Victoria Beckham
FIRST SPRING SHOW: 2009
NOTABLE FOR: Sleek silhouettes; proving that a celebrity can tailor
CRITICAL REACTION: “The woman formerly known as Posh Spice has launched a dress collection, and, believe it or not, it’s one of the hottest things going in New York this week.” —Nicole Phelps, Style.com
WHAT THE DESIGNER SAYS NOW: “I still love that first spring collection… I was creating pieces that I wanted in my own wardrobe, hoping that others would also want them in theirs. It was made up of dresses that I had worked really hard to make perfect, with amazing corsetry and careful boning. We didn’t have a fit model, so I did what I needed to do and stripped down to my underwear to try on these amazing pieces.”
Joseph Altuzarra
FIRST SPRING SHOW: 2010
NOTABLE FOR: ’70s suede; Swiss dots; slouchy sex appeal
CRITICAL REACTION: “Jolt or not, it was a fascinating show.” —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times
WHAT THE DESIGNER SAYS NOW: “It’s still one of my favorite collections I’ve done. It really set the tone for what the Altuzarra woman wears in the spring: she’s feminine, undone, floaty and sexy. I don’t think I would change a thing! It was the first time I had worked with leather and it was a very steep learning curve, but it did start my love affair with the material. The zipper on the finale gown on Natasha Poly [pictured above] broke a minute before she was supposed to go out on the runway—we had to very quickly take the dress off and sew her into [it]!”
Simone Rocha
FIRST SPRING SHOW: 2012
NOTABLE FOR: A schoolgirl sensibility; clever use of lace; Perspex brogues
CRITICAL REACTION: “This was as polished a performance as we could expect from the very best of London Fashion Week.” —Alexander Fury, SHOWstudio.com
WHAT THE DESIGNER SAYS NOW: “The collection was shown in an old townhouse, which we later found out was actually a brothel with a large Jacuzzi in the crypt below the house. I feel proud of the fabrications which are still very signature to me today—lace, tulle, tailoring, transparency. I also like how lots of the looks were very short. I still love the plastic pieces with real lace trapped inside I found in markets. I would change very little. It was right for me at the time and place.”
Thom Browne
FIRST SPRING SHOW: 2012
NOTABLE FOR: Lobster claws; extreme proportions; a bird-woman in a cage
CRITICAL REACTION: “Totally weird, amusing, and irritating in equal measure.” —WWD
WHAT THE DESIGNER SAYS NOW: “I call it ‘The Flapper Show’ because it was somewhat ’20s-feeling but not literally referencing the era. You saw in the shapes how confident and secure these girls were. It’s horrible for me to say, but I think [this collection] was so underrated. There are so many interesting ideas that I still go back and pull from. I have grown and I have evolved, but one thing that hasn’t changed is how I want people to see [my shows]. I always knew that I wanted people to have a true experience.”
Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler
FIRST SPRING SHOW: 2004
NOTABLE FOR: Youthful shorts; nautical flair; splitting the critics
CRITICAL REACTION: “There were some great pieces…But in the main, it was separates in search of a collection.” —Cathy Horyn, The New York Times
WHAT THE DESIGNERS SAY NOW: “We’d just graduated from college and started our collection and we were still experimenting. Vogue called it one of the top 10 collections [of the season]. But Cathy Horyn, who has since become a friend, tore it apart. It was like a dagger through the heart, but she was totally right and we definitely kept [her feedback] in our heads for a couple of seasons,” recalled Jack McCollough, who designs Proenza Schouler with Lazaro Hernandez, adding that their design process has evolved significantly.
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