos Miele and Derek Lam certainly knew that.  They worked the color into elegant and flirty frocks perfect for a garden party or Hamptons gala...The perfect accessory?  How about a Citrus Squeeze?  Recipe here.

 Remember having a lemonade stand when you were a child?  It was my first foray into entrepreneurship.  You can give the ultimate summer beverage a nice upgrade by making a Pucker vodka-infused Lemonade Lust.   Dress for success with a printed dress from Diane Von Furstenburg, jewelry from Lulu Frost, or swish gown from Cesar Galindo!

Throw a Raspberry Rave! There is a flattering shade of berry pink for everyone.  Naeem Khan has a bright shade with a lot of movement in his ruffled skirt.  Theia has multiple colors of pink in his crunchy cocktail frock and Farah Angsana has a deep raspberry concentrate in his dramatic gown.

What flavor flatters you?  Discuss on Facebook. 

Break up with boring vodka! Pucker® Vodka is a premium vodka with unique flavors added that will give you a taste experience that’s as intense as it is unforgettable.  Whether you’re hosting a house party or out on the town, the bold flavors are perfect for sipping, mixing and dancing the night away! http://www.puckervodka.com/

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Pucker Vodka via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pucker Vodka.

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NY FASHION WEEK: Vivienne Tam Fall 2012

Rich colors of crimson, purple, brown and teal gave the Vivienne Tam collection a warm coziness this season.  Known for incorporating Asian motifs into her work, the fall collection was more subtle in its influence. 

 There was a dragon embroidery, some scrolls and a diagonal neck finish for references to Eastern style.  More striking, were the different scales of chevron patterns and ombre stripes.  As was the big trend for Fall 2012, fur collars were a major part of this collection.  For Vivienne Tam, they were often Mongolian lamb, dyed in complementary colors to the rich palette of the season.

Vivienne Tam is a designer I often buy for myself for their witty use of traditional images in pop colors.  I am a fan of her colors, her silhouettes and especially her prints!  I can't wait for this collection to hit the stores.

Spotted in the front row: Russell Simmons, Russell Kwong

Photos by David TW Leung

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Vivienne Tam Spring 2012

The Queen of Pop-Art Chinoiserie.  Vivienne Tam created a niche of contemporary designer sportswear inspired by traditional Chinese motifs reborn as ironic design.  She first made waves re-interpreting images of Mao in a Warhol-esque palette.  Since then, she has introduced delicate embroideries into cutting edge looks and high-tech digital printing for her signature pop prints.

For Spring 2012, these trademarks were translated into pretty, ladylike silhouettes, but at sexy lengths.  Miniskirts were paired with embroidered or transparent print blouses.  Appliques and more embroidery framed necklines and bodylines in a flattering way.  The colors were tonal shades of celadon, blues, greens or violet, coral, cream and pinks.  They looked like a bolder, more cosmopolitan idea of pastels for the urban girl who really doesn't do pastels (like me).  

Ms. Tam's shows during NY Fashion Week are one of the favorites I look forward to every season, and I'm there with my nose pressed up against the glass at her Soho boutique and sample sales.  

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NY FASHION WEEK: Vivienne Tam Spring 2011

Springtime for the East.  Vivienne Tam made her mark bringing a tongue-in-cheek vision of Chinnoiserie and Asian motifs to fashion.  In her book, China Chic, the designer talks about iconic themes and the color of red.  This season however, I did not see any of that for Spring 2011.

What I did see was a pretty collection of muted blue and cream.  Lace details and eyelet, some crochet.  There were no literal references to her signature Eastern themes, but the design aesthetic came through in more subtle ways.  The result was a lovely show of feminine ensembles that were perfect for play or dress-up.

Spotted in the front row: Serena Williams, Denise Richards, Kelly Choi

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Parsons 2010 Graduate Fashion Show

Monday night, the graduating class of the fashion design program held their benefit fashion show. The most talented of students presented their collections. I saw a lot of gorgeous, innovative knits. There was a very good balance of terrific menswear along with the womens collections.

One of the emerging themes I saw throughout the runway was a sense of the urban nomad. Many of the looks had a wrapped and cocoon-like quality to them. I don't know if that was a response to the general climate of the current fashion industry or a sense of self-comfort.

Dean Simon Collins noted that the directives for this class were craft and sustainability. One of the honorees of the evening were from Li & Fung, who would also go on to unveil a new scholarship program for new designers.

Famous alumni include Issac Mizrahi, Marc Jacobs. Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough had their senior collection purchased right off the runway, eventually becoming CFDA darlings Proenza Schouler.
Other industry heavyweights (in success, not actual weight) in attendance included designers Vivienne Tam, Vera Wang and Lorenzo Martone.

To view all of the collections, click through to the Parsons Look Book.

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