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Though fairly recent to the fashion scene, Lucy Chai has already become a designer legend as her daring and visionary clothes have changed the way many look at their wardrobes.
Bursting on to the scene with the new millennium, Ms. Chai presented us with a stunning collection inspired by master painters with her Spring 2000 fashions. Her Klimt’s Kiss ensemble offered profusion of golden hues ideal for fashionable young lovers. In her business wear line, her Mondrians gave the fashionable business person a primary palette while preserving a nice line and clean look. Her farmer’s picture line became an instant hit among urban youth. As one young person said at the time – “It’s like so rural.” Also of note, her evening wear line beautifully highlighted the subtle shades of various impressionists.
The buzz about Ms. Chai became a roar with the presentation of her Spring 2001 line – Ancient is Now. In a fabulous take on retro, Ms. Chai offered up a delightful fashion array from antiquity including toga wedding dresses, black tie toga, Pharaoh casual wear, centurion sportswear, and indigenous peoples’ office wear. Though achieving the critical success of her previous year’s designs, her line did suffer some economically from the reduction in casual Fridays as businesses took a more serious tone in light of the economic down turn. “I like her designs as much as the next person,” said one CEO, “but loin cloths and stone tipped spears just aren’t an image we can go with in this business environment.”
With the Spring 2002 line, Ms. Chai’s growing consciousness and concern for the global environment inspired her Recyclables collection. From office wear to formal to casual to street, designs made from used plastic bags, aluminum cans, glass bottles, various kinds of paper were all the rage with the critics, but the consumers didn’t flock to line. “If I wanted something used, I would go to Good … what’s the name of that place for poor people,” said one New York debutante. The line was further troubled by radical environmentalists who claim that use of these materials only promotes further production of them. Though the 2002 line can’t claim the unprecedented success of her earlier attempts, a recent increase in use of recyclables by other designers leads the inside observer to suspect that this may one day be considered some of Ms. Chai’s most important work.
Now, the fashion world is again talking of Ms. Chai’s designs as her Spring 2003 line has turned heads and stolen hearts. Learning from her 2001 difficulties, Ms. Chai decided that if she couldn’t put casual in the office, she would put the office into casual and everywhere else with her Professional Everywhere line. The everyday person can now enjoy the casual comfort of doctors’ scrubs, the business advantage that comes with the prestige and authority of a captain’s uniform, the unexpected elegance of a clown suit, and the provocative sensuality of delivery man’s uniform. Next time a man in a brown shirt and shorts arrives with something for you, he could be your blind date.
Of course, the only thing more fascinating than considering what this legendary fashion designer has offered us, is considering what she will offer us in the future. Like you, I wait expectantly for each new season. Ciao. |
Lucy
