Out East.

I'm still here, but I've only got a week left in Berlin (in fact, this time next week I'll be on a train somewhere around Leeds, on my way back to Durham from my Dad's). Last week, though, I had a week off work and I popped out to Poland and to Budapest and mostly forgot to take photos.

Here are some of the ones I did take...

Buildings in Warsaw old town//

Sunset over the mountains in Slovakia (taken on the bus from Krakow to Budapest)//

various sights of Budapest from various angles

Poznan (of which there are no pics...) was wonderful; Budapest even more so. Warsaw was nice enough but I didn't need to stay so long, and I have no desire to return, unlike most of the other places I've visited on my travels.

All the above pics are from instagram, btw...

Eagle!

all imgs from style.com

An unlikely feature-ee on venturess, Jean-Charles de Castelbajac* showed a primary coloured (and black, of course) collection full of bird motifs and aztec style patterns and faces.

I'm not crazy about the gimmicky bird shoulders and such like, and some of the prints I like are on shapes I can't stand (and vice versa) but there are some great pieces here - if only the make-up wasn't so off-putting!

The black/yellow ombré suit (look 2) and the mirrored wings on bright backgrounds (top in look 1, trousers in looks 5 and 7) are the pieces that stood out to me, but perhaps I'm just coming around to prints and bright, bright colours... (it certainly seems that way, if you scroll through the last few posts!)

*no, I don't know how you pronounce it either. What fashion degree?

dior.

all imgs from style.com

I don't often post/care about the Christian Dior show, but multiple thumbnails caught my eye this season and all 56 looks graced my screen with their presence - OK, that, and my interest was peaked given all the talk about the house of Dior recently.

Absolutely stunning. Not necessarily in an 'I-want-every-piece' or a 'good-lord-look-at-the-theatricality' sense, as is my usual wont, but simply in an 'oh-my-that's-beautiful' sense. I do, of course, appreciate the silhouette (but then, the nipped in waist and flared skirts are quintessentially Dior, so, y'know) and the silver dress in look 6 is PERFECTION IN DRESS FORM, it is elements other than those that drew me in.

The blown-up, metallic, barely there houndstooth. The buttery twisted leather. The off-the-shoulder leather, paired with a high necked layer, belt, and silk pencil skirt wonder that is look 3. Even the gowns. !!!. I'm so not a gown girl, but the gowns. The gowns.

While every designer under the sun is being touted to take over the reigns at Dior (and some a little ridiculous - Alexander Wang?!? AT DIOR?!?! I just don't see how the aesthetics could possibly work), I, for one, am more than happy to see Bill Gaytten continue to head up Dior if he's going to produce shows like this.

dries.

imgs from style.com

Milan didn't spark any interest, but Paris is here now, so who cares?

Dries Van Noten took the print, and messed with the placement, producing wonky patterns and colour/print blocking in unusual spots. The jacket in look 2 immediately caught my eye, as did the one in look 5, and the trousers in look 8 (hubba).

That said, look 6 is my absolute favourite here. The proportions on every piece are just perfect. And throughout, everything is rendered in this sort of over-saturated sky blue, and khaki, and navy, and grey, and gold - AKA all the colours I will immediately warm too, wherever and whenever they are deployed. Like I said, hubba.

birds and fruits.

imgs from Charlotte Taylor's blog

Following the print theme currently unfolding at venturess, let's talk about Charlotte Taylor, who, for her AW12 collection 'Jamaica Inn' presented - as for her previous four seasons - brightly coloured, quirky repeat prints. Previous collections have featured penguins, lobsters, fish, trees and, err, robots, but this season we're treated to all kinds of birds (Note the black maxi with the multicoloured splotches. Those would be parrots.) and...some sort of fruit that I can't identify 'cos I can't zoom in any further. Grapes? Raspberries?

Now, we already know that I like anything bird related, but the black birds on the yellow background look a little like leopard print at a squint/in a thumbnail (no?) so they're EVEN BETTER than first imagined.

Scarf prints also feature in the collection, which encompasses the kind of cuts I can always get behind - fitted dresses in midi- and maxi- lengths, slim, cropped trousers, button up blouses and full skirts with fitted waists. Wonderful.

And a real owl in the lookbook pics!

everyday items.

all imgs from style.com

I'm not even a big print girl - you know, you've read the catwalk commentary for, like, 6 season now, right? RIGHT?! - but Mary Katrantzou's AW12 show can only be described as jaw dropping and it is definitely necessary to post it up on here posthaste.

Even though it's already been posted on about half of the blogs I follow.

Naja.

Guess I won't bore you with the 'inspired by items you'd find in a drawer' schpeel...oh.

The thing that really got me was the way the prints imply texture and volume, like some sort of magic eye/3D effect - looks 7 and 8 especially, to my eyes. Oh, that, and the floaty pieces. Just LOOK at the movement in look 6.

Of course, the monochromes in looks 11 and 12 are my favourites (12 espesh, as the shape is gorgeous too). You can lead a girl to prints but you can't make her part with cash.

Feast your eyes.