EUROPE FASHION WEEK 2011

amsterdam fashion week: 2 love tony cohen

(images via peter stigter)
tony cohen, one of amsterdam fashion week’s more prominent designers (and whose s/s 2012 collection we’ve recently seen), closed out the event with the launch of the spring line of his newest label, 2 love tony cohen, developed so, as the site peter stigter points out, “more women can own a Tony Cohen.”  okay, you can relax now.


i wasn’t able to discover whether the collection followed any sort of specific theme, but it seemed more like an array of pretty, flow-y clothes with a dose of the designer’s namesake and a lot of the general trends we’re seeing amalgamated and popping up in shops like h&m, forever 21, and topshop.  as the site lifestylehunters notes, except for leather items, the pieces will retail for ” below €100,” so perhaps we ought be contented with hints of trend and less concentrated inspiration.


the palette strayed toward neutrals and cool hues, with shades of beige, nude, off-white, bark, and sand eventually giving way to indigo, turquoise, lilac, french blue, fuchsia, and mauve, with solid colour pieces the strongest, and occasional soft tie dye-like prints cropping up in a mix of two or three colours.  materials, meanwhile, included silk, satin, the aforementioned leather, and jersey, with sequins, ruffles, an occasional belt, buttons or pockets, scarves, long necklaces, and bows adding the effeminate-but-not-too-heavy embellishments to the pieces.


as is mr. cohen’s habit, charmingly girlish cocktail dresses made up the bulk of the range, with fluid trousers and trenches, little shorts, drape-y blouses, leather jackets, jumpsuits, and billowing cardigans making up the rest of the presentation.  at times the collection felt rather strongly in sync with the designer’s main line, from the palette and the patterns to the low-key flow, with perhaps a slightly stronger inflection of a bohemian nature present here (and, as with that one, suggestions of the newer, mellowed roberto cavalli present from time to time).


although the signature line did, no doubt, some single looks that bowled over anything on offer in the 2 love collection, in final analysis, i couldn’t help but feeling that the less expensive show boasted better deals.  i didn’t think, in the tony cohen show, that the designer took as many risks as he ought have, and comparatively, for the price, the diffusion line seemed to have a lot of the same flavour and details (if, perhaps, less superior fabrics and an almost offensively horrific name).  maybe he’s still struggling with the concept of directing two collections, but let’s hope, like donna karan or marc jacobs, that he proves equal to the task soon (as his f/w 2011 show suggested he is capable of), giving us separate ideas for each show, rather than just a watered-down version of some of his less-successful ideas for the designer range as we’ve seen here (however sometimes lovely they might be).