Paris Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2010: Pt 1 - Dries Van Noten Je T'aime!

Fashion weeks must seem like revolving doors to fashionistas! With London Fashion Week just recently finished, it is now onto the last leg: Paris Fashion Week - the Crème de la Crème. So with that in mind, I thought I'd start with my favourite designer, not only does he and his collection deserve a post on its own, it was very hard to try to edit the collection here:

Dries Van Noten

Dries combined military inspiration (in the form of army-green cotton) and menswear tailoring with 1940s/50s haute couture (Christian Dior's 'New Look') hand-painted, floral silk for a brilliant 'I want one of everything' collection complete with sweatshirting thrown in for good measure.

Most of his looks had a casual-dressy vibe to them, as if these were just fashionistas walking down the streets of Paris and 'just threw this on'...In almost every outfit, there was a juxtaposition of something dressy with something casual.

Military shirts, in khaki, were worn with extravagant, full, skirts just covering the knee, hand-painted in shocking pink and violet over floral prints, with rustling petticoats underneath. Grey sweatshirt top worn with a rich brocade skirt, one of my favourite looks - every piece was integrated in a simple, wearable way:

all pics from style.com

Milan Fashion Autumn/Winter 2010 Pt 3: Aquilano.Rimondi, Maurizio Pecoraro, Gabriele Colangelo

Aquilano.Rimondi

I have been eagerly waiting to see what Aquilano.Rimondi would be showing next, since their Milan FW SS'10 collection, which I absolutely adored. The duo did not forsake the embellished look that's become their signature, but adapted it to stay current, as wearable daywear. The palette was soft: dusty pink, gray-blue, violet, peachy ivory (nudes were quite prevalent at Milan Fashion Week AW'10). They paired snug cabled cashmere sweaters with be-feathered pencil skirts or low-slung handmade tweed trousers. They frayed the edges of their tweed skirtsuits and coats and studded the shoulders with smatterings of crystals. The effect was still rich, but a much more subtle than last season, including a pair of gorgeous nude wool crepe sheaths, elegantly unadorned but for a floppy bow at the hip or neckline. Mostly, the silhouette was close to the body and ultra-streamlined.

Maurizio Pecoraro

Maurizio Pecoraro also had the dusty pales seemed to be the theme on the Fall runways. Lush fabrics and beautiful tailoring was also on show:

Gabriele Colangelo

Gabriele Colangelo is a relative newcomer, who debuted in February 2008, and whose first passion is fabric, focusing his attention on it as well as on new techniques. His AW'10 collection had a coolly elegant color palette of grays, beiges, and icy whites, and provided a starting point for his deeply tactile materials, which were inspired by an idea of erosion and rocks. Among them: the richly textured, fissured wool he used for the opening leather-belted wrap coat; the chiffon trapped between double layers of organza that became a softly draped shift; and the charcoal flannel he twisted and tucked to evoke swirls of marble on an otherwise simple dress. Loved the outerwear once again, as well as his entire collection, and will definitely be keeping an eye on his work to come.







all pics from style.com