A beautiful edge of couture-inspired shapes were to be had for Roksanda Ilincic for this Spring 2012 collection. A wonderful play with shapes, volume and color gave a charming effect and had a touch of edge. These clothes were loose, despite the ballooning hems, waists, and sleeves - some of which resembled bells. Colors were bright and vibrant in a palette of pink, orange, turquoise green and aqua which brought a youthful energy. The only ingredients that did not mix well were the wallpaper-like embroideries and oversize plaids. Those ingredients did not hold me back from enjoying this nice collection and I know that Roksanda is a talent that continues to try new things and has the courage and confidence to show them.
Joanna Sykes' laid back collection for Aquascutum had a luxurious and liquid palette and had a nice fresh point of view on sportswear. There was a play with neutrals and white and the punch of yellow was nicely deliberate. The designer played with textures and innovative fabrics. The stiff wraparound skirt in laminated tweed missed the mark though. What worked well are contrasts that worked beautifully such as a sheer chiffon T-shirt worn with mannish pants or a shiny tank under a white silk trench jacket. Aquascutum was a nice fresh and light luxury for London's Fashion Week.
The theme for this collection by Mary Katrantzou is "nature versus nurture". This was a story that married natural and high-tech fabrics into single garments. She played out together her signature prints depicting tin cans, microphones and car parts with saturated natural forms, from flowers to coral reefs. This was a collection that was centered in joy filled with eye catching party dresses, fancy pants, and colorful knits. Cocktail dresses were made from pieces of plasticized and printed tulle, chiffon and bits of textured fabric. I always look forward to see her collections. She is a true master of mixing prints in clever and creative ways.
In this super elegant and sexy collection that Alice Temperly created there was a wonderful sense of elegance and sensuality that came across as fresh and luxurious that gives a glamour ready to be shown off in the spring and summer season for 2012. According to Temperly, she channeled the "high-octane glamour of Grace Kelly and the sex appeal of Michelle Pfeiffer in 'Scarface.'" The line up was full of liquid garments draped perfectly to take a lady by the poolside to lounge to a cocktail hour. Incredible were the column dresses with knotted shoulders and draped over the body and the transparent lace dresses embroidered in beads and flowers with deep V-necklines. Temperly did go from the softer lines tough a more tougher line as well showing a tuxedo wrap dress and a slick white smoking jacket. I think that this collection was one of the best ones that came out of London Fashion Week. Very feminine. Very Elegant.
Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos looked at Indonesia's landscape for inspiration. Surfwear inspired silhouettes were clean and had wonderful inventive prints on them. The duo managed to design and deliver inventive and well crafted looks that were sporty and can also walk on the glamorous side with billowing cotton skirts, one which was printed with a crashing waves. There were optical patterns that were designed to evoke lush jungle scenes which came in green, sea blue, and yellow. I enjoyed the handcrafted textures in the form of pencil skirts embellished with shimmering crystals and PVC leaves. The designers did nothing but create clothes that are eye catching and once worn are perfect for the spring and summer season. Check out the Peter Pilotto collection!
I was pretty delighted when I saw this collection by MariosSchwab which was simple, modern, feminine with a touch of subtle seductiveness. Hour glass shapes were present. There were some silhouettes that had a flare or A-line skirts. Capped sleeves and sweetheart necklines gave some dresses the perfect touches.There was a play on some revealing fabrics that were skillfully done with layering structured dresses in red, mint and nude. A beautiful floor length gown in glossy black tulle, layered over a sequined bodice was just perfect and very tastefully done that it can be a show stopper for any gala event. I loved the results of Schwab's take on the feminine femme fatales on film noir. What a delight.
Daniella Issa Helayel was inspired by her native Rio de Janeiro producing a collection that is sexy and flirty and bursting with colors that are perfect for her Brazilian bombshell. A splattering of pineapple, tropical fruit and palm tree prints were all over swingy dresses and skirts. Scalloped collars and sleeves gave pastel shifts a youthful touch. Strapless dresses were quite sexy and elegant. A climax of sexier dresses walked down the runway. Examples are the clinging flowing caftan like dresses, perfect for day or evening in a warm destination and the v-neckline dresses with touches of beading. Swimsuits were covered with fruits and palms and the closing piece of the show looked to be a tribute to the sexy costumes that sambas in Rio's carnival. I felt joy seeing this collection and Issa London definitely brought Rio to London!
After seeing the mesmerizing colors and prints and pretty ensembles this collection that Jonathan Saunders presented was quite the hit. Nothing more and nothing less elegance that is absolutely feminine. There are some Forties and Fifties influences that projected that out into the fashion world. Sundresses, full or pencil skirts, sensual camisoles, and pajama like shirts give elegance and his signature prints had Indian and Turkish airs in an impressive palette ranging from pastels to acid shades. Saunders experimented with mixing fabrics and textures such as chunky knits with barely there tulle skits, or stiff brocade skirts paired with delicate camisoles. Jonathan Saunders is such a master at blending. And this collection blends really well together!
A collection that was full of beautiful fabrics, craftsmanship and details, it certainly looked polished and sophisticated and it was designed by Matthew Williamson. Tate Modern's cavernous and spare Tuhme Hall was sprinkled with colorful garments that were pared back for daywear and fancy for evening. Ikat prints were featured along with shirtdresses, slim trousers and cropped jackets. And for after dark nothing was held back because there were beautiful cocktail dresses that were beaded, embroidered and had feathery hemlines. The floorlength dresses had abstract blossom and Tokyo cityscape prints and had the right touches to make them looked sexy and elegant. This collection did catch the eyes of many people this time around.
Creative Director for Mulberry, Emma Hill, was inspired by her memories of the English seaside in the Seventies. These memories colored the collection in ice cream shades in pink, yellow, and pistachio and dresses long and short were paved with with zebra and leopard patterns. This colorful collection was also full of knitwear in addition to the bright prints and embellishment as well as chunky crystals and beads that sparkled under the spotlight. Not bad coming from the girl who sat on the beach with a raincoat over her swimming costume, eating fish and chips.
Creature in the Wind was inspired by The Secret Commonwealth of Elves, Fauns, and Fairies, a seventeenth-century book by the Scottish Episcopalian minister Robert Kirk in which he collected his parishioners' tales of the supernatural. Shane Gabier and Chris Peters picked up a runner-up prize from the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund last November. They has been getting advice from all sides on how they can grow their business. This collection this time around is more accessible to everyone as for as the price tag is concerned and carries has the wonderful unique offbeat vision with no compromise.
The beautiful red doors opened at the clash of the cymbals and out came a beautiful line up that Jason Wu created with a question of what Chinese is that he asked himself and projected his thoughts on the runway. He even said that this was an odd question for a Chinese person to ask.
There's the military China, which inspired the Mao jackets and shirts, as well as the army green and red palette of the sportswear that dominated the collection. The belted puffy jacket with armorlike quilting on the shoulders is destined to be a hit. There's the historical China of the Qing Dynasty, which informed the lushly opulent embroideries that Wu has made his calling card—that was shaved black mink embroidered onto the front of the epaulet dress that was the show's most winning piece. And there's the thirties and forties Hollywood version of China. "Inauthentic," the designer called it.
These are wonderful clothes that Jason Wu is offering for Fall/Winter 2012-2013 and definitely perfect for those who love his designs.
BCBG Max Azaria starts New York Fashion Week with a collection full of color blocking. The silhouette is loose and the ingredients were soft fabrics, neutrals with terracotta, and black with bright colors. These mixtures were interesting. For sure a collection for any woman's body type and aimed towards comfort.
After a little while as you look at the collection that Giorgio Armani designed you begin to get what the theme of the collection is. Just by looking at the sheer T-shirts underneath the jackets, the fine geometric mesh fabrics cut in shape of snakes' scales, this was a collection based on the idea of pythons, serpents, the textures and patterns of the reptile world. Just like Karl Lagerfeld did earlier in the Chanel collection, Armani did a similar thing. In this case the color is green. Poison green, teal green, deep green.
The beautiful pencil skirts with folded with volume or slim pants matched well with jackets nipped at the waist that were an emphasis of his line all made a sleek and modern statement for daywear. For evening there were slinky to voluminous styles that are fit for any glamour girl or any girl who wants to feel seductive and glamorous. All in the of the serpents for inspiration. There were some Oscar worthy dresses here! I wonder who will wear his ssssssleek and sssssssssexy couture?
Amy Winehouse's style and fashion flair inspired Jean Paul Gaultier to design a collection that is an addition to all the wonderful creative work he has done through out his career. Gaultier's collection offers everything from daywear to evening. The beautiful blacks garments that were a mixture of solid to transparent were sharp and clean. The corsets were perfect and sexy mixed with sexy lace. The mixture of colors were clever as always. He did well in really taking some elements to a couture level. This collection is really clever with a nice seductive undertone that showed a sense of femme fatale that Gaultier is known for. No fashion re-hab is needed here!
At the Musee Boudelle in Paris, a rainbow of flowers paraded in couture ensembles designed by Alexis Mabille that were the extended expression of his aesthetic and view of haute couture. It had everything from beading to embroidery and intricate pattern making and cutting in the collection. As Mabille continues to evolve in couture, there is always the noticeable gimmick he does every season. This time it was with the humongous flowers on the top of models' heads and the painted faces to match the color of the flower or outfit. This is part of the Mabille charm, though. There are some pieces to pick and choose from and they have some special touches on each one. There is something like this always expected from Mabille. This season one can pick a color. Enjoy.
Giambattista Valli channelled haute couture in a beautiful and dreamy luxurious way. A mixture of stiff and soft fabrics, shine and glitter, and the transparency all and more were perfect ingredients for his collection for this spring. The world of Haute Couture has embraced him as a great couturier that can fulfill any clients dream one way or another. I enjoyed the mixture of evening gowns he offered from the soft chiffon ensemble to the bold ball gowns. The short dresses were a constant parade of perfect garnishing of embroidery and beadwork and I loved the cream jacket with the exaggerated bow with the black patent skirt, which reminded me of Dior's Bar Suit. The Oscars are coming up and his dresses are worth wearing on the red carpet.
Up and away Chanel goes for Spring 2012 with a beautiful collection of a rainbow of blue hues according to Karl Lagerfeld. About 150 different shades of blue! The show took place in the Grand Palais in a setting of the interior of a luxe jet plane that brought back the luxury of flying with an aisle wide enough for a collection that was just wonderfully Chanel. This took five days to set up and the carpet has the little insignias of the double C of the Chanel brand all in shades of blue and when the show was going on, the clouds were floating by outside the windows.
The dresses had pockets at the hips to give a sense of feel and casualness and they were short for day and long for evening. The sleeves were ample and the boatnecklines were exaggerated and stood up, from tweeds and boucle to beading and embroidery all done in a new way and in new materials. The beading was fabulously heavy on some dresses and the peek-a-boo effect on the stockings right below the hem added a subtle dazzling touch to the legs.
At the end Lagerfeld came out of the cockpit to give his walk to the applause of delight.
The entire collection held true to the Chanel traditions and the premiers andpetite mains all did an amazing job in executing fabulous new shapes and silhouettes according to Lagerfeld's vision. And Karl is always ahead coming up with new ideas. Like he said after the show: "No Fifties. No Sixties. No Seventies. Just what I like."
The house of Christian Dior was pretty alive and buzzing with the curiosity of what will be shown for Spring 2012. On Avenue Montaigne on the third floor of the studio, surrounded by the beautiful creamy gray is where the presentation took place. The clothes were definitely much more cleaner, elegant and luxe and had a sense of a saleable quality that will fair well for old and new clients of Dior. At the same time this is the other extreme from the touch of Galliano who created clothes that stimulated any one's imagination as well as the appetite of couture in a grand way which always captivated the world. It has been a year that Galliano was let go of Dior by LVMH.
Bill Gaytten who was Galliano's right hand man from day one and who is the studio director for the house, has done well with this collection compared to last fall when he created looks that looked like a whole bunch of art students cut and pasted pieces of fabric and remnants together. This season details and silhouettes were created that Monsieur Dior himself imagined and were incorporated with some modern flair made in colors such as black, grey, white, beige, lavender, violet and red.
According to Gaytten this collection was the X-ray collection which had some transparency to show the technique and work that goes into the confections. Even though Galliano created a collection similar to this in 2005, this take of Gayttens was pretty as well. However, the collection was a feast of designs that are really beautiful and wearable, maybe with some requests to put a silk slip underneath some of them.
Even though Gaytten is designing the collections for Dior, there is no word yet as to who the designer or creative director will be or if they are still looking.
Overall, this Dior Collection got a great hand of applause and I applause Bill Gaytten for his efforts. Well done!
Donatella Versace said it is time to bring glamour back and that Versace is a Couture House. I often wondered what happened to the couture presentations that we all looked forward to ever since Gianni started to produce it. The clothes always ended up on the red carpet and always made sexy and glamorous statements.
The Iles-de-France was a perfect place to show. Even though fifteen pieces were presented, this was a preview of what will be coming in the future seasons from the atelier of Versace and what it is capable of. These clothes were exceptionally exquisite and held true to the reputation of Versace being a house of glamour, sexiness with workmanship that is brilliant, forward thinking and elegant. Most of the collection has been dipped in sequins, beads and rhinestones and cut close to the body from short to long lengths. Slashes of shiny gold details gave some gowns the perfect touch, emphasizing sensual parts of the female body. Even though these pieces were not easy for the models to move in, it did not matter because the clothes were the stars and the stars will walk down the red carpet on Oscar night!
This time for Spring Christopher Kane made a fun, playful and young collection by using a host of stiff couture fabrics for the wonderful shifts with clever origami folds, and sparkly, embellished ones for playful A-line skirts in pastel pink or mint green. There were some hologram like flower shapes, framed in sequins and added onto skirts and blouses. I was not so crazy about the denim with rhinestone detail and that muddy brown taffeta coat. Other than that Christopher Kane still remains one of my favorite British designers.
A mechanical swan at the Rowes Museum in the Yorkshire Dales and a Cecil Beaton photograph called "Symphony in Silver" dominated Giles Deacon's inspiration that was shown with elegance and flair. Within all the white and silver, there was some spots of red and black in cygnet prints that went on T-shirt to evening dresses. I loved the laser cut silver leather garments with the perfect shine that was delicious and sleek. Giles also showed a wonderful amount of evening gowns that indicated that he has been selling quite a number of couture pieces. They ranged from the ethereal to theatrical. Giles has a way of showing elegance that can go from sporty to glamorous. These clothes will make any woman who feels like an ugly duckling look like a beautiful swan!
Chief Creative Officer Christian Bailey of Burberry Prorsum hit the history books and paid homage to old-fashioned hand craftsmanship in this polished and vibrant collection. It was filled with prints, raffia, chunky bits of mismatched colored wood, woven leather. And the major themes for this season were texture and color.Vibrant colors where mixed with bright jewel tones all done in fabulous genius ways and the textures are a mixture of tufts of raffia, colored wood and nubby crosshatch knits. The coats are pieces of work from trenchcoats to parkas. Bailey said "I love the contradiction between this idea of artisinal hand skills, things that take time to make and digital speed. They can coexist."
Joseph Altuzarra, in only a few seasons has made his mark as a leading designer of his generation. For his collection for spring he was influenced by the minimalist Nineties. Hockey played a factor and you can see it in the graphics of the black and white garments and in the track jackets with leather collars and chiffon inserts. Hawaii was displayed, inspired by the bathing suits and the track suits of the Eighties and Nineties. The lush backdrop of the botanical walls were the perfect touch for this presentation. He is advancing technically with a new knit of five-color stitches, which he teamed with leather details on dresses and tops and a dress he engineered to give the hem a wavelike movement. He trained under Riccardo Tischi and there is no mistake that he is clever in his techniques and engineering skills. For this and many other reasons it is no mistake that he deserves the 2011 CFDA Fund Award!
"Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom" moved Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig to design a stunning collection that made me exhausted from being captivated by their confections. It was a pleasure to see runway presentation rather than an installation which they have shown for the past season because the designs are even more alive with a body in them and one can tell how a dress moves. The dresses were like elegant elements of this wonderful tale and projected the colors and elements of the dreamy underwater world of this tale. Fringe was inspired by jellyfish and there were some exquisite mermaid like silhouettes that were absolutely dreamy. I am a HUGE fan of Marchesa and Georgina and Keren just do an amazing job every season and I am always looking forward to what they will create next. Next meaning a collection presentation before the Oscars. Who will wear their gowns at that time? We'll see. Eventually.
