LBS Runway Report: Tadashi Shoji Fall 2013

New York Fashion Week is upon us again lovelies! Quick, huh? It seems like we were just recapping Spring/Summer collections last week. 

Anywhoo, pressure is always high on the first day of NYFW. The first designers set the bar for everyone that follows. Tadashi Shoji stepped up to the challenge and scorched it! Listen, Tadashi brought the heat – or rather the cold to this collection. The celeb fave channeled the elegance of Russian winter with killer gowns in heavier fabrics than we’re used to.

I’ve never read “Anna Karenina” and I haven’t watched the film. Historical period movies aren’t really my steelo. But after seeing pre-revolutionary Russia descend on Tadashi’s catwalk, I’m renting it from Redbox ASAP.

Three words: Tadashi killed it. His collection has a very wintery feel with the black, blood red and ivory palette and the use of heavy fabrics. If Dracula were real and he had a wife, she would be donning a Tadashi Shoji masterpiece. That’s how elegant and retro this collection is.

Octavia Spencer’s go-to designer used loose silhouettes and square shoulders to really capture the daintiness of women from the 1870s. There were gorge gowns flowing with feathers, sheer and lace, which is an odd combo. But the Japan-native nailed it.

I live for chic pink cape-style jacket with three-fourth sleeves. It screams Victorian-era class and sophistication. Tadashi Shoji’s collection gives us permission to be dainty and graceful, which is always a plus. The models minimal makeup and “just rolled-out-of-bed” ponytails were the perfect contrast to the high-end classiness of their gowns. I’m taking that messy-meets-chic cue into fall and winter.

So here’s what I know now: Simple makeup is in. Lace has survived another season. And I must rent Anna Karenina stat.

Did Tadashi Shoji nail this collection? 

- Evette Dionne

Photo Credit: The Associated Press