MILAN FASHION WEEK: SPRING 2010 PART I

as for london fashion week, milan fashion week has been condensed down to one post! yay! as always i was thoroughly impressed with milan fashion week. i loved a great number of shows from milan fashion week but if i had to narrow down my faves to four (which is very hard!) i would say versace, pollini, gucci and emilio pucci were my faves and i wish i could squeee aquilano.rimondi into the fave four...but obviously i can't. anyway, i hope you enjoy this post as always.
♥ me

versus- this was a great rtw debut for versus. christopher kane did a great job as donatella versace agrees and versus reflects the sex appeal of versace with the kitsch of christopher kane combined. all of these dresses are fun and young without being too thoughtless. i think that the sparkly dress to the far right would look great on emma watson, and it's also a good dress for those with warm brown skintones because of the pewter sparkly embellishments and the sandy color of the body of the dress.

versace- lots and lots of prints and body conscious looks. i was so surprised to see so many prints, it almost felt like a pucci show! lots of geometricism was used as well, such as constructing parts of the dresses out of triangle shaped fabric or making triangular patterns in the dresses.

trussardi 1911- i've never seen a show from them before, at least i don't remember the name of this fashion house. apparently, it's been in existence for quite some time and i'm liking the earthy, warm, purely italian feel it has. all of these dresses are begging to be worn for a night on the town.

pollini- *sigh* print perfection. i am in love. i loved the checked, strappy shoes with the big black bows and the model's soft ponytail. this collection was trendsetting. i expect to see alot of big bowed shoes, drapey plaid dresses as well as fullskirted trench coat dresses in stores. or at least any stores that want me as a customer. :)

neil barrett- this collection was simple and refreshing with a palette of black and white and with the concept that the guy should be brought out in every girl. it worked out well.

moschino cheap & chic- the spring 2010 collection for moschino cheap & chic was inspired by the fusion of mod style and flower child flair.

moschino- at moschino we saw a tasteful reinterpretation of the 80s with lots of gold hardware such as big gold hoop earrings, gold high heeled sandals and gold chained bags, as well as bright colors, prints and shorter hemlines.

iceberg- this collection drew inspiration from mickey mouse on safari. now if that isn't original, what is? paolo gerani did a great job by making this idea work. there are a lot of great, fun, red carpet as well as party or event pieces in this collection.

gucci- this collection can be described as beautiful sportswear. the color palette as well as the prints were clean and bright, metallic detailing on dresses, skirts, jackets and pants were used to contour the model's body and all of the model's hair was slicked back neatly. this collection was really original and inspiring and had a different feel from all of the other shows i've seen so far, including new york and london fashion week. it was lovely. i'm going to make a prediction ( who knows if it will actually happen): blake lively will wear a dress from this collection. she likes showing off her body and her cleavage, and she's worn dresses similar to the cut of some of the gucci ones in the spring 2010 collection so i'm sure she'll wear something from this presentation.

giorgio armani- i loved armani's abundant use of blues in this collection. they were the most beautiful shades of blue, deep and brooding or light and floaty.

gianfranco ferre- : loved it! lots of use of light, floaty materials such as organza, chiffon and lame as well as light colors. models wore lightly crimped hair and blank faces.

gabriele colangelo- very elegant with signature italian flair.

etro- i don't usually like etro shows, but i enjoyed this one. there was less attention put into creating annoying pasiley prints and more attention put into creating piece that many different women (hippie or no hippie) would like to wear.

emilio pucci- looks: 2,20,28,34 peter dundas is a godsend for the house of emilio pucci. i fell in love with his debut collection and i am head over heels for the perfection that is his spring 2010 collection for emilio pucci.

dsquared- this show definitely stuck to its theme of camping in the great outdoors. i didn't think i'd like this collection but i was won over by the many brilliant red carpet dresses they presented amidst ant printed shirts, cut off shorts and vests dipped in bright caution tape yellow.

dolce & gabbana- a dark color palette and heavy use of lace, print (floral and a red and black leopard print) as well as three piece suiting.

d&g- mr. dolce and mr. gabbana made denim look so amazing and glam. the western look has never appealed to me as much as it does now!

bottega veneta- the color palette consisted mainly of white, cream and a warm sunhine yellow. loved it as i usually love bottega veneta, they have such an appealing feminine aesthetic.

blumarine- bright and super fun

aquilano.rimondi- just what i love, amazing dresses.

albino- this show was great and could be summed up in a few words: sparkly knee high socks, chunky heeled shoes, skirt suits, dresses, draping frayed hems, soft color, black.

alberta ferretti- i thouroughly enjoyed viewing this soft, serene and feminine show. the color palette was very calming: white, off white, lavender, purple, nude and muted corals. sheerness, short hemlines as well as long tailored skirts were featured.

fashion week notes

prada- i never enjoy prada as much as everyone else does. featured were suits, dresses, skirts and tops with big cutouts that exposed the center of the chest. big crystal embellishments were also featured as well as frayed hems on bermuda shorts and skirts. all the models had voluminous pigtails and bright, glossy red lips.

just cavalli- if you're a just cavalli kind of girl you'll be channeling glamour grunge (if that even exists...) for spring 2010. some pieces were great, but most of it felt like costume.

roberto cavalli- all the models looked as if they had flown through a closet and ended up wearing whatever clothing happened to fall on them. their necks were wound in menswear ties, they wore dresses over button ups and trousers and most of the clothes were loose fitting. many prints abounded as well. some of the finale dresses were really pretty with ruffly shoulder appliques.

maxmara- this show bored me.

francesco scognamiglio- this was more a show of the models' bountiful chests if anything.

emporio armani- sorry giorgio, i only liked 2 looks out of the 68 look show.

salvatore ferragamo- cristina ortiz's last collection for salvatore ferragamo was not very strong.

missoni- this collection was not to my liking with its' bizarre styling and mostly washed out color palette.

maurizio pecoraro- a pastel color palette and lots of shell embellishment and floral appliques. this collection didn't appeal to me though because it wasn't very exciting and i couldn't really picture wearing this collection much.

marni- stripes, headscarves, rich browns, forest greens and pinks, embossed floral prints, bright multicolored floral prints on shifts and shirts....this marni collection was like all the others. this time, i just didn't take a liking to it.

fendi- this collection was really cute: the color palette was all pastels, featured were frayed hems, super short hems, sheerness, high frizzy buns and fendi bags of all sizes. i wish the envelope was pushed a bit further in the creativity department, and then i would have loved it.

jil sander- after raf simon's stellar fall 2009 collection i was disappointed by his spring 2010 collective for jil sander. he said he was going back to nature with this collection...to me it looked like a bunch of shift dresses and suits with holes in it or frayed cloth sewed onto it.

LONDON FASHION WEEK: SPRING 2010 PART I

hey all!
i was able to get london fashion week in only 1 post! awesome right? so even though it says part I there is only one part and it is not one part among many. i can't wait for milan and paris. i thoroughly enjoyed london fashion week and think this was the best london fashion week ever. it had a lot of substance and great looks and london is proving that it can be a major fashion capital too! slowly but surely they're getting there :)
♥ me

vivienne westwood red label- this collection was all over place, from the model casting to the clothes. however i thoroughy enjoyed it and liked the creative looks that the people working with vivienne westwood put together.

luella- luella never disappoints. this time she pleasantly surprised me with a less cutesy and comical collection for a slightly more sophisticated yet colorful collection that borrowed silhouettes from the sixties and showcased huge, structured hips. i loved all of the structured coats, skirts and cute teadresses. i was thoroughly pleased while viewing the pictures and loved her use of bows. her bags were also very nice, as was the fun eye makeup on the models.

roksanda ilincic- even though the color palette was mostly dark and this is a spring collection, i didn't mind because rokansanda ilincic executed her vision so well. i loved the use of dark, shiny feathers as well as embellishment around the waist which cinched the waist and brought attention to it.

pringle of scotland- clare waight keller (designer of pringle of scotland) managed to make knitwear look reasonable for spring. this is some of the most delicate knitwear i've ever seen. this collection was very tastefully done, and i can tell a lot of thought went into making this special as the presentation was brought back to england from milan to celebrate london fashion week's 25th anniversary since the line is scottish and is part of the UK.

peter pilotto- peter pilotto is one of the few designers that makes me swoon...at least for the moment. i am in love with the buttery, nutty brown suede shoes and the swirling masterpieces of fabric that his dresses are. the deep blue and red dress to the far right just hypnotizes me! i love the colors in it as well as every other dress in the collage.

paul smith women- sir paul smith was inspired by the congolese and his african inspiration showed up clearly in his collection. i loved the bright mustard yellows used throughout the collection as well as the wide variety of prints. some were stripey, some were dotty and some featured small drawings.

nathan jenden- i loved the casting of this show: all black/black hispanic or asian models. awesomeeee. featured was a lot of color, bollywood prints and pigtail braids. braids are awfully popular lately.

mary katrantzou- this collection was breathtaking. the digital prints on the dresses were out of this world and the construction was absolutely beautiful. 5 stars! :)

mark fast- this show was very interesting because all of the pieces were skintight cobwebby VERY revealing knits. the designer also cast 3 plus sized models with curves galore to model some of these pieces...and boy did they have a lot to show. however i think his choice was great and made the show that much more interesting although...definitely not p-g 13.

julien macdonald- the show got better as it went on. the great craftmanship was evident as i stared closer and closer at each piece.

matthew williamson- amazing, as always. there are some great red carpet options in this collection!

josh goot- this collection was chock full of pop prints and bright colors. the excitement and vivacity of the show never ended as each pieces was as bright or brighter than the last and all of the pieces had graphic elements to them. apparently the designer was inspired by scuba gear and surfboards and he made good use of that inspiration.

erdem- perfection. the designer says he was inspired by modern japanese girls that refuse to wear kimono's and have adopted western dress as well as the surreal and detailed japanese art he saw this summer.

jonathan saunders- in this collection jonathan saunders took a liking to minimalism and a very light palette. he made great use of whites and "frosted pastels" as style.com put it as well as the occasional highlighter yellow or green.

jasmine di milo- this collection was so perfect. from the first look i knew it would be impossible to just choose 4 looks...but i managed to do it. jasmine al-fayed worked with prints, color (the brightest being a bold orange used in a one shouldered column dress with a thigh high slit), leather and embellishment and i think she came out with a great collection. i want to try on those taupey/beigey wedge heels and see how they would look on me.

issa- inspiration for these clothes was taken from the tropics and the many ants that live in warm locales with ant prints appearing on tunics and cocktail dresses.

fashion fringe- fashion fringe is a fashion competition inspired by the competition of american idol. fashion fringe has produced such stars as erdem and basso & brooke. i'm loving these four pieces that i saw in this year's fashion fringe show.

fashion east- i'm not quite sure what fashion east is. if you know exactly what it is, please tell me. i'm guessing it is similar to fashion fringe? here are some of the amazing pieces displayed at the fashion east spring 2010 show.

duro olowu- i'm so happy. i thoroughly enjoyed duro's presentation. it was amazing. it is so great when a designer can use an abundance of color and print and still make it look as elegant and wearable as basic black and white. and did you check out those shoes? so cute.

burberry prorsum- could christopher bailey make me fall more in love with this collection? no. i am so in love. love love love! i loved the pastel colors, the draping and the awesome burberry-ness. i really need that baby pink trench that is second from the left, and i wouldn't mind that beautiful lilac ensemble third from the left.

basso&brooke- sigh...too good to be true <3 this was a really fun show to click through :)

antonio berardi- perfect!

london fashion week notes

unique by topshop- managed to make all of the models look like they just rolled out of a trashcan. this collection was not appealing in the least.

richard nicoll- the show was decent but it had a rocky start. it only drew me in at the end.

nicole farhi- this collection had a very sporty american feel to it, spruced up with a colorful square print.

louise gray- the pure creativity expressed in this collection is enough to win you over. these are truly one of a kind pieces and i love them! however some looks were a bit out there so the feel of this collection needed to be honed a bit more.

louise goldin- i loved the sweet pastel color palette. there was no shortage of easter bunny candy yellow, pale lilac, powder blue, off whites and creams. there was heavy use of pleating, ruffles, quilting and exposed bra cups.

graeme black- it wasn't working for me.

twenty8twelve- it was fun and young, but nothing new.

todd lynn- this was more like a fall collection rather than a spring collection. it was very futuristic and very tailored. a good collection, but not exactly one for spring.

meadham kirchhoff- i could see where they were going with this...and i didn't want to travel there. it wasn't working for me. if it had been better executed, maybe i would have liked it more. it needed a bit more...something.

marios schwab- marios schwab played around with layering, deconstruction, pleating and sheerness. some pieces were hits, but most were misses.

jaeger london- this collection did have some good looks...but for a spring collection there was way too much heavy knitwear. there shouldn't be any heavy knitwear at all really...even though in spring sometimes it is still cold, but we can look to fall collections for all the knitwear we want really. as style.com said, the show was all over the place. i loved the sunglasses though.

house of holland- style.com agrees with me again: this collection was so disgustingly tacky (interesting shoes though, that i definitely would consider wearing). even though the show was so so tacky it made you want to gag, it was still fun to watch. very amusing.

christopher kane- kane made great use of gingham and really...he made gingham so interesting and different by using pleating and sheer panels along with it as well as heavy rose shaped beaded embellishments on some of the pieces. i wanted to make a collage for this, but i couldn't fall in love with enough of the pieces.

sykes- all of the clothes looked so badly made...

ppq- this collection wasn't the bomb or anything, but i was so tempted to make a collage for it because the cast was pretty much all black models, and that's always something new and different to see. also, these clothes have good wearability...however i can't do it, it would be biased, and this collection still needed a lot more work and thought put into it. i loved the show but at the same time, it wasn't the best it could be! :/

osman- an all white collection that left me bored.

lp.bg- a very cute show with only 8 looks. hopefully next time they'll have more looks, but all the pieces had excellent tailoring so hurrah for that.

kinder aggugini- an overload of bright colors and reptile prints as well as polka dots. i really liked the structure and realtive normalcy of the black and white gown with some bandage detail (look 34) that was presented though.

danielle scutt- this show proved to be tres tres confusing.

charles anastase- the models all looked cute in this collection's voluminous and quite out there creations. i don't know it'd look on the streets though.

peter jensen- this presentation was really weird and blindingly bright but i cannont deny that there were some great pieces in it. however there were a lot of confusing pieces as well.

clements ribeiro- a collection with a palette of mostly black and white with some brown, blue and pink thrown in. the collection featured super tall platform strappy heels, cat and ginseng leaf prints as well as leopard prints and dark, bold eyebrows and makeup.

aquascutum- nice, but a bit boring. lots of long trenches in olive, taupe, black and grey.

updation over at fabfash

yes, you have heard right, i've updated my pictures/icons/graphics site which is located at www.xanga.com/fabfash with pictures of models...to name a few: anja rubik, edita vilkeviciute, bruna tenorio, carmen kass, daria werbowy...etc. hopefully i can continue updating it as i tend to neglect it.
♥ me

those are just a few of the pictures at the site. remember, please do not hotlink. if you like a picture, save it to your computer and if you want to share it, use your own bandwidth. anyway, friendly reminders (ahem, rules) are listed at the fabfash site if you need further instruction. enjoy!

NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: SPRING 2010 PART III

here is the third and final part of my coverage of nyfw spring 2010. i enjoyed viewing all the images and hopefully one day i can actually view a show in person, wouldn't that be fab?
♥ me

3.1. phillip lim- this show reminded me a lot of chloe and later on in the show a more easily understandable version of rodarte. all of these pieces were so well made. philip lim hasn't lost his touch!

anna sui- the collection was young, fun and exuberant. doesn't chanel iman (far right) look so brilliant in blue? she makes me want to get bangs!

calvin klein- if i had to define this collection in only two words i would describe it as rumpled elegance. all of the clothes were slightly wrinkled and thrown around looking and there were some pieces that i didn't like at all and then there were pieces with more detail that i instantly fell in love with. i'm especially enamored with the first dress from the left and the third dress from the left. i love the charcoal grey color and the beautiful twisting of the grey dress that is third from the left.

doo.ri- this collection was perfect. it's like it was made for me. one of my fave of spring 2010 fashion week. she made great use of grey and didn't make it boring but knew when to inject color. it was really all about the clothes and not the models. i can not get over the bright melony tangeriny hue of the dress to the far right and all of the beautiful embellishment and twisting on the other dresses. they are so perfect for summer and all unique in design.

isaac mizrahi- you know what happens everytime that i see a mizrahi show? i start out being confused, annoyed and vowing that i would like the collection, because i feel that in his show isaac plays around with so many different themes. then halfway into the show i fall in love and can't choose just four looks i want to feature. happens everytime!

marchesa- this show NEVER disappoints me. they did fail to deliver on elegant designs and class. my favorite dresses are the ones to the far left and far right. romantic, soft, and oh so red carpet worthy.

naeem khan- this time naeem khan featured a lot less gowns and some pants, and more short dresses and short skirts. lots of prints were heavily featured and of course the trademark heavy handed dose of sequins on each of the creations was present. even though busy prints were used none of the clothes looked tacky and i loved that the looks were paired with such interesting and girly shoes like chunky gold platformed peeptoes and strappy bright pink and black stunners. i absolutely love the color combo on the drapy floral beaded dress to the far left. i wonder what famous body we'll see that on?

oscar de la renta- i was expecting something more from this collection but the trademark stamp of sophistication that you get with every de la renta show was still there. it definitely had a more youthful and less serious vibe as oscar played around with texture and styling of the looks. i think i'm going to try out that braided bun hairstyle that all the models were rocking...it'll probably not look as great on me but i'll try my best to look half decent with it! :)

phi- i enjoyed watching this. i would describe it as a fusion of balmain, preen and calvin klein. lots of structure but also lots of play with sheerness. bondage inspired looks are still hot as evidence by the bandage dress, tops and skirts galore at phi.

ralph lauren- ralph lauren was inspired by great american resilience in view of a recession and tough times with the american government. he expressed this message very elegantly through this colletion. ralph does it again! i loved his heavy use of denim, he was able to make it look so expensive. and i absolutely love the evening gown that looks like light wash denim as well as the cutness of the overall evening dress that isn't featured in this collage.

tommy hilfiger- this collection was entitled 'beachside romp', inspired by the sophisticated beach dudes and dudettes who know how to soak up the sun and still exude sophistication. i'm loving those peeptoe laceup ankle boots!

stephen burrows- this collection surprised me with its' expert tailoring and great styling.

koi suwannagate- great use of floral appliques and color.

tory burch- sparkle + classic american shapes + good styling.

fashion notes:

l'wren scott- the collection was decent but i felt like i was just seeing any other collection that she puts out every season. most of the pieces were pencil dresses and featured prints she has used already.

threeasfour- this collection was really good and required a great deal of skill to make, but it featured so much sheerness. most of the models seemed to be walking the runway nude.

alexandre herchcovitch- i didn't like this collection, and it didn't help that the designer walked out looking depressed at the end of the shoe.

michael kors- he put out a good spring 2010 collection which i am sure a lot of people love, but i didn't like as many piece as i thought i would.

milly- michelle smith of milly said she centered the collection on black, but she actually used a lot of color and i still managed to be bored by it.

peter som- still needs some time to get his spark back.

proenza schouler- the collection was inspired by skating and surfing and featured lots of prints and green mirrored sunglasses.

thanks for reading and look forward for updates about london fashion week!