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The House of Diehl, with designs created by Mary
Jo Diehl, is less about fashion and more about advocating for social
change and the motivation thereof. Ms Diehl, in her programme notes,
proclaimed that her spring 2004 collection (‘The Revelation’) is
about questioning the ‘good and evil in humanity with the same simplicity
as they are regarded in fashion.’ Ergo, the house’s Brand New Me
line was created to ‘promote an evocative new language that empowers
a woman to speak in visual poetry … expressing both the mood and
message of the wearer.’
What this means is that the designs presented
at the Tribeca Grand Hotel are not representative of the mass-market
merchandising fashion culture we have grown accustomed to in recent
years. These designs are individual pieces that work best on women
with a pronounced style of dressing and surely not for the faint
of heart. The theatrics here—the soaring operatic music, the gold-robed
street preacher who took to the stage midway through and ranted
fervently about the wages of sin (duh), Ms Le Pore (she of the 35
plastic surgery operations) and all the components—made for an eventful
evening.
But wait, what about the fashion? It was akin
to trying to find a needle in the haystack. But if you look closely
enough, there were enough hints of wearable designs hidden underneath
all that kabuki make-up and costume-like get-ups. All in
all, it was an amusing way to spend an evening; but I would say
that whenever Ms Diehl decides to become serious about joining the
mainstream, I hope she plans on more than just being amusing. After
a while you see, the clown stands alone.
As Four
WHATEVER YOU MAY THINK of As Four
(Adi, Ange, K.A.I. and Gabi), the design collective that made their
runway début in the early 2000s, they are never boring. Known
for contributions (viz. the circle handbag) to Sex and
the City, and seen equally as pretentious by some and ingenious
by others, the collective maintained their theatrical nature this
season while—for the first time—showing their very first grown-up,
taking-care-of-business collection at the Bryant Park tents this
past season. This particular presentation was the first indication
that they were prepared to move to the next level. So, in addition
to their pod dresses and tops and futuristic pants in metallic print
fabrics we have come to expect, they also showed pieces that were
remarkably more fashion mainstream than past efforts since the team’s
inception in 2000. This collection had to have been their most accessible
yet, which is saying a lot when your raison d’être
is all about shaking people out of their complacency and commonplace
thinking.
CONTINUED
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Diehl’s designs are individual
pieces that work best on women with a pronounced style of dressing
and surely not for the faint of heart
  
     
TOP: House of Diehl.
by Mary Jo Diehl. ABOVE RIGHT: Diesel
StyleLab. REMAINING PHOTOGRAPHS:
As Four.
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