London Fall / Winter 2006 Wrapup I

It's not until I saw the London collections that I am reminded fashion is just as much of an art form as a business. Indeed, London shows are marked by their creative crafts, although some of them are somewhat impractical, (which could explain why the most brands don't grow huge.) But still, it's always inspiring to look at these shows:

Julien MacDonald
Everyone who is in anyway in touch with the fashion and gossip world will know of Peta dumping flour all over Paris Hilton and Julien MacDonald before even looking at the show's photos. So not suprisingly, there were a lot of serious fur on MacDonald's catwalk. Regardless, the show was one of London's bests, and one of the few glamourous English collections. A lot of wearable and gorgeous coats and dresses -all worn in a fabulous, sexy but typically British-imperfect way (as opposed to New York's perfectionist fits). I am no fan of Paris, but it is her who really made MacDonald's dresses come to life -a rare plus for Paris these days.

Preen
Ever since noticing them in the SS06 shows, I have been hooked. In my mind, Preen is sophisticatedly carefree, which may seem impossible but Preen has managed to once again awe it's audiences. All the outfits were monocolored. The color palette was very logical: progressing from white, silver to grey, a sudden splash of red, then to dark grey and black. The design? Preen used a lot of constrast of shapes, such as strict geometric shapes on top and softer bubbly shapes at the bottom. In the end, it's those two words again, sophisticatedly carefree. It's what the cool waif girls would throw on effortlessly but still look amazing.

Issa
On first glance, Issa is frankly a bit overwhelming, visually speaking. In the past, I would have brushed Issa as another one of those overly impractical British brands, but after seeing Issa dresses on the racks in Selfridges I was proved wrong. The key is to learn to look past all the fur and decorations on the models and concentrate on the dresses alone. Look carefully and you'll see a hint of Diane von Furstenburg here (great wrap dresses), and Cacheral there (African theme). The dresses are all fantasically colorful and the prints are made to flatter the blody. All in all, Issa pieces are unique and def worth the second glance.

Paul Smith Women
Named 'Men Only', the show was true to it's theme. There were a lot of gentlemen-looking outfits, in ladies' sizes of course. There was the occasional skirts and dresses, esp towards the end of the show, but this show was all about the stylish, smart (as exemplified by the glasses) woman. And while all this looked terrifically cool on the models on the catwalk, it is near impossible for normal women like us to wear this and not look sloppy.