Bruce - Back Better Than Ever

The Bruce girls are back! Yeah! Back in 2001, my old Parson's pals, Daphne Gutierez and Nicole Noselli, won the coveted CFDA Perry Ellis award for Womenswear. They received rave reviews for their stark, moody runway shows featuring sophisticated, clean designs. But like that, they were gone. They closed up shop in 2004 to regroup I guess. But thank God they're back. We small designers have to root for each other, and when a fellow man goes down, you pray they get back up and get back out in the game. Now they're back better than ever. Check out their new Fall 2007 runway collection at style.com. As Nicole put it, "We looked back at all of our collections and saw that we did a lot of valid stuff that we'd like to expand on. We ended so abruptly. This really is another beginning for us." Nicole Phelps, fashion writer at style.com, wrote a nice review on their Fall collection, citing the "killer pintucked and pieced black lace bodysuit and micro-pleated purple minidress." My personal favorites are the bark printed frocks and subtle matte-jersey dresses with triple drawstring ties. NY Times, Cathy Horyn, had an interesting perspective on the young designer - "Maybe more designers should take a break if it means their work will look more sophisticated and simple as this Bruce collection." I'm so happy for my friends and wish them continued success - way to get back up on the horse!