Paris Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2011: Zac Posen

Whispered by The Clothes Whisperer

 

Ever since I spent an hour and a half chatting on the phone Transatlantic with Mr. Zac Posen for a feature I wrote for the Daily Mail's You Inspire, I've alighted on a whole new level of respect for the man, his work and the insatiable passion that drives it. Posen may only be 30 years old, but the collection he showed for Fall 2011 in Paris (his sophomore turn down the runway in the City of Lights) spoke to the maturity with which he handles his craft. "New York for me is about sportswear and trends and then social designers," Posen told me when I asked him about his decision to lug his collection across the ocean to show in Europe. "So if you want to define yourself by craft, quality and construction, that dialogue is a European dialogue; it’s in Paris."

And dialogue he did. Much like the Z Spoke line he presented in New York (revisit that moment here), the Posen girl has become more subdued in her tastes for fall. The collection's palette was muted and dark (save for pops of red and jewel tone gown towards the end), its cuts tailored and structured and overall flavor smacked of Posen's signature love of the 1940's.  As Posen explained to me on the phone, he is inspired by the strong women in his life, and judging from his cocktail selections on offer this season, that sexy siren will have plenty to choose from. Body-con vavavoom shifts hugged the curves of models who actually had them (Crystal Renn included). "Curvaceous bodies look much better in my clothing than my models," he told me point-blank on the phone.

But it wasn't all grown up all the time. Posen's youthful energy came out in his treatment of fabrics; reptilian-brushed bodices gave shifts an armor-like feel and giraffe printed furs and a healthy smattering of silver sequins brightened up a collection that was otherwise rife with classic black pieces.



"My design starts on a demographic headspace..." Posen mused to me on the phone about his design process. "Is this going to be good in 30 years? Or is it going to be dated? Is there too much trend built into a piece for it to be timeless?" It would seem that it was with this very philosophy in mind that he approached his Autumn/Winter 2011 collection. And I don't know about you, but I'm partial to a man who practices what he preaches (or sews what he says).