grey on grey.

all imgs from style.com

Araks' presentation provided me with another heart-skipped-a-beat moment.

Multiple shades of grey, white and beige (all better neutrals than black, IMO) all in perfect proportions and then, suddenly, the shots of turquoise.

The long grey cocoon-y blazer (worn over the turq high-necked dress) is my favourite piece - perhaps my favourite look, actually - but everything here keeps catching my eye, over and over again, something different every time I scroll through the looks.

tetris.

all imgs from style.com

Bold stripes and oddly shaped colour blocks are next up at NYFW.

Orange and black manage not to look hallowe'en-y at Preen, with an autumnal floral print dotted throughout the collection (looking best on a shirt paired with the perfect burnt orange trousers - weird waistbands are wonderful. I like alliteration.)

I can live without the cutesy belt bows on most of the skirts (as on the first blouse, though it works here with the clean, almost sporty look and the unusual colour combo) but I can't live without the purple-y blue/brown geometric colour blocking on the blazer and trousers.

Phillip Lim could just have sent the accessories out and I would've been considering applying for a credit card, but then he went and sent out a plethora of monochrome geo-colour blocking too and I was all *drool* and my computer was all *stop that please, I'm already working sporadically*.

Could all of the shoes, and that bag, and the dresses in pics 2 and 5, and the trousers in pics 9 and 10 (specifically the ones with the V-shaped cut out in the hem) make their way to my wardrobe in an orderly fashion, please?

All is forgiven for SS12.

Excuse me, there's now going to be a small Preen photodump, followed by a huge Phillip Lim photodump/fangirl moment.

Preen

3.1 Phillip Lim

*heart palpitations*

winter pops.

all imgs from style.com

It seems appropriate to be looking at collections full of furs and boots and outwear when it's -5 outside. Normally when the A/W shows are on it's starting to warm up a bit and everyone is looking forward to days of no tights and less than 5 layers.

Neons are essentially a spring/summer colour choice, but if the opening days of NYFW are selling us anything so far, it's the idea that neon works just as well in the colder months too. Which makes sense - I mean, to my eyes, neon works best with the common winter neutrals; the beiges and soft greys.

So far, Jenni Kayne, Juan Carlos Obando and LAMB are in on the retina-searing shades, and it's inspired one of my 'when I'm back home and probably unemployed' projects, as long as I can source some neon wool - a sort of fair isle jumper situation in beige wool with pink neon detail. Or light grey with neon yellow or lime... The combos are probably endless. We will, of course, see if this comes to fruition but I'll be damned if I end up sitting around the house watching TV all day. Again.

Anyway. The almost-neon tartan at LAMB is awesome. The Obando evening dresses aren't my style (in the i-have-no-need-for-evening-dresses sense) but certainly are neon (and would make a fantastic out-of-the-box red carpet outfit) and I'm cheating slightly on the Jenni Kayne shots with a grey coat/black trousers/brown leather top combo but it was too fantastic not to post it.

Jenni Kayne

Juan Carlos Obando

LAMB

NY top five.

Oh, New York.
I think I'm having an 'enh' moment with fashion; or maybe I'm just looking for something new, since the grad collections were of such interest to me in June...
Usually I look through every single look; but a combo of laziness and lack of time this year means every label got one page of style.com thumbnails to impress me. Many did not make the cut. Even my usual favourites...

Kors, you have let me down.

Lim, what happened to you, man?

I noticed far too much neon (neon is back already? oh.) - thought I'm a fan of the burnt orange/lime green/electric blue shades coming through, sort of...muted neons, if you will - and so many collections just didn't catch my eye, but there are some that did and are therefore worth posting (well done to all below.)

There ended up being five collections that peaked my interest, so this is sort of a top five but in no partics order or anything like that...



A Détacher

We all know how I feel about leather harness situations (I hope) and skinny, orange or brown, almost delicate ones are no exception. Really into the muted pinks and beiges and the big polka dot motifs, and the scratchy houndstooth print, though the patchwork denim and shapeless dresses in the middle brought it down a bit...

Band of Outsiders

Braces and collars feature heavily here, which I guess means 'menswear inspiration'... but a print which is reminiscent of my bedsheets (maybe BoO have been traipsing round Ikea lately) and some cute details - mismatched stripes; always a fan - make for a pretty cool collection. Also, the model in the second one really reminds me of Sarah Jessica Parker. Anyone else?

Jason Wu

I'm over florals. In fact, can we call a moratorium on florals please, fash-un?
EVERY.
SPRING.
SUMMER.
SEASON.
ENOUGH.
I'll give you this season, but if i see so much as a petal next S/S, I'm gonna lose it.

That said...Jason Wu did some petal-y prints - NOT YOUR AVERAGE FLORAL ALERT - so...maybe a total crackdown on the use of flowers in fashion was a little hasty. I like this print. I can even let the continuing popularity of the hotpant slide. Mostly because the colour combos here are stunning, and the look with the blue print skirt/lime green sleeveless shirt/orange lips caught my eye in thumbnail form and must be worshipped.

Victoria Beckham

You heard me. The orange/purpleyblue striped dress takes last seasons Prada and tailors it to my taste, for starters (I was not a fan of last seasons Prada, FYI), and the other dresses here have great strap details. Like sturdy bag handles, which doesn't sound like a good thing but totally is.

Yigal Azrouël

THANKYOU.

Since I looked at all the NY collections on one go, alphabetically, it was kinda depressing that I got to the second off last collection before I found the one - the I-want-everything collection. The colours, the cuts, and the styling are all so what I wanted to see right now. Seriously though, if the green jersey button up dress, calf length print situation, floor length shirt dress and entire last look could make their way to me/to a high street near me posthaste, that would be just great.

Also, the bags are wonderful. Always love a satchel style.