Zac Posen – Spring/Summer 2012
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“Paris gave me perspective on who I could be as a designer here in America,” said Zac Posen, who brought his show to Lincoln Center after two seasons on the Paris schedule. “You know, instead of searching, just coming back to myself. That’s what it taught me.”
Posen deserves credit for going to Paris in the first place, putting himself and his work in a foreign and highly competitive environment, more than 3,000 miles from his Tribeca studio. He dreamt big and though it didn’t work out as he had hoped, if it gave him the confidence and encouragement to trust his talents and not try so hard to force a sharp, over-the-top opulence even when it feels out of step with the bigger fashion message, then it was worth the trip.
His spring collection was still extremely glamorous, mind you, but it felt stronger, more coherent for its relative simplicity. A blue-and-lavender short-sleeve dress with a fluttering skirt was beautifully restrained, as was a diaphanous off-the-shoulder ice-blue cocktail frock—both free of the kind of outrageous add-ons or unnecessary flourishes Posen can sometimes fall prey to.
The collection was absent of the more casual daywear Posen played with in seasons past, which let him focus on evening. A glittering midnight-blue look with a crisscross bodice and ball skirt was refreshingly reminiscent of Posen’s talent for flattering the female form; a celadon version with a short skirt laser-cut like a flip book of chiffon was less figure-friendly.
From another designer, the continuous parade of cascading tulle trains and Dovima-esque shapes would have felt one-note. But it was a good move for Posen. Sometimes in order to move forward you have to go back to the beginning.
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