YMI Fall 2011 Runway Show

YMI is in the midst of growing from a jeans label to a lifestyle brand, and on April 3, the Los Angeles–based juniors fashion brand gave an update on its fashion progress with a runway show of its Fall 2011 collection at Exchange L.A. in downtown Los Angeles.

YMI’s 45-look show was divided into three parts: animal prints, jeans and glam rock. The animal-print segment featured tank tops and T-shirts with leopard prints, as well as faux-fur outerwear bearing giraffe prints. Outerwear silhouettes featured hoodie-like coats. Another look was a dress with metal studs and sequins intended to look like animal markings.

YMI started in 2000 with a denim focus, and for much of the show, YMI displayed what was next for its jeans looks. They included anklet jeans with 27-inch and 29-inch inseams. There were trouser-style jeans, many with a dark wash, and the microflare, which is something of a mix between stillpopular skinny jeans and flared jeans, which are forecast to be the popular denim body of 2011 and beyond. From calf down, the microflare is fitted like a skinny jean. But from waist to calf, the jean has the looser body of a flare jean. Tops displayed in this segment featured a bandeau style.

With the David Bowie tune “Suffragette City” blaring in the background, the show’s glam rock segment was intended to evoke the sizzle of the glam rock scene of the early 1970s. With YMI’s treatment of this fashion look, it showed tops and jeans bearing sequins, studs, lace and leather jackets as well as T-shirts with rock ’n’ roll graphics such as two glossed-over lips.

Alexander Wang

“IT'S ABOUT American tradition and heritage,” said Alexander Wang of the spring/summer 2010 collection he showed at Pier 94 on Saturday. “I didn’t want to put a time period on it. I didn’t want it to be about the Eighties or the Nineties, I wanted it to be about classic American sportswear with an edge.”

And, boy, did he deliver. From the military-inspired twill vest and shorts that opened the show to the tinsel dresses that closed it, Wang took classic American off-duty (and, as in the case of some football-inspired pieces, on-duty) sportswear to a very cool place.

In Wang’s world, a plain grey sweat suit gets sexed up with cut-outs, leather and lace, nylon baseball shorts are quilted and given exposed zips, while a striped rugby sweater is cropped to there and worn with khaki-and-sweatshirt fold-over trousers to reveal a very toned tummy. Oversized white button-downs boast back-baring crisscross details and the arms of an off the shoulder sweatshirt dress wrap around the model’s torso, making it look as though she’s hugging herself.

The models’ long, messy side braids, exposed cotton skivvies and backless knee socks (sounds weird, looks cool) only enhanced the sporty-sexy vibe. All told, another winner for Team Wang.

 Read More at http://www.vogue.co.uk/fashion/show.aspx/full-length-photos/id,8256