Imitation Of Christ ss05

[Acid]

there are some nice loose fitting tops there, quite summery and cute, but the majority is just non-special completely blank

 

[stylegurrl]

Brand History (How A Line Lost Its Cool)

NY Metro

With its debut show, in 2000, Imitation of Christ established itself as the ne plus ultra of hip. Designers Tara Subkoff and Matt Damhave had all the right friends (Chloë Sevigny was creative director) and a credibly subversive message: They would never make new clothes, just reconstruct what was already around. Now Imitation will show in Bryant Park. But that doesn’t mean the fashion Establishment has embraced it. Over the years, the line has managed to alienate the very people—namely, fashion editors—who were once intrigued by it. — Jacob Bernstein

September 2000: The first show, held in an East Village funeral parlor, sends up the “mass reproduction of thrift-store clothing.” (A vintage YSL T-shirt is graffitied bring me the head of tom ford. It’s extremely limited seating, but the lucky few, like Vogue’s Grace Coddington, are all raves.


September 2001: Models are seated in the front row, while editors are forced to walk the runway. The New York Times calls it a “hoot,” but some guests pine for their seating assignments.

February 2002: A mock auction (with editors as bidders) at Sotheby’s. The talk of the show, per WWD: Are Damhave and Subkoff “(A) shutting down their fashion line altogether, (B) busting up their partnership or © actually going to make something less expensive, that the retailers who support them can sell easily”? Answer: B.

September 2002: In an ode to Helmut Newton, half-naked models wield vacuums (noisily) in a furniture showroom.

September 2003: Channeling old-world Hollywood, Subkoff sends out models against a backdrop of Dietrich films. Plus a tap dancer who “went on for, like, 25 minutes,” recalls one attendee. “I wanted to rip off her tap shoes.”

September 8, 2004: A midtown show will be easier on editors (no more slogs to out-of-the-way runways), but also signals the final loss of downtown cred.

 

[stylegurrl]

Vogue UK:

IMITATION OF CHRIST

DARLING of the New York scene for so long, Imitation of Christ's Tara Subkoff may have burnt her bridges this season. "Why do we keep coming to this show?" scoffed Women's Wear Daily, unmoved by a bleak political statement - involving a slideshow of images from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, a George W Bush impersonator in the front row and miserable male models who opened the show on a catwalk adorned with political flags - that was fronted by an incongruous, seemingly endless collection for spring/summer 2005. Varying combinations of baggy shorts and T-shirts, along with plenty of Subkoff's signature Grecian tunics and gladiatorial sandals, made up the Imitation diffusion line. The main line, meanwhile, started well on a run of gorgeous dresses in blue, turquoise, grey, white and yellow (some brushed the floor with gossamer hems while others were trimmed in wide bands of gold or silver sequins). Truly romantic, but the shredded rag dresses that followed, in every colour from green to red, blue, gold, grey and orange, simply murdered the mood. Die-hard Imitation of Christ fans will have had their obsession sated, for sure, but this collection clearly didn't make many new friends. (September 8 2004, AM)

 

[softgrey]

fi still see norma kamali all over this...just badly crafted homemade versions of it...all the tunics and draping...it's like norma's jersey collections...all greek goddess-y and stuff...

 

[Dixie]

I'm liking the greek/roman/egyptian influence. I think it's better than their last collection, which was a bore.

 

[Spike413]

Honestly, I just don't get the point of the brand. They've never done anything special, at least in my opinion........I'd like to strangle Tara with those lace-up Grecian sandals.

 

[hollyslookingdry]

I really like that second silver dress

 

[nycgirl84]

YAWN! God, Tara Subkoff is such a bore.

 

[lunabella]

is it just me or do none of the clothes go well with the gladiator sandals?

also, is tara just ripping off kate (who was first and only to wear these sandals)?

 

[Lena]

i'm not a fan but i'm not a basher either.

those sandals were very wrong with the clothes (they are very wrong with anything actually and all over the flea market here in Athens-greece) but some of the dresses were simply beautiful to me, like the one Paulina Kouklina (?) is wearing with the weird placed pale blue trimming.. in anycase, i love empire waists and peplos inspired dresses..

dont that i'm jumping up and down with this collection, but i've seen much more boring/copied styles in this life, so.. it's nothing to scream against in my book

 

[AlexN]

It's a mixed batch, I'd say. A few nice things, but I'm not really feelin' it overall.

 

[Amélie]

i think her stuff is try-hard individual...

 

[softgrey]

Originally posted by lunabella@Sep 11 2004, 09:59 PM
is it just me or do none of the clothes go well with the gladiator sandals?

also, is tara just ripping off kate (who was first and only to wear these sandals)?

[snapback]364070[/snapback]​

kate did not invent those sandals...maybe you;ve never seeen anyone else wear them...but as lena said...they're easily picked up in greece...they have been around since ancient times...

and she's certainly not the only one to wear them...i know i had a pair when i was 7 yr old that i got in greece...and i've been wearing sandals like that ever since...just because kate is featured in the paper a lot...doesn't mean anything except that people notice what she's wearing more...

but tara has always done that bohemian hipster look herself...if you look back on her wardrobe choices...plenty of girls in ny do it...maybe that's where kate got the idea...from a trip to greece or a visit to nyc..

 

[PrinceOfCats]

Tara is like a less eloquent version of all those Japanese nutters. I do like 'Bring me the head of Tom Ford/Alfredo Garcia' though!

 

[softgrey]

wasn't she still working with matt at that time...?
maybe he came up with that...

 

[prixi]

Doesn't it live up to its name...but she did not imitate Christ .

I went through this on Style.com, and the collection bores me to tears.The only thing that caught my attention was the sandals..and I don't even like them.

 

[As You Like It]

I think my biggest problem with it is the color..or lack thereof. Everything looks like a dustcloth. In places, yes, they are sparkly dustcloths, but everything looks dirty,worn out, faded, and tired. The fabric is droopy, not drapey, and shredded, as though a legion of moths had a free-for-all therein.

The cuts and fitting don't spark my admiration, either. Most of the stuff looks very one-size-doesn't-really-work-for-anyone.

This dress, which looks like Tarzan met a paper shredder, cuts into her weirdly at the armpit/breast, and while overscale can be very chic, the fabric doesn't lend anything toward clinging in the right places, and the short length, plus the general billowyness of it makes it look like a "babydoll" pyjama.

I'd rate this collection a resounding "meh!" What is sad is that I can and have done better, I'm just not a big-name designer with a lot of money behind me to promote my crap. Collections like this, which look like somebody raided the janatorial supply closet, piss me off because these designers have all these resources at their disposal and they go and make something that looks like the cut-up-sock dresses I made for my Barbies when I was 8.

 

[Fujyn]

I think between bermuda shorts cut bass and tunics with hoods, it is a sportswear in the first sense of the term that displays here under airs of vestales. The label is one of the favourites of the stars underground as Chloé Sevigny, she will find certainly in this cloakroom of which to cross the red carpets: sheaths of muslin, small gansees dresses of glitter now, silver or blue, or enclosed by satin cords in shoulders and in cutting - particularly made a success. The rope returns in Ariane's thread up to the final, on tunics and dresses "couvrantes", that we imagine gladly on one Paris Hilton. A well felt collection.

 

[Lena]

J'adore ephemeral imitation shop

But just when you thought IOC designer Tara Subkoff couldn’t possibly have anything left up her proverbial sleeve, following the presentation, she debuted her new “store,” if you can call it that. On the sidewalk across from Bryant Park, she unveiled what amounted to a plexiglass phone booth, featuring one Imitation dress that was selling for $7,000, and a salesman standing by. The booth-store will move locations throughout fashion week — from the Maritime Hotel to Da Silvano — and will showcase one item a day, according to Subkoff. (Even pal Sevigny was befuddled by the scene.)

“The store is going to do a lot of business,” predicted Anderson. “Especially once you see the ratio of merchandise to retail space.”