Brian Reyes (Q3955)
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Brian Reyes is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Brian Reyes |
Brian Reyes is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
The birth of a nephew had Brian Reyes thinking about the old world and the new, and the voyage between. So the Colombian-American designer took Ellis Island as the theme for his Resort collection—travel of a somewhat-less-than-resort kind. "It's a girl who brings her roots with her," Reyes said of his muse, and so there were pieces that married European flair with American ingenuity: An Austrian-stripe dress, inspired by the heavy brocaded textiles of the old world, had a detachable skirt. There were times when the story line got in the way of the designs—a dress inspired by a violin, some imagined traveler's prized possession, felt fussy—but when it worked, it worked. There was a well-aged, slightly Mitteleuropa glamour to a lavender culotte suit shown with a cape. Furs, which Reyes first introduced for Fall, had a continental charm, too (and a very New York cut: the T-shirt jacket). Then, the voyage: striped marinière dresses and a leather-accented "seaman's jacket" in double-faced silk crepe. And, at the end of the journey, the print: an image, snapped and then distorted, of oil and water. "The first thing she saw when she arrived," Reyes explained.
10 June 2010
A glade of slender trees projected behind the runway marked two of Brian Reyes' creative stimuli this season. The first were the trees themselves. Following visits to Kew Gardens in London and the U.S. National Arboretum in Washington, D.C., Reyes designed this collection in an arboreal mood. The second was the Ukrainian artist Oksana Mas, who created the shadow backdrop and collaborated on several of the season's prints. In considering the trees, Reyes did the obvious (a lean, leggy silhouette) and the less obvious: the working garb of professional tree climbers and trimmers. The top of a gray silk dress was meant to resemble a harness—it looked like you could attach a carabiner to it and float away. A fabric with a parachute-y sheen contributed to the activewear element, too.Mainly, though, the mood was soft and ethereally pretty, rather than sporty. The dresses and jackets were cleverly tailored, with curved seams like the concentric rings of trees. One of Mas' abstract prints looked great on a sleek little dress worn with a fox scarf with built-in pockets. Also of note were the sophisticated knits. An oversize bouclé jacket atop a matching pencil skirt was nubbly and chic. A puce knit T-shirt shot through with Lurex would make an excellent new wardrobe staple. Wear it with the teeny silk shorts shown underneath, and your boyfriend may never let you leave the house.
16 February 2010
Perched in the front row were the likes of Becka Diamond and Byrdie Bell—girls who manage to exude a pedigreed polish with a sliver of downtown edge. If Brian Reyes designs with a muse in mind, it's this modern woman. "I wanted the collection to be really balanced," he said backstage. "All the things I love are here."There were prints (a beautiful shagreen pattern as well as Rorschach-like ink blots), pretty ruffled dresses, a smattering of Reyes' popular lingerie (Diamond—sporting a visible black bra—should be impressed), and gowns ready for a starlet's next red-carpet outing. Reyes also introduced denim this season, but in the case of an elaborately tiered skirt, it was anything but casual. All told, it wasn't what you'd call a deep collection, but it demonstrated Reyes' ability to bring sophistication to younger customers while keeping his more mature clients feeling youthful.
14 September 2009
"I thought about how nature is aligned to us as human beings," Brian Reyes said of his latest outing. Translation: an injection of prints inspired by botanical elements, like the abstract patterns of roots and poppy flowers that livened up flirty silk dresses. Throw in lightweight, sportier separates (including great draped shorts and cotton blouses), and the result was a focused collection that should spell further growth for this young label.
2 June 2009
Brian Reyes designs for a strong woman, whether she reigns over the Upper East Side or calls downtown home. The reference points for his latest collection were suitably powerful. Reyes looked at stone quarries the world over to turn out what he labeled "a sharp collection full of classic shapes with graphic elements." Some beautiful prints, derived from images of marble and limestone distorted to the point that they resembled snakeskin, adorned sleeveless dresses and little skirts. These pieces were then intricately pleated and folded until they came to resemble a cross section of one of those quarries. If there was a fault, it was that the collection didn't exactly scream "Fall." Bare legs and lightweight silk might work for winter in Reyes' hometown of Bogotá, but the rest of us, however strong, need something more substantial.
18 February 2009
Brian Reyes hit the mark in a strong collection inspired by the geologically extreme landscapes of Death Valley, Arizona, and Ethiopia. Reyes was sure-handed with his references, and the earthy palette of sand and stone was as literal as it gets (we're giving him a pass on the zebra-print suit). Other subtler prints worked just fine; a marble one in a warm shade of rust could have been an aerial view of Earth's caverns and curves, but the dresses and tops it landed on will look just fine from down here, too. Reyes kept the silhouette clean and close to the body, but the volume-adding pieces he used—like the sleeveless open "dresses" worn as coats that would look right when it's too warm for a trench—stayed light. The navy cocktail number with allover mosaic beading that closed the show was a stunner, and it neatly summed up Reyes' elegant evolution.
9 September 2008
"It's not supposed to be complicated," said Brian Reyes of his Resort collection, which was full of airy parachute silks and georgettes in soft, washed pales. Into that floatiness he injected polish and structure: a chic khaki pantsuit with a matching asymmetrical shell, a trapeze dress in stiff peach moiré. One standout look—a white ruffled georgette "T-shirt" and gauze "sweatpants"—really did make you want to leave all complications on the doorstep and walk down the sunny side of the street.
4 June 2008
New York is well populated with young designers these days, which makes it interesting to watch and see who will ascend from newest-latest to the next tier up. With his Fall collection, shown to an enviable crowd in the Grand Ballroom at the Plaza, Reyes proved that he is indeed on the rise.He began his career in the atelier of Oscar de la Renta, and he carries the experience with him: His work is skewed toward an uptown, luxe-loving clientele. But he is also eager to experiment and find his own voice. You could see it in the capes and coats, especially those belted over matching dresses, which required more than a passing glance to decipher where one began and the other ended. The effect was mostly more intriguing than messy, but that wasn't the case for another element used throughout: a clunky, squared-off racer back on dresses in jewel-toned satins or granite-print chiffon. Reyes slalomed between soigné and sporty, woman and girl, but was best when he struck a balance. Uptown glamour served straight up in a fuchsia moiré evening trench was undeniably pretty and rich, but it was the youthful polish of a hunter silk anorak that held the eye.
5 February 2008
This was a generally unfocused Spring collection, unified only by some exciting texture and color combinations. Reyes showed a lot of leg—mostly with short dresses—on models with witty, Marge Simpson-esque updos. Hip-length coats with peaked shoulders looked (literally) square, nearly as wide as they were long. A chartreuse moiré strapless gown with a pieced skirt and haphazardly ruched bodice lacked the expert finishing it needed in order to work. On the brighter side were the designer's simple chemise dresses, one in a great nubbly plaid, and a shocking-pink silk dress that would do equally well for the office as for cocktails. And a red-carpet radical might want to scoop up the black column dress aflutter with head-to-toe chiffon tabs. Hopefully next season Reyes will continue to run free with fabrics while sharpening his overall theme and concentrating more on shape and construction.
7 September 2007
Brian Reyes hit just the right notes at his second resort presentation: combining a youthful spirit with a sophisticated polish, honed, no doubt, during his years at Oscar de la Renta. Reyes considered his client at work and at play; there were plenty of all-American separates like shorts and slim clamdiggers—shown in light, summery fabrics in a muted palette of black, white, and gray. His dresses, meanwhile, came in trapeze-like shapes, diaphanous layers, and, for evening, in gleaming silk cellophane.
16 July 2007
Climbing back up after a low season can be a slow process. Brian Reyes stumbled in Fall 2006, but he regained some traction with his Spring collection, and more recently he scored a confidence-building red-carpet coup (that was his royal-blue dress onUgly Betty's America Ferrara at the Golden Globes). The Fall show offered further evidence that he's back on track. Save for a few minor problems, it worked.Reyes sent out an army of dresses in a flurry of colors, patterns, and textures borrowed from traditional Himalayan garb—kaleidoscope prints, cloud prints, and animal prints in silver, violet, emerald, and more. What many of these looks had going for them was this season's structured volume. Padded cocoon coats looked as if they could hold their own on Everest. A lightly quilted mod silver minidress formed a neat little cylinder around the body.Moving on to movie-star dresses, Reyes impressed with a silver wrapped-and-pleated number and a gold-sequined column trimmed in black chiffon. Shirting-stripe dresses, on the other hand, felt out of place among all the rich colors and patterns. Still, we'd wager that Reyes, in current form, will enjoy another big awards show moment soon.
8 February 2007
When Brian Reyes introduced his line last spring, he seemed to be inspired by the ladylike aesthetic of former employer Oscar de la Renta. For fall, though, he changed tactics completely, surprising and disappointing many.Reyes said he wanted to apply lightness (usually a spring concept) to fall clothes, but somehow this translated into transparency. The overexposure was unceasing from start to finish, and it was as detrimental to the collection as it would be to an A-list star in the glare of photographers' flashbulbs.It was possible to see what Reyes might have been going for in one outfit: a delicately beaded tulle top paired with a veiled bubble skirt, but even that leftla belle poitrineon view. The most covered-up look was a trench with a belt threaded through to form a tented back, but unnecessarily, there were three of those, just as there were repetitious pant-and-blouse combos. Hopefully, this was just an example of sophomore slump, and Reyes will recover his next time out.
8 February 2006
Not every 24-year-old fledgling gets props fromThe New York Timespriorto his runway debut. But then there's nothing average about Brian Reyes. He's a self-taught designer, who in a very short time has worked (in various roles) at Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, and Oscar de la Renta. His spring show, for which Eliza Reed Bolen grabbed a front-row seat, proved that the last of those three mentors informed his aesthetic the most. The evidence? A distinct "lady" attitude, and a three-dimensional rose-petal-embroidered skirt that had both sass and class."I wanted to tell a beautiful story, to show my love for my craft and my country," said Reyes, referring to his parents' homeland, Colombia. From delicate, braided straps on lace-trimmed camisole tops, to a caramel-color skirt constructed entirely of plaits, his love of the craft was apparent. Texture was also abundant, in the form of wood beading, raffia embroidery, silk burlap fabric, and a branch print. All of which tied in well with the safari theme, which was introduced in the second look: a khaki hacking dress. Reyes' clientele isn't likely to hunt for anything more endangered than a last-minute reservation at Per Se, though. He's designing for a woman with less-than-wild tastes. There were godet and pencil skirts for the uptown set, and deeply cuffed trousers and thirties-influenced crinkled-silk-chiffon blouses, paired with shrunken boleros of the same fabric and color (a new take on the twinset), for the occasional dalliance downtown.With this collection, if Reyes didn't exactly explore new territory, he certainly aligned himself with a solid tradition. So is he worthy of the hype, and a promising newbie? In the words of Shakira, which blasted through the sound system, "claro, claro, claro."
8 September 2005