Photo: Daniele Oberrauch / Gorunway.com
Naeem Khan has often cited his time under the legendary house of Halston in the 1970s (the house’s heyday) as having been one of the most consequential parts of his life. And in his Fall 2019 show during New York Fashion Week, over four decades after that experience, he chose to pay tribute to both Roy Halston and that fabulous era, even going as far as to hire the major models of that moment. But did this tribute work? Not exactly. We just thought that everything about his latest line was a bit too much and, ironically, not enough. If you’re going all-out 70s fabulosity, then go big or go home. This season, Khan should have gone home. It might be that he attempted to modernize the style that it ended up looking like a dated mess. From that multi-colored cotton candy-looking feathered thing that opened the show to all sorts of foolish-looking fancies that Khan peppered all throughout—garish-colored dresses, overwhelming prints, and overused fringes—there wasn’t a sense of fun and refinement that defined the 70s. It all came out looking like a half-assed attempt to harken back to the times. The only redeeming factor was seeing that finale of legendary runway stars Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, and Karen Bjornson in similarly sleek silver gowns. Had Khan worked from that point, this wouldn’t have been the tragedy that it was!
