NYFW S/S’14 – Sally LaPointe: a diamond in the rough

For Sally LaPointe’s spring 2014 collection, she showed us interesting silhouettes, and a fusion of structure and femininity. The show opened with a variety of separates: vests cut similarly to menswear and blouses with elegant flounces.

LaPointe’s balance between highly constructed outerwear and “flowy”, layerable pieces has always been successful on the runway, but with this season’s citrus yellow and transparent bohemian prints, her balance reaches another level.

The designer said she hoped to show a “beautiful and dreary simplicity” with this collection, seen especially through the use of her muted colours, and styling of long straight hair and minimal make-up.

LaPointe still seems to struggle with the use of prints and whether she falls under the more feminine or masculine side of her designs. Her beginning pieces show this confusion, as if she felt she needed structure with her feminine blouses and dresses to create an interesting complexity. However, LaPointe would do well to free herself of this restraint and fully embrace either her experiments with menswear proportions or her layering of flounces and floral prints.

Her future collections are sure to be enticing as LaPointe plays with silhouettes and fabric treatment.

Katie George