Linea Pelle 2012: My Favourite Trends
Know Wear

Back in April I was invited by the lovely people from Digital Cake PR to visit Bologna for a few days to attend Linea Pelle – an exhibition of leather and accessories, components, synthetics for footwear, leather goods, garments and forniture. The event takes place twice a year (in April for the summer and October for winter) and retailers from all over the world make pilgrimage to Bologna to spot the latest trends and choose the materials they will use to manufacture in the coming seasons.

I was one of the lucky few to have a look at the trends that will dominate the SS13 seasons. I found that some of our favourite current trends like neon and fluo colours will carry through to next summer. Innovative prints like we saw Balenciaga and Proenza Schouler use for FW12 will become even more prominent trends. Traditional animal fabrics and animal prints – especially snakeskin and crocodile – are also major for SS12.

Click below on 'Read more' to see my trend selection!

It is true that if you put Ashley Olsen in a pair of shabby pyjama bottoms and a tattered tank top I would probably still find her insanely attractive and stylish. Just as it's true that moments like this make me believe she's the one for me.

On her last outing in New York my favourite part of the Olsens wore a Jil Sander suit from the collection. She paired it with Chanel sandals and a breton striped t-shirt. As I've mentioned many times before Jil Sander's spring 11 line is on my top 5 of the season. So this perfect combination must mean we're destined for each other?

I love how Ashley wears the suit in such a casual way and how the fact that she's rolled up the trousers and blazer gives the impression that she's just grabbed something from her boyfriend's closet and ran out (I would be willing to share).

What do you think of Ashley's look?

[JustJared]

Carine's colourful farewell

It's that time late in the month when pictures from all the new month magazines start filtering into the Fashion Spot before they magazines actually come out. And, of course, this means I have to post about the new Vogue Paris. And I don't only have to do so because the March issue is particularly good (I am in love with Giovanna Battaglia's story) but because this is Carine's last issue as Rédactrice en Chef. After the big controversy of the Tom Ford issue Carine seems to be making up for all the advertisers she left out then by making incredible over-the-top styling on the spring editorials. My favourite, by far, is Pop Égerie, styled by Emmanuelle Alt and shot by Inez Van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matadin. Not only they have used an obscene amount of Jil Sander (officially my favourite SS11 collection) but also those Prada stoles that are everywhere, a lot of Blumarine and Miu Miu all modelled by Daria Werbowy!. Do you love?

I'm off.

[Pictures: TFS]

LFW fw11: Print Heaven

It makes me excited to see so many good collections being talked, blogged and tweeted about. London has been reclaiming its place in fashion ever since the return of Burberry and it seems to me that this season is making clear the city's got its place back. Jonathan Saunders was probably the one collection I was most disappointed not to have tickets to. His fw11 line was all about contrasting the traditional and the innovative. The classic prints were remade into cool and exciting graphic motifs for the silk skirts and shirts, which came in bold combinations of tangerine, turquoise and neon green. I loved how the two combined made the classic pencil skirts and blouses dynamic and fresh. Saunders also introduced menswear this season, which was also very much talked about. Read more about that soon on Fashion, Frankly.

And it seems prints are the trend in London. Also on Saturday, Clements Ribeiro showed their extremely interesting take on prints. The design duo, who, if you care for some gossip, are also a couple in real life, focused on the fusion of prints rather than on the variety. I found very intriguing how they managed to create a kind of degradé between a leopard and a more traditional brocade pattern and then back to leopard again, all of it trimmed with ultramarine blue silk. I love how designers are starting to use technology more and more to create new ways of doing print. And I loved how Clements Ribeiro made a point out of their prints, leaving their clothes in a slightly secondary role.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

RI-mote inspiration

I've you've read my tweets today you'll know I've been complaining about being uninspired to post today. This always happens every couple of weeks and I usually take it as a sign that tells me to sit back and relax because the world won't end and people won't jump off bridges if I don't post for one day. But the thing is, just as the day (in terms of light, anyway) came to an end I was going through some celebrity pictures of the day and found these of Rihanna below. I realised how much I've been into what she's been wearing for the last couple of months since she dyed her hair red. It sounds too simple but it's the new hair that suddenly makes everything work and which has made Ri-Ri find her own style.

Over the last years Rihanna has obviously changed image as many times as any other celebrity would have. She did the rock chick thing for a while but it never worked for me. Then she had that horrendous bleach quiff, which was even worse. But the new red do adds something really interesting to everything she wears. To begin with, it works perfectly with her skin tone. It adds a stroke of colour when she wears monocolour muted outfits but it also adds an extra bold hue when she does colour-blocking. And it even works with pink! Because of all of that she has been rocking a lot of more minimalistic designers like Chloé and Stella McCartney and more body-con numbers by Mark Fast, Pucci and Balmain. I specially loved the William Tempest SS11 dress she wore on the Xfactor.
All of this together with the pictures above instantly brought Marni's SS11 collection to my mind. I think its minimal sportswear luxury is a perfect match for Rihanna. The prints, the bold colours and the unexpected fabrics beautifully cut would look so great on her. So I am making this a plead to Marni's PR to send Ri-Ri as much summer Marni as they can.  Are you with me?

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com, Celebrity-Gossip.com, Style.com]

Look ahead and be bold

You know how much I love when people wear clothes way ahead of season. I have tried to refrain from bombarding you with posts of celebrities wearing SS11 looks that haven't even finished being produced to hit the stores in the spring but this was too good to resist. On Monday night, Diane Kruger and Gwyneth Paltrow attended an ELLE event in Beverly Hills and, as Francisco Costa's muses, they both donned Calvin Klein Collection. And not only both their dresses are from the SS11 line but the two looks weren't even in the catwalk show. If you remember the CK show you'll know that apart from a lot of white, some black and the odd blue there was only one bright-coloured dress that kind of resembles Kruger's. I'm a big fan of the looks that designers create outside the runway as more "commercial" pieces, which real people will be more likely to wear. And I particularly like the two cocktail dresses below because there is nothing better than a strong shape (that suits your body and personality) and a good colour (that compliments your hair and skin tone). Not to mention how bang-on future trend they are.

I'm off.

[Pictures: JustJared.buzznet.com]

Bold colours & wet hair

Yesterday was one of those fashion week days in which the names on the schedule only create excitement for true fashionistas. Jil Sander was one of those names. Or I had better say Raf Simons. His SS11 collection was tightly connected to what we saw at Pitti for men and yet he added an extra twist to the über bold colours and sleek minimalism we're used to see form him. Tim Blanks explains it perfectly when he says " [a] maximalism, which led him instantly to haute couture". We saw that in the shape of gown skirts and dresses that were paired up with more casual pieces like t-shirts and sheer tops. In addition to his signature block hues we saw horizontal and vertical stripes and flowers prints that, while secondary, made the collection even more contemporary.

Bottega Veneta has been growing on me incessantly over the past few seasons. I admire established fashion houses who refrain from being stuck in the past and take risks hiring designers that wouldn't necessarily completely understand their vision. That was the risk (or safe bet as we can refer to it now) when Tomas Maier was hired. The focus was put on the construction and the tailoring which turned fabrics in to easy-to-wear light-weight garments. In fact, the ease of the collection is its most appealing aspect. In line with Acquascutum's "just out of bed" girl from last season, Maier gets the girl right out of the shower and onto flats because she is so confident she only needs perfectly made clothes to feel sexy.

I have to admit that the best part of watching the Pucci SS11 show online was the fact that Mademoiselle Agnès was in charge of walking around interviewing guests with her flawed but chic command of the English language. If any conclusion was to be drawn from what everyone said to her that should be that the Pucci woman is, above all, sexy. And she is sexy because Pucci is ageless (at least in the industry where older women dare to bare their legs), it is sensual rather than slutty and it has that boho chic air every woman loves. Peter Dunda's brought back the Ibiza of the 70's for SS11 in the shape of clothes people like Anna dello Russo would wear to the beach. Gauzy skirts short at the front and flowy at the bottom, backless long-sleeved mini dresses, pompoms and lots and lots of ruffles.

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, TheSartorialist.blogspot.com]

The Lady In The Tutti-Frutti Hat

If 24 hours ago anyone had said to me that Miuccia's main inspiration for her Prada SS11 collection was Carmen Miranda I would have never believed them. As it turns out, it was. The Italian genius took Miranda's samba and her famous tutti-frutti hats and she put them into the Prada blender and added a little Warholian spices. The result is what Miuccia herself referred to as 'minimal baroque'. The collection opened with plain one-piece dresses in bold colours and soon gave way to endless bright stripes and cartoony prints with elegant and modern silhouettes. It closed with glamourous LBDs accompanied by (my favourite) 'shrimp' furs, a perfect match for the flapper hairdos that dominated the show.

For those of you unfamiliar with Carmen Miranda's work, have a look at the video below. It is probably her most iconic song and show and you can totally picture Prada's models walking around he fictitious island. My favourite part is that grand finale with the bananas rocketing out of her hat and the tree-high strawberries. What an amazing show that would have been!

I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, theSartorialist.blogspot.com, Kidsmodern.com, vintagetextile.com, wilsonsalmanac.com, alexgofman.net]

Collage Sunday, 09.05.10

**UPDATE: I apologise for the odd format of images in this post and all those before it. They were created according to the old layout.

This post today comes a little late, I know. I spent my Sunday watching films and drinking coffee with Ella Fitzgerald singing in the background. And about an hour ago I decided that I am going to make Sunday collage day. At the end of each week I'll post a SS10 inspiration mood-board so that you can start your week in style. Enjoy!

I'm off.

PS. How awesome did Anna look back in the day? (3 square pics on the top left)

[Pictures: Patrick Demarchelier, Steven Klein, Steven Meisel, Style in the City, The Sartorialist, RDuJour, Vanessa Jackman, Mr. Newton, Nowness]