Favorite of the Day: Dries Van Noten

There is a short list of sure things in my life. The swan boat ride that I will take at least once during the summer. The fact that I will, without a doubt, walk around any and every bookstore for 27 minutes holding at least five different books because I can't make a decision about which one to bring home. The certainty that I will spill something food-related down my front before an important event.

I take comfort in the good sure things. I try to slide past the bad.

Dries Van Noten's collections rank among the good sure things. This season the prints were moody landscapes. A spectrum of grays punctuated by sharp greens. The shapes, as they so often are in his shows, were tailored yet easy.

There was a direction and vision that could be felt throughout, but it was one not guided by the prevailing winds of the season.


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Favorite of the Day: Marni

Marni can usually be counted on for an eclectic show filled with prints and cool girl whimsy. This season, however, there was a certain amount of pulling back. It was a clean, restrained look.

One that referenced the trends of the season without being dominated by them.


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Favorite of the Day: Etro

The Etro show, like the Ralph Lauren show before it, looked to the 1920s for inspiration. But in this case, the people of that East Coast world of old and new money were traded in for a less serious bunch.

The shapes were evocative of that time. Swinging. Slinky. That taste of sex that would disappear once the Great Depression hit.

But throughout were the signature prints that are seen every season at Etro. They kept the clothes out of the realm of the costume and placed them in our time.


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Favorite of the Day: Prada

The inspiration for the Prada collection sprang from the American greaser culture of the 1950s. In less deft hands, the results could have been over the top. And not in the lovingly flamboyant way that the fashion world often praises. Outside of a few overt references, like the flames that licked the bottom of one dress, most of the story was told through her choice of fabrics and shapes. Leather skirts were paired with sweet cardigans. Luxe satin jackets faintly brought to mind those of The Pink Ladies. Hemlines primly grazed the knees.

And one was left with the idea that these were the types of girls who never got caught sneaking out past curfew.


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Favorite of the Day: Giles

There are few designers who continually inject lightness and fun into their collections. After a few weeks, it can seem as if everyone is obsessed with being overly serious. With explaining their inspirations in dissertation-length speeches. Or maybe it's just a bit of fashion-related fatigue that causes everything to appear that way.

The Giles collection shown on September 19th steered clear of such weightiness.

There was, as always, beauty and craftsmanship. But I was also reminded of long ago art classes and the fun that could come from uninhibited exploration and experimentation.


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Favorite of the Day: Marios Schwab

The shows of last spring and summer, especially those from New York, featured a number of plays on the transparency theme. Everything felt redundant, and by the end of it all, I was already looking to fall and the introduction of a whole new set of trends.

But for the coming spring and summer, Marios Schwab found a way to erase all of the bad tastes that lingered from the previous year.

With oversized perforations and sheer overlays, he found a way to show enough but not too much.


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Favorite of the Day: Jonathan Saunders

On September 17th, Jonathan Saunders continued to, as he does season after season, expose his audience and his customers to beautiful color stories. Blues and yellows bled and faded into each other. Muted beiges offset sky-like hues. All came down the runway in prim and proper hemlines.

Such an eye for color is a rarity. Innately possessed and hard to acquire.




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