‘Alice + Olivia’ Becomes ‘Blair + Serena’ For AW21
Good morning, Upper East Siders. Gossip Girl was truly an iconic era in television history. We can look back now and appreciate the awful acting, the classic 2000s bangers and the remarkable fashion moments that captivated our adolescent eyes. It left us wanting more … so much so that it spawned a reboot on HBO set to premiere in fall 2021, delayed due to the pandemic.
In season six of Gossip Girl, Blair Waldorf saw a demand in the fashion market and designed a line based off of her extra preppy schoolgirl look that had cemented her status as Queen B. Retail heavyweight Alice + Olivia is taking a note out of the Waldorf handbook by capitalizing off of the anticipation for the reboot by creating a Gossip Girl inspired fall 2021 ready-to-wear collection. Universally, everyone wanted to be a part of the glamorous world of Manhattan popularity, boys, gossip and fashion. With this new collection drop, you can now look like the high-society high school socialite that Little J always wanted to be! This collection gives us insight into a more fully realized concept from Alice + Olivia than those of the past. Eleanor Waldorf could never!
For the past few seasons, Creative Director Stacey Bendet has focused collections around color and color blocking. The fall 2021 collection continues to carry the feminine designs and silhouettes that have become trademarks of the Alice + Olivia brand. Deviating from her past few shows, however, Bendet focuses on a rather modern color palette of black, white, red, green, silver and gold. Bendet’s inspiration from the show bleeds through in her use of luxe prints like houndstooth and tartan as well as her use of knit wool, lace and tulle.
The collection definitely is skewing toward a younger target audience while also galvanizing nostalgic interest from the millennial generation that made Gossip Girl canon all those years ago. People can finally live their Constance Billard School For Girls fantasy in a black and white wool tartan cardigan and matching mini skirt lined with gold link chains. Among the many other variations, there is another mini skirt composed of alternating plaids between each pleat in black, white, red and yellow. The plaid skirt is paired with a plaid cardigan, a white lace button down bow blouse with a silk white bow and layered ruffle cap sleeve. For the late-night galas and masquerade balls, Bendet created a set of lamé designs that would be the envy of all your besties that you're secretly feuding with. The silver lamé ensemble came as a pleated midi skirt paired with a matching square neckline top with peasant sleeves. The gold lamé dress had ruffles trailing from the sweetheart neckline down the bodice and along the trim of the slit. Two other noteworthy standouts from the line include a black crocodile leather midi dress with lace bell sleeves as well as a black and white crocodile maxi skirt paired with a white sheer, lace blouse.
By Ryán Salamo
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