Rose Wonder

Tomas Maier is a spectacular designer!  He is one of the few designers that can pull off a wonderful collection without prints and only with a handful of colors.  

Not only does Tomas design under his down name, but he is also the lead designer for Bottega Veneta.  This most recent collection for FW09 is so...relaxing!  The color scheme is black, beige and a lovely dusty rose.  The rose color is the perfect shade--it flatters most skin tones and doesn't look like it is from some bad shabby chic display.  

The FW09 collection not only centered around some classic colors, but also some wonderful shapes!  The whole thing looked like what Grace Kelly in her prime would wear if she were alive today.  Oh, just delicious and flattering!  Here's to hoping that more designers follow suit!

Picture from style.com

Something To Clutch On To

The Milan fall shows are going on right now--horray!!  Of course, because they are fall/winter they can be pretty drab.  Mostly colors of black, grey and brown and heavy.  Nothing wrong with that, but I'm a spring person!

The Fendi fall show had the standard fall colors--grey and black.  But, it also had the most magnificent splashes of color!  Lime, teal and pink!  Hopefully that means this fall is going to be littered with happy colors--we have enough drab things going on in the world without having to only wear black.

The splashes of color in the Fendi show were in the accessories, and primarily in the bags.  The bags were like little square birds of a paradise in their colors!  The pink one pictured is heavenly!  It is whimsical and the perfect size for a clutch.  And, the color is one of those classic colors that is predictably always wearable.  Hopefully it goes into production!

Picture from style.com

Puffs of Doom

Of course, what goes around comes back around.  This is not always the best of things.  Sure, stuff like art-deco inspired applique, wrap dresses and the sweater suit are great even at the second time around.  But, there are some horrid things that have come back around.  

Puffed-sleeves seemed to have reared their obnoxious heads again.  Ugh.  In virtually all of the recent shows in France there have been puff sleeves.  I have no idea why.  They flatter nothing and look horrid on everyone who is above a size zero.  They add unnecessary volume to an outfit.  And, too much volume makes you look huge, and not in a good way.  Also, they aren't "classic" in the way that a pencil skirt is, so stuff with puff-sleeves tend to look horribly dated 2 weeks after they were made.  

Hopefully the unnecessarily large shoulders stay purely in the realm of couture shows this time around.  Other wise this fall may turn out to be even more depressing than normal!

Picture from style.com

I See London, I See France...

Better hope you've got some good underpants!!

There is one fall trend that I just don't get.  This whole less than opaque lace-macrame thing as garments.  Especially when there does not seem to be a corresponding line of either interesting slips or over-garments.  I like to be as edgy as the next girl, but something about wearing someone's craft weaving as a skirt and have to hope that I don't give a free show just isn't something I'm willing to consider.  While the trend looks nice on the runway, this is one of those trends I hope I don't run into on the streets.  

Picture of Prada FW08 from style.com

Fall--IT IS HERE!!

Horray!  It is fall!

Fall means pumpkins, dry leaves and more clothes!  One of the best things about fall and winter is it is a wonderful excuse to wear more clothes than you have gotten to in the last few months, like actual outerwear!

This fall is going to be all about layering, but unli

ke last fall, it won't be all about volume.  It is going to be all about balance and contrast!

Instead of wearing a huge puffy coat over a frothy dress, t

his fall it is all about the sleek coat over the dress, like this from Proenza Schouler:

Or, like this Marni look, with the big coat with the sleek dress:

Pictures from style.com