International Style. Texas Hospitality. Those are the words that optimize Fashion Houston and its amazing designers this week. Last night I was lucky enough to attend the second night of Fashion Houston and experience it from a vantage point that really allowed me to get a closer look to all the intricate detailing by the designers last night.
After a brief opening speech by Neal Hamil, David Peck with his Crop by David Peck collection set the tone for the nights festivities. The floral and fish prints on form-fitting pieces which began the show were astonishing. Each piece flowed and definitely had almost a fun seaside style to them. The pieces that truly caught my eye were the very mod inspired colorblock pieces that rounded out the show. Peck definitely represented Houston well with his Parisian style dresses.
Next up was NYC based, Fotini. There definitely was a sense of NY style in this collection. With short shorts and flirty dresses, you can totally imagine these pieces on any fashionable New Yorker running uptown to meet up her friends for a drink. Not only did Fotini kill it with flirty style, but the sexy blazers paired with form-fitting dresses showed that a woman can be as sexy in business attire. One of the nights best moments was a dress that almost an effervescent flow down the catwalk to close out Fotini's show. The length paired with very well placed slits along the front created a magical moment for everyone at the show.
Tuesdays night at Fashion Houston was not all about the ladies though. The brother duo behind Bogosse brought some amazing menstyle to their Houston show. It was such a surprise to see menswear as a lot of the times the focus is on the womenswear designers at shows. Bogosse really payed attention to detailing on their shirts and blazers with interesting accents for their buttons and piping. The first half of their show featured khaki pants and dress shirts in a fresh new way by adding interesting prints and colors to make them unique, although my favorite part, partly because of the Texas heat, was the second part when shorts were the main focus. An interesting touch that I particularly enjoyed was the rope belts that were looped and tucked within themselves, had seen it in a couple of magazines and seeing it in person makes me want to imitate the look.
Closing out the night was Zac Posen. This collection may be the best collection of his career. The tone was set with some amazing music choice comprised of strings that built up as the show progressed. I would have to say that the color palate of this collection definitely was inspired by a sanguine tone of red. Different iterations of the color kept popping up throughout the collection. The collection began with almost a very 1940s inspired dresses with some amazing detailing on how it would hug a woman's body. The silhouette that Posen creates is truly astonishing and makes him the king in my book of making the lines of a woman's body work for them. There was as much attention to detailing on the lines and stitching along the front of the dress as well as the back. A lot of pieces began with almost an intricate pleating in the front which continued with lines towards the back of the dress releasing in the train. I found myself fixated on how much attention was given to the back of the dresses. There was an amazing Jessica Rabbit moment that truly made the room ring with applause. The floor length gown was definitely a show stopper. Closing out the show though was the dress of the night. A floor length ball gown with a corset bodice almost engulfed the width of the runway, everyone's eyes were immediately fixated. The deep intensity of the red in the dress was once again proof that Zac Posen knows womenswear. Posen got a well deserved standing ovation at the end as he walked out, wearing a red suit in line with the palate of his collection, Houston definitely showed lowed to Posen.
The night overall was truly magical and it was great to witness such amazing pieces from the end of the runway. As this is Fashion Houston's third year putting on their show I definitely look forward to more nights this week and hopefully return again next year.
