2. Alexander
Wang
“Anyone can get all dressed up and glamourous,
but it is how people dress in their off days, that is the most intriguing.”
The go-to for ultra-chic, the t-
shirt master, the twenty-year-old
who showed every fashion
cliché that fashion does not
necessarily mean colours,
patterns and gender norms. He
shows us that we can have an
image, an outer simplicity that is
yet so defined and effortlessly
cool, without going over the
top.
At the age of 18,
Alexander Wang moved from
his home-town, San Francisco,
to New York where he attended
Parsons Design School and
partook in a number of intern-
ships. Later moving to New
York's lower east side it is no
surprise that its never-ending
music scene and culture has
been a fortunate inspiration for
Wang's work. He launched his
women's collection back in
2007 and while he's received a
sensational amount of
recognition over the past few
years, this is certainly only the
beginning of his career.
Currently aged 26,
Wang brings to the runway his
Spring '2011 collection,
revealing an unexpected
change from his usual simple,
delicate, black and relatively
tight-fitting apparel for white,
loose layers. The long, shapeless
dresses are reminiscent of the
20s, while Alexander Wang's
collections are everything but
old-fashioned. It seems
surprising and even a little
disappointing to Wang's fashion
followers that he would ditch his
iconic dark, urban, sexy but
androgynous fashions for
something so... light and
innocent. "I was looking for
something optimistic, something
pure."
Wang incorporated a
construction motif into these
new designs, which seems to
represent the creation of
something new. As he puts it,
once wearing leather jackets
with skinny jeans becomes
divulged by the mainstream, it's
no longer exciting or innovative.
As successful as he has been
with that idea, it's time for
something new...
Now, while the
background story sounds
idealistic, I don't think his latest
collection is in competition at all
with his previous work this year.
It's been an interesting journey
with Alexander Wang and we
hope there's more to come. But
really, we'll never tire of his t-
shirts and his sexy simplicity.
By Dana Beaton
