Braccialini

Flicking through Marie Claire, I came across this ad.
And I thought, ooo pretty ad, but whatever is it doing in a fashion magazine? Turns out that it is the latest very innovative creation of Carla Braccialini. Here are a few of her other more outrageous designs:
I am sure that the quality of the materials and craftmanship of the handbags are impeccable (why else would they cost on the upper side of $200USD?) but please, dear lord, do not let these become anywhere near fashionable!

London Spring/Summer 2007 Wrapup IV

Giles
Giles Deacon's collection this season was awesome this season. His looks were so brilliant that I had a hard time picking out these few! His designs were modern, innovative and yet still very simple, chic and wearable.

As always, Deacon combines some kind of absurd (I can only assume to be) artsy thing on his model's head with his simple, lovely dresses. Last year it was a metal contraption so vivid that I remember it still. This year, it is these hairy afros. There was even one where the whole model was a ball of black fluff. I wonder how the model see's out of those things! Come to think of it, how does style.com even know who the models inside these fluffs are to be able to name them?

Perfect example of his absolutely gorgeous simple dresses with just the right 'twist' on the strapless dress.

Pieces inspired by a subtle bondage theme. I love how it is so subtle that one can't even tell it is a bondage theme unless one looks closely. On first glance it just reminds me of the gold chain dress from Stella McCartney last year.

More examples of Deacon's brilliantly innovative yet wearable and flattering outfits.

Love the shape of these two outfits. The left is very Balenciaga and his reinterpretation of the kimino style is very neat (you should also check out the dress!).

Beautifully and perfectly constructed gowns.

Emporio Armani
Emporio Armani's debut in London was typical Emporio Armani. Based on a black, white and red palette, the designs were quirky, short and fun.

The three vertical circle detail is very uniting. And the belt is smashing. Even though the design is so simple, it pulls the outfit together perfectly and even adds a touch of something more to it. Apart from silver, patent black and red belts were also prevalent on this runway.

Quirky two shade blazers. And note the "knot" theme.

More fun, flirty and neat designs playing on the color contrast of red, white and black.

These four outfits are my favourite. The designs are all so cool, edgy and yet so elegant and clean cut, from a day at the office to a night out.

Oh and I just adore this royal blue color. It just looks so rich and regal!

London Spring/Summer 2007 Wrapup III

Emma Cook
Emma Cook's collection is one of the most relaxed, yet still chic and feminine collections I have seen so far. The clothes are wearable and has a lot of subtle details. I especially like the two outfits on the third and fourth models below: A casual, long T-shirt-dress with funky black & white prints, and a chic white dress.
Paul Smith Women
Maybe Paul Smith has never been my style, but I didn't quite like this collection. Vogue.co.uk describes the collection as 'Girls will be boys,' but I thought it was more of a 'Girls will dress like grandpas' scenario. There are a lot of cool ways girls can dress up a bit like boys, but this collection was not it.
The pretty silk dresses at the end did make the show less boyish.

Christopher Kane
Newly graduated from London's Central Saint Martin and Kane already has his very own catwalk show. As if that's not impressive enough, he's also a consultant at Versace. I must say, I wasn't expecting much from such a young designer but I was very impressed after seeing this collection.
The first outfit made me think: I am so not going to like this designer. The orange is like, so tacky. But then as the bright, vivid-coloured outfits rolled out one by one, it all started to make sense.
There were a few neautral-coloured outfits in the middle of the show. I loved these! They are so funky and creative without being over-the-top.
All of Kane's outfit were strengthened by casual, utility-ish belts.

Oh, and even though I don't know if the shoes were actually made and designed by Christopher Kane, I adore all them!

London Spring/Summer 2007 Wrapup II

Biba
Descibed by Vogue.co.uk as the hottest ticket in the round of London shows, I think everybody had overly high expectations of the newly revived brand. For those who are too young to know Biba, it used to be one of the IT stores in London back in the 60s.

Vintage in a modern way. These outfits are totally wearable in real life.

Very 60s: Baby doll dresses and long, flowy, printed dresses.

Preen
To be honest, I found this collection slightly disappointing. Perhaps my expectations were too high since I loved the last two collections, but this collection just felt less... original; more influenced by trends. Nevertheless, there were some pretty cool clothes:

Effortlessly cool haute dresses: One with a loose silhouette and the other with a body-hugging shape.

Sooo chic. I love how Preen brings the layering style onto the catwalk in such high-end feel.

Lots of volume and bold colours!

I love the strong black and sheer white combination on the left outfit. And the outfit on the right totally reminds me of a tres chic ballerina. I mean, look at that figure-bounding top and cute bubble bottom!

Okay, I change my mind. I l0ve this collection!

Roksanda Itincic
I was just randomly looking at the London collections when I stumbled into this collection, and I couldn't resist blogging about it. It's soo adorable! For some reason, it reminds me a bit of a fusion of Marchesa and Chanel haute couture, with a youthful, dolly vibe.

Seriously, doesn't this show make you think of cute pixies walking in a fairyland?

London Spring/Summer 2007 Wrapup I

London fashion week is always an interesting week for fostering new talent in the fashion industry. Their designs are almost always very innovative and different. Some are brilliantly fashion forward and some are just plain crazy. So lets see what surprise London has in store for us on day 1.

Noir
This is my favourite collection. Not only is this collection incredibly gorgeous, elegant and sexy, but they're also eco-friendly based on "clean" sources (fairly traded African organic cotton)!

The black dress is soo pretty and the black and white outfit is just hot!

Loving the ruffled neck. It looks sophisticated with the pencil skirt and pretty with the flared skirt. And doesn't the black patent belt work so well for these looks? Must get one of those!

Sophisticated cool dresses. I especially adore the silver dress on Lily Cole.

Peter Jensen
This was also a very interesting collection, on a very calming blue/grey palette (at the beginning anyway) Jensen gives an edgy twist the usual everyday clothes.

Love the casual chic outfit on the left. And the flared sleeve dress shirt and strapless dress combo is just unusual enough to be interesting but not weird.

The way he wraps the fabric to create knots and folds is masterful, making these two outfits look sophisticated but intriguing.

More interesting cute outfits. She looks adorable in that sparkly sweater and mini.

Then he ended the show with these simple but not quite so simple black dresses.

In general it was a very nice show, although he did have random atrocious pieces which I don't know what to make of like these. I can only attribute it to art. . .

Todd Lynn
Roland Mouret's right hand did not disappoint. Even though there were few female outfits, the few that were shown was exquisitely made and elegantly designed. The white tux on the left is just divine.

Richard Nicoll
This collection was very off. Didn't anyone tell Richard that polka dots were so over? And even if he doesn't care and insists on polka dots, does he have to make his models look like clowns?

Danielle Scutt
One word: skanky. And believe me, this is already one of her less skanky outfits.

Project Runway Season 3 at NY Fashion Week

Wow, this season's Project Runway has been eventful. All the designers have seen the low and the high, its difficult to predict who will win. In fact, I can't even decide who will be out next! I been able to see the whole collection, but from the few photos I've managed to find, we can but try to analyse the results.

Michael Knight
Of course, there is always the audience favourite Michael Knight. His designs are always so thoughtful, stylish and tasteful, I love him. While he will most definitely make it to the top three, I'm not so sure about his runway collection. I was disappointed. The collection looked very bling and borders on wild glam and tacky.

The gold belt and the lace together just looks very trashy to me.

Orange and prints is not exactly my thing, but I must say that it was all very well made, especially the dress on the left.

And even though the wild prints are a bit too much for me, I do so love the design and shape of these two outfits. The silohuette of that dress is very elegant.

This is definitely different from what he showed us in the show. I wonder what the judges would say. . .

Uli Herzner
Another designer whose been on the top a lot, her runway collection continued to work the prints the Uli way.

As usual, her dresses were pretty and fun.

Although I really don't like these two. Combining these two prints just makes it look messy and the dress very beachy.

Overall it wasn't a very exciting collection. And since the judges did comment that they never saw anything different from Uli, she might very well be out soon.

Laura Bennett
Laura's been pretty mediocre all season with her signature elegant sophisticated look, until last episode with that cute little black dress (although I really didn't like the flyaways at the hem). Anyway, her collection on the catwalk was as usual very elegant and sophisticated.

These two are good examples. The model on the right looks amazing. And the satin blazer looks elegant too, although it would have looked better without that bit of fluff coming out of her neck.

Sometime it seems that Laura's attempts to be creative just goes all wrong. The bustier on the left looks gorgeous close up, but from afar it doesn' go very well with the rest of the dress. Especially the sheer skirt. And what is with the yellow belt on that lovely grey dress??

And please, take those feathers away!

Jeffrey Sebelia
Surprisingly, Jeffrey's collection was actually one of my favourites. It was actually fun, feminine and soft with just a hint of his rock star style.

Just as I said, soft, feminine and fun. Its adorable!

His hint of rock star style. I LOVE the dress and the blazer. They look so sharp and cool.

Although I'm not much a fan of these two dresses. I definitely see the potential in the black dress, but somehow the slit just does not compliment the model very well. And the red dress looks. . odd. I wonder if he'd suffer through the same problem as Daniel V and not have a very coherant and together collection.

Anyway, as you can see, it is really hard to decide who will go next. Uli, Laura or Jeffrey? Thoughts?

Oh and one more thing. Shouldn't they really just call it the final four since in the end four designers get to show their clothes at Olympus Fashion Week? I mean, the designer who is out still has to MAKE the collection for the show don't they?