Fashion Month Quick Recap: I'm More Minimal Basic Than I Thought

It's funny. In season's past I gravitate towards the bold prints of Kenzo or the avante garde of Comme des Garcons. This time around I was all about the tailoring, layering, and the luxurious staples to add to a women's wardrobe for season's to come rather than the here-today-gone-tomorrow pieces. And if this winter has taught me anything, it's that its too long and I'm not dressed warm enough half the time. So designers embracing the practicality of fashion and offering us oversized sweaters, long jackets, and layered looks excites the hell out of me! Here were some of my favorite collections from all four cities.

Balengiaca

Chloe

Max Mara

Jil Sander

Isabel Marant

Damir Doma

Sacai

Proenza Schouler

Issa

Salvatore Ferragamo 

Kenzo

May The Fashion Be With You

Last year I blogged about Balenciaga's Darth Vader inspired hats and YSL's Anikan inspired looks. I was somewhat shocked that the 1970s trilogy resonated so well with the fashion industry. Sci-fi geeks and fashion mavens don't usually go hand-in-hand (although I'm both a Star Wars freak and a lover of fashion.) So, you wouldn't believe how thrilled I was to see Rodarte's Star War inspired dresses on the runway for F/W 2014. A little random, but it made a bit of sense with the hype of Star Wars VII in the works. Then, fashion week flew to London and Preen came along. With kaleidoscopic prints and over-sized jackets the collection was edge and forward.  Then came Darth Vader blouses and dresses down the runway. Another salute to the epic trilogy.

Fashion has always found inspiration in film or in the past popular culture, but the inspiration comes with subtly.  But the literal interpretation of Star Wars on the runway is as fresh and blunt as Givenchy's Rottweiler and Bambi tees and sweatshirts.

Think Pink

The runway shows spit out many trends back in September. One of the clearest was the use of pastels- blush and bubble gum pink, lavender, and powder blue. Not a revelation to show pastels for spring, but the return to ultra feminine looks and softer polished ensembles caught on in both London and Paris. You already see the racks of Topshop and Zara lined with full skirts, pencil skirts, and crop tops in all the on trend colors.

Earrings: Anthropologie: Bag: Valentino: Suit: 3.1 Philip Lim, Top: Acne, : Shoes Bionda Castana

Top: Topshop, Skirt: Topshop, Necklace: Zara, Sunglasses: Karen Walker, Shoes: Sophia Webster, Bag: Edie Parker, Ring: Jennie Wkon Designs

Giambattista Valli Spring 2014 Haute Couture

The ladylike ultra-feminine runway show of Giambattista Valli was a breathe of fresh air from the looks we were seeing for Spring 2014. Minimalism, sporty, white out dominated the runway shows, but Valli's quaint collection of rose pink, soft mint, and embroidered florals transported this current collection into yesteryear. In particular, 1954, to Givenchy's famous Sabrina gown. The collection remained modern by incorporating lime and electric blue into the mix. I'd be surprised if we didn't see one of his dresses on Oscar night. 

Angelina's Oscar Moment Lives On: The Slit

We usually associate showing lots of skin with the season of summer, but this fall bearing skin lives on.  

Trend Spotting: The New Peplum

The peplum has taken over our summer wardrobes! And for those of us without hips, peplums provide us with an illusion of having the curves of a woman. Designers this fall have innovated the peplum by subtracting that extra flap of fabric. Viola, the patted hip. Designers have structured the fabric and seams to form an hour glass shape before it even hits your body!

Roberto Cavalli

Although we are in the midst of fashion's best week, PFW, I'm going to back track to one last collection Milan that blew my socks off.

PETA advocates beware: the fashion you may see features an exuberant amount of furs and animal skin!

In times of such a financial contraction it's fun to be reminded of the luxurious things that no longer fit in our budgets. But I'm reminded of the saying "It's better to have loved and loss, than to have never loved at all. And that's how I feel about fashion, although it's not like I could once afford Roberto Cavalli and now I can't. Anyway...

If there's one thing thats great about Cavalli it's his passion for putting out fashion that's fun and if that meant it gets a little over-the-top, a little extravagant, and a tad bit excessive, than so be it.

This fall season he took to animals because if we know one thing its that Roberto Cavalli likes to release the animal within.  Weather you're a prowling feline, an audacious aligator, a slithering snake, a sly fox, or a mermaid (cue to that peplum dress with a mermaid tail made of sequins that mimic a fish scale) Cavalli has the look for you.

Gucci

The design house known for being overtly sexy toned it down a notch by giving us a dark glamor-themed collection that was still whimsical and romantic. It seemed to celebrate the inner sexiness of a woman instead. With a color scheme of dark rich colors of plum, midnight green, and jet black and a collection of sheer dresses and evening gowns there was a further sense of hard-edge sexiness.  But it was that lush velvet that was incorporated into the majority of the look that was the real wow factor (well that and those last six dresses of the collection). The opening look, which is shown to the far left epitomized Frida Giannini's Fall Collection. The plushness of the full-length skirt with the masculinity of the over-sized military jacket just encapsulated the sexy confidence of the entire collection. And although the fashion reviews state that Giannini stayed away from Gucci's 1990s overt sex appeal, I think there is still an ode to the 1990s in that velvet full-length skirt. I can count on both my hands how many of velvet skirts I had in my closet. It seems that now, fifteen years later, the difference is that I want to wear a velvet skirt. 

On a side note: the make up was also phenomenal. Plum-stained lips and pale skin have me embracing my tan-less body in the dead of winter. And those circular sunglasses that the first model wore down the runway are officially on my wishlist for summer shades that I must own. 

And the shoes of look two are just what my closet use for next fall.

The Blue Bottom

I did not see this coming. Did you? I usually associate powder blue with spring, but obviously I am thinking too narrowly.  Yigal Azrouel makes me want to invest in a pair of powder blue wool pants.

From Left to Right: Oscar de la Renta, Yigal Azrouel,  Matthew Williamson & Acne. Lets see if Milan or Paris put any light blue down the runway.