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A ‘Camp’ with something for everyone

We at Mary Jane Denzer recently had an opportunity to view The Metropolitan Museum of Art Costume Institute’s 2019 show, “Camp: Notes on Fashion.” And while the new exhibit is characterized by much funky couture, there is plenty for the MJD client to love.

That’s because “Camp” – which takes its title and inspiration from Susan Sontag’s influential 1964 essay “Notes on ‘Camp’” – defines its subject so broadly (as paramount style laced with humor and artfulness) that the clothing and accessories in it range from the playfully quirky to the eminently, elegantly wearable. A case in point is a strapless Yves Saint Laurent gown from his autumn/winter 1983-84 collection that features a columnar black skirt, slightly slit; and a hot pink ruched bodice that’s all tied up in a matching bow in the back. Talk about a knockout fashion statement.

But there’s more: Jean Paul Gaultier’s strapless emerald green mermaid gown, with its winged neckline, creates a curvaceous silhouette, as does Jeremy Scott’s shimmering scallop-patterned salmon dress from his spring/summer 2011 collection. Bob Mackie’s 2008 mesh gown, defined by sequined leaves, echoes aspects of Neil Bieff’s shapely, textured gowns in our collection and the peekaboo knit dresses by Italian designer Alessandra Vicedomini, a new addition to MJD whom you’ll be reading more about in our June post.

Cristobal Balenciaga’s tiered, feathery pink gown for decorative arts collector Jayne Wrightsman during the 1965-66 season offers the sine qua non in ladylike appeal, while a Fendi ensemble and dress by Karl Lagerfeld from its autumn/winter 2016-17 collection makes unusual use of pattern with its subtle evocation of medieval manuscripts and tapestries.

But as one fashion editor noted, you needn’t go full-camp. Heatherette’s short, triangular Hello Kitty-patterned dress (original design, 2013-14) not for you? Perhaps you might accent a cocktail dress or an evening gown with a Hello Kitty rhinestone bracelet. Or go Audrey Hepburn with a Gucci head scarf, pearl choker and rhinestone-dotted sunglasses, as displayed on a mannequin head in a vitrine in the stunning final gallery, which explodes with a profusion of black-framed display windows offsetting bold colors and patterns.

If you caught any of the exhibit’s May 6 kickoff gala extravaganza, https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2019/05/06/style/met-gala-photos/s/met-gala-nina-2405-regina-king.html then you know that the ensembles that succeeded best on the red carpet were those in which the stars shone but not too brightly. Co-chair and Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour was a vision of spring in a floral-studded columnar gown – topped by a matching pink-feathered jacket – by Lagerfeld for Chanel, the last gown he created for her before his death. Katie Holmes reigned in purple in form-fitting Zac Posen with a fan-shaped train and feathery choker neckline. Regina King scintillated in metallic Oscar de la Renta with a huge gold ruffle on its one shoulder.

What the exhibit and the gala fashions both demonstrate is that camp is like spice: A little goes a long way.

“Camp” runs through Sept. 9. For tickets, go to metmuseum.org.

Floral Tributes

“April showers bring May flowers,” but they also bring April blooms as well – rapturous, Wordsworth-y daffodils, vibrant tulips, filigree hyacinths, blazing forsythias and comforting pansies in velvety indigos and creamy whites. And that’s not including a pink-white array of apple, cherry, plum and magnolia blossoms.

But not all the blooms are rooted in the earth as fashion continues to rival Mother Nature’s glory with a riot of floral dresses. Indeed, flower prints and embellished floral appliqués represent the most important trend of the season, say Anastasia Cucinella and Debra O’Shea, co-owners of Mary Jane Denzer.

From the office to the cocktail party, women are donning Erdem, whose explosion of black flowers is silhouetted against sexy, sophisticated pastel designs; Marchesa, whose florals cascade from diaphanous ruffles; and Pamella Roland, whose big, bold blooms splash across sweeping skirts. Meanwhile, Valli girls – as in Giambattista – strut their stuff in blossom-decked minis and cropped jackets, and florals climb the layered, fitted creations of Jason Wu. These are just some of the flower-powered designers you’ll find at MJD.

Florals are no longer just for the soft seasons, though. On their recent buying trip to Paris, Cucinella and O’Shea observed that the trend continues strongly through the fall. (Credit designers like Dolce & Gabbana and Prada, who helped introduce florals on dark backdrops for winter several years ago.)

The late-year floral finds expression in the work of Peter Pilotto, a 12-year-old English fashion house headed by the Austrian-Italian Pilotto and his partner, the Belgian-Peruvian Christopher De Vos, that’s a new addition to MJD’s roster of couturiers. (The relatively low-profile label made a splash last October with its striking wedding dress for Princess Eugenie, which celebrated her curves and scoliosis scar with a fitted, angular bodice that included a plunging V back.

In a sense, that dress crystallizes the Pilotto style for fall – tailored yet feminine clothes with prominent shoulders, cinched waists and flowing skirts that flirt with the 1940s and range in evocations from Hungarian Zsolnay ceramics to mid-century Pop art.

Autumn leaves drift from these creations. But autumn is blissfully still a dream away and Pilotto’s pre-fall florals, which you’ll find at MJD, are perfect for those summer parties that will soon be filling your calendar.

Monique Lhuillier

Princess / Bombshell

At the Academy Awards Sunday, Feb. 24, many a star will no doubt be wearing Monique Lhuillier, a mainstay of our collection at Mary Jane Denzer.

And why not? In this the most romantic of months, Lhuillier may be the most romantic of designers working today. Gauzy, bell-shaped skirts sweep into the room, announcing your arrival. Bows play at the throat. A peekaboo diagonal only hints at decollété. But there are really two Lhuilliers, it seems. There is Princess Monique, as evidenced in the pink gown with the fitted, ruffled bodice that Emmy Rossum wore to the recent Golden Globe Awards. Is it any wonder that Lhuillier is one of the queens of the bridal industry? And then there is Bombshell Monique, whose columnar lamé numbers feature cleavage down to here and slits up to there. In wearing a shimmering silver column gown to the Golden Globes, one whose draped décolletage plunged to the waist, “The Americans’” star Keri Russell echoed the stars of yesteryear, like ’30s platinum sex goddess Jean Harlow. That was no doubt by design.

The House of Lhuillier’s fall 2019 collection takes its cue from such ’70s and ’80s Hollywood divas as Marisa Berenson and Joan Collins, yes, Alexis Carrington Colby herself of “Dynasty” – which has been revived on The CW but alas without dear Joan and her castmates. She and Berenson aren’t afraid to be strong and sexy.

Lhuillier herself came from a far more demure background in the Philippines – where her French-Vietnamese father, whose business concerns embraced diplomacy, jewelry and real estate, and her mother, a former model who turned making the family clothes into a business, forbade their daughters from wearing black at too young an age. Lhuillier was educated in Switzerland at Château Mont-Choisi and Saint Theresa’s College. So protective was her family that she wasn’t allowed to travel to New York alone to study fashion design, an early interest. So, she attended the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, where her two brothers lived. There she met Tom Bugbee, her future husband, father of their two children and business partner. It was their nuptials that set Lhuillier to designing outfits for the wedding party. Her bridal collection debuted in 1996, and she was off and running.

Ten years later, she received the Philippines’ Medal of Honor. But Lhuillieur has never been one to rest on her laurels. Last year, she launched a home design collection at Pottery Barn that included crystal vase lamps, silver taper candleholders, etched glassware and silk bouquets of peonies and roses good enough to scent.

It seems that Lhuillier is determined to make every aspect of our lives as romantic as possible.