herve today, gone tomorrow

>> First, let me just say that I am a big proponent of the bandage dress, so I was really curious to see what Max Azria had in store for us at Herve Leger, ten years after he bought the label.

Clearly Mr. Azria grappled with how to make the Herve Leger legacy his own; his answer was to add a lot of feathers, ribbons, and prints on top of the bandage dresses, which just ended up looking like too much.  He even tried working with woven knit pieces made to mimic the bandages, but again, the vision fell a little short.

I prefer a pared-down version of the bandage dress, one that works with the patterns of the bandages across the body — because, really, it is all about the va-va-voom factor.  There were plenty of streamlined looks towards the end of the showing, thank goodness, because what I thought was going to be the final look, Lily Donaldson's peach princess gown, appeared more Project Runway and less professional design (save the feathered cape — that was cool).  But I ended up leaving the show jonesing for a Leger dress, so I guess Max did his job.

As a sidebar, Catherine McNeil was the only one with what you might refer to as "cleavage" in the show  — an interesting decision by casting to go for hipbone rather than breast, at Leger of all shows.

And for comparison's sake, the Leger of old (circa 1993):

**images: getty

Comments

[astralgirl01]

The proper name for the dress is the "bender," as Monsieur Leger called it... but bandage seemed to catch on instead.

And OMG, that video is amazing... how awesome to actually see Tyra back in the day! Ha, many only know her as the task master from ANTM! She was, as she would say, quite fierce back in the day... as well as old-school Naomi, Linda, and all of the other SUPERMODELS. They definitely put these girls on the runway to shame!

[stylepovist]

SUPER!!! that was awesome indeed, Herve was good and so were the SUPERMODELS, how can you not miss them all? those were the day...

[sam]

the dresses should cling and hug the body or else why bother?

As a kid I remember thinking how risque and daring those ads were in my old VOGUE's.

Max's version has more fluff and less impact.

[HRaines]

I've got to say, the Leger dresses of old have much more impact. Plus it was interesting to see models (circa 1993) that actually look like humans instead of starved antelopes. I have never been so shocked by the appearance of the models before, but the ones in the recent Leger show are frightening. Let's be realisitic folks, no one healthy looks like that!

[maya]

i don't think it matters what everyday people think of these new bondage dresses (which i agree, looked lack luster with so much detracting from the natural curves of the body that these dresses so amazingly enhance). Herve Leger has gained such a widespread celebrity following recently (probably the reason Max Azria decided to resurrect it back onto the runway this season) and they don't really care about all of the afore mentioned aspects. as long as they keep wearing Leger dresses, their opinion will trump all other opinions of taste