It's the most wonderful time of the year...

Fashion Week: February 11-18

Paris 68

had some really innovative looks this in its Fall 2010 collection. Although the label recycled a lot of trends that we've seen recently (black on black, sequins, metallic), most of the pieces have kind of whimsical, 90s inspired silhouettes that are very wearable and will sell to a wide range of consumers.

Derek Lam

If I had three wishes one of them would be to wake up, open my closet, and have Derek Lam's entire Fall collection in front of me. Very edgy yet classy, functional, and would translate well from day to night. I think a huge, albeit unavoidable, problem with high fashion today is that is has become more of a business and less of an art. But I think this collection does really well to bridge that gap. And, I love all the leather.

Marc by Marc

This is one of my favorite labels in general, but I have to say I was really disappointed with the collection this year. The first of these pictures is strikingly similar to a look featured in Vogue Paris this winter, and the plaid dress with zippers reminds me of something you might find on the sale rack at Hot Topic.

Marc by Marc Jacobs - F2010

Vogue Paris - W2010

But, just to break up the hating a little, I really liked this dress below. And their models are always the prettiest.

Reading about fashion week has been possibly the only thing lifting my spirits the last few weeks. The weather in Austin has been absolutely terrible! I'm ready for springtime and to have an excuse to wear more color. Thanks to the rain, however, I did get my picture in the local paper :D Front page of Metro and State...I am so totally famous now.

http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/weather/entries/2010/02/10/rain_and_sleet.html

HAPPY VALENTINE'S!

Amour,

Colleen + Maggie

La Mort De l'Enfant Terrible

It seems as if all of my favorite icons have been passing away recently! First JD Salinger, and now one of my favorite designers, Alexander McQueen.

Alexander McQueen designed the costumes for Les Nuits de Fourvière, a ballet featuring Sylvie Guillem, which I saw last summer in Lyon, France. Both the ballet and the clothes were absolutely magnificent -- by far the best ballet I've ever seen. I thought I would post some pictures from it as a tribute. The pieces are so beautiful, they make me want to cry.

http://www.nuits-de-fourviere.org

I also thought this article from style.com was very well-written and touching.

Repose en paix, L'enfant Terrible.

Looks Nouveaux

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! School, work, etc. has left me pretty busy this past week, and my discovery of Lookbook.nu has been consuming most of my free time. Lookbook is a site that allows users worldwide to post pictures of outfits they themselves have created or looks that inspire them. I like how you can view user pictures by category, which allows you to see looks from specific geographic areas like Sweden and Iceland (two of my favorites.)

Here's one of my picks from Paris:

And one from Slovakia:

I feel like kind of a creep, but when I was looking at the Sweden page, I really fell in love with this one girl's style. And I found out that she has her own blog (in Swedish, translated into English), which I discovered via stockholmstreetstyle. Here is Frida J from Kungälv!

For Esmé, With Love and Squalor

I thought I would use this post to pay homage to my favorite author, JD Salinger, who died this week at 91. I first read The Catcher in the Rye in eighth grade, and have since read all of Salinger's books/short stories several times. Franny and Zooey and Nine Stories are still two of my all-time favorite books.

http://www.lemonde.fr/culture

It sounds strange, but I think JD Salinger actually did a lot to influence my personal style. Descriptions of Holden Caulfield's hound's tooth coat and leather gloves, Franny Glass's classic looks, and Esmé's antique tank watch always made me oddly nostalgic for the old, 1920s Manhattan that I wasn't even alive to experience.

Maggie did well to cheer me up, though. She put one of her toys in my shoe today, which I thought she was giving me as a present. I was flattered until she dragged the shoe across the room to her bed, taking it for herself. I guess my little lady has a shoe fetish :)

Janvier jusqu'à présent

Inspiration board:

http://sarah-meadows.com/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xednqCZneN4&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uD0p8LLxskM

"I'm not a person who is into fashion; I'm a person who is into style. I'm interested in style because I love beautiful things- that is, things I find beautiful. I like the aesthetic dimensions of fashion and can't stand the commercial dimensions." - unknown

Au printemps

I'm going to try my hand at fashion forecasting for spring based on what I've seen on Net-A-Porter.com and the Vogue Paris and Vogue Toyko websites recently. I can't promise you my hypotheses will come true, but at least I will be following these trends this season!

Grays and tans +metallics

Goodbye, petit floral patterns! My fellow nineties lovers and I will miss you. The clothes this season are turning out to be more neutral. Bright patterns have now filtered down to the rack, and designers are toning down their color pallets quite a bit. I know it's not easy, but think of what a Parisian hipster would wear on safari, and you have a summary of looks for spring.

from "Kaki" Lookbook, Vogue.fr

Rick Owens jacket - net-a-porter.com

Sigerson Morrison sandals - net-a-porter.com

Soft Yellows

Yellow has also made a comeback on the runway this season. It pairs well with neutrals and offers a little break in the monotony.

Emma Watson wearing Burberry - vogue.co.jp

Patent leather flats by Mui Mui - net-a-porter.com

Doma vest - net-a-porter.com

Sass & Bide

This Australian designer always has great looks. I felt like their fall/winter line was ahead of its time, and I'm excited to see what they do for spring. I love this satin mini dress. I've also heard good things about their jeans.

Thanks for reading :D