It's too early to come up with a witty title

Or search for song lyrics.

Louis Verdad presented his Louver collection at downtown LA's fashion week in a gallery upstairs in the Museum of Contemporary Art.  The entire 21-piece collection was presented on mannequins which is neat! and for the most part (save 1 0r 2 pieces) it was entirely black.  Okay so all black is rather boring, and this is coming from someone whose wardrobe is about half black and grey.  BUT there were some interesting pieces that made his collection not entirely flawed.

For a collection truly Goth-inspired, complete with spikes and leather, I like how he keeps us guessing with some sophisticated basics, like LBDs and great day wear.

AND I love how the pieces ranged from space-age and modern to very vintage, like the frock on the right.

And I truly adore the detail on the back of this coat, it gives and unexpected twist to a somewhat drab and dated all black pantsuit.

I also liked Verdad's nod to the strong shoulder.  It's not quite as sophisticated as Balmain, sure, but a fun bolero-jacket, nonetheless =)

"I wanted to keep it edgy without making it trashy," he said of the Paco Rabanne and John Galliano-inspired collection (no way.)  "Dita Von Teese is my muse."

So  I give it an A for effort.  We have seen all black before, but Verdad delivered some great silhouettes and details.  However I mark some points off for the awful over-the-knee slouchy shiny boots we've seen everywhere for being just plain fug.  I'll be glad when those go away.

quote: wwd

photos: Blackburn & Sweetzer

More Gorilla Love

Coco over at Coco's Tea Party already made a post on the Giles Deacon collection, but I love these photos and couldn't resist posting them.  You gotta love the sweet combination of soft (gorilla?) fur and sharp spikey spikes!

photos: nylon.com

Balenciaga gorilla arms... We have found your feet.

They were hiding at the Marc by Marc Jacobs Fall 2009 show!

I absolutely love this line.  I love the NYC Ballet meets hobo chic meets Pippi Longstocking; so appropriate for fall.  The black one-shouldered satin dress is my favorite.  And the tights are fabulous, especially the patchwork-looking ones!

As for the boys, anyone else reminded of Robert Pattinson in The Bad Mother's Handbook?  The shoes especially, although you cannot see them in any of these photos.  Bummer.

This is why we heart Marc =)

The new love of my life: Proenza Schouler

Proenza Schouler Pre-Fall 2009View the rest of the collection at style.com

Pre-Fall 2009

So tonight is my first night in my apartment again, which means classes start on Tuesday (yay.)  But I'm having a quite a relaxing evening sitting on my ass on the couch watching the boyfriend play one of those shoot-em-up games on Xbox, drinking coffee even though it is entirely too late, and relishing in the fact that I am away from "home" once again.  I put "home" in quotations, because after living on my own for a semester, coming back to my parent's house for winter break really just feels like I'm visiting.

So anyway, back to collections.  Here are some standouts stolen from Women's Wear Daily:

The Balenciaga collection is still my favorite, even with the "gorilla arms."  These grey pants are amazing, and I love the neutral, grey and black color palette.


Gorgeous, GORGEOUS dress by Christian Lacroix.  'Nuff said!




The Dior collection was inspired by Hitchcock's "icy heroines" and Helmut Newton's "tough-chic glamazons."  In other words, both strong and feminine.




I take that back about Balenciaga being my favorite collection thus far, because Proenza Schouler is DEFINITELY my favorite.  I cannot wait to see more!  Actually... I don't know really, I'm having a hard time deciding!  What do you guys think?
Photos: wwd.comMore Pre-Fall '09 collections @:wwd.com&style.com

Walk Like an Egyptian

Wow, I don't even know where to begin!  If I could go anywhere, it would be Egypt, so imagine my *glee* when I clicked on style.com only to find that Spring's runways were full of Cleopatras and Tutankhamens! 


Love love love this look by Andrew Gn.  Stunning with the gold shoes, but I think it would be equally amazing with black tights and super high black pumps.


This Nicole Miller maxi-dress is perfect for summer, especially with its colorful hieroglyph-inspired print.  Dress it up, or dress it down with simple gold flat sandals and long wavy locks a lá Lauren Conrad.  (Shh, you gotta admit she at least has a good head of hair going for her.)  Now I just have to find a cheaper version so I can rock the casual Egyptian-look without breaking bank this summer...


Long, flowy, draped gowns are my lust-for items, and kudos to Temperley London for making this look more Nile-esque than the Grecian inspired frocks we've seen again.  And again.  And again.  I think the headdress helps, too...


An interesting number from Balmain; not my favorite (I think its the shoulders?) but not bad either.  Hooray for the Pharaoh-worthy embellishments, at least, but it would look better if it wasn't so blinged out.


This Sophia Kokosalaki dress is gorgeous!  I feel like I'm back in History of Costume and Art History 1!  And I have GOT to find those shoes...


I about fell off my chair when I saw this one by Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti.  And I'm drooling now just posting it!  Not sure how "Egyptian" the embroidery is but, regardless, this dress is perfection.


Orlando Pita's Nefertiti-chic coif for the Dior show is great, especially with the low-key makeup and bold brow.  You can still catch a glimpse of a lined cat-eye, but its subdued enough not to take away from this masterpiece.

Hello little boys, little toys

I've been pretty excited about menswear for women ever since Band of Outsiders finally made a womenswear line titled Boy by Band of Outsiders (how original.) Because, lets be honest here, I've been so jealous of that line ever since I read an article on some in-flight magazine on an airplane to somewhere about the genius-ness that is Scott Sternberg!  But now us gals get our own piece of the "outsider" pie.

So style.com has posted some fabulous, and not-so-fabulous, photos of the Spring RTW collections featuring *drumroll* BLAZERS- the quintessential "menswear" item of choice.  Some standouts:

DKNY- I LOVE THIS ENTIRE LOOK!  The dress (paired with the jacket) is gorgeous.  With the exception of the shoes, I would totally rock own this look, down to the gold tangle of chains and the severely parted hair.

I think this look, by Dries Van Noten, is beautifully styled.  The blazer is slouchy but not sloppy, and works because the rest of the outfit is so tailored.  Gorgeous shiny print!


Again with the shoes...  I can't decide if I really like this jacket by Ruffian, but it is definitely not the worst.  Something keeps screaming art-school to me.  It would look better with jeans and Converse.



Putting this one up here because, well, because Marc Jacobs is God.  End of story.  He can do no wrong.



Okay those shoes are actually pretty sweet... I'm actually enjoying this from Rag and Bone although I think for everyday purposes a plain white tee tucked into the skirt would do just fine.


I was wondering when some schoolgirl blazers were going to show up, and this one isn't remotely Blair Waldorf or Britney, so props to Charles Anastase.


Okay, this one by Maison Martin Margiela gets my vote for fucking scariest!!!


And the winner is... STELLA MCCARTNEY of course.  The exaggerated lapel is genius and looks STELLAR in a sexy nude palette.  Gorgeous dress- Leanne, you were great on Project Runway, but take note: THAT is how you do soft and structured.  How many times can I say "gorgeous" in a post? Gor-ge-ous!
The rest is at style.com