Shoe blog

Zac Posen: How to Miss the Mark (and be Derivative While You’re At It)

I make no secret of the fact that I hate Zac Posen’s style. A few years ago, he hit it big as the bee’s knees in Young Hollywood style. Blech! If you ask me (and even if you don’t, because I’m offering my opinions on the internet, which is sort of the antithesis of private question and answer), his clothes all try for a fresh, playfully elegant femininity and are never quite up to snuff.

Case in point, this dress from his Fall 08 RTW show. As with much of his work, I like the idea of this dress. I like the historically-inspired ruching, I like the idea of a peignoir-looking dress, I’m even fine with the ruffles. But, as he usually does, he takes a good idea and veers away from making it look good on a woman. The color is bland as a very bland thing. The fit is baggy. And the whole thing looks frumpy, which I’m guessing is not what the intention was.

And this collection has added some style inspiration from a couple questionable sources.

Do these shoes look familiar?

That might be because you’re thinking of Posh and Giambattista Valli. Remember this runway? Or this photoshoot?

For space-age photoshoots and the queen of restrictive clothing and higher-than-heaven heels, this look works just fine. For Zac Posen? I vote not so much.

The kicker, though, is this shirt.

Who was the last person we saw wearing fashion with her name scrawled across it in watery script?

Yes, that would be Paris Hilton, and while one can argue a case for Posh and Giambattista Valli being stylish, the same case cannot be argued for a woman best known for being a) airheaded, b) a jailbird, and c) star of her own home-made sex tape. This is not a place I’d recommend going, Zac Posen. Not at all.