Style Fashion Week LA Day One: Stop Staring’s retro-evolution
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Stop Staring reprised last season’s role as the first runway show out of the gate at fledgling Style Fashion Week L.A., sending its spring and summer 2012 collection down the catwalk at the former St. Vibiana’s Cathedral in downtown Los Angeles on Tuesday night.
Although they still hewed to the body-hugging retro-rockabilly aesthetic that’s made the Paramount-based vintage-inspired line popular, the spring and summer offerings designed by Alicia Estrada noticably dialed down the number of eye-popping all-over prints by mixing in some muted solids, subdued pinstripes and a handful of pieces with quarter-sized polka-dot paillettes (in both black-on-white and tone-on-tone versions) and even some Lurex, all of which allowed the more structured, architectural aspects of the pieces -- especially around the bodice -- to stand out.
But there was still plenty of pattern to go around, with seasonally appropriate tropical palm frond prints joining a bouquet of daisies, roses and budding branches (complete with a yellow birdie) sprinkled throughout the collection of back-baring, high-waisted halter-neck jumpsuits, curve-clinging gowns, form-flattering cocktail dresses and generous skirts paired with midriff-exposing tops.
The color palette was heavy on the black and white, with the occasional piece in pale peach, sparkling silver or sherbet shades of orange or green and punctuated with accents of rose red or canary yellow.
All in all, the spring and summer 2012 Stop Staring collection came across as more subdued and sophisticated take on the wardrobe of the bygone era of the ‘40s and ‘50s. Which makes us wonder if it might be time to coin to describe the process by which a retro-inspired line starts to evolve the way Estrada’s clearly seems to be.
I think ‘retro-evolutionary’ has a nice ring to it.
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-- Adam Tschorn