Araks (Q2704)
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Araks is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Araks |
Araks is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The origin stories behind Araks Yeramyan's collections are often as compelling as the clothes themselves. For Spring she cited Ettore Sottsass' Memphis Milano design collective and Russian Constructivism as her jumping-off points, which, however disparate, promised plenty of punchy graphic appeal. The pieces on offer certainly didn't disappoint in that department. Yeramyan spun circles, squares, and stripes into an array of bold patterns that recalled Constructivist poster art in all its dynamic glory with their blocky rays and concentric rings. One fishnet print appeared standard enough at first glance, but expanded along an asymmetrical hemline, as if tugged down by an invisible hand. The silhouettes were streamlined, and felt worlds away from the voluminous, harlequin-inspired shapes of Fall. Instead, there was a '20s motif, manifested in drop waists, midi skirts, keyhole necklines, and a knit tennis vest. While a palette of navy, yellow, pink, and bright orchid was quirky enough to feel on-brand, the looks were less overtly eccentric than some of Araks' past offerings. The collection was well-edited and wearable. Yeramyan may have turned down the volume this season, but her clothes still had plenty to say.
6 September 2014
If you're looking for understated silhouettes, keep moving—you won't find them in Araks Yeramyan's Fall offering. But if slim sheaths are your cup of tea, chances are you're not looking at Araks to begin with. In her world, eccentric shapes, plus-size peplums, inflated sleeves, and generous tiers are the order of the day, and they've earned her a following from women who are happy to wear their quirks with pride.This season, a serendipitous turn working on her parents' costumes for a clown-themed Halloween bash sent Yeramyan down an aesthetic rabbit hole, coming out the other side with a playful collection inspired by famed harlequins from Pierrot to those painted by Picasso. Clown costumes were stripped down to their essences and reconstructed. The trapeze silhouettes remained, and cheery polka dots appeared in Lurex jacquard. Floppy tiered collars escaped feeling costumey when seen atop a crisp, otherwise unadorned white button-down tunic. Even a ringmaster's coat found new life in blue buffalo check. Proportion and print were handled with flair; a paired sweater and skirt both seemed almost imperceptibly too long, and the result was a certain haphazard brand of uncool cool. Freehand lines from a Picasso painting were reinterpreted as a quietly off-kilter stripe on an asymmetrical frock. Elsewhere, on a skirt and blouse set, a pattern at first unintelligible quickly dissolved into the silhouettes of dozens of tiny birds. It's details like these that Yeramyan seems to delight in; it's hard for her viewer not to come along for the ride.
6 February 2014
Araks Yeramyan chose her inspiration well this season. About fifteen years ago, photographer Jim Naughten stumbled upon the Herero tribe of Namibia, whose members had adopted (and adapted) the dress of their late-nineteenth-century German colonizers, essentially as a poke-in-the-eye statement of defiance and pride. Not too long ago, Naughten went back to shoot the tribe members again, and this past March, exhibitions of those photographs went up in Brooklyn and London.Cut to New York fashion week and the Araks presentation, which found Yeramyan absorbing the mixed-up fabrics and exaggerated volumes of Herero garb into her already eccentric aesthetic. There were some very pretty looks here: a silk zigzag-print skirt with an asymmetric flounce; a dress of blue jacquard with soft, angled ruffles; and a pleated white underskirt and shirtdress in gridded sheer navy that knotted in the front.The trouble with Araks' apparel is that it's often unclear whom, aside from Araks Yeramyan, the pieces are being designed for, but there is a universality to these clothes; you could imagine lots of different kinds of women wearing them. This collection felt neither self-indulgent nor overdetermined in its quirks. Sometimes all it takes is the right inspiration.
8 September 2013
The starting point for Araks Yeramyan's new collection was Hawaii, at night. Why? According to the designer, just because. The same reasoning applied to her decision to marry her tropical florals and surf and scuba motifs to Edwardian-inspired silhouettes. But once Yeramyan had made those arbitrary but not ill-advised decisions, she got rigorous. The Edwardian reference mostly made itself felt in the collection's raised and dropped waistlines; the jackets and coats with lifted buttons and pockets looked very smart.The Hawaiian theme, meanwhile, was elaborated in every conceivable way and perhaps more robustly than necessary. The magnified wave prints and tropical florals were very good, with the floral in a combination of green, brown, and cobalt blue making a particularly strong impact. Elsewhere, Yeramyan had some nice riffs on Hawaiian shirts and high-necked rash guards, and her incorporation of wetsuit-inspired zippers, seaming, and color blocking was well judged. Where things got a little iffy was in all the surfboard-inspired detailing—there were dresses patterned to create a board shape in the front, trousers with finlike hems, and so on. The idea was clever, but it could have been handled with more subtlety. As it was, the recurring surfboard elements made the collection as a whole feel a bit forced. Given that Yeramyan produced such a serene and unself-conscious collection last season, the overdetermination here was a bit disappointing.
11 February 2013
Araks Yeramyan loves a research project, and for Spring she dug into the end of Japan's isolationist period, which corresponded in the West with the beginning of the Victorian era. As a result, Yeramyan discovered, Japanese dressing from the 1850s onward has always had a Victorian undercurrent. She played with elements of Victorian construction as well as traditional and contemporary Japanese dress, including workwear, and mixed them up for a characteristically subtle and quietly quirky collection. A white dress with an iridescent overlay of woven Lurex and silk had faint lines drawn in where Victorian pleats and seaming would be. The layer underneath had the actual pleats. It was paper light and pretty as a butterfly. A pair of voluminous pants in linen cupro were more substantial; they came in at the ankle in a nod to the trousers preferred by Japanese farmers. The best piece was a pale green vest with the elegance of a kimono. It had the delicacy of Arak's lovely lingerie and a modern, here-and-now feel.
10 September 2012
As Araks Yeramyan explained at her presentation, her latest hobby—crocheting—provided the jumping-off point for new collection. Especially around the neckline, the crafty handiwork gave Araks' work, usually low on frills, some nice pop. A long, navy blue turtleneck dress with what appeared to be a crocheted bodice turned out to be a dress with a removable crocheted dickie. (You could untie the neck warmer when things started to heat up.) Elsewhere, the crocheted top of a calf-length gray dress with a wide, circled hem looked, winningly, like the world's tiniest shrug. The dress had a sweet, sporty rib-knit collar that appeared on a few outerwear pieces, as well.Besides getting hooked on crochet, Yeramyan also discovered the work of the late photographer Seydou Keita, known for his portraits of fellow Malians in the fifties and sixties. Taking cues from the tiered layers and curved lines of Keita's subjects' dress, Araks distilled her silhouette down to a minimal approximation of theirs. A deep green, short-sleeved blazer flared out just slightly at the waist for a kicky peplum effect, while its inset lapel created a piece that was simultaneously streamlined and curvilinear. The voluminous pair of green and blue color-blocked, wide-leg trousers in silk georgette looked comfortable enough to be worn to bed, though they'd be the chicest pants on the street. Speaking of street, the award for the cleverest cold-weather accessory can be handed out here: A stand-alone mink collar that zipped up the back into a hood and doubled as a scarf in the front. Practical but plush, it summed up Araks' sensible separates well.
12 February 2012
Araks Yeramyan didn't know a thing about this week's U.S. Open (Novak who?), but she loves tennis uniforms, and used them as a reference point for her Spring collection. A racket-grid print came on a sheer pantsuit, and a two-tone semi-drop-waist dress with a low back looked like tennis gear from the fifties. Sheer fabrics are always a go-to for Araks, as they highlight her signature feminine lingerie. A stacked-pleat chiffon dress was see-through on one side—"only halfway scandalous," the designer said. Araks also showed a few electric pinkfils coupelooks, like an oversize button-down and folded skirt with flaplike slits that aced the ongoing neon trend.
11 September 2011
Araks Yeramyan bought theThe Color of PomegranatesDVD as a present for her Armenian grandmother, but it never made it into the gift bag, and now it's the only thing her two young children will watch at home (those kids must have sophisticated taste in cinema). The revolutionary 1968 film, which gives a surreal portrait of the poet Sayat Nova's life during the eighteenth century, was the inspiration for the Araks Fall collection. That's a pretty specific vision, but Yeramyan interpreted it loosely in color and texture. Pomegranate came in a range of shades, with burgundy at one end of the spectrum and hot pink at the other. A sheer chiffon skirt in a deep stain with a wool peplum was paired with crocheted lace worn over a crisp button-up. Other highlights included a mink pullover that wears like a sweatshirt, and a pleated leather skirt with ombré organza inserts. Yeramyan was at her best when she wielded transparent fabrics, highlighting the lingerie she built her brand on.
11 February 2011
Araks Yeramyan can be a frustrating designer. Frustrating because she has a tendency to run away from her strengths, rather than build on them. Frustrating, also, because her apparel collections are sometimes over-cluttered with references and underfunded with realistically wearable clothes. This was a mostly non-frustrating outing from Araks.As she was researching her new collection, which was initially inspired by Dutch dress, Yeramyan came upon a trove of photos of early-twentieth-century farmers. The Dutch idea was maintained in a plethora of pan collars, but it was the clashing patterns of the farmers' clothes that really seized her imagination. It was a dangerous choice for this designer, clutter-prone as she already is: As Yeramyan explained today, the farmers wore their stripes and their checks and their florals all together. But she navigated it wisely, deciding to tamp down the contrasts by playing line and texture against each other, rather than using competing prints. Thus, dresses came in contrasting panels of cotton lace and cotton grid, or in two or three layers of translucent chiffon.Araks came to attention first as a lingerie brand, recognized for its clean look and pointillist construction. Perhaps the other reason this collection felt as satisfying as it did is that Yeramyan's use of sheer fabrics—and delicate ones, like lace—allowed her to engage that expertise. Those layered chiffon dresses were intimate in their detail; ditto the generally strong shirting, in lace and semi-sheer striped silk; and the bodice construction on some of the dresses. Where she ran into trouble was in her reinterpretation of the bustle, another idea snatched from the photographs. Playing with a raised hip wasn't a bad idea in theory, but in practice it came off a little awkward. So, too, the similarly vintage-feeling long dresses, with their underskirts. They just didn't feel modern.Elsewhere, there were boxy blazers and tailored shorts, which were perfectly nice but ho-hum. Unless this part of the line is developed more fully, pieces such as these will continue to feel a little extraneous. Yeramyan still seems to be figuring out her precise niche, the thing she does better than anyone else. We'd recommend she build on the smart, easy-to-wear shirting, and those layered chiffon shifts, and the contrast cotton lace and grid—all ideas worthy of elaboration.
11 September 2010
The influence of Russian Constructivism could be seen in the geometric cuts—from very round arm openings and shoulder seams to oversize buttons and plackets—and in the accessorylike details. In the case of the trimmings, the results were mixed. An embroidered bib over a sheer organza bodysuit added a nice shot of sparkle, but it looked like, well, a bib. At times, the styling was to blame. Layering, like a bralet atop a collarless blazer worn over a blouse, lacked the ease that distinguishes artfully piled-on ensembles from sloppy ones. Nothing was disheveled, but the mix didn't quite gel. The separates, however, were nice on their own. Araks pieces are best used as building blocks. A floor-skimming sleeveless black dress was austere at first glance, but had lovely pleats running down one side. Pair it with your own great accessories and it could be the perfect template for a favorite look.
13 February 2010
"This is my favorite collection so far. It's the most me," said Araks Yeramyan in the charming environs of the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen Library, where she showed a dozen winsome Spring looks."I'dlivein those pants," she remarked, indicating the rainbow-heather athletic pair she said had been inspired by a woman she spied on the street one day who was very dressed-up on top—but in sweatpants below. The lingerie turned ready-to-wear designer delights in that kind of scatterbrained quirkiness. Other off-kilter moments included an asymmetrical pleated floral-print dress and a paneled navy number made of different fabrics and worn over the thinnest imaginable linen jersey sailor top. This was a very day-centric collection—a patterned, beaded bolero with organza trim was the fanciest piece—and we're sure that its unstudied wearability will feel very "me" to very many women.
12 September 2009
The fact that Araks Yeramyan's lingerie has a cult following that includes Sarah Jessica Parker and Sofia Coppola (who featured it on Scarlett Johansson inLost in Translation) is reason enough to stir interest in her first efforts at ready-to-wear. A Parsons grad who has worked at J.Crew and Marc Jacobs, Yeramyan launched her Araks lingerie line in 2000, adding swimwear in 2004, and last year produced a capsule collection that was picked up by Barneys New York. Fall marked her ready-to-wear debut.Vaguely inspired by the twenties, the collection was feminine and light, and often had more of an airy spring feeling than an autumnal mood. But that didn't detract from the very direct appeal of the clothes, pretty separates that were styled exactly the way one imagines they'd be worn: a chestnut cami layered under a green chiffon blouse and paired with a tweed pencil skirt; or a thin cashmere sweater worn like a shirt. Tulip-shape pockets on jackets and a skirt were alluring, as was a cashmere sweater with a pendant collar. But Yeramyan also sent models in bras and panties down the runway, a sign that she is still figuring out how to balance lingerie and ready-to-wear. And as desirable as the clothes are, they still feel more like pieces than a collection. A more intimate setting than the catwalk would have better communicated their charm.
8 February 2006