Barbara Casasola (Q3834)
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Barbara Casasola is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Barbara Casasola |
Barbara Casasola is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The insane geographical disorder of today’sLondon Fashion Weekschedule made it unwise to hustle back and askBarbara Casasolaabout her rustling tribal soundtrack or precise frame of reference—which would have been quite useful. Because this was a collection whose standout dresses at first appeared as simple as a blank sheet of paper yet, which on closer inspection, revealed to be engineered with the ornate precision of an armadillo’s exoskeleton. Surgically applied vertical slices arced up the body in accord with the shape of its wearer, yielding to pressure, and creating a tracing of physical contours. Even in the simpler tailored looks—which orbited around a high belted waistline, up in arcs of a peak lapelled jacket and down to loose flowing pants or wide schoolboyish shorts—Casasola’s consideration was tangible and exact. The colors were neutral, intensely. This felt like costumes styled for the serene yet sensual heroine of a self-imagined movie, dressing down in tank tops, long-yolked shirtdresses or playsuits, or up in those opaquely contoured dresses of pleat and slice.
17 September 2016
Whether ruched, hoiked, wrapped, draped, or pulled partly away from the bodies in them, the designs inBarbara Casasola’s collection were, as she said, much touched: “It’s just a feeling of hands. Wearing the garment. Dressing and undressing.”The first few looks established the postcoital Max Mara mood with two loose cashmere camel coats tugged off the shoulder. The second significant fabrication—first meaningfully seen in green pajamas that prompted Amanda Harlech to declare, “I want those!”—was a sheer knit silk cellophane mix, softly ribbed, and crumpled as if it had been washed and left to dry on a heater. This fabric, in various muted shades, was deployed in dresses, vests, and the cross-strap bras that Casasola kept resolutely baring. Against it we saw high-waisted, double-buttoned, wide-leg triple-pleat pants, shirtdresses fastened by poppers or buttons both laterally as well as conventionally down from the throat, plus dresses puckered with ruche mustered by running drawstrings across various bodily contours. Black apart, the colors were washed out and wan, but comely in the spotlights. Slyly dropped in among the push and pull of Casasola’s more overtly sensual pieces was a series of soft, deconstructed suiting that looked more prosaically good. Modest in ambition maybe, this collection nonetheless delivered some highly desirable clothes gently charged by languid frisson.
20 February 2016
Strong? Absolutely. Serene? No diggity. But can minimalism ever be sexy? While that’s a pretty subjective question—everything’s something to someone—on the whole you’d think: nope. Minimalism’s (putatively) intellectual commitment to distillation of form and austerity of delivery is just too cold to be hot.Yet today, sometimes, that was sort of whatBarbara Casasolawas pitching for in this collection. And, impressively, she sometimes sort of succeeded. ”My woman is very sensual,” she said post-show, “and that’s what I do is about.” Her baseline daywear proposition starred loosely languid tailoring (smashing jackets), finely rendered silk bowling shirts, and some comely high-waisted silk pants that had the puckered texture of paper splashed with water and left to dry again. The hot stuff was a more ambitious series of fitted dresses and jumpsuits cast in polyester-spiked plissé taffeta and textured, knit silk. Although mostly either monochrome or day-spa dark rusty-neutral in tone, Casasola variously oomphed them up with Bardot necklines, grids of tiny incisions, cutaways at the abdomen, or lines of larger welts in the material that ran down the side of her outfits from shoulder to hem to achieve what the press notes coyly termed “a fragile reveal.” Casasola rather short-circuited this interplay between inhibition and abandon with a section that beachily whispered of her Brazilianness, most notably in a roughly woven full-length green skirt partnered with an (unreliable) bandeau and gleaming gold totem jewelry. This designer spent a few years atRoberto Cavalli, and although she correctly observed that his and her aesthetics are very different—oh, yes—she learned enough from the old devil to make this an at-times-effective exercise in date-night minimalism.
21 September 2015
The two key words Barbara Casasola used today to describe her latest effort werespontaneousandplayful.And she was right on. It has taken a while, but this most meticulous of designers has finally given herself permission to let loose. The collection narrowed in on two key themes: Pleats was one, tailoring was the other, and in both cases Casasola worked against the formal discipline inherent in the techniques to express a relaxed attitude. Her pleated looks, for instance, came either in a very high-end polyester that she used for long, lean trousers and tunic and dress silhouettes, or in a silk deployed in fluid, full skirts. She was toying with geometry here—mixing the pleats in the skirts to create a textural rhythm, making chevron shapes that broke up the looks' linearity, or using the repetition of vertical pleats to further elongate the form. The tailoring, meanwhile, erred toward soft shapes, with easygoing collarless or double-breasted crepe jackets worn atop loose culottes or slightly slouchy pants. Casasola also took her first whack at leather; her outerwear featuring the material was trim and attractive and of a piece with the collection, if less distinctive. The pleating was the real star this season—a touch Miyake-esque, but Casasola put her own spin on that look. And her showpiece efforts featuring multicolored silk fringe simultaneously underscored the centrality of the pleats theme and carried the collection's symbolic weight. The fringe appeared as if the pleats had broken free of their constraints and were doing a little dance in celebration. That was Casasola's situation exactly.
23 February 2015
Barbara Casasola looked homeward to her native Brazil this season, seizing on the work of artist Lygia Pape, as well as Oscar Niemeyer's architecture in Brasília, for inspiration. More generally, too, Casasola was summoning a certain Brazilian kind of beachside chic, riffing on swimwear and aiming for a laid-back attitude. The ease of this collection marked a real growth for Casasola, whose clothes can sometimes feel rigorous; this time out, she interpreted her favorite stovepipe dress silhouette in a relaxed way, emphasizing stretchy fabrics and seamless patterning. The best of these came in sunset colors and looked a bit like dress-length maillots. Casasola also did well with her tailoring, in particular the double-breasted jackets slashed in the back and nonchalantly wrap-belted. But the real highlight here were the metallic pieces, an homage to Pape's luminous thread installations. The material Casasola used was lightweight but densely ribbed, and so-cool tank dresses in olive and silver fit like a second skin. To close the show, the designer sent out metallic singlets worn with matching floor-length plissé skirts—a proposition for evening that looked really fresh. Nice work.
13 September 2014
This year has already shaped up as a big one for Barbara Casasola. Last month, Casasola presented as the guest designer at Pitti in Florence—quite a coup, given the fledgling status of her brand. The clothes she showed today both affirmed the attention she's been getting and suggested that it may be a touch premature. The collection was notable for its focus on daywear—not typically an emphasis for Casasola, and a category she's still getting her arms around, it seems. Trim suits and jumpsuits in gray wool had a nice sense of polish; on the other hand, the proportions of her double-breasted blazers and culottes were a little off. That said, it was nice to see Casasola trying to work in a looser vein—something she did with more success in the sheer dresses, tops, and skirts in painterly color combinations. The pieces were designed with a kind of scaffolding of stripe in the fabric, which brought Casasola's mistress-of-discipline sensibility to bear on the otherwise soft silhouettes; these were easily the best looks here. All in all, this show represented another advance for Casasola. Stay tuned.
17 February 2014
It's gotten tougher to be a new designer in London. The fashion week calendar here is so jam-packed, it's virtually impossible to muscle your way into one of the official time slots unless you have the strong support of the local industry behind you. To this reviewer's knowledge, this season there was only one designer showing on the official London fashion week schedule for the very first time, and that designer was Barbara Casasola. Though her name may be unfamiliar, Casasola is no novice: Since launching her label in 2011, the Brazilian-born designer has shown her collections in São Paulo and by appointment in Paris, and she was a finalist for last year's Who Is on Next? award, co-sponsored byVogue Italia. It wasn't entirely a surprise to find that Casasola's front row included some of fashion's heavy hitters, chief among them Net-a-Porter founder and BFC chairman Natalie Massenet.This collection did not disappoint. Casasola brings an authentic refinement to her work; she's incapable of producing a look that seems trashy. She's also a careful and inventive technician, and her clothes are always finessed down to the nth detail. Where she's struggled, at times, is with incorporating a sense of ease and buoyancy; the signature Casasola look is very controlled. That was true of the ensembles in this latest collection, but the leap here was the atmosphere of lightness. Casasola had considered her clothes, but not to the point where they came off mannered; meanwhile, she mitigated the potential frigidity of the collection's sculptural and geometric aspects by working with sheer, gossamer organzas and fluid shapes. After the show, Casasola said she was bouncing off the work of the late Brazilian sculptor Lygia Clark this season, and these soigné clothes did seem to capture both the discipline and the sensuality of Clark's constructivist forms. Nicely done.
14 September 2013
Barbara Casasola returned to form this season. That was both literally and figuratively true: While her previous collection found the designer experimenting with silhouettes and proportions, this time out she reemphasized her signature shape, a column dress hemmed just above the ankle. But if this was a retread, it wasn't a retreat.Casasola coaxed a lot of variety of out her column dresses, cutting some of them square and tailoring others, and making suggestive use of color-blocking and sheer organza. Her best innovation here, however, was her Mme. Grès pleats, which were done in silk and seamed into the bodice to create a bustier shape. The standout dress expanded the pleating theme, merging silver pleats into matching satin fringe; it was as if the pleats had come alive somehow, and taken flight. That dress was faced in black cady in back, as were a number of the pleated looks; as she explained, the contrast facing served both a graphic purpose and a practical one, as the matte cady was more flattering than the pleats from the back. That concession to flattery affirmed the impression that Casasola was really thinking, this season, about the women who would be wearing her clothes; when her shapes were monastic, she introduced a sexy element to the look, though never an overbearing one, and when the shapes were lean, she found ways to add fluidity, and make them wearable. Overall, there were lots of advances here, as Casasola continued to refine her distinctive voice.
14 March 2013
Barbara Casasola is impatient. Not in a bad way—Casasola isn't one of those young designers who treats success like a bus that's a few minutes late, aggrieved that it hasn't arrived yet. Her impatience is of a more earnest kind: She's impatient to be great. Her headlong desire to stretch herself and realize her full potential will likely benefit her in the long run. But this season, it got in her way.Casasola caught the eye of more than a few industry VIPs with a collection for Fall '12 that was disarmingly well crafted and distinctive. The vision she expressed was narrow, but it was complete. And so it was only natural that she should try to expand her horizons this season, in particular by varying her column silhouette. Unfortunately, in this collection, she never settled on a satisfying way of developing her shapes and instead seemed to be testing out sundry lengths and proportions. A few of her experiments worked really well—Casasola was definitely on to something with her fluid volumes, and she easily could have devoted herself to exploring how to develop her architectural use of color in softer, more dimensional ways. One fantastic look suggested the missed opportunity: a fitted crop top and matching long, full skirt done in a surprising combination of off-white, magenta, and mustard. Other looks elaborated the possibilities, such as a pair of coral gauchos worn with a coordinating color-blocked top, a lean black and nude dress with georgette inserts hidden in the pleats, and a halter-neck dress in coral and orange. Elsewhere, she focused just on fluidity and volume and arrived at standout looks such as her fuchsia gown with a braided collar.The weaker passages, meanwhile, suggested that Casasola has retailers' voices playing a little too loudly in her head. Some looks, such as a double-breasted dress in off-white and mustard, seemed to be premised on retailer feedback that similar items from Casasola's last collection would be more saleable if they were shorter and looser. That may be true, but it's vital that Casasola stick to her guns and find her own ways of making commercial pieces. She accomplished that here, but not consistently. Casasola will learn from her mistakes, but here's hoping she learns from this collection's many successes, too.
8 October 2012
Barbara Casasola is an interesting case. She hails from Brazil and launched her label there three seasons ago. She lives in London. As of this season, she presents her collection privately in Paris. And yet, in some ways, she occupies a planet of her own. It's hard to think of another young designer specializing in formalwear who possesses her nerve to be simple: There's nary a bead or sequin to be found in her Fall '12 collection, which is composed largely of elongated dresses of an almost monastic cleanness. That sounds unappealing, but it's emphatically not. A veteran of Lanvin and Cavalli, Casasola comes at her clothes with a confidence in construction and a refined sense of detail; here, she deployed a bare minimum of tricks to conjure a collection that was sophisticated, sexy, and sui generis.The most obvious trick was her architectural use of color and fabric—one dress in black and ocher, for instance, made a big impact just by setting its two high-contrast colors against each other in a coolly geometric way that flattered the curves of the body. Elsewhere, she used strapping, cutouts, and sheer organza to similar graphic ends. Closer inspection of the clothes likewise revealed the intelligence of Casasola's method—her signature stapled seams let some light, and some skin, into silhouettes that could otherwise have been forbidding, and she made luxurious use of fabric, draping it generously and eschewing side seams. Overall, the collection's affect was regal with a sporty kick—a tone pretty much unique in dress-up clothes. Casasola has emerged with a fully formed point of view; the only question is what she chooses to do with it.
25 March 2012