Reed Krakoff Pre-Fall 2012

[Stereo_Flo]

Reed Krakoff is two days shy of a party celebrating a new limited-edition clutch; the little bag will be available exclusively at his Madison Avenue store in 15 different colors of exotic ayer skin. Since launching his signature label just over two years ago, Krakoff (who is also the president and executive creative director of Coach) has done everything big, but if he wasn't thinking small for pre-fall, he was definitely thinking targeted, and that made it his strongest outing yet. The color palette was narrowly defined; he used mostly vibrant green, cameo pink, and cordovan brown, along with black and white; and he was focused, as well, in terms of silhouettes, many of them familiar from past runway shows.

The chain-mail motif you've seen him use before turned up both as embroidery on a sleeveless shift with volume at the back and as a print on chiffon blouses, while his baseball T-shirt was reimagined as a white wool dress with long black leather sleeves and as a color-blocked ponyhair coat. The idea of uniforms, Krakoff explained, was something he came back to again and again this season. We imagine there will be many a woman out there who'd like to make a collarless coat pieced together from gray felt, deep green leather, and painted python her uniform next year. Same goes for a ribbed cashmere crewneck with leather arm patches.

Accessories, no surprise, were a big story. Krakoff experimented with a bladelike heel that will make his pointy-toed python and crocodile skin ankle boots stand out, and his contribution to the frame bag trend looked best in glossy cordovan.

(Click for HQ!)



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[Stereo_Flo]

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[Stereo_Flo]

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[Psylocke]

I usually find Reed Krakoff so boring but this looks pretty cool. I love the grass green sleeveless dress (2nd picture in post #3) and the black leather top with the blush colored skirt. Very nice. Thanks for posting all those Pre-Fall collections, Stereo_Flo

 

[Crying Diamonds]

A really nice little collection - I love that green, I'm planning to use a similar shade for my final collection - that very simple green dress with the single unsecure tuck at the hip is really effective I feel.

 

[Not Plain Jane]

Nice! Bits remind me a little of Dries, but it is more minimalist. Very wearable. That green leather is very cool. Imagine a redhead like Julianne Moore (who is a fan) or Taylor Tomasi Hill in that!

 

[mikeijames]

that green python coat borders on the sublime!

 

[Stereo_Flo]

by Chioma Nnadi​

Pre-fall is by and large a runway-free season. That might sound anticlimactic to some, but for designers it’s a special opportunity to show their clothes in the comfort of their own spaces. “With pre-fall everything needs to stand on its own,” says Reed Krakoff. “It’s about clothes that evoke an emotional reaction, clothes that you fall in love with piece by piece, not necessary a full look.” As the man credited for turning Coach into a multimillion-dollar brand, Krakoff understands the stand-alone pulling power of a single item more than most. Seeing the clipped shearling vests, python coats, and hand-painted tweed pants up close on the racks, one gets the feeling that he’s applying those smarts to his ready-to-wear line. It helps that the sports-luxe silhouettes that launched the label two years ago have been streamlined over the past couple of seasons. And, whether collaged with sheer silk chiffon or soft black leather, there’s a cashmere sweater here for almost every climate; if you include the evening-appropriate metallic knits, there’s one for every occasion as well.

Strong separates aside, there were some great styling lessons to be learned from this collection. Besides his ever-expanding roster of structured totes, portfolio-style clutches, sleek knee-high boots, and ankle-strap pumps, a new winning accessory has emerged this time around: the leather glove. Spun in rotating python strips to the elbow or cropped in black napa at the wrist, it’s pretty chic motivation to cover up now, or later.

-vogue​