Alessandra Rich (Q2582)
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Alessandra Rich is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Alessandra Rich |
Alessandra Rich is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
Alessandra Rich’s presentation took place in her brand’s expansive Art Deco showroom, featuring black-and-white marble floors and opulent gilded finishes. The setting framed her elegant spring collection, designed for women with a packed social calendar filled with cocktails and soirées. Rich is known for weaving a naughty edge into her seemingly prim and proper dresses. “My collections are for women who are seriously sensual,” she remarked.The hallmark of Rich’s aesthetic lay in the tension between the bourgeois surface of her designs and the provocative spirit simmering beneath. Delicate white lace or piqué collarettes, dainty bows, and soft ruffles were deliberately juxtaposed with silhouettes with an ingenue twist. For daytime wear, Rich’s fluid silk crepe dresses, featuring pussy bows and pleated skirts, were subtly subverted by daring front slits, tempering their demure appeal with an edge of sensuality. A masculine pantsuit was introduced as a counterpoint to more dramatic evening pieces, overlaid with layers of black Chantilly lace that evoked a seductiveésprit lingerie.
29 September 2024
Alessandra Rich riffed on the naughty ingénue repertoire she favors for her fall presentation; to make the message coming across, the label’s Art Deco showroom was set up as a boudoir. In one of the rooms of the sprawling marble-lined space, a decadent four-poster bed was bedecked with white lace curtains and a red velvet bedspread. Models took turns languidly lying down: With the presentation coming at the end of a long day after weeks of non-stop fashion shows, this reviewer couldn’t help but feel jealous.The lineup featured short coquettish confections in virginal (so to speak) white lace, counterpointed by vamp-ish slinky numbers in dramatic black velvet. Plunging necklines, frills and ruches abounded, as did marabou trimmings, short hemlines, see-through chiffon and bows galore—the entire arsenal of girly seduction was on call. It’d look a bit obvious if it weren’t for Rich not taking herself too seriously; there’s always a humorous undertone in the way she looks at stereotypical femininity. She’s also wise enough to give her customers (whose daughters also come to her for fun, sexy party dresses) a wider offer—interspersed between bows, frills and frivolous frocks there were tailored daywear suits in tartan wool, separates in soft mohair with jewel buttons, flattering tweed dresses, blousons and trench coats in black or caramel leather. Said Rich: “Women have so many different sides to them, they just have to give themselves permission to have fun exploring them all.”
1 March 2024
Alfred Hitchcock once called Grace Kelly “a snow-covered volcano.” The blonde actress-turned-princess famously embodied the hot Ice Queen cliché, classy on the outside, lustful on the inside—a duality that some consider erotic. Alessandra Rich finds it “an attractive paradox,” and for pre-fall she flirted with the duplicity between proper and naughty, a recurring theme in her work.Like a Lolita raiding her glamorous mother’s closet, the collection had the feel of playing at being grown-up. Evening frocks in pitch-black or red velvet looked swanky at the front, while revealing a deep-plunging, voluptuous backless rear view; frilly lace bustiers peeked under striped cardis paired with matching barely-there miniskirts; masculine tailored blazers in lamé tweed were thrown over ’80s draped short dresses in turquoise satin, fit for the dance floor. As if covered in stardust, XL sporty denim blousons sparkled with nighttime pizzazz.Rich believes that her duty as a designer is to help women unleash their inner seductresses, hidden under layers of bourgeois restraint. Fashion is a tool for liberation, and to give latitude to oneself’s multiple facets. Girls behaving like wordly dames, mature women acting like wild teenagers—according to Rich, when it comes to freedom of expression, there’s no stigma attached.
20 December 2023
Alessandra Rich held her spring show at the Reformed Church of the Holy Spirit in Paris. The light coming through Its impressive elliptical glass ceiling seemed so otherworldly, she imagined a space shuttle landing after a voyage, carrying a flotilla of Rich-clad aliens. She called the collection From Venus With Love.Metallic silver threads on tweed textures, transparent organza with a silvery shine, and various ethereal fabrics referenced the space theme; they were offset by a tougher, sexier undercurrent of black leather, bondage high-heeled boots, and wristband chains attached to punkish, metal-studded little bags.As always with Rich, the ladylike clashed with the naughty, the bon-ton was pitted against “the wild side”—tailored blazers were worn over nude chiffon numbers, tight pencil skirts were paired with barely-there, sexy knitted tops, short-shorts in black sequins contrasted with prim-looking blouses of the sheer variety.“You can be girly or womanly,” said Rich at a preview. “Delicate or aggressive; it’s your choice.” Her Venusian aliens certainly knew how to pick sides.
30 September 2023
Alessandra Rich is an elegant woman, always dressed in the prim frocks she designs for her eponymous label, which counts the Princess of Wales among its fans.Despite that well-mannered association, Rich stages fantasies of a rather different kind in her collections. Her stiletto-heeled creatures teeter between femme fatale and naughty ingénue, shuttling from lady of the manor duties by day to officiating rituals à laEyes Wide Shutby night. “Yes, there’s a noir vibe in my representation of women,” she conceded. “Fantasizing about a secret double-life is perhaps a way of rebelling against the taboos we as women have been forced to internalize.”This season, Rich let her hair down, playing the conservative versus the risqué without much restraint. Bias-cut satin numbers fit for a 1930s star coexisted with nude lurex bras and micro panties from the lingerie line she’s about to launch. Elsewhere, underpinnings were barely concealed under a clear-latex microskirt pierced by metal studs, or worn unflinchingly on bare skin with low-slung black leather pants and a pair of long black patent leather gloves. “She’s never uncomfortable being undressed,” said Rich.The message was in the mix: Proper pleated-skirt floral print midi dresses with broderie anglaise collarettes would pass muster at a formal garden reception, while the see-through impact of a black stretch-lace catsuit studded was just slightly mitigated by a zippered leather miniskirt not much wider than a belt.Rich is curious about “secrets women hide in their minds,” she said. What she wants to offer them are tools to play the self-representation game as they please, without taking themselves too seriously. She called the collection “Please, disturb.”
15 June 2023
Alessandra Rich showed her fall collection at the Paris Sotheby’s headquarters; the room where auctions usually take place was turned into a white-walled, minimalsalon de couture. After last season’s plush baroque setting and louche atmosphere at Maxim’s, she wanted the mood to be lighter and brighter.Rich likes women to be coquettish, seductive, and guilt-free naughty. The show was a parade of her favorite characters, shifting between bon ton dames playing ingenue, wearing pleated shirtdresses printed with tiny florals, and voluptuous vixens flaunting skimpy lingerie slips and frilly bralettes in see-through lace.Romantic bias-cut frocks with ruched collars alternated with tight-fitted corsets tied with velvet bows. Lacy stockings with garters and leotards in stretchy see-through lace leaving little to the imagination played against oversized, masculine greatcoats and shapely tweed suits. There seemed to be no middle ground between a well-mannered afternoon tea and the boudoir.“It’s about having fun and playing overtly with all the tropes of seductive femininity,” Rich said backstage. “Not taking yourself too seriously and being frivolous. A sense of humor can be very sexy.”
3 March 2023
“Who AR you?” asked Alessandra Rich at a pre-fall appointment. The puzzling question wasn’t intended as a Hamlet-like existential conundrum, rather “which Alessandra Rich woman are you?” To cover the apparently moody, capricious nature of the AR creature, the collection offered a sort of à la carte menu of contrasting options.“She has a teddy bear on her pillow and a baseball bat under her bed, she’s messy and prim at the same time,” summarized Rich. This season, the AR girl can be punkish in pleated-tartan ultra-miniskirts, or languid in mermaid-like ‘40s satin dresses; she’s all business in tailored pinstriped suits with puffy sleeves, or she indulges her provocative side in tough, black studded-leather greatcoats thrown over figure-hugging slipdresses in floral patchworks trimmed with lace. For her, Alice-in-Wonderland collarettes on midi pleated polka dot dresses and flirty bows on silky velvet bustiers have the same appeal as destroyed lacquered leather bombers pierced by spikes—which looked apropos in the gritty Milanese neighborhood where the lookbook was shot. Alessandra Rich has been living in London for years, and this collection was infused with a delicate nostalgia for the sexy, romantic, subversive atmosphere of the clubs of Camden, where British punk was born.
12 December 2022
For her return to the catwalk, Alessandra Rich went for the quintessential Paris restaurant Maxim’s, whose Belle Epoque, dark red interior (carpeted, plush, dimly lit with Art Nouveau original chandeliers) still has a flavor of chic decadence. “I thought it was the perfect frame for my collection, as this is a place where people come to enjoy life, to have fun, and to play the seduction game,” said Rich in what was definitely the most voluptuous backstage of the season.The collection was called Let’s Kiss, and to bring home the point, flame red lipsticks in small red boxes were placed on each seat. Then the stage was left to an undulating flow of skimpy, sassy numbers, impossibly short and tight, followed by a parade of midriff-baring crop tops variously paired with the lowest-rise flares in the business (Rich rather appropriately called them “naughty”) or with sexy high-waist bikini briefs or miniskirts as indiscernible as a microchip.A slightly more demure proposition was a series of floaty, sinuous slip dresses in floral chiffon that looked deceitfully romantic, as their sheerness didn’t leave much to the imagination. “It’s all about false innocence; she just pretends to be an ingenue,” said Rich of her inveterate seductress. “But she’s all about having fun being an actual provocateur.”
30 September 2022
A sense of adventure isn’t exactly what comes to mind when thinking of Alessandra Rich’s style. You don’t picture fearless explorations of faraway outdoors, or attending events like Coachella, wearing one of her high-style red carpet numbers or one of her prim, pussy-bowed shirt dresses that Kate Middleton favors. But life can be unpredictable, and for resort Rich took an unexpected turn towards the wild side.“I wanted something more free, stronger, with a warmer feel,” she explained. In Rich’s lexicon, “warm” is obviously an understatement: “hot” would be a more appropriate way of describing her take on resort. Shot in an exotic-looking location of red earth dunes and sparse vegetation, the collection exuded abundant sensuality and a let your hair down vibe which wasn’t exactly Duchess-of-Cambridge-demure. What Rich offered instead were plenty of sexy, racy party options that would look appropriate at Glastonbury, but certainly wouldn’t be suitable for any of the recent royal extravaganzas celebrating the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee in London.Low-waisted ultra-mini miniskirts, saucy hot pants studded with hot fixes, frilly cropped tops and bralettes baring the midriff were on the menu, together with flowy, ruffled dresses as sheer as a morning haze at Burning Man, cut asymmetrical and trimmed with fluffy plumage. Bikinis and cut-out bodysuits sparkling with sequins, leggings/soft corset combos knitted with psychedelic swirls of butterflies, and motifs of flames intarsia-ed on roomy, cool leather cargos would also fit nicely into the suitcases of Rich’s posse of party animals. “My girls like a good time,” she purred.More glamorous, dramatic red carpet options were not forgotten. A long, sleek black velvet gown with a vertiginous plunging neckline exuded a mermaid-like allure, while a tailored tuxedo worn with low-rise bellbottoms in see-through black lace looked sassy and rather cool. That post-pandemic party mood is back in force; from the mud of Glastonbury and outdoor raves to the opulent gilded salons of British castles, Alessandra Rich will have every party option covered.
13 June 2022
Alessandra Rich’s fall collection was full of seductive evening pieces which she designed months ago, when the desire for getting out and having fun after two years of restrictions seemed to finally become a reality. But the dramatic events unfolding in Ukraine drastically shifted the perspective. A full-on party time must once again be put on hold.Rich was planning to shoot the look book in a plush location, but the circumstances made her change her mind in favor of a disused factory, a space bare and industrial that “felt more appropriate to my feelings,” she said. It made for a stark contrast with the provocative vibe of the collection, where Rich riffed on her repertoire of luscious Lolita-esque styles.Although the vibe was unmistakably sexy, an element of fun mitigated the drama factor, as if a little girl was playing dress up in her mother’s closet. “I give my women toys to play with,” the designer said, referring to a strawberry-print minidress with puff sleeves, or a midriff-baring cropped jumper embroidered with huge cherries at the front. Gingham, lace, built-in corsets, and faux fur were also part of the game, as well as heart-shaped details on polka-dot printed midi pleated dresses, which the designer described as “more conservative.”The same couldn’t be said of an hourglass-shaped, corseted longuette Prince of Wales dress with a prim white collar, a once demure creature which was given the risqué treatment with cut-outs revealing the hips and high slits on the sides liberating the legs. It won’t please the Duchess of Cambridge, who’s a faithful client, unless she decides to subvert the monarchy wearing it at some royal event.Without going to such extremes, the Duchess could choose from a series of slightly more appropriate long evening numbers in black velvet, with plunging heart-shaped décolleté, draped sleeves, and revealing side slits. Perhaps the monarchy wouldn’t be so impacted by a dash of mood-lifting, attractive, sexy glam.
11 March 2022
At a pre-fall appointment, Alessandra Rich was neatly put-together in a relaxed sweatshirt emblazoned with a glitteryRichlogo and track pants of the skintight variety. Looking at her, one expected to see a collection of her young-upper-crust clothes: long pleated dresses in micro-florals and white pussy-bowed collarettes with occasional plunging necklines. But no. Or at least not only, as there’s apparently another side of posh that Rich is suggesting her high-heeled (and well-heeled) clientele should explore—sultrier, darker, with plenty of black latex, see-through nets, and crystal-studded corsets. Oh la la.In the look book, images of a blonde ingenue clad in what looks like a chic version of fetish gear emerge from a deep red velvety background. Who’s the role model? Is it Séverine, the double-life character played by Catherine Deneuve in Buñuel’sBelle de Jour,perhaps? Rich was mum on the subject, leaving it open to interpretation. When pressed on the about-face from bon ton madame to erotic diva, she said it was due to a desire for sensuality and passion that the (apparently never-ending) pandemic has unleashed. Cheekily, she called the collection Room 2022: “I know, it’s a hotel room I was thinking about,” she joked. “The number 2022 is actually wishful thinking; it’s the year in which I’m hoping that passion for life can be lived fully and freely again.”To that end, Rich is giving plenty of tools to her bourgeois clients, eager to play a sassier, provocative role. Pre-fall was a rather sexy affair, abundant in skintight midi pencil skirts in glossy black vinyl or transparent stretchy net; crystal-studded mohair sweaters soft as a kitten but cropped to generously expose the midriff; and corseted bustiers in pink camouflage or black leather. Barely there velvet hot pants, slinky draped minidresses printed with miniature florals, and bouclé-Lurex tweed suits with skirts as short as belts emphasized the tongue-in-cheek message of fetish-chic seduction Rich wanted to convey. “The woman I was thinking about is still the same,” she said. “It’s just that she doesn’t want to look too perfect; she’s less in control. She’s giving herself permission to be more erotic and instinctive. She wants to let her hair down.”
14 December 2021
“Take me out, it’s sunny outside,” said an upbeat Alessandra Rich when asked to summarize her collection’s mood. Eager like the rest of us to leave behind the doom and gloom of the past two years and “feel the heat of the sun on the skin,” she tuned in to the current obsession for the sexy, skimpy, body-con look that emerged as a sort of analog antidote to the frigid digital lexicon embraced during lockdowns.The über-seductive numbers she’s offering for summer are skin baring and revealing, with accents on irony and irreverence. Rich thinks that fashion rules shouldn’t be taken too seriously and that women ought to enjoy their body and flaunt it with confidence. “A woman must above all please herself,” she said.There’s plenty to flaunt in the collection, which nods to a younger audience with a penchant for Y2K nostalgia. In the mix are shimmery laminated Lycra leggings in citrus tones worn with matching long-sleeve, midriff-baring tops; microminiskirts, hot pants, or culottes peeking out from strong-shouldered tailored blazers in bouclé tweed the color of lollipops; and skimpy bikinis and bralettes barely concealed under fitted, abundantly bejeweled pinstripe jackets. Knitwear got the sexy treatment too, offered in unlined openwork versions to amp up the see-through factor, as in a body-skimming off-white midiskirt or a pair of bell-bottom black leggings paired with a crisscross bikini top for a slight bondage-y effect. “It’s bourgeois bondage, though,” specified Rich, emphasizing the conservative underpinnings of her style.It’s no secret that Kate Middleton, the always meticulously put together Duchess of Cambridge, is one of her most faithful clients. Her favorite Madame dresses are proposed in new summery iterations: midi length, neatly pleated, primly collared, pussybowed, and printed in small floral motifs or polka dots in feisty colors. “A woman can be many women,” reflected Rich. “Delicate and feminine or audacious and bold.” Who knows if the duchess agrees.
11 October 2021
Alessandra Rich went sentimental for resort: Hearts and flowers bloom in abundance on the copious frills of the girly dresses she favors. The choice is suggestive of a hopeful mindset. Stuck in Milan since the beginning of the pandemic and a bit nostalgic of her London life, Rich is in restart mode, ready to resume the lively social life that she so misses. “It’d be great to have a good party on a terrace, wouldn’t it?” she asked. Indeed, it would.A rooftop terrace overlooking an industrial Milanese landscape actually materialized—not as the location for a fabulous party but as the set for the lookbook’s shoot. “I wanted something metropolitan,” said Rich. For once, nature wasn’t part of the picture. Rich likes it a bit sassy; theen plein airfeel of a field of poppies wouldn’t qualify as an appropriate frame for her racy, flirty numbers anyway. “Dress, think, and love” was the collection’s mantra.Rich has a broad celebrity following, spanning from K-pop group Blackpink to Beyoncé to the Duchess of Cambridge. You couldn’t think of more different women or more different styles. “I believe every one of them finds something that represents their personality,” Rich said. For resort she mixed casual and dressy. Sexy heart-printed minidresses sit alongside more demure options, as in midi pleated dresses with prim lace collarettes. Cropped tops in fluffy mohair contrasted with embroidered denim truck jackets.Rich manages to make even a plain, unassuming sweat look flattering and pretty; yet glam is her preferred language. A long, sinuous black velvet number with heart-shaped décolletage looked ready for the great reopening we’re all anticipating. “It’s a love letter for all the new, beautiful things the future will certainly bring us,” she said.
16 June 2021
Alessandra Rich’s girls seem to have spent their quarantines in flirtatious mode—at least this was what the fall collection’s video suggested. A blonde bombshell sashayed in a classy hotel’s marbled lobby wearing a tight-fitted midi pencil skirt, sheer black stockings, and studded stilettos; she stretched languidly on a four-poster bed in a black lace see-through number; and she talked on the phone clothed (so to speak) in a black jumper with an embroidered feline at the front. As per the press notes, “She moves in the house like a jungle cat, searching for her pleasure spot.” The collection was titled Lust Days.Zooming from her studio in Milan, where she has spent an unglamorous lockdown like the rest of us, Rich said that what inspired her was the craving for freedom, travel, and a life unencumbered by the limitations of our present circumstances: “I haven’t been able to go back to my home in London for six months,” she said. No wonder the feeling of breaking free was on her mind. She said the song she listened most to while designing the collection was “Stairway to Heaven.”Rich indulged in seductive prettiness here. Her models looked sweet in midi floral dresses with jeweled buttons and boxy tartan jackets over sassy minidresses. Argyle cardigans were given a shot of shine with hot fixes of diamond-patterned glitter and worn cheekily with high-waisted culottes or tweedy pencil skirts. “I loosely based the collection on a ’70s vibe because it was a time of such creativity and freedom,” she said. Lusting over freedom is surely an universal activity these days.
2 March 2021
The pandemic forced Alessandra Rich to spend four months in London during the lockdown. Luckily, she was able to show her spring collection in her own showroom in Milan, though, it's still a far cry from the luxe of the Parisian flat and the decadence of Lapérouse, where she has received her clients in recent fashion weeks. But being a resourceful Italian, she took it in her stride. She delivered the collection on time, and it was as meticulously crafted and glamorous as ever.As a testament to her optimism, she titled the collection Euphoria. In these circumstances, it’s obviously more wishful thinking than the actual reality of what we’re going through. “I know, I know,” she conceded. “But while I was designing the collection during the confinement, I was thinking about joy, about the joy of dressing up again, the desire to go out feeling beautiful in a beautiful dress.”There were plenty of seductive numbers to spark joy in the women who like her style, women she describes as having an intense social life. “They party; they have to attend weddings and dinners and receptions,” she said. Yes—but when? Social calendars aren’t exactly crowded with obligations these days. When life resumes, Rich’s clients will be dressed to the nines, ready at the starting blocks.Even without a long list of parties to attend, it’s difficult not to be seduced by Rich’s exquisite vintage-y floral dresses and the candy-hued, glitzy pantsuits with matching brassieres she concocted with such unabashed conviction. To add the final touch to her seductive arsenal, she launched a new line of languid lingerie—floral negligees, sweet little bikinis, and see-through cover-ups that can double as beachwear. They looked euphoria-inducing enough.
29 September 2020
It would be so easy for Alessandra Rich to make catty little dresses that sell like hotcakes and think nothing of their intention or place in society. But Rich knows good and well the meaning of her ’80s-inflected frocks. Their Reagan-era fabulousness stripped of some sinister implications, cultish It pieces that want to remember only the punchy drama ofDynastywithout any of the pushing, shoving, or wine sloshing. With a tongue-in-cheek wink, she provided a women’s interest mag–style quiz on the seat of every guest at her Spring 2020 show today that led attendees to determine which kind of lady they are. If you answered that your first thought in the morning was finding your marabou slippers, you were “Totally Ladylike.” Scrolling through your phone got an answer of “New Ladylike,” and buy some snake earrings resulted in “Rebel Ladylike.” Provided with pencils, guests clad in head-to-toe Rich went wild for the quiz.The women who gussied up in Rich’s subversively prim frocks for the show will also go wild for her Spring 2020 collection. It was, without fail, her sexiest yet, riffing on transparency, crystal trim, and swimwear—a complete pivot from the navy polka-dot frock Kate Middleton once wore into seductive, sultry territory. The silhouette was still entirely ’80s, but Rich expanded her repertoire into Laura Ashley pouf sleeves and bow trims, Emanuel Ungaro prints and minis, and an Oscar de la Renta–esque black velvet dress with a tulle skirt hemmed in thick ribbon bands. In some ways, this was a rehashing of vintage garments for women who would never enter a vintage store or trawl the corners of Etsy—if they did, they could find similarly retro OTT ensembles for a fraction of the cost. But Rich knows how to create an aura around her pieces. With rhinestone-strewn hairnets, sky-high stilettos, and pouty glares, her runway models are reflections of the women that buy her clothes: Savvy, strong, and totally Rich.
28 September 2019
“Oh myGoddd. . . so cool . . . so extra . . . so fresh . . . so fashion!”That assessment of this Alessandra Rich show echoed up the red-carpeted stairwell as the hairspray-suffused, client-heavy audience poured forth down from the marble-walled private apartment that was again her venue and into the clot of Mercedes that waited on Avenue President Wilson below. The vibe in the room was certainly pumped as Rich’s crew considered a collection that contrasted the apparently prim with the purportedly provocative. These ingredients were presented at an approximately 1:3 ratio of Julia Roberts inPretty Womanbefore she goes shopping on Rodeo Drive, against after.The prim spanned ’40s-cut sweetheart dresses, mid-length, in feather print and polka dot, to tightly fitted but immaculately cut jersey jackets and skirts with ornate buttons and multiple pockets. These came accessorized with sparkling drop earrings, necklaces, and headbands of white marabou. The worm began its turn via four-button bouclé blazer miniskirts cut so high the runway photos will look borderline downskirt. There was a hot-strumpet bridal look halfway through. Swarovski body stockings were paired with French maid shirting and G-strings. Bettie Page–inspired body chains, lace slips, chokers, and cuffs completed the equation as the audience whooped and bench-danced to Cardi B’s “I Like It.”Afterward, Rich said: “I need to sit down; it’s too hot.” These clients, she added: “always like to have everything in our wardrobe: so something that is very ladylike. But when you put the choker on, you send that sort of message which is that, for you, you want.”But isn’t there an implication of submissiveness in the chokers and the body chains?“No! It’s very much about control. My women are always in control. They are dressing for themselves, absolutely. They like being able to wear something very proper but also being able to wear something like one of my body chains underneath. I don’t know if you have seen my body chains?” Alessandra, they were impossible to miss: extra.
1 March 2019
“It’s boring,” said Alessandra Rich of her staid cashmere cable-knit skirts, pants, sweaters, and pearl-buttoned cardigans in this strategically demure, very deshabille collection. That knitwear—sported by Rich herself—may indeed have veered to the quiet side, but there was plenty of noise in the marble and mirror-walled apartment the designer secured for this show. At least half the audience were clients, and they seemed to embrace the experience wholeheartedly. They whooped when Caro Daur came out in the prim polka-dot opener; there was a “You go, girl!” when Mary Charteris pounded the marble in a wide-pleated split skirt, bustier, and foulard-print shirt; and the whoops returned as Caroline Vreeland closed proceedings in a black cashmere body whose neckline’s perilous integrity was maintained by four taut Swarovski-set chains. There were seahorse earrings, a nautical-stripe body, a sea-scene jacket, and stud-epaulet blazers to reflect Rich’s vague yacht club theme. She said the pretty, mumsy yellow floral on a ruffle-edged pale blue wrap dress was adapted from something she saw a picture of Princess Margaret wearing.That prim “boring” girl in pearls was countered by the ruffled Chantilly sheaths, saucy bouclé minis, and some finely cut backless silk gowns in which more chains contributed sterling support work. “Boob overboard!” as one wag offered. Rich’s back-and-forth is knowingly kitsch and Rich’s (rich) clients adore her for it.
29 September 2018
Alessandra Rich held her show today in a lush, only-in-Paris apartment whose beauty more than compensated for its fifth-floor elevation. You could easily imagine this season’s ’80s-flavored crepuscular customer heading out into the night from this address.Sometimes more than a mite Saint Laurent or Chanel in its inspiration—and in the case of a riotously sequined black ruffled bodysuit, un peuI, Tonya—this collection meandered high and low. A series of bouclé bombers and jacket dresses, sometimes studded in rhinestone, came interspersed with micro-leopard-print loose three-pleat pants, while track jackets and track pants teamed with mohair knits in micro-leopard. There was a very fine full-sleeved blouse in irregular horizontal lines strafed with horizontal gold lines over more mini-animalia pants (a fabric later returned to in a dress). A monochrome wrap dress in velvet—très bon—came in the pattern, too. At first, it roared, but after all these repetitions, it began to bore.Rich switched tracks—a bit—presenting a button-at-the-back bouclé minidress and several slit-and-ruffle gowns decorated with arcs of crystal in green, then cream, then fuchsia. A bold-shouldered red dress returned to tooth and claw. A long section of black eveningwear featured a deep-V tulip-skirted minidress, a strong one-shoulder ruffle-hung black sheath dress, and a cool lace-front tailored jumpsuit. This was pretty Rich.
3 March 2018
Last season, this appointment was one-on-one with the designer and a few models in a lovely private apartment. This season, it was a salon show in the same lovely apartment. We sat and watched as Alessandra Rich’s angular, feminine ’40s curlicues emerged to circle the sofas and pass the poufs, mostly serenely.It was very satisfying to wonder—and later have confirmed—whether the early nurse dresses followed by shawl collar, crystal-buttoned blazers with military caps were a reference to Alfred Eisenstaedt’s wonderful 1945 image of a sailor smooching a stranger in Times Square. Rich presented a series of lace-collared printed dresses with buttoned fastenings and soft pleated skirts that were totally on target for the demure-versus-devastating dialectic. Less effective for their obviousness were the well-made but oh-so-flimsy floor-length crystal-lined dresses. With one turn at a sofa, the pavé crystal earring on a model’s left earlobe flew off, just as her right breast popped out—she walked on serenely, a pro, but still. Bouclé blazers and hot pants, more military blazers and greatcoats, and then a joyful embrace in more paillette-studded pieces ended this assignation. Rich is worth attention.
2 October 2017
Like Richie, Alessandra Rich has a surname that telegraphs endless decadence untempered by discretion. Unlike Richie, Alessandra boasts a wealth of tasteful discretion, while remaining true to her core USP of ravishing dresses garnished by flourish. Today, in a fine apartment on Avenue Victor-Hugo that showcased the absolutely elevated but undeniably realistic context Rich designs for, she generously treated this over-appointmented correspondent to a presentation with an audience of just two; the designer, the writer, and the hunched-over-her-phone silent party stuck to her charging point in the corner.Printed ditzy or zebra velvet dresses, long and lean, came in either sheath shapes or split at the front variations with ruffle-defined contours at the front. There were several tiered tulle and lace pieces as marvelous to contemplate as the famous cast-iron tower just down the road. Short jackets hemmed with ruffles were layered against miniskirts. A black cady gown was spread with a frothing neckline of white tulle; a white silk gown featured a cursive flick of also-white tulle from hem to hip.It’s been a while since I’d bumped into this designer—too rich for my blood, boom boom—and what has developed since her Hotel Crillon days three-ish years ago are the patterned velvets and the striking tailoring on double-revered satin-fronted checked jackets and topcoats. Rich has value as an assured designer of ultra-feminine, ultra-tasteful, yet ultra-sultry attire for women who understand their own currency yet refuse to be devalued. Worth investing in.
3 March 2017
Alessandra Richlikes to tell a story alongside her clothes, and the tale she unfurled for spring today at the Hotel Montana was one that’ll likely sound pretty familiar. Her collection—dubbed “MISSTAKE”—played on the idea of happy accidents. Its heroine, the titular “Miss Take,” grabs anything she wants and throws caution to the wind—and style advice out the door. The press notes were a list of what Rich called "basically bad ideas" that Miss Take had deliberately disobeyed. Among them: “Dress for the beach and end up on a dance floor," and “Wear a vinyl coat on a hot day because it’s cool.” Another read "Flash the label," and to that end skirts had thick, sporty elastic printed with her name, in riffs on the Calvin Klein staple (a trend that also popped up today at both Alexandre Vauthier and Christian Dior). The models wore oversize costume jewelry and turbans, or track suits that were cropped and ruched on top, to bare the majority of their midriffs. Gowns were either the brand's typical frenzied, feminine ruffled lace or a new (to her) minimalist silhouette rendered in neutral tones of jersey, because, Rich said, those tracksuits had gotten her in a ’90s mood.More important, among all of her fun and folly—and Rich’s clothes mostly work purely because they are such exquisitely frothy fun—the designer had stumbled upon the very real heart of what’s going on in fashion today: There are no rules. The Vetements effect is real, and its influence—unlikely florals, unwieldy fabrics, strange silhouettes—across all aspects of the industry has been staggering. These days, a head-to-toe designer look tends to come across as somewhat stodgy on the street: It’s too polished, too perfect, too lacking in real personality. It wasn’t all hits, but what Rich is attempting to do is create the random discord of a real wardrobe within her own collection, making her label a one-stop-shop for an outfit with character. Or as she put it in her notes, “In beauty there should be something wrong. Nothing fake, nothing false. Like a diamond in a sea of glass.” That’s called style.
30 September 2016
Oh, what a difference a season makes. Where the unapologetic ruffles and shirred flou ofAlessandra Rich’s runaway bride from Spring felt, at times, a little too over the top, her femme fatale for Fall 2016 ran away to Asia in search of some trouble, and ended up arriving right at the zeitgeist of bad-taste-good-taste garments that girls want to wear right now.The collection, called Bye Bye Kitty (as innotHello Kitty) was shown at Lapérouse, the famed one-time house of ill-repute, and was all about the loss of innocence that occurs between girlhood and full-blown womanhood. Before you crack an inevitable joke about Britney Spears’s lyrics, Rich beat you to it, with show notes that began with a verse by Miley Cyrus:Decision, between a family or a porn star / Humble life or sports cars, liver or the whole bar / Headache for my management, gossip columns resident / Your mom and dad might hate me but in 5 years I'm the president.(That is from a song called “Decisions,” by the way.)And so from the inspiration of an imaginary girl Rich described as a “hot mess” came a collection that was anything but. Super-short velvet dresses with lace hems lifted from the lingerie drawer hung next to transparent cheongsam-inspired gowns, frilly lace frocks with ruffled skirts, and a clutch of chubby patchworked faux-fur coats. Alongside the ultra-desirable party dresses, a smattering of tasseled minaudières in tweed, suede, and snakeskin—sling-it-on-and-don’t-think-twice party necessities—were a stroke of genius. Long pleated dresses with velvet collars and Chinese button knots (most appealing in floral print) and a few brightly colored tweed trench coats should please more conservative customers, but above all, this was fun, sexy, and the right kind of young.
5 March 2016
For Spring,Alessandra Richunveiled an unabashedly feminine collection dubbed Dolores, after an invented South American heroine, one whose wardrobe for her romantic escapades is punctuated by expanses of lace; frilled, fluted hems; and large, poufy sleeves worn off the shoulder. “The story is of a girl who runs away to get married,” said Rich at an appointment off the Rue Saint-Honoré, characteristically charming and wearing one of the gold heart—accented belts that accessorized the runway looks. “It’s probably a bad idea, but she does it anyway.”And she does it in style: An excellent waist-whittling trenchcoat in silk moiré was offered in three colorways (black, white, and fuchsia) and proved just the ticket for a dramatic escape from disapproving parents and friends. The wedding festivities would be celebrated in bow-topped tiers of fluffy white lace. “She is definitely a girl in love,” purred Rich, and it shows; party dresses came in pleated, cutout, off-the-shoulder lamé or as a series of paillette-bedecked wiggle gowns with trumpet hems, while a number of silk rompers were deployed for their lingerie codas (one plunging cream tie-accented dress was very Bianca Jagger). But among all of the exuberance, it was the selection of seriously good denim (the use of the textile being a first for Rich) jackets, body-conscious dresses, and sleek jumpsuits that just might prove to outlast the honeymoon period. After all, as every girl knows, flash can be fun, but strong and steady often ends up winning the day.
3 October 2015
Want a lacy party dress? For the past few years the Italian-born, London-based designer Alessandra Rich has been a go-to source for such things. She specializes in a long, narrow silhouette, sometimes belted and usually at least partially see-through (the better to showcase the lace, not the legs, she insists, though we suppose visible thigh doesn't hurt). Not even the most inveterate party girls wear lace all the time, however, so Rich has been branching out. Last season it was rickrack-trim high-waist jeans, which were cute but possibly too far from her after-dark specialty. So she tried something a bit closer to home for Fall: black crepe dresses with cutout bodices worn over cropped, ribbed-knit sweaters. And they clicked. Shearling jackets with a bejeweled chain print circling the hem were of interest, too.Of course, dresses remained the main event. The black lace versions were lovingly pieced together from swatches of Chantilly and jacquard, their godet pleats giving them a gentle bit of swing at the mid-calf hem. But the real beauties this season came in white or black silk charmeuse with a languid, 1930s bias cut of the kind showcased at the Jeanne Lanvin retrospective that just went up at the Palais Galliera. In an effort to modernize their soigné, slightly vintage silhouettes, Rich showed them with the new jeweled belts that she's offering for the first time (she had chain-strap bucket bags, as well). The dresses looked even more elegant solo.
7 March 2015
Fashion is as obsessed as ever with looking backward for inspiration, but its attentions are mostly focused on the 1970s this season. Dressmaker Alessandra Rich's decision to revisit the '80s puts her in a category pretty much her own for Spring. Reference points likeDynastyand the daytime soap operaSanta Barbaradidn't exactly set expectations soaring today. It's a tribute to Rich's taste that she made the big collars and even bigger ruffles we associate with those TV shows look right again. A lot of it has to do with proportions. Rich's silhouette remains as long and lean as the day she started. This season she added sash-like belts with mother-of-pearl buckles to the look, but the shoulder pads one also associates with the '80s stayed tucked away in the time machine, thankfully.Rich has a great eye for fabrics: black organza with shimmering fil coupe flowers, a hand-painted silk dévoré. While she made a concerted effort to expand beyond the lace she's known for, she didn't avoid it entirely, and that's a good thing. A trio of fitted Chantilly numbers with contrasting ribbons of passementerie trimming the edges, seams, and pockets à la vintage Chanel suits were among the best pieces in the collection. A surprise: the derriere-enhancing high-waist jeans with rickrack around the waistband and pockets that were showed with off-the-shoulder bodysuits. This savvy outing should encourage Rich to keep developing her repertoire beyond her ever-desirable party dresses.
28 September 2014
Perfect is so overrated. "I love it when there's something a little bit wrong," said Alessandra Rich of a Fall collection that she dubbed Bad Reputation.The designer's mix of well-intentioned chic meets girl-gone-bad came through in big bows, duchesse silk, taffeta, and a prim georgette top-half of a dress with a transparent black skirt in Chantilly lace. That fabric is a big Rich signature, and this season she used it to walk on the wild side, working it in layers, patchworks, panels, and inserts, or simply as a long, front-slit overskirt veiling a negligee miniskirt. "Not only is lace very feminine, but I love that you look at it once, then you realize you don't understand, so you have to look again," she noted. Elsewhere in the collection, she created a psychedelic vibe in bold swathes of purple and gold on white stretch cady.Rich's silhouette, like the designer herself, is long and lean. This time she reined in her palette mainly to black and white to focus on exploring asymmetry and an amped-up mix of fabrics—sometimes as many as fourteen on a single dress. Touches of marabou and sparkle rounded out the story: The cheekiest number had a see-through bodice with strategically placed discs of firework embroidery over the breasts. "She's definitely a party girl, but she doesn't think in terms of occasions," Rich said, describing her muse. "She doesn't care about a bad reputation. She just wants to have fun."
1 March 2014
The Alessandra Rich look is very, very specific: Rich makes fancy clothes in essentially one long and lean silhouette. She uses lots of lace and is a fan of the ruffle. Given that Rich's aesthetic is so narrowly defined, it's really quite impressive that she manages to refresh it each season. This collection was a case in point: Riffing on Rumi's love poetry, she conjured a vaguely mystic vibe, with a whiff of seventies boho to it. The most immediately appealing looks were spangled with stars; others somehow defied you with their charm, including a high-necked, multiply ruffled pastel floral gown. In another designer's hands, those same elements would have come together looking like something a Lawrence Welk backup singer would have worn once upon a time, but Rich made it work. For the right woman, anyway—these clothes are not for everyone.Elsewhere in the collection, Rich stretched her vocabulary a bit by introducing dresses that looked like long, lace polo shirts, and others with a salwar kameez feel, which were worn over sheer silk pants. Another innovation: dresses that looked like two pieces, a crop top and a skirt; in fact, they were joined together by a narrow band of nude-toned tulle. It bears saying again: This tactic could have gone badly wrong, in aDancing With the Starskind of way. But Rich made the stars dance for her instead. God knows how.
28 September 2013
Should you ever have the opportunity to meet Alessandra Rich, you will undoubtedly agree that she does not seem like a lunatic. But her weird and wonderful new collection of eveningwear made it abundantly clear that she must have a screw or two loose, somewhere. It was even nuttier than her last collection, which was inspired by two imaginary Russian gymnasts. This time out, Rich effected a meeting of the minds among Scarlett O'Hara, Miss Havisham, and Nancy Spungen, if they'd all found themselves working at the Moulin Rouge in Paris at the turn of the twentieth century. There were about a hundred different kinds of French lace, some of it mesh, some of it metallic, some of it leopard-spot patterned. In other words, if Helena Bonham Carter got it into her head to design a collection, it could very well look like this one. And in other, other words, it was strangely awesome.
1 March 2013
"I didn't watch any of the Olympics! I swear!" So claimed London-based designer Alessandra Rich as she showed her presentation by appointment today. You had to wonder whether Rich had, in fact, gotten deeply into the Games, inasmuch as her new collection riffed on those ludicrous yet amazing leotards that Olympic gymnasts wear. But, no: The designer affirmed that her collection was inspired by a lot of thinking about Russian girls. Rich gave her girls names—Olga and Irina—and a backstory that saw the merging of the iconic Russian female gymnast and the (now equally) iconic Russian jet-set glamour girl. It was an oddball starting point for a collection, but it worked.Rich's chicest interpretations of her Olga-meets-Irina concept were her leotard-inspired dresses with floor-length full skirts. The silhouette felt fresh for evening—insouciant, yet formal. A black lace dress with a full skirt ought to get a decent amount of play on the red carpet. Elsewhere, the designer's punchiest take on her theme was undoubtedly her stretchy pencil dresses emblazoned with flame and lightning-bolt designs. Girls who wear these out are going to have a lot of fun; then again, the girls who'd want to wear these dresses are probably fun already. There were other fine looks in this collection—though Rich specializes in dresses, her silk-satin tuxedo jumpsuit suggested that she ought to develop more tailoring—and her lace tunic dresses helped to vary the collection's generally body-con silhouette. But there were some misfires, too: a gaudy bright pink lace column dress, for instance, and dresses dappled with crystal embroidery. But when Rich stuck to her instincts to keep things graphic and clean, her looks were definite winners. Gold-medal-worthy, you might say.
1 October 2012