all in

spring/ summer 2011 is all in store and even heading towards sale shortly. lets talk favourites. minimalist is making a come back with celine and calvin. tailored leather hasnt died yet and neither has neon apparently. this was brought to my attention by australian fashion week which was buzzing in sydney earlier this month.

to be blunt i wasnt particularly impressed by the designers creations or the attendees to their shows. its been a few years but when did fashion week become filled with bloggers and students? sadly, the sparkle is lost. it had some (even though some would debate me over it) and now its..uneventful. very flat, copies of old season trends that have finally made it to our shores from europe and the u.s.

dion held his own well with chic plastic tear fabrics and aqua and white tailored pieces. goot stayed with the tulip and stepped up to the plate however they were really the only ones up to standard. lover did givenchy. red lace and cream base. trungs designs resembled sheets hung out to dry.

so with those comments lets keep it to a list of favourites for international spring/summer..leather, minimalist, block colours and blocked shapes.

celine and calvin hit it on the head. they started the wave and others are following. the line is 60s and simple. keeping things feminine and chic. i think australian designers could take a leaf or two out of their book.

the king has lost his crown

this week the world has been turned on its head with head balmain designer, christopher decarrin, leaving the throne of the balmain empire. there were rumours of a break down during PFW as he was a no show and we all looked to emanuelle leaving as the last straw. she was his right hand man and who wouldnt need one with the pressure to keep the hottest label in the world on top? you can only imagine the painfully shy designers self created nightmare of leading the most noticed label in the world.

so its gone from 'will aickerman replace chan

el' being the buzz to 'who will replace decarin'?lucky for aickerman- he has been given a breather in the fashion gossip circle.

it looks like an internal candidate olivier rousteing will be named soon enough. his name is the one and only name being thrown around. previously at cavalli for six years and balmain since 2009, rousteing is a prime candidate.

i just wonder though has the balmain bubble burst? the ultrasexy and ultraexpensive label couldnt stay the leading fashion house for too much longer with the amount of attention and popularity it received. so is balmain yesterdays news? are they going to become the neon of the nineties or the mc hammer pant of the eighties? are we going to get over the leader and elect another? celine? klein? minimalism has been in full swing for the past few fashion wks around the globe and balmain is anything but minimal.

itll be interesting to see the SS12 fashion wks in paris and nyc and their direction with its leader gone. keeping both ears out for movement in the balmain household will ultimately determine this.

fingers crossed not all is lost.

les semaines de la mode autour du monde

there seems to be one or two labels that are hitting the nail on the head from each fashion capital; proenza and kors in new york, nicoll and burberry in london and the talented haider ackermann in paris but NYC, LDN, and Paris are putting on display their heavy weights and coming up slightly dry. even some of the more theatrical designers such as lim seemed to be bullied into taking the minimal and very unlike them calvin klein approach. So i look to the

directional ones that lead the pack; in particular haider ackermann.

he has recently turned up everywhere. after karl declared ackermann would be only one able to fill his shoes at chanel the fashion worlds ears pricked up and now i know why.

ackermann stated that his clothes are not easy to wear and it is not uncommon for him to be called in when stylists cant figure out how to dress their clients in one of his garments.

his garments are often kimono inspired pant suits made of silk and layered. where did ackerman come from and what's his story? born in columbia and adopted by a french couple, this designer has moved opposite continents and brought the influences along the way.

ackerman is fast becoming a head of the fashion pack and in the same cluster of mine margiela lives in.

p.s. check the shoes below

the new breed rocking it out

ive recently taken an interest in the blogger breed whos presence in recent years is exceeding the celebrity. from the satorialist to garance dore the new celebrities are coming from around the world with great talent and in full force. my newest favourite is elin kling from sweden.

shes recently snagged her own capsule line with h&m (exculsive to swedish stores). theres no other way to describe her style than just completely chic. pulling off denim on demin, always wearing her fav margelia booties, injecting animal prints into her outfits and the skinny jean as a stable.

the french satorialist, garance dore, interests me not for her photography but for herself. to be honest i dont find her photos very striking but any photo of her working looks like art. with camera in hand, natural and european dress code garance pulls off a stunning photo everytime.

the opposite can be said for the satorialist. his work is more than often striking. there is a definite reason he is 'the' satorialist. he captures a moment and they are always so elegant in their own way. this new breed of celebrity is the quiet achiever type and are the ones to watch.

to be courted by couture

couture was array this week in paris, the europeans showed the world how its done. the embellishments, the fabrics and cuts were the focus. Karl replicated the original coco chanel mirrored steps with sparkling fabrics to match. the baroque inspired collection shone down the runway like a treasure find by indiana jones.

armani took the oriental approach in such a parisian way that it gave the designs an air of delicate french couture. oriental lace, bone white with a splash of colour that gave a delicate origami look to the floor length gowns.

however the colours that givenchy sent down the run way sent a wave of colour that could only excite. feminine cuts, circular silhouettes, gorgeous footwear gave emphasis to the graded colours.

Paris is the hub. 40% celebs, 50% press (and 10%...other?) know it. I have to say that it was nice to seethat the old traditional couture is still alive even if it is for the rich and semi- famous.

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a lesson worth noten down

i have new favourites. meet lanvin and dries van noten. one's from paris, the other antwerp. dark and elegant but unrelated. the names are thrown around but i noticed not many people know more than that.

dries is elegant and classic european in its style. rich forest greens, eastern european greys, that intriguing mustard yellow and hints of gold make the slightly conservative styles food for your eyes. the models aren't blank canvas's or made to look like albino giraffes. the longer hemlines and large use of tailoring is screaming to the client to bring back the skilled designers not the t-shirt printing christopher kane's.

Lanvin is in the same realm. it's a darker sister of this genre of design. there's still skill, tailoring and draping but its more experimental haute couture. its just such wearable art. it's for grown ups only in its style as the design is not risky or overtly sexy and unappealing to the reality tv stars trapsing hollywood boulevard. its the quiet achiever of the fashion world. the lanvin campaigns confirm this. they always look like a side from a hollywood film, action in the photo sets the mood. Head designer, Alber Elbaz, deserves an encore applause for the direction he's taken with the french fashion house. here's to the new wave of the polished look. out with the 'effortlessly chic', oversized t-shirts and in with..fashion!

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when even a little is too much

This month saw vancouver's finest in fashion strut their stuff. they once again showed the world why they arent a fashion capital. boring, highly conservative cuts were met with a slew of prints that made the models look like they were attacked by a box of origami paper.the designers took the trend of printed fabrics to an extreme when they shouldve only used a hint for a maximum effect.

the hem line of choice was mid thigh, darker shades of green were the favourite and interestingly leather was the repeated material of choice.

surprisingly, amongst the not particularly attractive cuts and colours were a few shining gems. Laura Siegel that recently graduated from parsons shone very brightly as

she showed her talent for draping by manipulating the volumious shapes to give line and shape. She chose a deep earth colour palate for the beautifully unusual garments. there was a definite african influence in her line. natural fibres were used in shades of cream and brown. layering the fine knits created the bulk and were complimented with accessories such as fingerless knit gloves and head scarves.

Carolyn Massey from the UK took a new direction for the british mens style. key notes were layering, tailoring and soft nautical colours such as sea blues and beige. the preppy was met with modern street style of denim, short pant suits and classic sunglasses to polish.

after sorting through the mountain of designers showing at vancouver a hand full were inspirational and a breath of fresh air. the long list included many foreign designers confusingly as i was under the impression that being canada's official fashion week they might proudly show canadian talent??..however my two favourites above werent canadian so perhaps it is a good idea to keep vancouvers fashion week open to one and all especially if we have another origami explosion again next year.