Kevork Kiledjian (Q4929)
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Kevork Kiledjian is a fashion house from FMD.
| Language | Label | Description | Also known as |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Kevork Kiledjian |
Kevork Kiledjian is a fashion house from FMD. |
Statements
There's a reason Helmut Newton never gets old as a point of reference for womenswear designers: The photographer was simply nonpareil at capturing the power of female sexuality, the mastery in feeling desire, and also knowing one is desired. To put Newton's trick in academic terms, his women are both subjects and objects, and for that reason, his work makes for very good source material for a designer like Kevork Kiledjian. Three seasons out, Kiledjian has developed an idiomatic sexiness; with this collection, it seems he's finally caught on to the fact that the women he's designing for want to feel in powerful in their sexuality, rather than beholden to it.Kiledjian's starting point was a Newton portrait of Charlotte Rampling gazing languorously, yet hard-eyed, into the camera. There were echoes of the photo in the collection's pops of red, and especially in his excellent shadowy red furs; more generally, Newton hovered over the runway in the harnessing motif used in several looks. As is usual in Kiledjian's collections, the clothes were formfitting; this season, he went for a long, narrow silhouette, enunciated by tight leggings that extended over the ankle.This time out, though, he was atypically circumspect, showing a minimum of skin. The silhouette got same-y after a while, and the silver-ball embellishment was overused, but the designer had a strong theme going with his architectural cutaways, and the jacquards and tonal color-blocking added a nice variety of color and texture. Where the collection really shone was in its outerwear: Alongside the furs, Kiledjian turned out some truly excellent motorcycle jackets, in particular the versions in cherry red and quilted black leather. All in all, a big step forward.
11 February 2012
What is sexy? It's increasingly impossible to evaluate a Kevork Kiledjian collection without bumping into this question. As Kiledjian himself would be the first to tell you, "sexy" is what he does. But is it? A skintight strapless leather dress, with hemline hovering around the top of the thigh, might be overt, but is that truly sexy? What about a cleavage-baring handkerchief dress with a lattice of lacing up each side? In general, Kiledjian's take on sex is about as subtle as that of one of those cartoon cavemen who clubs women in the head and then drags them off by their hair. Where's the wit, the seduction?The real problem here is that in Kiledjian's collections, "sexy" substitutes for point of view. He has the nuts and bolts of a good luxury brand here—his cuts are fantastic, the quality of the materials and finishing are impeccable, and he has a great team that helps him execute his designs. And he's not short on good items, such as a white leather bomber vest, or on good ideas, like this season's hot pink and olive wallpaper floral print, which was used effectively in quite a few pieces, such as a pair of wispy pajama pants. But it's hard to figure out how this collection fits together. What story is it telling? Who is it for? Just when you think the answers to those questions are emerging, an ultrashort, ultra-tight dress crisscrossed with see-through lace insets arrives on the runway, clubs you over the head, and tries to drag you off by your hair.
7 September 2011
For Resort, Kevork Kiledjian swapped out the heavy furs and skins shown at his debut Fall show in favor of lighter fabrics. He also softened up his tough bombshell aesthetic significantly. But if this collection was less aggressive than his first, that didn't mean it was any less sexy: A blush-colored jumpsuit had a crossways silk overlay and deep V-neck, while a crepe slipdress in the same pale pink came with a sheer skirt that began at the upper mid-thigh. Many of these pieces derived their allure from sky-high slits, see-through mesh, or some combination of both.The most covetable look was also the most imaginative—knit flares with a second-skin fit paired with a royal blue silk cropped top that had a cascading train in back. "This collection is quite a bit different from my last, but still headed in the same direction," Kiledjian said. It looks like he'll need a few more seasons to figure out what exactly that direction is, but on the promise of this outing we're willing to go along for the ride.
5 June 2011
There was a pretty impressive front row at this evening's Kevork Kiledjian show: Julia Restoin-Roitfeld, Fabiola Beracasa, Tallulah Harlech, Leigh Lezark and her Misshapes compatriots, among others. Not bad for a designer whose name, for most people, rings zero bells. The skinny on Kiledjian is that he founded and designed the short-lived label Guilty Brotherhood, which had a firm following among hot-bodied women with lots of parties to go to and plenty of money to spend on themselves. Kiledjian's new, self-titled line, unveiled at tonight's show, is clearly aimed at the same customer.And why not? There will always be a constituency for these kinds of clothes—strapless leather minidresses, body-hugging jerseys, silk lamé button-downs, and bootleg trousers redolent of the Tom Ford days at Gucci. Va-va-voom, etc. Kiledjian stays just shy of vulgarity, and even when he veers close, well, what girl doesn't harbor a secret desire to slither into a dress like the designer's mesh minidress wrapped in peekaboo panels of leather? The fact that there are vanishingly few women with the body or the nerve to pull off that dress only makes the fantasy that much keener.But what does the fantasy cost? That's a literal question, not a query demanded by feminist scruples. Kiledjian's clothes are going to be expensive. The materials and production here are high-quality; the details, assured. A very good shearling jacket with contrast suede details and zip-off sleeves earns its price, whatever that may be; so too, perhaps, does a crystal-dusted velvet turtleneck dress hemmed in fringe. In general, though, Kiledjian is still developing the originality of vision a steep price demands.
13 February 2011