Will be Searing You Soon

Most of you know the deal that I'm not an articulate show reviewer.  I'll leave that to Mower/Blanks/Fury et co… what I do know is that from practically every show/presentation I've seen over the past week (40+), I'll take a little something, and it will be lodged and seared onto my brain either for selfish consumerist purposes or for the gooood of the development of the season (actually, it's pretty much 90% the former reason).  I may revisit shows/presentations in full once when I'm not doing the three hour sleep thing (let's play a game where we monitor the bags under my eyes growing darker and bigger over the next three weeks).  These things need to be talked up lest the searing process into my brain wears off and that I end up forgetting any of these things here…

– The chopped/cropped proportions at *gasp* Alexander Wang.  No, that's not a gasp because it's so surprising that Wang has cropped/chopped up some pinstripe to put a minxy spin on Savile Row tailoring.  That's a gasp for the fact that… I kinda, really err… well and truly… hearted the whole show in its entirety.  Which would be a first I might add.

(Photography by Morgan O'Donovan)

– The fact that Vena Cava teamed up with London jewellery label Mawi to accessorise their A/W 10-11 collection.  The metal chain/cog pieces somehow fit in with the dramatic ensembles that for some reason remind me of Tina Chow.

– The one good thing about a cack/cracked/scratched CD?  It's still quite pretty when light is bouncing off it and Risto's shirt here recognised that.

– Patrik Ervell's latex rainwear and these matching parka and rucksack combos make me very very very grateful for grey, dreary beaches…

(Photography of Vena Cava, Risto and Patrik Ervell by Shawn Brackbill)

– A cheeky little slit in Raphael Young's shoes for Frank Tell.  I say cheeky because it's quick ickle and very slitty, if you know what I mean.  

– You'll probably say these Ohne Titel mesh panelled leggings remind you of x/y/z designer.  That said I'm still in awe of how many sections they've crammed into this one pair of leggings and let's face it, where EGG-citing legwear is involved, I'm not really going to be shying away.  

Dunhill FLINT glasses from the S/S 10 collection at the week-long Dunhill exhibition in the Meatpacking district.  Ok, maybe they're not ACTUALLY made of flint but realistic looking flint is no bad thing either.

– Now would these Boy by Band of Outsiders shoes prevent me from slipping on ice and falling on my arse?  Not that I *cough* did at all this week… no, not at all.  I did NOT completely embarrass myself outside Mac Milk studios by tumbling in front of some builders, models and possibly some editors too.  No no, not me…

–  And would these Band of Outsiders nubbly, fuzzy and fleecey trousers keep my legs from going all pimply and goose-bumpey.  Attractive stuff here…
 

– Not entirely sure how Gary Graham mixed tapestry, print, knit, plaid and jacquard all into one but it was all very fascinating as I snapped the backside of this model…

– The best way for preventing pants falling down (a problem for me at the mo as for some reason, a chunk of me has gone away somewhere…) – a satisfyingly FAT and CHUNKY leather rope belt at Thakoon.

– I really tried very hard getting a good picture of the pom pom cape at Thakoon.  Just because poms poms at a show where seeeeerious people are umming and aaahing about cut etc lightens the mood and because Thakoon managed to make them quite refined.

– Changing the Guard is ten times more fun on a a shrunken blazer and matching skirt. Trust Peter Jensen to line the guards up, see a pattern and very nearly fool me into thinking that in the distant, it is just another geometric print.  

(Photographs of all the above from Frank Tell onwards taken on my crappy camera)

– My coat rail has very nearly bent into a near-U shape and the rack on the door is threatening to come tumbling down but a 3.1 Phillip Lim camel coat trimmed with leather surely won't hurt.

– Oh and this Phillip Lim plaid suit from his stunning menswear collection SURELY can't be restricted to boys only? 

– The nubbly chunky knitted stuff was everywhere at the shows but the examples that stayed with me the most were these knits by Cushnie et Ochs shown at the beginning of the week.

– At the Michael Angel show, I think I very nearly grabbed hold of the hem of this jacket whilst it was on the runway just so I could find out what the heck this stuff was – black lace vinyl, it turns out.  Michael and I squealed over it backstage and whilst I'm all for balance and restraint, I say, a whole collection filled with this stuff wouldn't be completely bonkers.

– This is one of those things where you see the top half, scroll down and then get a wee surprise.  Preen's chopped up polo necks, revealing flesh where needed, ultimately prevented the sheer lace and bare cleavage in the dresses from looking overly sexy.    

– There weren't too many shows with POPPING colour.  These Lacoste heeled loafers of course go into the Noddy pile. 

– I know about ten people came up to the Mulleavy sisters after the A/W 10-11 show saying "So I'm getting married…" or "I think I need to get married…" and whilst I'm by no means a bridezilla or in fact an bride-to-be (this ISN'T a desperado singleton hint by the way, Bridget Jones-femme tactics are not my game at all…), I did wistfully think for a nanosecond how lovely it would be to walk down the non-existent aisle in these…

– Actually, I was going to wax lyrical in lengths about the Marc Jacobs show, taking that obvious route and adding more talk to the most-talked-about-New-York-show.  I still haven't decided what to do with the bubbling of thoughts about this mood-shifting show but I will say that when Marc Jacobs and Robert Duffy came out tearing down the brown paper from this giant frame holding the 56 looks, and Somewhere Over the Rainbow swelled up, I may have actually welled up… 

Swell and Well!

(Photography from Phillip Lim onwards by Mark Reay)

All images by Mark Reay and Shawn Brackbill for Dazed Digital)