Alberta Ferretti Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2012

Alberta Ferretti surprised most of the audience with a dark collection, dark in color and atmosphere. It was a relatively restricted, severe silhouette and moodier color-palette – but still pretty. To fashion-reporters Alberta Ferretti explained she wanted a wardrobe for a strong, modern woman who has to keep up with today’s challenges. Well, all she needs is a sharp coat, a chunky knit and a multi–functional dress or skirt with chiffon top. Black, purple and blue were the main colors with some hues of white, orange and gray. Evening-wear followed the line of the body in anatomical seams.

Max Mara Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2012

Bauhaus architecture and the movies of Fritz Lang were inspirations for MaxMara’s clean shapes accentuated by a single sharp detail or contrast, like a wool coat with a skirt of shaven fur or wool jersey tops banded in crocodile-print leather. There were also wool dresses and jackets with draped backs that reminded of  a classic couture shape, and a revival of the jumpsuit, now looking like a short  wool jacket with slim trousers. Sometimes it had a  naval character with the navy blue coats, breton-striped shirts and wide pants. And not only the navy went through the collection, also trher military influences.

N21 Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2012

That was quite a style-icon Alessandro dell’ Aqua took as an inspiration for his fall-collection: Queen Elizabeth. Especially how the queen dresses in her private life.  The designer played with a masculine-feminine theme, using mannish fabrics like tweed, which he softened with ultrafeminine details. These looks included a tweed minidress with an organza overlay and an apronlike dress in the same fabric with a subtle lace hem, or a macramé top tucked into a jeweled skirt.

Gucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan FW2012

In a palette of purple, navy, forest green, dark brown and black Frida Giannini presented a dark, romantic Gucci collection. She called it modern day romanticism, wit a touch of military, dandy and elegance. There were flat heeled riding boots, wide cut, cropped jackets with gold buttons and softly belted velvet smoking jackets. There was more velvet in the appliqué flowers on translucent chiffon and lace blouses. Skirts had a split in the back, riding trousers flounced wide over each thigh and the full lengtht column dresses were shiny and glittering. Giannini focused on day clothes worn in texturally intense layerings. It sometimes reminded of good old Yves St. Laurent.

The evening-gowns were spectacular, and aimed at the coming next Oscar red-carpet moment.

Prabal Gurung Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2012

In Prabal Gurung’s fall collection Hell and Heaven came together, starting off with all black, followed by a blue period, and culminating in a finale of gold and ivory.  To the press the designer talked about his own spiritual quest, about embracing both the dark and the light within.
The show went from dark to light, beginning with all-black looks on brunette/black models, then a blue section on girls with light brown hair, followed by the ivory and gold finale shown on blondes. With this collection Gurung moved away from the ladyfied looks that got him noticed in the first place.

A sense of precision was revealed in well-defined lines: sculpted coats, tunics and sexy bootleg trousers; a black neoprene dress with sheer tulle inserts at the waist and neck accessorized with a patent-leather spine harness. Bold variations on spring’s Rorschach-like prints turned up, as did the flounced-skirt silhouette.

Peter Som Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2012

There was a lot of peplum-stuff going on at Peter Som. With this major seasonal trend Som payed homage to Hollywood icons like Marlene Dietrich and Katherine Hepburn. The designer was also inspired by the industrial shapes of 20th century sculptors Chamberlain and Brancusi. Stiff fabrics added an architectural element to the clothes. The designer explored just about every use of the peplum from skirt-like overlays on top of narrow trousers to a frill on the rear of a beautiful, leather burgundy pencil skirt to a long, flowing floor-length chiffon train on a black nylon organza dress. Prints were almost absent, but the colors were interesting: bottle green, burgundy, muddy brown and flashes of neon pink.

Doo.Ri Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2012

From the first model that stepped at the catwalk at Doo.Ri it was obvious the collection was influenced by modern dance. The washed out faces, the slicked-back buns with headbands and the jersey draping. And hey, draping seems to be the strongest point of designer Doo-Ri Chung – so there was much to enjoy. From the twist-top blouses and dresses,  high necks, and ink-blue wrap dresses with a twist top. The most interesting idea was to create jackets and coats that looked like two overlapping garments. Colors were like poetry: the tonal combinations of pale pink and shades of brown and eggplant looked fresh.

Jason Wu Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2012

For the first time Jason Wu took his heritage – Asia – as a theme for his collection. Fall 2012 is all about Mao meets the Qing dynasty and Shanghai Express. Luckily no cliche-clothes, but a savvy and sophisticated collection. A belted, army green puffy jacket was quilted at the shoulders with a black lace overlay everywhere else except the big military pockets. Opulent embroideries, fur sleeves and collars gave the sharp tailoring a regal air. Variations on the cheongsam dress were beautiful precision-cut sheaths, some with alluring keyhole necklines, others with lavish embroideries. For evening, Wu recharged a Golden Age glamour silhouette with a strong shoulder, high neck and lean skirt that draped around the body with a dramatic slit.

Back in the Big Apple

We’re back in the Big Apple, ready for a brand new season of fashionshows. Already fall winter 2012/2013. Expect daily updates on shows and streetwear.

Gestuz Catwalk Fashion Show Amsterdam FW2012

Minimal meets French rock ‘n roll’, according to designer Arina Woron and CEO  Sanne Nielsen that’s the way to describe the fall collection of Danish label Gestuz best. The collection called ‘through rocks and waves’ shows nature around the Danish costal scenery in it’s most rough but elegant way.  The inspiration for the theme came from the work of Kirsten Klein, a Danish photographer who makes pictures of nature. ‘We wanted to show raw nature, old and destroyed. As a starting point we took little pieces of different photo’s from Kirsten and put them together to make it one.’ The actual result you see in the print dresses and shirts.

And not only the prints reflect the theme perfectly, it’s also the use of fabrics like lace, wool, silk and leather, which made some interesting combinations.  Like a cotton lace maxi-dress combined with a leather jacket, biker trousers with a casual denim blouse or a sequin dress. ‘We really played with soft and rough elements and combined them in one look. Like the sequin dress which looks really soft and feminine, but the sequins are made of actual metal which gives it that rough edge.’ And if you want to give a dress some sharpness, just wear some biker boots underneath it.

Also the colors came straight out of nature, like olive green, black, gray and dusty red. ‘We use a lot of dark colors, so the red is to soften it up a bit and add some color to the collection’.

The Danish label shows what the Scandinavians designers are best in: making wearable clothes, simple, clean and elegant but always with a personal touch. And in this case,  the rock ‘n roll worked really well.

by Eva Dusch

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