Originally posted by Fashion Wire Daily@ September 18, 2003 - NY
Anne Valerie Hash's Deconstruction of Design
By Karin Nelson
Anne Valerie Hash has a simple reason for her signature use of men's suiting in her womenswear line: "I love my father!" squealed the diminutive French designer, who showed her conceptual collection in New York for the first time Wednesday night. Guests gathered at the Ace Gallery on Hudson Street to view an edited exhibit of her work from the past five seasons, as well as a series of enlarged images shot by Michelangelo Di Battista of major faces like Erin Wasson and Bridget Hall looking soft and serene in Hash's designs.
"It is how we imagine the women who would wear the collection," she explained over a glass of champagne. "Someday we hope to put it all into a book."
Hash's New York viewing was a welcome event for the local fashion corps, who for the past five days have been bombarded by pretty, yet mundane clothes, made less for the sake of art and more for the benefit of retail.
Though she has complicated patterns in place, Hash's inventive deconstructed pieces have a craftsmanship and elegance that is purely couture. She takes men's suits (now produced and fitted on a 12-year-old model, but formerly purchased at Les Puces flea market in Paris), and turns them inside-out and upside-down to create a novel look of cool sophistication.
Jackets with sleeves cut off are draped and twisted into cocktail dresses; a pair of trousers, slit up the legs, is turned into an evening gown with the waist hanging languidly at the base of the neck; some seersucker is pleated and frayed into a chic little tennis skirt. And all of the pieces gladly reveal their shoulder padding, linings and inner stitching for the world to see. The overall effect resembles Yohji Yamamoto, with a French flair. It's no surprise that the petite-mains in her Paris atelier are all Japanese.
For spring 2004, Hash has lightened up considerably. She's incorporated feminine fabrics such as lace and tulle into the looks, mixing them with the masculine suiting. A pale pink lace mini dress, belted with a jacket lapel was one of her latest designs on display, and it revealed a pretty side to her normally handsome line. "I've grown up," she explained of her newfound femininity. "And relaxed a bit." Although for her somewhat nerve-wracking debut New York show, she herself donned a more characteristic suit dress.
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