Pre-Fall 2011 Collections

This is a photo dump, because I totally forgot to post all these, but they're too good to pass up.

Delicious military goodness from Alexander McQueen.

Everybody's other favorite Alexander brings us what we've come to expect from this collection: downtown cool, excellent use of fabrics/textiles, and weird but still covetable (apparently that's not a word) shoes.

I don't know why, but this really reminds me of the Royal Tenenbaums. Also, not sure how I feel about the styling here, but the individual pieces are ace.

70's casual from Chloe. Look at the boots!

Not gonna lie, I really hate this color palette. This looks like the wardrobe for Mud People. I do, however, really like the harness-like belts and motorcycle/engineer boots.

In the second picture... does she have a sweater tied around her like a big scarf? Because omg, I have been thinking of doing that for quite some time. Sometimes a regular scarf just doesn't cut it, ya know?

I don't really have anything to say about this. Not in a bad way though.

Ditto.

Francesco Scognamiglio is one of my favorites these days.

Central Saint Martins F/W 2011

I always try to give a little love to the students, because hey -- I know how hard it can be. Also, CSM consistently produces talented, capable designers.

Jenny Postle: These pieces reminded me of a pinata... but I mean that in a good way. I'd love to see a "market-ready" version of this.

Maarten van der Horst: At first glance, I was really confused by this collection. "What's up with all the Hawaiian shirt print?", I thought. Then I came across those printed pants and realized that they looked pretty cool. In my opinion, if you're looking for a real statement, go for some printed pants.

Regina Pyo: Probably my favorite out of the ones posted here. It's so very "wtf", and yet, there's something intriguing about it. First, in some of the looks, we can't even see most of the outfit. Second, you have to stop and think how hard it must be to take some cloth, cut it very simply, and make it look good, not just like some pieces of jersey sewn into a sack.

Pre-Raphaelite dressing

I mentioned the Pre-Raphaelite style in my Charles Anastase post, so I thought I'd post some examples here. I miss posting art to my blog, so I'm going to try doing that more often.

 Edward Burne-Jones, The Princess Sabra Led to the Dragon

 Edward Burne-Jones, The Golden Stairs

 John Everett Millais, The Return of the Dove to the Ark

William Holman Hunt, The Lady of Shallott

Photos from this wikipedia.

Charles Anastase F/W 2011

It's absolutely oppressive to look at all this velvet while suffering through 90 degree weather. Ugh. But I'll force myself -- the things I do for you guys! (jk)

I wouldn't say anything here is groundbreaking... some key points: emphasized (slightly higher) waists, sheer fabrics, the ubiquitous Anastase platform shoe, a touch of the Pre-Raphaelite.