Junya Watanabe, SS12, Paris.
The Japanese designers seem to have a way of conjuring up new fantasy headwear each season and pairing it with delicate models and deadpan facial expressions. This season was no exception with Junya Watanabe displaying feather hair sculptures with flashes of unusual tones and hues to offset the floral repeats that embellished the garments.
Danielle Scutt, SS12, London.
There was an interesting mix of high end / lo-fi street references in the recent Danielle Scutt collection for Spring-Summer 2012. On the one hand there was a certain youthful quality to the vibrant polka dots and disjointed checks and on the other hand this was balanced out by the more conservative monochrome tailoring.
Valentino, Couture, SS12, Paris.
There are some designers who can take an idea or a technique that has been used time and time again, and can bring their own freshness to them to use the techniques in new and beautiful ways. Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli, as the creative directors at Valentino, are finding ever more intricate ways to work with lace, and lace-like effects to build ethereal collections.
Miu Miu, SS12, Paris.
In the past few seasons there have been some great examples of designers taking fairly old-fashioned and dated techniques and using them in the context of more contemporary collections. In the recent Spring-Summer 2012 collection for Miu Miu Miuccia Prada has reworked the smocking technique on cotton and satin dresses and capes and even extended the technique into the embellishment on hand bags.
Jil Sander, SS12, Milan.
There is a discipline that has crept into the most influential womenswear collections over the last couple of seasons that breathes of minimal, understated elegance and is built on a foundation of retro silhouettes.
Giles, SS12, London.
Lasercutting fabrics and leather is a clever technique that can be used to create lace-like effects out of more solid base cloths. The effect of laser cutting fabric completely changes the drape of the fabric, in the same way that a fabric with a wider looser weave is more fluid, so too is lasercut fabric effected in a similar way.
Prada, SS12, Milan.
Miuccia Prada has a knack for combining disparate elements to create collections that are filled with a playful variety of textures, techniques and colours. While the overall mood of a Prada collection can come across as naive and whimsical, the approach to the design of the collection is obviously anything but flippant.
Lanvin, Kidswear, Pre SS12.
Hidden at the back of the images of the Lanvin Pre-Collection for Spring-Summer 2012, are a bunch of gorgeous kids playing dress-up in Lanvin finery. The fun thing about these images is how natural the kids look, a little wild eyed and scruffy as though they’ve been rummaging in a dress-up box, and not coiffed to within an inch of their lives. It’s ironic that these young stars can capture the cheekiness and movement of the Lanvin clothes just as well as the adult professionals. Perhaps there’ll be room for a reunion photoshoot in 10 years time.
Pam Hogg, AW11, London.
The Autumn-Winter 2011 collection by Pam Hogg had a darkly whimsical quality to it, combining disparate elements to create catwalk characters. On the one hand there were dresses, coats and panelled bodysuits out of black leather with buckles and belts fastening the garments closed across the body. Then the bodysuits appeared again but this time in multicoloured woodgrain prints that were shown in many variations, almost as though it was an experiment in how the woodgrain texture and panel shapes could be used to create movement and effect proprotions across the curves of the body.
Missoni, AW11, Milan.
There are some catwalk shows that are almost blinding in the designers use of colours, textures, patterns and layers of garments. Missoni is definitely one such show which can become almost overwhelming in the sheer magnitude of pieces and individual ideas that are on display.
Giambattista Valli, Couture, AW11, Paris.
The debut couture collection by Giambattista Valli for Autumn Winter 2011 was filled with couture’s greatest hits, from graphic black and white colour schemes in sculpted and embellished dresses to sweeping gowns in scarlet chiffon.
Yves Saint Laurent, Menswear, SS12, Paris.
The images above and below from the Spring-Summer 2012 Menswear show from the team at Yves Saint Laurent, are an elegant example of how to use fastenings as a functional and decorative menswear element. The use of button extensions on collars both enhanced the collar shape to make it more unusual and could also be used to create a high collar by buttoning to the underside of the top collar on the opposite side. The minimal colour palette also allowed space for more complex closures to be created out of a combination of zips, button tabs, loops and D-rings. Perhaps the most surprising element was in the use of the lacing and eyelets which threw a corset reference in amongst the very military / uniform inspired pieces.
Alexander McQueen, AW10, Paris.
For many who knew or worked with Alexander McQueen, or for those many people who admired the work of Alexander McQueen, the pieces from his final collection must carry with them an incredible sense of sadness and devastation. Not only because they were the final pieces that he was working on up until his death, but also because they are so exquisite.
Vivienne Westwood Red Label, AW11 and Bas Kosters, AW11.
The smudged up make-up used in the Autumn-Winter 2011 collections by Vivienne Westwood and Bas Kosters had a painterly, impressionistic quality that used vibrant smudges of colours to contort the models features.
Gaia, SS12, Copenhagen.
While the deconstruction of the white shirt had become a perennial fashion favourite, it is the blue shirt that Gaia has used as a focal garment for her Spring Summer 2012 collection. The shirt shapes and oversized gowns provide a soft and serene backdrop for soft mid-tone prints and knitwear with a naive charm.
