"What is elegance?" is a question that's been on Thakoon Panichgul's mind of late. "It's been all about the street, about being edgy and cool," he said at his presentation yesterday. "I'm so sick of street." Panichgul has never been a black leather and studs kind of designer, so his new collection doesn't so much signify a change in direction as it does suggest a solidifying of his signatures.
The dress, first and foremost. For pre-fall, it's most often A-line, be it in white cotton poplin or hot pink leather. Otherwise, it's artfully draped. For day, he chose a gray men's suiting fabric, and for evening, black silk, the bodice of which he quilted, giving the strapless number its slinky form. Prints are another Thakoon calling card. The budding cotton print of a dirndl skirt was paired with a knitted and striped Mongolian lamb sweater (more edgy than elegant, but fabulous nonetheless). An oversize blue and white crochet print got the mix-and-match treatment as well, accompanied by a Mongolian lamb vest and a pink pencil skirt.
Coats had cocoonlike shapes that seemed to nod ever so slightly in the direction of Cristobal Balenciaga. If you want to go elegant, there's no better place to look. On the other hand, his clever ribbed knit sweaters with the lace insets were 100 percent modern.
