A word about cool: At the United Bamboo show this morning, perennial cool kids Kim Gordon, Harmony Korine, and Karen O were seated in the front row. This is worth mentioning because their presence raises the question: Why is United Bamboo cool? The look is fetishistically clean-cut, the vibe demure. The clothes convey the kind of detail-driven precision that is usually associated with model-train enthusiasts. Thuy Pham and Miho Aoki don t do trendy and they don t do directional. Season in, season out, they give a gentle nip and tuck to the classic, and call it a day. United Bamboo should be boring.
And yet the best United Bamboo collections always have a pervy quality, as though the designers were persistently distracted by their curiosity about what "nice" girls might do in the backs of cars. For Spring, the pervy-ness was made relatively explicit, as Pham and Aoki aired out the Victorian underwear drawer. Coy white button-up jumpers were shown both alone and as underpinnings, and there was a kinky frisson to seeing the jumpers bows and ribbons dangling out below a double-breasted linen blazer or a pair of high-waisted suede shorts.
Victorian bathing costumes led Pham and Aoki on two seemingly divergent paths: One led to the beach, a palette of sand and grass, and then on to sporty silhouettes and marine colors; the other led to the boudoir. Some of the best looks fused all this together, notably a pair of athletic short shorts in black lace and a red suede T-shirt-shaped apron dress cut away to reveal, at the back, a formfitting nude dress. For the most part, though, this collection s strength was its simplicity. A jersey minidress knotted in front, linen bicycle shorts, and spare-draped, trapeze-shaped, and A-line dresses all affirmed the influence of minimalism.
Meanwhile, accessories continue to be developed at United Bamboo. In addition to expanding the brand s selection of shoes (the best of which was a pump with a wood heel and ballet-slipper-kid vamp), this season marked its second canvas bag collaboration with Head Porter, and the introduction of sunglasses made by Facial Index. The sunglasses looked especially on point—a little nerdy, a little cattish. Just the kind of thing a nice girl might wear when she s being bad.
