INreview:

Blanc de Chine
The Modern Ming Aesthetic

For Fall 2010, Chinese Luxury brand Blanc de Chine took its runway bow once again in the 2nd floor of their Fifth Avenue flagship.  Naming the refined elegance of the Ming Dynasty & the related aesthetics of serenity, subtlety, simplicity & lack of pretention as the inspiration, the collection of men’s & women’s silhouettes looked thoroughly modern, yet were strongly rooted in the Asian tradition – in a word, “timeless”.

Though the pace of the show was oddly sloth-like & bordered on tedious, the fashions were not.  Instead, the season’s requisite dose of asymmetry was deftly applied to a collection that looked at home in the West despite being inspired by & produced in the traditions of the East.

Standout looks for women were the padded & cropped pieces that had trapunto detailing & some of the tunic styles that were ingeniously finished with various Asian style closures.  The cameras went abuzz when the Multi Color Sequin Qi Pao made its slow decent down the runway.  The effect was akin to Monet in sequins & truly was a winner.

The men’s offerings were strongly rooted just this side of formal.  Many of the jackets had just enough detailing to keep them interesting & all of them would stand out in a crowd, but never too loudly.

The color palette was easily accessible & was obviously designed to sit well with the company’s broad range of black offerings season after season.  This collection is markedly different from any other collection currently in the market.  It struck the perfect balance between the conventional fashions of the West & the offerings of the East, but never crossed the line into costume.

www.blancdechine.com

-Scott French