TREND I-SPY

Giambattista Valli                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         ...

In a rather bland runway season for Fall 2011, one non-shoe or handbag accessory has been ubiquitous. The wide-brimmed portrait or picture hat has symbolized many fashion eras, most recently the 1970s. Iconic fashion figures from Bianca Jagger and Angelica Huston to Cher and Lauren Hutton have been photographed wearing one.There is something wonderfully ladylike and yet bohemian about these hats. For Fall designers used a wide range of sophisticated colors from cloudy pink and nude to deep teal, purple and ochre Marc by Marc Jacobs, Fall 2011 Christian Dior, Fall 2011 Chris Benz, Fall 2011   Gucci, Fall 2011

Haute Couture for Spring 2011 was shown in Paris a few weeks ago. I searched through them on Style.com looking for future trends in fashion design. I looked for commonalities between the collections but felt as if I found very little. Each couturier seemed to work from their own set of design principals and inspiration. For Alexis Mabille it was the white plaster maquettes of sculptor, Atoine Bourdelle , Alexis Mabille At Dior, John Galliano looked back to the work of fashion illustrator, René Gruau, the illustrator "whose work for Christian Dior in the forties and fifties created the house's most iconic imagery." (Tim Blanks, Style.com) Dior For Jean Paul Gaultier it was punk rock. "The invitation safety-pinned a piece of fishnet to a piece of cardboard. The run of show named outfits after "Anarchy in the U.K." and "London Calling." And that was Sid's "My Way" playing as we walked in." (Tim Blanks, Style.com) Jean Pa...

L-R Isabella Blow, The Alexander's Issie Rose, Alexander McQueen Hilary Alexander from The UK's Daily Telegraph has reported the following, "A beautiful rose, a coral peach floribunda, became a dual fashion memento at (this year's) Hampton Court Palace Flower Show . The rose was specially selected by the British fashion designer Alexander McQueen, before his untimely death earlier this year, to honour his mentor, the late Isabella Blow. Lee McQueen personally chose the rose, now named "Alexander's Issie", to pay tribute to his close friend, the international style icon and former fashion editor of Tatler, who committed suicide in 2007. "Alexander’s Issie" was presented to Blow’s sister, Julia Delves Broughton. Lee McQueen had been due to attend the show to see the rose launched, in honour of the woman who had bought his entire Central St Martins graduate fashion collection and championed his early career on the British fashion stage. Julia D...

Dior, Couture S2010 Is high fashion about to do a 180 degree turn? If the Dior Couture S2010 show is anything to go by then it would seem so. Last season its designer John Galliano reveled in emphasizing the important role of lingerie in current fashion sending out half-dressed models wearing stockings with suspenders, corsets and basques. Many celebrities have embraced this trend with relish, eager to show-off Pilates-honed limbs and abs. Some have taken it to the extreme. Then along comes Galliano with an offering inspired by that most demure and modest female-only pursuit, riding side-saddle. Toward the end of the 19th century in what was still the Victorian age, women rode in a long bustled skirt, soft shouldered peplum jacket and a top hat with net veil. John Galliano's interpretation was faithful to the original while bringing in some wonderfully modern elements such as high heeled boots and opera-length gloves. I wonder if this is a sign of things to come for the F2010 seaso...