Anna D at Seattle Fashion Week 2011: A beautiful collection with a less than perfect production.

The opening number (in this case runway show) of a production has to be prepared to be the buffer for glitches and mistakes that happen due to technical errors, models forgetting their choreography and other unfortunate mistakes. But normally you don’t have to worry about that on the second night of a production. Unfortunately for the Anna’s debut collection at Seattle Fashion Week, though her garments, hair and makeup were lovely, all did not “appear” to go as planned. At least not from where I was sitting. And sadly the complaints regarding her lighting and models afterwards were far from meek or few.

To be clear this is merely a description of one runway production that happened during the finale. It doesn’t reflect on the entire evening.

Anna D’s Runway Show & Collection:

For those of you who may not know, Anna D was the winner of the Comcast Student Designer Competition back in April. And rightfully so, her Comcast inspired red lined jacket with the high collar front pocket sweater  and floor length leaf dress with the cutout back were amazingly gorgeous pieces. You can see both pieces in my article (link above)– I actually expected to see the Comcast piece in the Finale show. It was so well constructed and it completed the mini-collection shown in the competition so perfectly that I had forgotten it wasn’t part of her collection. (I was kind of sad I didn’t see it.. oh well.) For winning the Comcast Competition Anna was given a spot to showcase her collection in the SFW Finale Fashion Show.

The following images are just a few of the photos from her collection that walked the runway at Seattle Fashion Week 2011. Some that I loved, some that I didn’t.

This is probably my favorite from Anna’s collection. I’d wear it exactly the way it is. Sure I find the skirt a bit too long for my 5’6″ frame but the length is really on trend. Plus the layering is just perfect. The soft and slinky with the hard leather vest, power pumps and tousled hair scream, “I always look this good.”

This I love, but it’s not for everyone. There’s a small percentage of people who can pull either of those piece off, but those that can will do it well. The cropped two (three) layered half sleeve top is gorgeous and well fitted. It looks great with the high waist pants. And I love the burnt out feeling that the black cutouts give it. It also feels very versatile because while it looks like you could spend the day out shopping or dining the way it is now- the material & zipper also give me that athletic vibe, like you could throw it over an outfit to head down for a yoga class or an early morning volley ball game on Alki.

This one just didn’t do it for me. It feels out of place in the collection. I don’t like the contrasting stripes in the sleeves against the velvet (?) panels in the bodice. The shiny bronze skirt & buttons against the matte black top bother me. I also think it was styled wrong. If you throw on some heavy duty boots in the mix, ditched the buttons and exaggerated the shoulders a bit more I might have been all over this outfit, in a different collection.

I find this dress to be very flattering; it feels timeless and effortless to me. There’s this easy relaxed shape to it that is soothing, with just a hint of “come-hither” attitude. The colors are mute, yet it still feels like a lavender and olive flower. It might be a couple inches too short– I really do like short dresses/skirts (check my closet) but usually not when they are tight fitting, I think there needs to be balance. But I’d still love to own this–just a few inches longer.

This dress is beautiful, it drapes perfectly, I love the length and I’m obsessed with pockets: I think everything should have pockets. The pockets look great against the dress, but when it comes to the hips, we have to be careful about emphasizing them too much. The way these pockets detached from the skirt is creative and probably a fashion trend prediction but it’s not for me. I like the pockets on the outside, it can be deconstructed and edgy, just not when they are detached and swinging. I think that adds the appearance of volume in the one place most women want to minimize.

I love the color blocking here, it’s in a spot that pulls your eyes away from the hips. I don’t like the bodice of the dress. Sure the deep shoulder cutouts leading to a narrower neckline echo back to a gray manderin collar dress from Alexander McQueen FA2011. Only with a softer feel than the one from the McQueen line. But even with that the model still looks too broad on top. From the waist down I LOVE the dress. It is more feminine and very flattering, and I just love the way the hem moves. It has a very beautiful sway.

Anna’s construction and design technique is beautiful and well executed. She has an eye for what women want to be wearing and will want to be wearing. Even though this collection felt a little like two collections there was still a cohesion that tied most of the pieces together.

*Thanks to Jonathan Beck’s expertise and experience with low light photography it’s hard to see how off the lighting and models were in these photos.

What went wrong:

Coming away from the Men’s fashion show the night before with an almost positive feeling, I was really looking forward to seeing Anna’s complete collection. Imagine my disappointment, frustration and outrage.. yes OUTRAGE, that the lighting, choreography, inability of the models to stop in the spotlights and seating-style for a very packed house meant I couldn’t see the details or the majority of her collection. While I was completely dissatisfied with the technical production, Anna D’s clothing design collection did have some sparkling moments.

As the show began the music “hiccuped” and the lights started out extremely low–making me curse the fact that I hadn’t purchased vip to see her collection up close (but, by the end of the evening I got over that-more on that next time). The lights did not begin to correct themselves until about the 3rd model came out and even then it was hard to see from where I was. It looked like the models had forgotten their cues. They didn’t stop, walk or pose in the right locations or angles. When you have such a strange or rather, “unique” runway that involves stairs into the GA audience, two runways and multiple points for pausing there’s a lot of choreography that is involved–and it needs to be remembered.

So here I am, long after the show has past, still dreaming about what it would have been like if the light technician would have been on cue; If the models would have had a piece of tape to stand on; If there would have been more rehearsals and if the guy’s head in front of me would have been smaller.

I was so excited to see Anna D’s show, and so disappointing to be sitting there watching and yet feeling like I was missing the whole thing. Even now my heart drops a bit thinking back on it.

Bad lighting??? How Bad?

Below are a couple links to photos of Anna’s runway show taken by other photographers: I want you to see how the poor lighting affected the photographs others who maybe aren’t as knowledgeable in low light settings; BUT I’m not saying these are bad photographers. Some of these are well known news/fashion outlets with lots of experience: that’s how bad the lighting was…(I’ll just limit it to 3)

3 examples of the what bad lighting can do to the details at a fashion show:

Seattle PI Seattle Fashion Week Photos

Fashion Network Seattle

PopSugar.com