By: Liz Hemmerle This Spring/Summer 2012: Fashion Week has had me already envisioning slipping into modern 1920’s glam and enjoying next summer’s cool trends and warm weather. Milan Fashion Week kicked off yesterday, and already they are bringing on the glamour! Despite Italy’s current time of economic crisis, Frida Giannini, Gucci’s creative director, has managed [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Fur was everywhere this season, in all four cities and on tons of runways.  And it was also literally everywhere:  fur could be found covering all parts of the body, from the arms, the torso, the neck, the head, the legs, and even the hips at Miu Miu in a sarong-like fur wrap.  The picture [...]

By Alex Valenzuela How amazing was Paris Fashion Week! Words can’t even explain how amazing every show was and all my favorite designers proved me to once again why they are my favorite. From “The World is a Dark Place” at Chanel to minimal reptile prints at Chloe to Marc Jacobs nailing it once again [...]

By Chevaun Jackson A lot of trends were underway this season at all of the Fashion Weeks. A few were emerging, not done very often but done well. These include: fur accents—a typical staple of the fall season— plaid (a quite popular pattern), and capes (which I definitely hope to see more of in the [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Miuccia Prada’s Miu Miu collection featured a lot of oversized, boxy jackets and printed dresses.  The color palate was limited to mostly black and white, with just a few additional colors – some mustard pieces, a few blue looks, and several rust colored outfits.  As for the prints, Prada resurrected the swallow [...]

By Francesca Claybrook This collection from Valentino designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli was simply stunning.  I fell in love with the classic lines, simple patterns, sheer fabrics, and neutral color palate.  I can honestly say there wasn’t a single look that walked down the runway that I wouldn’t love to have hanging [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Yves St. Laurent has done it again. I love the dark grey, black and white plaid print, the thin, belts that wrap high around the waist pinching it in and drawing figure to form. There are a few misses: a boxy dress that lacks femininity, and a couple sweaters that appear too [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Givenchy’s Fall 2011 collection incorporates many dark hues—traditional for fall. The collection is mainly black with pops of blues, greens, yellows (especially one yellow ensemble of a skirt and cropped sweater—which I LOVE). Givenchy has presented a well thought out, well put together collection. The prints incorporate floral as well as traditional [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Sonia Rykiel’s show was full of color and patterns.  Plaid played a major role in many of the looks, and there were a number of fur scarves and collars, which are already one of the biggest constants to come out of this season so far.  The collection had some interesting and beautiful [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Though not always perfectly paired Balenciaga gives a lot in his collection which develops from exotic floral patterning to layering of pieces upon other pieces to what appears to be walking art. Not a huge fan of the collar or shoulder pads on the top but I do like the netting. It [...]

By Alex Valenzuela Each season, Balmain’s collection gets better and better. I will always remember there “baroque” inspired collection last fall and this fall I was just as pleased with their designs. From fully embellished micro mini dresses, jackets, and pants to fringe, beading, and mosaic tiles, it was all about detail for Balmain. With [...]

By Francesca Claybrook I loved this collection from Giorgio Armani.  The cuts, the colors, the fabrics – everything was gorgeous.  Sure there were a few pieces here and there that I wasn’t as thrilled about, but on the whole this collection was stunning.  There was a mix of fabrics; velvet, silk, chiffon, lace and furs [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Roberto Cavalli’s collection is like a beautiful dark twisted fantasy (perhaps he listened to Kanye West’s new album). The colors range from dark to light—black, red, white, tan— and the styles are flowing with a dark air about them. It’s like they each stepped out of a beautiful nightmare. The collection is [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Designer Raf Simons’ color palate was very basic, like many others we’ve seen:  black interspersed with some bright fluorescent colors.  Some of the sweater details seemed quite ‘80s-inspired – black backgrounds with bright prints.  I liked the balance of color to black.  Some pieces were cut to be very oversized, but it [...]

By Francesca Claybrook As someone who probably wears too much black, there’s a reason I love Armani so much.  Yet I had a hard time really loving the Emporio Armani collection as much as I wanted to, which mostly had to do with a few pairs of pants.  As someone on the shorter side of [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Bottega Veneta’s collection this season was packed with color.  The colorful day clothes were set off by white tights, which I did not think was a successful choice.  There were also some lace looks in the collection’s evening wear section, some that were executed better than others.  Overall my feelings towards this [...]

By Francesca Claybrook The Fall 2011 collection from Gianfranco Ferre designers Roberto Rimondi and Tommaso Aquilano was beautiful – very angular, cut along minimal lines but with details that kept the collection from being minimalistic.  Lapels featured sharp angles and were often left open, as in the look above.  Horizontal lines also came into play quite frequently.  The [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Blumarine is like a box of crayons, and I mean that in the best possible way. The colors include black, teal, yellow, red, orange and (my personal favorite) purple. But the colors don’t clash because Blumarine has presented them in a unified way. The styles and cuts are simple, which is good [...]

By Francesca Claybrook I didn’t quite know what to make of the Prada show this season.  There were elements I really liked and others that I wasn’t so sure about.   The vibe was more girl than woman (reinforced by the Mary Janes-and-knee socks look on many of the models).  Parts of the collection also turned [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Max Mara might win for “store I’d most like to be locked inside with a boatload of cash.”  Let me tell you one of the reasons why:  sure, these pieces might be walking down the Milan runways, but I feel like I could wear them just as easily as the models in [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Benvenuto a Milano!  It seems like as soon as one Fashion Week even thinks about ending, the next one is already starting.  So welcome to Milan, usually my personal favorite of the Fashion Weeks.  Alberta Ferretti showed a collection that, while not being as cohesive as it could be, was still very [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Orange will be everywhere next fall it seems.  First Sass and Bide, and now Matthew Williamson, although the latter mixed orange in with a lot more grays and blues, like in the look above, which I really liked.  You’d also better get your furs ready, because they’re going to be a staple [...]

By: Alex Valenzuela After the incredible show yesterday, Marc by Marc Jacobs had a lot to show up to but of course didn’t disappoint at all. The collection was loosely based on the 1940’s with chevron patterns, velvet, and sweater dresses. It was the 1940’s glammed up and every look worn by the models was [...]

By Francesca Claybrook Badgley Mischka broke up their fall palate of blacks and grays with some gorgeous purple shades (like the one pictured above).   I liked a lot of the dresses, especially the more elegant slimmer cut ones, but some of the looks had extra layers of fabric that seemed more awkward than anything to [...]

By Alex Valenzuela Monique Lhuillier took the meaning of fall literally and had her first 22 looks consist of black, but then look 23 we finally saw some color, a silk blouse in ecru! With the absence of color, Monique played on texture, which we have seen a lot of already in prior shows this [...]

By Alex Valenzuela Yesterday instead of listening to my teacher, I secretly sat on my laptop watching the Betsey Johnson show with my two girlfriends sitting on either side of me. I will say that while I should have been listening to the lecture, I couldn’t help myself but have my eyes glued to my [...]

By Chevaun Jackson Of all the houses, if you will, under the Max Azaria brand (BCBG, Max Azaria, Herve Leger), Herve Leger is the most fun and free that we’ve seen this season. It has the spirit of young and out-on-the-town for the night chic. Variety is definitely not short here from sleeves to hue [...]