SS09 Runway Review: House of Cassette

House of Casette is an independent fashion label based in Los Angeles. The brand is spearheaded by Peter James Lee, a designer who has traveled extensively, and formerly worked for Puma.



Cassette's fashion is built upon strong, well crafted basics, and Sunday's collection was no exception. Menswear definitely dominated the night, perfecting mens' slim shorts and trousers in tight tailoring and careful form. Tops and outerwear held a schoolyard flare: whether tough bully, nerd, or reform school good boy. Men's shorts have been slowly rising in the ranks in terms of formality and popularity, and Cassette continued and perfected this trend, pairing slim shorts with dress shirts, cardigans and bow ties. I find the effect totally captivating: I feel it makes the men look like they are mature, yet still hold that element of youthful innocence. Cassette prides itself in not being over processed, and the tactility of the simple fabrics was palpable. The majority of pieces were in black, I imagine to optimize utility.



Womenswear kept it simple and well sculpted, concentrating on blousy tops and dresses, many inspired or spun off from the simple t-shirt, and trousers tight and tapered. Hemlines were kept short, often paired with tights and leggings. I particularly liked the hooded jacket (shown above), carefully formed in such a way that it accomplished the "hiding" look without the making it look like it was overwhelming the wearer.



Cassette brands itself as a avant-garde fashion house, and I think it was just those anti-establishment choices that are the main reasons for the reservations I came away with in this show. Particularly, I found it hard to resolve a spring collection that could be so determinedly centered around a black color palette, though I can understand the sentiment. The pieces were great basics - the kind of items you could feel being a part of an outfit, but not the center of it. Garments were strongly constructed and brilliantly formed, but also very "safe": I would have enjoyed seeing boundaries pushed a bit out of current popular trend. By the end of the show, when the models came out for their final walk decked in Cassette's notoriously brilliant array of colorful jeans, I felt a wash of relief to finally see a bit of color. However, let it be said that I am nothing if not an extremely colorful person - monochronism is a style I have pondered and written about in the past, and there is something inherently in it that I have a hard time fathoming and digesting.



All in all, I feel the House of Cassette is a fashion house with a lot of talent in the wings. They appear to be making clothes that many people desire to wear, conforming to the wearer's needs rather than trying to determine it for them, a sentiment I can respect, if not agree to entirely. I look forward to seeing what they turn out in the next few years, and whether time will bring with it the ability to take more risks, and really blow us all away.