ALEXANDRE HERCHCOVITCH SPRING/SUMMER 2010

A sporty spectacle, Alexandre Herchcovitch throws it back to the eighties with his football-themed runway show for his Spring/Summer 2010 Collections. With twenty-eight incredible outfits, architectural genius carves its way into fashion as Herchcovitch displays his creatively constructed wired dresses. Symmetrical to perfection, every shoulder that made it’s way down the runway had an identical match mirroring it on the opposite side. With big shoulders bold enough to mock a football player out of his uniform, brights and neons caught the eye of every row. Herchcovitch really captured the essence of color revival this show, and we can expect eccentric colors for SS/10 to follow.

Hot pinks and vibrant oranges made their mark on rubber dresses suitable for a basketball team. Of course, I’m not quite sure I would ever find myself in a rubber dress, but the talent and exquisiteness of the pieces were so fine I turned a blind eye to the peculiar trend.

Other pieces parading down the runway included silk dresses and pants in pastel neutrals, paired with ruffled sleeves and flowing sheen material. See through symmetrical shirts with skin-tight form also strutted along with the models. Some pieces I cannot say I absolutely adored, including the abysmally bright checkered blouses and the multicolored patch pants. Some should have stayed in the eighties along with their mullet-sporting forefathers. But alas, what is meant to be will always find it’s way. Hopefully, not in the form of outlandishly bizarre patchwork.

On foot, the models trekked the catwalk in what looked like gym socks from the nineties, which in my books, is a major win (pun intended). High socks have always resonated in my books, ever since I spotted them way back at American Apparel. Perhaps I might not pair them with the leather wedges our dear bright Brazilian-born designer did, but nonetheless, athletic knee socks take the cake.

My favorite piece was by far the closing one, modeled by one of my Canadian favorites, Kate Somers (the first picture at the top of the post). A structural wonder, the dress was draped around a framework of metal rods pieced together to create the shapely composition for the design. From the waist down, the dress bubbled out around the body of the model, and from the waist up, the same big, athletic-inspired shoulder-pads jutted out just like they would on a jock. The dress was filled with bright oranges, yellows, reds, and pink, but also had the basic fundamentals of black and white worked in wisely. Both sheer and solid materials were included, as well as both striped and polka dots. Somehow, Alexandre Herchcovitch managed to pull together polar opposites and fused them into one wonder of fashion design. Walking art, to say the least. Absolute brilliance, skill, and artistry is definite to say the very best.

But back to basics, any designer who sports an athletic-inspired theme derived from and including stylish gym socks, legitimate protective shoulder pads, and puts baby footballs in the hands of the models definitely has gotten a touchdown for me.

(Not to mention the gift bags for those in the front row were awesome. I got a white umbrella and a special edition of Brazilian Vogue!)