By Chevaun Jackson
Nanette Lepore’s Fall 2010 collection seems geared towards the back-to-school high school audience. It draws from hippies, school girl, chic rocker and evening glam. “I looked at a Renaissance portrait and bumped up the colors,” said Nanette Lepore backstage while explaining her Fall 2010 inspiration. And a Renaissance—renewal, rebirth—it is; so much, in fact, that it seems a bit all over the place in both color and style. Every piece seems a bit of a hodge-podge with mixtures of prints and colors. Where Lepore leaves her back-to-school, seemingly high school, audience is at the end with the evening gowns that look like curtains and drape (literally) all over the models. Her use of velvet throughout the collection is more subtle and manageable, but at the end with the final few pieces the velvet is in overdrive to a startling degree.
The pieces I like really like are a red velvet cocktail dress with simple black accenting, and a blue and yellow-green plaid halter dress with an army green colored waist belt accompanied by a teal bag. This is probably because they are among the simplest in the collection and there are times when, truly, less is more. My favorite signature fall look is a pair of black velvet pants, long-sleeved army green sweater with a vest in same blue and yellow-green plaid as the dress and a teal scarf. The print of the plaid plays off both the color of the pants and the sweater and doesn’t compete with any other prints.
The overall looks take some getting used to with all of the detail, colors and prints. Because of its acquired-taste it either hits or misses. There is no compromise. Yet, one must applaud Miss Lepore for being daring in these darkening fall times for maintaining her love of color and diving head first into the rainbow pool this season as well.
I love this portion because I’m a chic rocker. I used to wear clothes a little bit closer to this photo.