Bottega Veneta Fall 2010

WHO: Tomas Maier for Bottega Veneta

WHAT: Fall 2010

WHEN: February 27, 2010

WEAR: Bottega Veneta

WHY: The direction Maier went in for the fall collection was one I hadn't seen him take before. The women on his runway appeared strong, aggressive, and sexy. While not totally abandoning his penchant for pretty cocktail numbers, the ratio of the hard-edged to the soft won out, and was fantastic. Leather coupled with strong tailoring and punches of color was fresh. The clothes look like they won't have any trouble making the transition from the runway to a women's closet either, which at the end of the day is key. Below are my favorite looks.

Photos from Style.com

Emilio Pucci Fall 2010

WHO: Peter Dundas for Emilio Pucci

WHAT: Fall 2010

WHEN: February 27, 2010

WEAR: Emilio Pucci

WHY: Peter Dundas, in my opinion, shot a very needed boost of energy and sexiness into the Milanese shows this season. With a majority of the looks, I came away with a gypsy vibe. These clothes aren't for wallflowers, these clothes are for women with great bodies, great legs, and lots of attitude. What the collection lacked in daywear, it more than made for in party dresses. Leopard prints, feathers, fringe, beads; you name it and it was on the runway. Below are my favorite looks from the show.

Photos from Catwalking

Stylist: Panos Yiapanis

WHO: Willy Vanderperre (Photographer), Panos Yiapanis (Stylist), Eniko Mihalik (Model)

WHAT: AnOther Magazine SS 2010

WHEN: SS 2010

WEAR: Styling by Panis Yiaponis

WHY: Simply amazing.

Photos from Anothermag.com

Velvet Underground

WHO: Enough designers to confirm velvet as a trend

WHAT: Fashion designers

WHEN: FW 2010 Fashion Week

WEAR: Velvet

WHY: Velvet made its return to the runway at Alexander Wang's fall show, and picked up more than enough steam throughout New York fashion week to confirm it as a trend. Velvet dresses, pants, blazers, skirts; you name it. Now, as fashion month continues, velvet has turned up in London at the Richard Nicoll show. While the velvet in New York skewed more toward shades of red, Nicoll showed several options in blue, as well as red.

As a whole, velvet hasn't had much of a presence on the runway in the past few seasons. Aside from Tom Ford's infamous velvet blazers, which he reintroduced for his farewell collection at Gucci, I cannot recall such a major moment for the fabric. It'll be interesting to see how many more designers put their spin on the fabric of the moment.

Photos from Style.com

NYFW Rages On

...the weather has been pretty atrocious, to say the least. Busy, busy, busy is the best way to describe this week. However, more updates to come next week...

Model Citizens

WHO: Models

WHAT: Potential Supermodels

WHEN: Fashion Week, Life

WEAR: Something that expresses your own style

WHY: I look back at images of fashion shows from the 80's as well as when I was first starting to truly get into fashion, around the late 90's and cannot help but make comparisons to the fashion shows of today. One of the most obvious things missing from today's catwalks are models with personality. With the exception of a few top girls, the majority of the girls on the runway are quite interchangeable. According to Donatella Versace, "There is an idea of neutrality in models now. Little make-up, no expression, like a robot ... That is very stupid. It is almost as if the models have to have the appearance of something serious, to give an intellectual base, but they themselves are rarely like that." It often becomes hard to match a name with a face or even a with "signature" walk. It seems that girls like Naomi, Amber, Linda, and Christy do not exist anymore. Those girls, amongst many others (Kirsty, Gisele, Kristen to name a few) had distinct looks as well as walks that could only belong to them.

These girls also had attitude, onstage and off. Versace recalls a time girls would fight backstage. "One day they had a fight about roots. Kristen [McMenamy] had arrived with black roots in blonde hair, and Linda [Evangelista] arrived with black roots in blonde hair; and both of them went mad, both saying they were first. Really, that is a big thing for models — roots! They were calling the hairdresser in New York, the colourist in New York, and I was called on as a witness to say who was the first to do black roots in blonde hair. At the time Steven Miesel [sic] was really inventing the look of the girls in this way, so I knew who was first: Kristen." Girls just don't get heated over things like this these days, sigh.

Hopefully there is a return to booking girls that have a real personality that shines through on the runway, but doesn't necessarily distract from the clothes. Here's hoping.

The Independent: Donatella Versace: 'I'm not a believer in the natural look'

Dragonette: Currently Listening

WHO: Dragonette: Pick Up the Phone

WHAT: Michael Van She Remix

WHEN: February 6, 2010

WEAR: Something you can dance in

WHY: This is the song I want to move to the next time I hit the dance floor

The Calm Before the Storm

NY Fashion Week is just a week away...staying busy, busy, busy...

...Stay tuned...

PHI Closing Sale

WHO: Andreas Melbostad

WHAT: Closing Sale

WHEN: Thru February 7, 2010

WEAR: PHI

WHY: Reductions of up to 90% off merchandise from the Fall 2009 season as well as past seasons. It's a shame that the label is closing, but if you are in NY, it is definitely a trip worth making. Run, don't walk.

Photos from Style.com