Marchesa: No Disney Princess

When I think of the word fairytale, it makes me think of the collection of Andrew Lang fairy books I had when I was little, you know which ones I mean? The Blue Fairy Book, the Red Fairy Book, the Green Fairy Book, and so on and so forth. While the tales in the books often lent towards the less than shiny, happy side, and more towards the slightly gruesome side, it didn't really matter, because when you lined all of them up on the shelf, it was hard to believe that they were anything but pretty.
So when I read the review for the latest Marchesa collection on style.com, saying that designer Georgina Chapman wanted the Fall 09 collection to "be like a fairytale" I was curious to see whether she meant the Disney version of the word, or the Andrew Lang. I'm happy to say that the collection is a lot more reminiscent of the slightly darker, hard edge fairy tales, because let's be honest, Disney Cinderalla is boring, and I always just wanted to smack Snow White.
The collection was shown at the Chelsea Art Museum, which seems appropriate as a few of the pieces really are works of art. While there are a couple of pieces that I really don't like (like a pink studded dress with a huge bow on the front), there are also a lot of beautifully structured dresses. The fairy tale theme comes through in different ways, from flowers, to ruffles, bows, sparkles, and seemingly magical construction; however, the pieces are kept from looking too twee through either colour choice (all the ball gown-esque dresses are black and grey), or structure (the flower dresses are fitted and short). My favourite dress is definitely the last piece in the collection, because I just love the idea of Disney Cinderella showing up to the ball in this:




Overall, the pieces are like the coloured Fairy Books, each piece has a bit of edge, something that keeps it from being completely sugar coated, but when you line them all up, you can't help but think it's pretty. See the full collection at style.com.



photo via style.com
reason I even looked at the Marchesa collection in the first place: fashionista.com