Lisa: my perfect view

Lisa’s perfect view.

I took a picture of my perfect view from my hotel room here in Milan. As you can see my air is well.

Gucci Catwalk Fashion Show Milan SS2011

The Gucci show of today was the first big fashion show of in Milan, yet didn’t fail to set the mood right for the rest of the Milan Fashion Week.

It was a show the rich Gucci girl will most certainly love. It was luxurious, elegant and feminine from the beginning till the end.

The luxurious feeling came from handmade and crafted extra’s. Embroideries and embellishments like beads, feathers, crystals, silk tassels, chains, rings and studs will surely make the Gucci women long for most of the pieces.

Frida Giannini this time designed her clothes for ‘modern amazons’, intellectual exotic women seen through an urban lens. Therefor there were Berber and Aztec influences. And the many (handcrafted) details and bright colors (emerald, fuchsia, orange, violet, turquoise and later camel and black) must have come from that tribal inspiration as well.

Although the suede and leather items appeared a bit too hot for summer, we suppose the Gucci girls can’t wait to get their hands on some of the fabulous harem pants and riding jackets.

Tess: sorting the invitations

Started the first day of the Milan Fashion Week by sorting our invitations. Loved the D&G invitation (floral printed, with some real seeds in it) and the one from Moschino, which was lemon shaped.

Burberry Catwalk Fashion Show London SS2011

Spijkers en Spijkers Catwalk Fashion Show London SS2011

Riet en Truus Spijkers presented their brand new spring/summer collection in London during the fashion week.

Oscar de la Renta Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2011

It was a typical Oscar de la Renta-show, full of pretty dresses, dramatic evening-gowns and impeccable make up. But somehow it all looked a bit too retro to me, the hair, the accessories, the setting, the mix, even the music.

I’m sure there are ladies who adore his style, but it has very little to do with fashion and new ideas.  This is Oscar. And Oscar is what you get : a dream of young girls going to their prom.

There were ladylike tweeds, windowpane plaids, and raffia embroidered linen garments.  For cocktail hour, there were a number of modern dresses, like a strapless dress in navy gazar embroidered with black organza or a white swansdown tutu. The evening gowns looked like promdresses, some with just one shoulderstrap, the other with a matching bolero, ruffled or with embroideries all over.

Catwalk Fashion Show LAMB New York SS2011

Singer, fashion designer and mother of two, Gwen Stefani, presented her new collection as the closing show of New York Fashion Week on Thursday. After several seasons of smaller presentations her brand LAMB (Love, Angel, Music, Baby) was back on the main stage.

Her designs for next summer were inspired by African tribal looks. ‘I’ve always wanted to do the tribal thing but it’s pretty hard to get right. I think we’ve got it’, Gwen said. She sent out colorful, printed clothes on the runway, that indeed felt like Africa, especially with the changing backdrop of colorful skies.

The African inspired mixed prints were alternated by checks and stripes. Though the prints were traditional, the fitting of the clothes and the accessories like hats and bags made it all seem very modern.

The collection was both feminine and tough; there where flirty dresses and ruffled shoulders, but also suits and manly pants combined with short tops. Every outfit very much breathed Gwen’s personal style and there wasn’t one look she wouldn’t wear herself.

All of No Doubt, her hubby and her two suns were there to support Gwen. Son Kingston was so proud he ran on stage at the end of the show to walk the catwalk with his mummy. O, what a heart-warming ending of a great New York Fashion Week.

Calvin Klein Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2011

The Calvin Klein fashion show was like a parade of Dutch models. New girl Daphne Groeneveld opened the show, followed by Dutchies like Nimue Smit, Mirte Maas, Patricia van der Vliet and Lisanne de Jong. Another new Dutch girl named Iris Egbers was booked for this Calvin Klein show exclusively. So her career is off to a good start. The show was finally ended by Lara Stone, who is of course half Dutch. And with so many Dutch girls walking the Calvin Klein show we can be nothing but proud.

From the front row Katie Holmes and Julianne Moore watched Francisco Costa’s new, yet again very minimalistic collection. The designs looked clean and soft as they came by in shades of ivory, black and grey (there were exactly one red and two blue items).

According to Costa the collection was more about the body, the fabric and obvious interesting cuts.’The new field for me is softness, and making that very sharp and crisp, which is much more difficult. It was challenging, fun, much more fluid, elongated’, he said.

There were a lot of long dresses, which ended mid-calf. They were either very broad at the shoulders or shaped like a tank-top. Some dresses had a very sexy low V-line, others had subtle pleats added on the front or decorative folds.

The models wore simple ponytails and all looked very sophisticated in the CK designs. And although the clothes were very plain, Costa made them feel relevant and fresh for next summer.

Ralph Lauren Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2011

After a few strong seasons Ralph Lauren played it safe and also ‘on trend’ with a western inspired collection. I say safe, because this is the subject he’s good at and he did it before and it made him famous.

‘Little house on the prairie’-dresses were mixed with leather cowgirl pants, poet-blouses, leather jackets with fringes, jackets with lace inserts and Navajo-patterns for bags and vestst. Accessories were alike: belts with big buckles, silver chokers, hats and scarves.

Although The West is a theme during this New York Fashion Week (Rodarte, Donna Karan), the Ralph Lauren-collection didn’t add anything new or inspiring to what we already saw. But hey, it will sell anyway – especially if you’re not into minimalism or arty-farty-styles.

Phillip Lim Catwalk Fashion Show New York SS2011

Maybe Phillip Lim likes to puzzle, regarding the puzzle-piece concept of his ss2011 collection: garments without a back, side or bottom all created one look. Sometimes a skirt looked like an apron, or a dress seemed a three piece item.

The overall impression of this collection was chic, modern and fresh with hints of clean sportswear. Chique layers, structured shapes, and a colormix of camel, baby-blue, taupe and beige. Lim also played with contrasting fabrics, sheer with opaque, lambskin with sequins. And we really liked the menswear tailoring.

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