Daily Front Row

2010 March 11

Runway Reviews: Hermès, Miu Miu

Comments | | Print

Hermès, Fall 2010
Getty Images View Gallery

(PARIS) Hermès
If it’s been hard in past seasons for Jean Paul Gaultier to marry his own aesthetic into a house so classic as Hermès, this season it appeared things were a bit easier. Sure, he sent out a leather-catsuited Lily Cole, complete with bowler hat and long umbrella, but beyond that it was easy to pick out pieces that would please Upper East Side Kelly-carriers just as much as the aforementioned superhero. Croc micro-mini skirts were matched with slightly longer ones in luxe leathers, tailored suits and wrap coats will easily work in the board room, and the phenomenal lineup of coats truly had something for everyone. A camel double-breasted jacket with a leather collar, a more casual toggle-closure take, a belted leather blazer, and a trench lined with leopard print were just a few winners (shearlings and furs also made plenty of appearances). Voluminous fringed blanket skirts may have been a bit of a misstep, but Hermès will have no shortage of looks sure to move come fall.

Miu Miu
We’ve been so concerned with eschewing fashion’s fixation on the 80s in favor of the softer 70s that no one saw the 60s sneak up on us. Between Rochas and Giles (and we might have been tipped off by Prada’s beehives), Miu Miu seemed to fall right into place this season. Short, swingy shifts, bell sleeves, scalloped edges, and a mostly black palette punched up with bright clementine, mint or lavender all worked to make the Miu Miu girls sweeter than the more sexed-up woman at Prada. Of course, Miuccia’s brand of intelligent, slightly subversive takes on what’s modern meant that this was more than an exercise in pop art. Ribbed turtlenecks nodded to this season’s return to knits, and cutouts acting as an arrow to the breasts (similar to those shown at Prada) gave the looks an edge that would be missing in your average flower child.