- Black & white
- Layered pearls
- Knee length skirts
- Pleated skirts
- Cardigans
- Layers
- Pinstripe suits
- Long coats
- Bold orange
- Warm jackets (...duh?)
- Polka dots
- Boxy coats
- Fur - faux furs are hot now. No need to kill anything for a cool look especially if you plan to "kill it"
- Lace collars
- Velvet in jewel colors
- Lurex sweaters
- Trench coats
- High slits
- Snakeskin
- Asymmetrical dresses
- Mixed Prints
Vintage fashion is here to stay. Yay!
Mui Mui's Fall 2011 collection is a great showcase for vintage style, while dandelion clocks and lily of the valley repeated in plain or embroidered variations became the centerpiece for Mui Mui's fall collection.
Shortie-coatdresses with hyper-exaggerated shoulders which create the illusion of a smaller waist line. The line is based on Old Hollywood Glamour with accents such as forties sunglasses, and glitter shoes. Think Joan Crawford.
Prada wants to see us all in coatdresses, low-belted and drop-waisted shifts, and calf-length boots this fall. Her collection is sixties inspired with a hint of the André Courrèges, triangle silhouette. Skirts are four inches above the knee, boots patchworked from suede, snakeskin, glitter, cling to the calf with cluncky, curved heels. Bags are small, soft and tucked under the arm.
Referenced at the Christian Dior show was the postmodern Pop patterns the Italian designer Ettore Sottsass invented for his Memphis Group furniture and product design collective in the eighties; another look took inspiration from the work of the interior designers Jean-Michel Frank and Jean Dunand; a third was derived from Jean-Paul Goude.
In short, expect lots of pastel color and jazzy patterns, followed by darker marquetry and malachite prints from Dior this fall.
From Chanel expect to see textures of tweeds and sequins, grey tailored proportions, cut straight from top to bottom, or with molded peplum belling out of over a pencil skirt. Designed by the talented Karl Lagerfeld, of course. "Lagerfeld's delight in couture is to confuse the eye on many levels, rendering secrets which are often revealed only to the woman who orders the clothes." What can appear to be a matching suit actually breaks down to a spencer, bustier and pencil skirt. For evening, a "suit" becomes strapless dress, with the option to wear long, with a fluted embroidered petticoat frothing out from beneath, or without as a cocktail dress to the knee.
There was no jewelry on the runway. Private clients viewed the collection, based on the theme of black and white. The pieces are made in diamonds, onyx, crystal and pearls.
Also, a multiplicity of light-catching emedded sequins and flecks of Lurex done with trompe l'oeil techniques. What is that? It's an art technique involving extremely realistic imagery in order to create the optical illusion that the depicted objects appear in three dimensions. Such as:
Escaping Criticism by Pere Borrell del Caso, 1874
