Paris - SPRING/SUMMER 2006 - AF Vandevorst to Chloe

AF Vandevorst - Shoulder-baring loose knits. Looks comfortable and very anti...I will have pirate-motorcycle boots this year if it kills me! I like the layered and textured whites best - or at least they photograph best.




Akris - Simple, sedate. Something for someone a little bland but pretty, like Claire Danes.



Alexander McQueen - Like Karl Lagerfeld, I think McQueen makes very forward, wearable, but not ever too boring or too simple. Theyre statement clothes that arent costumes...clothes for rich girls who dont need to look like anyone else. Here he combines romance with space-age and a little bit of ancient Greece. I could picture a goddess wearing this on an average day:

And, dear Lord, I just want to be this:

This is just pretty much everything I'd wear for a vacation to Paradise Island. The more I drool...are those heavy-weight boxing champion belts?? Loooove it. I love the designer's "we love you kate" t-shirt at the end the most, though. Poor Kate.

Andrew Gn - Clean black and white laces (trend?!?!), puffy sleeves with super-tight wrists, sparkly and/or lacey minis. Very very good. Dont like the colorful stuff quite so much.



Ann Demeulmeester - Hrmm. No photos. Weird.

Balenciaga - Oh sweet Jesus, so beautiful, so cool. Funny egg-shaped 60s dresses, the ultimate edwardian jackets and blouses, perfect skinny trousers - they should measure your cool quotient before they allow you to purchase. I'd hate to see these end up on - horrors! - Paris Hilton or something godawful like that. Thankfully, Balenciaga does not court celebrities and you just have to have respect for that sort of dedication to real fashion and, uh, financial intelligence [Begin long, meaningless tirade on why designers suck celebrity dick, give clothes away the second theyre shown on the runway, so that when they actually arrive in stores 6 months later, no one wants to buy them cuz theyve all been seen on every tabloid cover on some second-rate talent at whatever envelope opening. They say that it's free advertising, but to exactly whom? The people watching red carpet reports that cant afford the clothes? Or the people who can afford them that dont want to ever be seen in US Weekly's "Who wore it best?"? Or the people who are on red carpets who can afford them and who wear them but who dont pay for anything? Oh, but you see, I'm not thinking about perfume sales! Getting the name out there, so that the people who cant afford the clothes but who do spend outside their means will spend $90 on their perfume that, the last I checked, really had nothing to do with fashion. In the interest of full disclosure, I'm certainly not averse to buying designer perfume, but that's not my point...End tirade.]






Bruno Pieters - Audrey-simplicity - pretty and prim.



Celine - I think I will miss Kors...similar air of jet-setting luxe, but with a slightly more obvious and obnoxious Paris Hilton tone to it. Celine under Kors was extravagant, but never obnoxious - or at least more tongue-in-cheek. This is like Cavalli's version of Celine. Ok, maybe not that obnoxious.



Chanel - Girlishly street denims and dresses easily transform into career girl smarts with the right shoe and accessories. The color combinations are a bit too damaging to my sensibilities though. And I dont think I can personally jump on the knee-length denim and/or lace short campaign. Or men wearing Chanel tweed suits. Modified and shortened kimono jackets sound like a good plan though.







Chloe - Quirky Prada-y, but with a committment to being pretty. Prada is all about being so cool and so confident that you can push the envelope of ugly, but this is def a pretty girl who wants to be pretty, but push the envelope of what is kooky. Note: ties seen on Chanel and Chloe? A trend that comes and goes, so if you want in do it now.

Milan - SPRING/SUMMER 2006 - Menichetti to Versace

You know what I think is funny? These totally meaningless obsessions we all have and the agreed-upon importance of different features of the obsession. For instance, last night we became the last people on the planet to watch "Sideways", and all of the totally not-even-very-classy and seemingly ill-mannered ways to sample a glass of wine. I wonder how each of the quirks came about - yes, they're all very practical in the information that they obtain - and how they became acceptable ways of doing so in public. Similarly, at a fashion show: the catwalk, the unsmiling model, the catwalk strut that bears no resemblance to an actual human's walk, even the model's figure. How were all of these things decided on? Yes, some are practical, but how did they become the unquestionable standard?

Menichetti - Surprisingly somber for a Spring collection - only a few pale dresses and spring coats to clue us in.

Missoni - Light and fun - the signature patterns are hard to take too seriously. I like that their clothes inherently appear vintage. Whatever fabric or thread that they use has that polyester-in-a-good-way sheen. Floaty florals and laces are a nice addition.



Miu Miu - Omg. I love the normal-sized glasses and the stars and the color and the white t's underneath everything. Love love love.



Moschino - Not-quite-as-ugly cowgirls, but some nice prints and skirts and shoes. And I'm a sucker from trompe l'oeil and capes!





Philosophy - It's hard for me to focus on anything more than the bad wigs - which are a cute hairstyle choice for some and a hyper-obvious and unflattering choice for others. A little too bland and a little too ladylike-and-with-zero-irony for my tastes. Or maybe it's just the wigs?

Pollini-Rifat Ozbek - Yawn. With a cute dress or two...



Prada - Ready to see what they'll be carrying at the gap in 4 years? Apparently old Helmut Lang! Nothing flashy (except for shoes and, uh, clear visors). Simple fabrics, solid neutral colors, little decoration, thin belts - everything loosely fitted, but exposed nipples are still OK and maybe some gold lace too. Likeable but not earth-shattering to my lust, though perhaps earth-shattering to fashion.




Roberto Cavalli - At the other end of the fashion (and respect and talent and good taste) spectrum, we have garish glam glam glammed up and living-like-it's-1999-or-maybe-1986 Cavalli. I do like this shirt/skirt/dress?:

Trend note: big black gingham is everywhere for Spring (and like *crazy* on this partic runway, but even if you hate Cavalli like I do - it was also seen on much better runways too).


Versace - Surprising pretty and sexy and lacking all manner of obnoxious - nude and caramel shades on body-hugging-but-covering dresses and shorts and suits. Very grown-up YSL - I'm actually a little proud of stupid Donatella.

Milan - SPRING/SUMMER 2006 - Pucci to MaxMara

Emilio Pucci - Pucci prints (duh) mixed with electric blue and purple and white - an easy solution for Summer.




Emporio Armani - Yikes, another 100 photo show. And most have two models in the shot. I'm not sure I like the Hawaiian prints, but the pleated one-shoulder dresses look very new. Hammer pants and french sailor sweaters definitely do not. Some nice suits and separates and I'm cukoo for Italian sunglasses, but otherwise not impressed.

Etro - More electric blue! It *could* grow on me, but I've been scared of it since 6th grade when I splurged on this electric blue mock crock slouchy handbag and just a few weeks later I was embarrassed to carry it.


I'm dying for this blue satin blazer!



Fendi - Belts really seem to be a theme this season...




Giorgio Armani - I guess last season was a fluke...Armani is boring me to death again.

Gucci - While I did love the Tom Ford years, I think it's easy to see that Gucci is now being designed by a woman. The sexiness is still there, the edge, but there is something softer too. And not just the use of florals. There's more of a sense of humor - a mix of ugly and pretty. There was no giggling at the old Gucci.




Jil Sander - Quietly weird.



Marni - Recycled Prada. Even down to the skewed color scheme and accessories. Not pretty enough for me - kinda ugly and dorky.

Maurizio Pecoraro - Simple clothes with a lot of decoration that I liked right off. Especially the shredded scarves and dove greys. A good mix of pretty and weird.




MaxMara - Slouchy mom-wear and wayyyyy too much linen. A velour bathrobe jacket??

Tomorrow, the big guns! Prada, MiuMiu, Missoni, Versace!

Milan - SPRING/SUMMER 2006 - Alberta to DSquared2

I'm skipping London for the moment, because there's really not a lot that I want to see there.

Alberta Ferretti - Innocent without being prim, though the colors and prints are a little bland to me. I always picture her clothes for the young widow or virginal fiancee...lingerie inspired dresses that somehow lack sexiness.





Alessandro Dell'Acqua - Sexy Gucci-esque LBDs. An intimidating sexiness, but the lip belts are making me laugh.





Anna Molinari - I like Anna and her Blumarine line for the same reasons I like Diane von Furstenberg. There's something girly but sophisticated about their clothes that I think would just make you feel at ease. It's forward-thinking without being concept and not really tied to any season or era. While I like costumes, I think these would be easy clothes to pull on and feel utterly confident and not worry about them being too recognizable.





Belstaff - Safari and military gear done up in gorgeous Italian leathers and suedes.

Blumarine - This line is always so exquisite - similar to Libertine in the hodge-podge Desperately Seeking Susan, but with antique laces and heirloom jewelry instead of junk. This season - vampy flappers - dangerous!




Bottega Veneta - Beautiful browns and (obviously) gorgeous leathers. Full trousers and belted cardigans...actually belted everything.






Burberry Prorsum - Beribboned everything. Pretty yellows and browns (do you see a trend?). Girlish suits and dresses that are almost ladylike, but with a bit of wrongness - a crocheted cap or platform sandals or spy-girl trenches. Maybe a tad monotonous.




D&G - Ooooooooh, sexy white lace - not even close to virginal. Victorian-inspired, but not a hint of repression. After discovering the price of lace in wedding dress fabric shopping and then in Burano, I have a whole new appreciation...






Dolce & Gabbana - Holy crap - 100 photos??!? Ohhhhhhh, but the lace and that gorgeous red...Similar theme as D&G, just a bit more posh. Loooooove it. I also like the full-skirted gown-version of their classic sexy slip.






DSquared² - Arrestingly ugly cowgirls. Ick. Tight denim capris, full-length leather aprons, awkwardly tilted cowboy hats...actually, the whole thing just seems awkward and done-before-better. Like every few years, one foreign designer has to do a cowboy collection. Who knows? Maybe it's a gimmick that sells really well? I do like this dress though: