Chanel Couture - Trend Whore?

Lagerfeld has always transformed classic Chanel into the appropriate, 'current' silhouette, but for several couture seasons I cannot decide whether he is leading the way, or whether he is following and getting it quite wrong.
For couture fall 2010 he showed questionable, inelegant rounded, seamless shoulders and for the next two ready-to-wear seasons the whole world was showing cocoon and rounded shoulders.
Now he is showing what I am going to call 'padded-hanger' shoulders, these are almost horizontal shoulders with a rounded end. The majority of the looks in this collection had a a subtle 'eighties feel to them, maybe only a feel a designer who lived through and designed through the 'eighties could imbue into their clothes. The most reminiscent examples starting with the hanger shoulders, working down to a boxy fit and finishing with a skirt to the knee.
While an awful sting comes with the shapeless tuxedo coat-dresses (also very 'eighties) the absolute gems of this collection are the little jackets that very smartly fasten at the waist and give way to the lampshade hips which appear to be attached to tops beneath.
Is this the last straw? Will the 1980's be visiting again in the spring thanks to Tom Ford and his womenswear collections? If it is, I can put my faith in Lagerfeld to continue to march on before ready-to-wear with his off the mark couture.

J. Mendel F/W 11-12 New York

I'm not often moved to immediately write about a collection, but this one really inspired and entirely impressed me:

The livestream for the J. Mendel collection has just finished and, I have to say, it left me absolutely agasp.
The collection opened with coats with what I guess was tiny top-stitching in intricate patterns that created an incredible embossed effect. This pattern was continued throughout the collection, even in the furs, and most stunningly rendered in a sandy colour only on the back of a long, otherwise plain coat.
Amongst the other spectacles an entirely simple belted, black sheared fur coat that glistened like no silk-velvet can, literally took my breath away.
The show finished with incredibly frail beaded evening gowns in soft wintry colours.

Gilles Mendel blasted socialite furrier, Dennis Basso (who also showed today) and his More-Is-More lynx and chinchilla patchwork decadencies back into his marble fur vault with such refined understatement as I don't think I have ever seen in fur.
I hope Lagerfeld's Fendi can at least try and par this sort of modest hyper-luxury.

Akris A/W 10 Campaign - Daphne Guinness by Steven Klein

I think this is verging on being too sterile for a brand that is famous for being understated.
These are clothes that are worn by real people - they aren't just unwearable pieces of art like Calvin Klein - they need to be set in more natural situations to make them feel less icy. It's getting there, but Daphne Guiness creatively sat on a stool with a severe haircut and a matte-finish face does not make me want Akris.

Jonathan Saunders S/S 2011

Subtle summer layering of printed block colour stripes with hazy borders matched with beautiful white silk organza overlay and underlay. Gathered skirts all sat on the natural waistline and ranged from short and quite above the knee to a below-knee dress in a grey-nude made less sober by it's transparency.
Kimono sleeved jackets with tightly belted waists worn with short shorts recounted Dell'Acqua circa 2008, but were bang on trend, while pleated micro-skirts provided the advent to a more obviously sexy Jonathan Saunders in high-gloss black satin and PVC, which somehow retained the elegance of the previous pieces.
Though this may not be my favourite collection of the season, Jonathan Saunders provides a relevant wardrobe for spring and excels with his typical use of colour and print applied to some of the most beautiful and wearable dresses at fashion week.

New Favourite Face

New favourite model: Arizona Muse.
Pictured here at Proenza Schouler and Narciso Rodriguez.

Marni S/S 2011

Some incredible seperates here, inventive yet wearable - the perfect mix.
I feel a bit nauseous when we get to the major prints towards the end and the confusing outlined patterns, but I adore the jackets and dresses with the large eyelets tied together with black ribbon.
Just imagine the clothes you could wear with that lazer-cut leather coat, and though you can see the model's breasts through that one navy coat, it is so wearable off the runway.
I love how Castiglioni has cheekily given us the knee-length hemline in shorts and keeps the shorter skirt over the top.
I fricken love Marni because Castiglioni can present this crazy-looking collection and yet provide a wardrobe you cannot find anywhere else, full of utterly appropriate, on-trend clothes.

Raf Doesn't Quite Get Cristobal - Jil Sander S/S 2011

Unfortunately I found Jil Sander quite boring this season; the only pieces I enjoyed were the final loose tailoring which really just matched spring's menswear and that little dark blue drop-waist.
The strange frills on the trousers/blouses seemed very stuck-on and the shapeless attempts really could not leave the models backs. The formerly stated elements and the high, long gathered skirts felt like a cringeworthy nod to Cristobal Balenciaga while god only knows where the random floral-print gown or the unusual 'attempted-to-pull-it-over-her-head' draped dress came from. But then, of course the minimal pieces with the contrast colour rectangles and squares were just references to Raf's previous work at Jil.

Another disappointment from Milan.

Trying To Fit In - Gianfranco Ferre S/S 2011

For winter Aquilano Rimondi were doing a super-luxurious Cristina Ortiz for Ferragamo customer collection.. but for spring they're doing the sort of crap Gucci and Versace churn out every season?
Referring to those sparkly two-pieces with the badly chosen block colours, let's focus on the green and yellow ensemble: it has to be the worst look I have seen all season.
To counteract such a bad look, the two pink looks, the coat and the two-piece are exquisite, wearable, on-trend and beautiful.

Are the duo trying to channel Gianfranco by actually designing something that looks vaguely like his work for once? Or are they just trying to step out into the GucciPucciBalmainVersace party and pretend they were there the whole time?

Milan is shocking this season. I cross my fingers for Raf.

10th Anniversary Spectacle - Francesco Scognamiglio S/S 2011

A perfect
way to celebrate his 10th Anniversary!
This season, for the first time in a while, I see something completely different from Scognamiglio, even though on the brand's 10th anniversary you'd expect a full retrospective.
The opening shirt-dress encasing the hands within a lace sleeve. The strange armpit-armholes. The exhuberance mixed with the pared-down simplicity with embellishments: these are all reasons why I first started loving Francesco Scognamiglio.
And you know why I still love him now?
Because he never compromised - even in the past few seasons when doubts started creeping in, he still kept to his true self - his own style.
No matter how often critics shrug at his collections because they're too kinky, impracticle or unwearable, he kept pushing his ideas - as he has declared with a decade of collections, he is not going to change, so everyone should just get used to him.

In a way, I am grieved that he is getting noticed - I like his little seat at the right hand side of the Major Brands; not everyone knows him, and it makes me feel like I'm part of an exclusive club (though it may be somewhat dark and sauded).
But my real concern is that he is getting noticed for all the wrong reasons - Lady Gaga and Rihanna are fans? I don't want my favourite living designer to be announced to the world as being the designer of a dress Lady Gaga chose as seconds to a dress made of raw meat. He deserves a more chic, prestigious clientele than that - a sort of Borgia Italian underground.
Glamour, decadence, luxury, debauchery.

Bravo, Mr Scognamiglio!

Model Nina Porter falls at Burberry S/S 2011

How bad were the shoes, Nina?