Fashion Week wouldn’t be complete without a review of one of my favorite design houses right now. Alber Elbaz closed Paris Fashion Week with the most amazing collection of all the shows, not to mention Lanvin yet. Elbaz keeps outdoing himself and it makes me excited to see what he does for fall. I digress. This show could quite possibly [...]

Yves Saint Laurent is kind of like the French—either you love them or you don’t. Some need something a bit flashier and others look for something more minimalist. But there seems to be something for everyone in YSL’s spring ’08 collection. Most striking is the way Pilati was able to blend the classic pieces we’ve come to adore: vests, jackets, [...]

I could emphasize the floral elements of Stella McCartney’s spring ’08 collection but that would somehow be missing the point. While her colleagues in Milan and Paris (but especially Milan) were infatuated by the dramatic colors and flashy Mediterranean hues McCartney took a simpler but much more seasonal and savvy approach. Charming and hopeful her palette was clean– sea blues, [...]

Dries van Noten’s elegant and easy spring ’08 collection brings to mind yet another reason why I am a fashion editor and not a fashion designer. It takes patience, education and an incredible attention to color, texture and shape to mix and match these patterns without looking like your dressing a granny from Miami. Rich colors and soft silhouettes are [...]

Don’t mistake them for mere polka dots. These are circles; large circles, three-dimensional circles, grommet-lined circles, and even sheer circles. Above all, they are weighted circles– even when embellished on fabrics other than the heavy leather jacket. And oddly enough it’s the layered and perhaps even sculpted lines and edges of asymmetrical skirts, jackets and shirts that seem light, maybe [...]

What will we do without Valentino at the helm? His spring ’08 collection, and his final show, left us all just a little sad despite the brilliant colors– everything from vibrant pinks and violets to pastels to black and white, yellow, red and white checks and turquoise. Using his typical gesture to the strong, confident woman (not afraid of her [...]

This is one of the best collections to hit the runway by far. Lacroix manages to stay interesting and alluring without pandering to some uber-trend, showing a ton of skin or by going for celebrity model "guests" clomping down the runway. Instead the house relies on its innate ability to capture the essence of Paris in the springtime– filled with [...]

One can easily image Karla Lagerfield (the lady version of Mr. Lagerfield) wearing the ensembles from his spring ’08 collection. Per usual, there is something just a bit mysterious and haunting about each piece but what strikes the viewer is the way he understands how sheer fabric is more that just something that helps the wearer float down the runway. [...]

Viktor & Rolf Spring Summer Collection 2008Uploaded by BloGraphiC

Come on, you couldn’t buy a better metaphor. You know, modern women as pirates out and conquering the world until they walk the plank and take the final plunge into marriage. Or maybe it was a commentary on all the fashion pirates out there– the Forever 21s and the other teen garbage galleries that rip off designers and consumers with [...]