Balmain Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

Many of us must have thought it would be time for Balmain to say goodbye to the emphasized shoulders. But just when we thought there couldn’t possibly be any more variations to his pointy shoulders and military influences, Christophe Decarnin impressed us with his glittery, sexy, shoulder-emphasized dresses and military jackets.

The dresses were short and came in gold with black or purple. They had some Baroque-inspired floral patterns on them, made from shiny sequins. We loved the dresses and the whole eighties vibe around them, including Prince’s song ‘Let’s get crazy’, which actually proved to be a good catwalk song.

The pointy shoulders seemed to look the best on the short snappy dresses and on some slim cut jackets. We just didn’t get the same glam rock vibe from the three long dresses. But we suppose they had to represent the small ‘winter part’ of the collection, together with a few tight shiny pantsuits.

Apart from the glitters, the gold and the black Decarnin’s designs were colored purple. The color popped up two or three times: on a fur coat, a dress and a tight velvet jacket.

We can not say this Balmain collection was very renewing but it surely had some amazing success-items in it that will keep the sales as sky-high as they’ve become since Decarnin got involved. Never change a winning look?!

Balenciaga Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

The Balenciaga collection we saw today may not have been the most wearable one. Yet we must give Ghesquière some credits for the experimenting he did.

His computer-age inspired clothes were rounded and stiff at the same time. The padded architectural coats added a lot of volume to the collection, especially the ones with the wings on the back. Different materials altered each other in the designs like patchworks. Some were shiny other matte. The skirts were short, the pants tight.

Some outfits looked familiar, but they were always different from what Ghesquière’s has done before. For example the clothes with the colored stripes (pale blue, tangerine, brown, and aqua) showed some resemblance to Balenciaga’s last show. Only this time the colors were less bright (more pastel) than the ones Patricia van der Vliet and Mirte Maas wore in the ad for Balenciaga’s summer campaign. (The two Dutch girls did walk in today’s show, by the way.)

We thought the coats with wings on the back and the dresses with the multi-font slogans were very renewing and fit in with the scientific, computer- age collection just fine. It is with such pieces that Ghesquière’s showed how a designer can push his fashion boundaries while staying true to the values of his brand.

Gareth Pugh Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

Gareth Pugh may have used a softer approach for his fall/winter collection, his models – with black sprayed foreheads – looked as Gothic as they ever did. They wore heavy, stiff, leather designs and some transparent pieces. Many clothes were pointy to the sides and a lot of the fabrics had frayed ends.

Strong were the women on the runway, dressed in Pugh’s long silhouette accentuating pieces. They looked quite the opposite of some of the male models, who were dressed in tight pants and a rigging or a tank top.

Many of the clothes touched the floor as the models walked the runway. Especially the wide legged male pants were floor-sweeping.

A lot of attention went out to the collars of the designs. They came in many variations (pointed, standing, folded) and looked out of the ordinary.

The show pieces in Pugh’s finale must have weighed a few pounds extra while they had lots of gray chains attached to them. We didn’t immediately jump off our seats when we saw those, but they sure fit perfectly with the Gothic feeling of the show.

Rochas Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

The Goldie Hawn movie ‘Cactus Flower’ from 1969 was the inspiration for Marco Zaninin’s third collection for Rochas. And so we could tell. Most of the outfits could have come straight from Goldie’s wardrobe for that movie..

The clothes were colorful, very retro and as Zanini put it himself: ‘smiley and joyful’. Every look, with unexpected combinations of shades and fabrics, made us more excited.  And suddenly a turquoise skirt, a yellow lace top, a gray coat, a purple ribbon bow and deep red gloves didn’t look all that bad together. Woolen cardigans with elbow patches formed a good mix with small belts and long gloves as well.

Everything had a great sixties/seventies vibe:

The golden lame, used for some pants, dresses, skirts and tunics.
The pink, brown and beige color combinations.
The ruffled collars and wide sleeves.
The metallic fabrics.
The pant suits
The tunics
The cropped pants.
And not to mention the model’s big hairdo’s!

This Rochas collection might have been very diverse, yet Zanini’s craftsmanship held all pieces together perfectly.

Streetfashion Paris FW2010 Day 1

What are you wearing during the coming fashionweeks? Your Balenciaga-heels, your latest Marni-dress or that vintage YSL? Maybe we’ll spot you in Paris, Milan, New York or Amsterdam. During the fashionweeks we refresh our streetwear posts regularly. We don’t judge, we’re not the fashion-police, we just enjoy fashion and your own personal style. Next stop: Paris.

Dries van Noten Catwalk Fashion Show Paris FW2010

It was a different setting and a different collection at Dries van Noten. Especially after his colorful mix & match of east & west this spring, and the show he held in an empty and  stripped bank. His casual/elegant fall/winter collection was presented in one of the gilded salons of the Hotel de Ville. Malcolm Mclaren did the soundtrack: sweet and classical with angry singing.

Army green became elegant and feminine when used in tailored skirts, pants and sleeveless trench-like coats. Gray popped up in tailored jackets, big sweaters and dresses. The hourglass silhouette was also present here, thanks to the  full skirts.

The realist floral prints (in red, blue and green), men’s inspired jackets and animal prints gave it just that rebel feeling. But also because it looked like these women just put their outfit together without thinking too much about the effect and result. This was how they felt and how sthey wanted to look.

Beautiful. Casual. Sensual. Original. Femine.

Next stop: Paris Fashion Week fw 2010

Versus Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

Skirts like cupcakes, that’s the best way to describe the stiff  pleated miniskirts Christopher Kane created for his second Versus-collection. It is amazing to see how well the British designer is reviving Gianni Versace’s heyday style. The young, strong but sexy look is still there, but the styling, colors and textiles are modern and very now.

Dresses had that slightly fetish look, but the skirts were playful mixed with T-shirts printed with old Bruce Weber for Versace photos and fluffy cardigans. Colors moved from peacock blue and plum to red, navy and black.

Roberto Cavalli Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

It was a every inch a very decadent show at Roberto Cavalli. But decadency is part of the house’s dna. And like more designers in Milan, Cavalli celebrated his roots (he’s 40 years in business no, and yes the guy is 70) and went back to the early days when he was designing for the happy, hippie few.

Cavalli’s fw2010 collection was  shaped around the rich hippie, bohemian look of his early days in the seventies. Lots of harem pants, draped dresses in tulle, long floorsweeping dresses, brocaded military coats, jackets in studded leather, faded animal-prints and embroideries all over. Colors were dark and rich (black, white, gray, red), the styling was mix & match.

Missoni Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2010

Again Angela Missoni presented a collection full of lusciously layers, this time – according to the shownotes- inspired by ‘Africa meets Scotland, folk meets punk’ .

It was a cocktail of patchwork skirts, tweed shorts, cropped sweaters draped at the back, thick pullovers and wrap-coats. Cozy tartans met tribal patterned knits, here and there deconstrcuted and accessorized to Masai effect.

Colors were wonderful, different tones of brown, black and gray met with more brighter colors as lightblue, red and green. Silver and metallics added some light and glamor. Shoes were in matching fabrics and colors.

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