TREND I-SPY

  As you all know by now, I'm fascinated by any sort of head or face covering. At his season's Couture they were ubiquitous. Whether they alluded to the Middle East both present and past, The Arabian Nights! or the Western mid-century modern ('30s, '40s, '50s) ideals of femininity and beauty, the result was the same, the exotic allure of the part-concealed and part-revealed female face.  Armani Privé  by Sarah Mower on vogue.com   Towards the finale, he sent out graceful dresses in black velvet and midnight-blue sequin, on models whose heads were veiled in crystal-edged face-coverings—a vaguely  Arabian Nights  counterpoint to the fifties netting seen in other Paris collections this week.   Christian Dior by Tim Blanks on  style.com Past and future met again in an evening ensemble that matched the athletic ease of a citron silk knit to the grandeur of a floor-sweeping silk skirt. And the veils that Stephen Jon...

I recently went to see the Met's Spring 2012 Costume Institute exhibition,  Schiaparelli and Prada: Impossible Conversations  and was quite smitten with the striking head coverings and masks of the mannequins.  They were designed by the hair genius Guido Palau who also created last year's head pieces for Alexander McQueen: Savage Beauty.  The Met has issued both prints and cards of the work with  illustrations by Miguel Villalobos.