The man who made Anja Rubik's hip bone a worldwide fetish is back at it again for Spring. "Girls are their most beautiful during their holidays," Anthony Vaccarello explained backstage. "I wanted to try to bring swim to the city." Vaccarello's method was to cut dresses and miniskirts with a triangular-shaped hem in the front that he connected to the back of the garment with narrow horizontal bands. If there's a way to show off more upper thigh—outside of just sending the models out in bathing suits—no one else has come up with it. The work was clever and well-done. Cabochon-shaped brass buttons accented the bands, which elevated the collection; the dresses had the disciplined precision of military uniforms, a feeling that was heightened when Vaccarello did them in combinations of white, red, and black.
You'll have to be mighty disciplined to wear them, of course. "Model hot," as the parlance goes. Vaccarello likes what he likes, which is more than you can say for plenty of other young designers, but he's making clothes for a very small minority. That's why his tie-dyed denim was a promising development. It looked as cool on a pair of slouchy boyfriend jeans (accessorized with a red belt and matching shoes made in collaboration with Stella Luna) as it did on one of those sexy, high-waisted minis with the cutouts on the side. Yes, the Vaccarello woman is the life of the party, but even in fashion, however much we hate to admit it, parties come to an end. To evolve, the designer will need to keep thinking beyond cocktail hour.
