Photo: Dan and Corina Lecca
Nguyen Cong Tri‘s debut at New York Fashion Week couldn’t have been more timely. The world needs some glamour and he gave a healthy dose of it in his Fall 2019 show. As soon as that canary yellow column gown, all beaded to perfection, began the show, we knew we were in for a fabulous moment. And while it was as glamorous as we expected, what we didn’t anticipate were the references to other designers. We saw a bit of Hedi Slimane‘s Saint Laurent here, a tinge of Oscar de la Renta there, and a whole lot of Marchesa to spare. Someone might need to tell Cong Tri that just because he’s a neophyte in the international scene doesn’t mean he can get away with referencing other designers. And while there’s nothing wrong with referencing them, his works were too similar not to point out. Next season, we hope he brings his own aesthetic to the runway! He already has the skills, he just needs his own signatures!
