Christian Siriano consistently has the most star-packed front row of any show during New York Fashion Week. This season was no exception, with Drew Barrymore, Hannah Waddingham, Alicia Silverstone and Susan Sarandon among those who came out on a Saturday night to the basement of the Empire State Building for his show.
Why do they come?
Siriano is genuine and likable, never at a loss for words (TV will do that for you) and accepting of everyone, even welcoming Tika the fashion dog (1.1 million Instagram followers!) to work the front row for pics and clicks. The canine was a sensation.
The show theme was “Victorian Matrix,” but the collection was not all that Victorian or “Matrix.”
Deep blue laminated column dresses with matching opera gloves and a pantsuit with sculpted shoulders à la Thierry Mugler came closest. A surfeit of corsets (Siriano is not the first designer this week to think women coming out of a pandemic lockdown want to rush into corsets) was really all that signaled Victoriana.
The rest, all 65 looks of it, meandered from sleek and tailored to stately and couture-like (a black velvet mermaid gown with a shirt collar was nice); lingerie-like (lots of black sequin embroidered organza peekaboo corset dresses), to belle of the ball, including a gingham check (huh?) midriff-baring bra top and poufy skirt that conjured Zendaya. And, oh, by the way, there was also Gloria Vanderbilt denim, which looked great, actually, particularly the dark wash dresses.
The most fun was watching Coco Rocha and Karen Elson gamely working their drama gowns, and showing those swishy ball skirts who was boss. It was about the most personality the show had.
If the collection was in need of a storyline and a connecting thread, it could be because Siriano has a lot on his plate. Red carpet season is ramping up again, which means designing for a range of personalities, and he’s started designing film costumes. He shared backstage that he’s working on costumes for an upcoming Susan Sarandon film.