Donna Karan RTW Spring 2010

Women’s Wear Daily names their picks for the top 10 collections of Spring 2010 where the best runways served up fantasy, futurism and plenty of panache.  Those making the list this year include: Jason Wu, Donna Karan,
Missoni and Stella McCartney.

See the entire story here

Source: wwd.com

At first glance, a casual follower of Paris Fashion Week might be forgiven for seeing the collection for John Galliano as a nod to eighties female executive wear. But if you look closer you can see who he has really used as his muse for the collection: Lauren Bacall. It even had a winking tribute to her other half, Humphrey Bogart, in the form of lovely belted trench coats. The collection was simply of feminine, beautiful clothing for women who are tired of “club crawling” clothing.

The trench, this time in gray lamé, went perfectly with the models’ forties-inspired wavy, controlled hairstyles and red lipstick. There were also lovely evening dresses with waists, hips, and embroidery, for unmatched femininity. The effect was heightened by the industrial look of the steel girders in his show’s set. The trench was shown in many versions: coat and jacket length. Suits avoided a matchy-matchy look by using unmatched pairings that had a fresher, younger look than the traditional matched suit.

Image credit: wwd.com

New York’s fashion week includes over 500 fashion shows with over 20,000 people descending on Manhattan for the madness.

The invitation-only fashion shows, coupled with an economic climate in which retail sales in August dropped for the 12th straight month makes one wonder if actual shoppers are even a part of the fashion loop anymore. While the fashion shows will be picked over, blogged about, and discussed within hours after they take place, there is a disconnect when shoppers consider that the styles they see won’t be in stores for six months.

Whereas the designers’ runway schedule (show spring clothes in fall, fall clothes in spring) allows them time to produce the full line of clothes and allows the big fashion glossies to get their magazines ready well in advance, the fact that consumers everywhere can see next year’s line as soon as it debuts on the catwalk throws a wrench in the system. The new crop of “first responder” shoppers doesn’t want to wait six months to be able to buy a goody they saw in a fashion show.

The Council of Fashion Designers of America recently held a forum about just this problem. When the retailers push designers too hard on their deliveries, fall merchandise shows up in stores in July and consumers respond by waiting for them to be marked down. One response has been the new Fashion’s Night Out, an effort to increase sales of clothes and accessories that are in season now. There is talk that it could become a permanent fixture at New York Fashion Weeks of the future.