Coming Soon:

Rue Du Mail Spring/Summer 2008 Collection


PARIS, October 5, 2007 – "Martine Sitbon's Rue du Mail is on the fast track. Just one season after launching her new label, she opened her first store in Paris this week. And with her second collection, Sitbon put significant distance between herself and her former identity as a designer of moody, romantic things. For Spring, she seemed to be interested in inserting herself somewhere along the techno/hip/sporty continuum, a place where Marni's Consuelo Castiglioni has been known to play.What that entailed was parkas over slipdresses, an accumulation of waistless and weightless shifts, and a closing series of high-shine graphic-print dresses that looked like ponchos with their sides spliced and their seams resewn at sharp angles. Sitbon has always had an eye for color, and the hues came on strong today: orchid, turquoise, orange, chartreuse, peach. And she hasn't abandoned her former inclinations altogether. Some of her dresses were embellished with swirling insets of micropleats at the bodice; others were decorated with matte white sequins around the neckline. But this did feel like a departure from her Fall debut, which leaned more artsy. It will be interesting to see which approach sticks."
– Nicole Phelps, style.com
To view Rue Du Mail and other designer collections, visit Anastasia Boutique, Cafe, and Gallery.
All of us at thefashiontalk.com wish you a safe and happy New Year.

Tao Spring/Summer 2008 Collection

PARIS, October 2, 2007 – "In a season of toga and tribal, Tao Kurihara offered her own expressive takes on the two.The lights went down and out streamed five girls, all wearing elegantly sculptural braided headpieces, all in lacy, frilly white cotton tops and bottoms or dresses, wrapped and draped and tucked around their narrow frames. The swaddled silhouette thus established, Kurihara moved on into florals, a sweet butterfly print, and rucksack browns and indigos. Dresses with floppy ruffles down the front, big puffy sleeves, and billowy skirts came to a focal point at the back, which was often bare. Other times, a long-sleeved shrug that barely grazed the shoulder blades topped a button-down blouse tucked into exaggerated bloomers.After Fall’s more sportif, commercial outing, this was a welcome return to the personal, imaginative, and romantic roots Kurihara has set down these last four seasons under the Comme des Garçons umbrella. No wonder, then, that she called this very pretty collection My Holy Tribe."– Nicole Phelps
Visit Anastasia Boutique, Cafe, and Gallery to view Tao and many other designer collections

Undercover Spring/Summer 2008 Collection

PARIS, October 1, 2007 –" A squad of girls in print bikinis, angular closed-in visored sunglasses, and soft backpacks set off the Undercover show at a military clip. That was just the sort of strange sensation that Jun Takahashi's audience seeks, but in a flash, it was gone. After that, truth be told, the expectation of witnessing one of Takahashi's off-kilter creative subversions of fashion slowly drained from the room. Not that the show was bad, per se, but it was harder than usual to see what the designer was getting at. The girls that followed dragged out wheelie-bag luggage and toted handbags, wearing little dresses embellished with his familiar dark insignias: embroidered skulls and giant spiders implanted in necklines, and belts made of satin-stitched mouths, each showing a set of sharp, bared teeth.
As a brand-confirming exercise, it was sound, and for Undercover's devotees, there'll be plenty to buy—dresses and tops petaled like bird wings, tiny brocade prom dresses, and (if anyone's really going to go for this emerging trend du jour) a satin pajama suit. This time, though, Takahashi's brain-spearing oddness didn't quite hit the target in the way his fashion audience craves." – Sarah Mower, style.com
Undercover's Spring/Summer 2008 Collection along with many other Designer Collections will be available soon at Anastasia Boutique, Cafe, and Gallery.

Happy Holidays

Happy Holidays to you and yours from thefashiontalk.com and http://store.anastasiausa.net/c/ana/index.html.

A.F. Vandervorst Spring/Summer 2008

PARIS, Oct 1, 2007 / FW/ --- It was quite a surprise to attend the AF Vandervost runway show in the largest of all possible Paris venues at the Palais Omnisports de Paris Bercy, the covered stadium where some international ice skating competitions, showing of Verdi’s Aida or concert of Madonna are usually taking place. This reasonably sized designers’ house has made the most out of it in a stunning show that is certainly marking a turn in their career.
The models lit by individual spotlights that were later to follow them in the arena appeared at the same time at each of the public entrances in the stadium before they descended steep staircases to reach the huge ring that the seated audience was forming to the sound of African-inspired drums.
An unusual staging to present a work that is, this season, as delicate as usually, but on a new tone deliberately bright, to add a sparkle to a serious brainwork and architecture. Take the first three exits: the tradition of simplified achievement on underwear by the designing duo is still there, wrapped up this time in impressive see-through smoked plastic trench coats and outfits, giving the impression that the bodies they are softly encaging are like caught up in another layer of glimmering material.
The girls dressed by AF Vandervost for this next summer might well be living in some exotic country, they still want to maintain a certain level of elegance and refinement. This could be why they wanted, in a hot atmosphere, to cover up the layer of underwear with pieces which, one way or another, evoke freshness, lightness, or enhance the slight breeze.
These coquettes like to adopt and mix prints of white and grey patterns, a vertical dégradé of greys from white to black, or even a very forties like print of black and brown.
Light to wear sun pleated dresses in brighter shades of mauve or yellow add up to the effect of the cooling breeze around the body, just like small drapings moulfd the shapes to let the fabric float lightly at strategic places.
A fresh impression for a hot summer vibrating with rhythm, voluptuous with fabrics, ingenuous with proportions, elegant with prints and structures in a sober and yet upbeat manner. - fashionwindows.com
The A.F. Vandervorst Spring/Summer collection will become available in February of 2008 at anastasisausa.net, boutique, cafe, and gallery.