If you are looking for opulence, sophistication and elegance, then Zang Toi is the designer for you. The larger question that might be ruminating in the minds of many fashion pundits is the now and next of Zang Toi’s luxury point of view.
Zang Toi puts on a great fashion show. There is glamour, excitement, theatre, and audience appeal. And he is one of the few designers during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week that gets a standing ovation. But, fashion is more than theatrical presentation and bravos; fashion is about what is current and what is next. And Zang Toi in his current collection is tittering toward the former and not the later.
For fall 2014, Zang Toi was inspired by 1930s Shanghai, the Paris of the Orient. There were some tried-and-true Asian influences in this collection from Mandarin collars and modern qi pao dresses to opium silk brocades and silk gazar, as well as a color palette that included jade and royal burgundy.
Toi was most successful with the earlier part of his fall 2014 collection that was a smart combination of glenplaid trousers, suit coats and trench coats with an obvious 1930’s slick sophistication that could easily work for the modern woman. However, when Toi transitioned to eveningwear, perhaps, he relied too heavily on the big dramatic showstoppers and fanfares that have worked in the past.
Though Zang Toi’s eveningwear looks were beautiful and guaranteed showstoppers, the eveningwear lacked a buoyant, youthful projection. Zang Toi’s client base has always been the other half of rich bankers, oilmen and the ladies who lunch set. Still, Toi must keep in mind that 45 is the new 30, and the new 30 dresses like a much younger consumer.
There were some looks in the collection that demonstrated that Toi is not completely enraptured by the French couture world of the 1980s. His Loro Piana cashmere herringbone short trench coat, and brilliant jade ostrich feather pouf sprinkled with onyx crystals showed that at times Zang Toi is in step with what consumer’s want to wear.
—William S. Gooch
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this
topic to be really something that I think I would never understand.
It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your
next post, I will try to get the hang of it!
You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this
topic to be really something that I think I would never understand.
It seems too complex and very broad for me. I am looking forward for your
next post, I will try to get the hang of it!