Claudia Li Fall 2018 Ready-To-Wear...Fashionweekly..On Fow24news.com

Like many of her peers, Claudia Li was feeling a bit dismal about the world when she designed her Fall 2018 collection. You wouldn’t know it by looking at the clothes, though....
Her palette ranged from neon pink to Kelly green to pure white, with luminous sequins and Lurex-spiked brocades thrown in for a burst of shine. She chalked up the good vibes to a Turkish fairy tale she stumbled across called The Silent Princess, which revived her feelings of hope, perseverance, and courage in dark times. It’s a noble jumping-off point for a collection, though most women won’t necessarily hear the story—they’ll just be drawn to the uplifting colors and special fabrics.

Before launching her namesake line in 2015, Li cut her teeth at JW Anderson, where she developed an eye for minimal, architectural silhouettes and the odd button or arty flourish. In recent seasons, she’s edged into more feminine territory, trading boxy dresses for flowery ones and experimenting with fancier custom fabrics. It’s not entirely clear who Li is designing for; young women want clothes that feel easy, and some of Li’s pieces are just shy of being that. The shawl-collar dresses may have checked all the boxes of what girls are looking for in a dress right now—long-sleeved, covered-up, minimal—but they felt too demure. A sparkling magenta button-down and pleated skirt had a more promising, curve-skimming silhouette, but it’s hard to picture where Li’s woman would actually wear it. The look was a little too fancy to kick around in sneakers, but perhaps too quirky for a cocktail setting. Li might want to delve a little deeper into what her customers (and the women she wants to become customers) really want, and why. We’re all searching for ways to address our feelings about the world around us, but it’s not likely to be with a roomy, body-concealing pleated dress.