Coco Would Be Proud

Chanel has to be one of my favourite labels in the world, and Karl Lagerfeld has to be one of my favourite designers. With every season, whether it be Couture or ready-to-wear, Lagerfeld always manages to stay true to Coco's vision, but make it modern at the same time. For his Spring/Summer 09 collection, he stayed with the black and white trend but made it unique and sophisticated. The patterns for the tweed suits looked almost futuristic and I loved the fact that tweed patterns had a mix of black and white intertwined rather than two separate pieces. I also loved the cropped jackets and the chains that came off the sides of some of the outfits mixed with the cut-out gloves which gave the clothes a rock-n-roll feel. Then on the other side, there was this lady-like, romantic look with lots of pink and fuzzy balls on the back of shoes. I just completely fell in love with all the day wear that Lagerfeld produced for this collection. The evening dresses however, I was not impressed with. First of all, there were these weird, plastic looking dresses that looked only appropriate to wear at a rubber fetish club. Then there was the ruffled, full skirts that looked almost country-western inspired, that just left a lot to be desired. Then again, Lagerfeld always said that he liked to focus more on the day wear for his ready-to-wear collection and leave the outstanding evening dresses for Couture. To watch this fabulous collection on YouTube, click here and here. Or if you wish to watch it on the Chanel website, click here.

De la Renta Pulls in Another Knockout

Oscar de la Renta has to be one of the legendary people in fashion. He is the king of New York sophistication and glamour. For his Spring/Summer 09 collection, Oscar stayed with the trend of the season of mostly black,white and nude colours. However, his collection still had that rich and jet-set looked to it which is completely different from the understated look the other designers have created. I absolutely loved the shredded tops and the volume filled skirts. The stand out garment for me was the white crisp trousers that were so bright, it practically hurt your eyes. Another theme in his collection was the fact that ther was these large, almost corset liked belts, and the return of the chunky necklace and bracelet look. The purses and the shoes were absolutely fantastic. Especially the shoes because even though there were heels, they weren't the vertically challenging heels that other designers have produced. Basically these are the type of shoes where you can look sexy but you won't be dieing by the end of the night. When watching the evening dresses come down the runway at the end, it is little wonder why they call him "the king of glamour." My favourite dress had to have been the black lace dress that looked sexy but yet elegant. There is not one bad thing I'd say about this collection. To watch the full runway show, click here.

Nights in Rodarte

Kate and Laura Mulleavy founded Rodarte 3 years ago and, since then, have taken the fashion world by storm. These two sisters are not the type of people you would think would be designers just by looking at them. In an industry that is as superficial as fashion, the way a designer looks is as or more important as the clothes they create. This has led to Lagerfeld and Jacobs losing weight to fit the physical ideal of what a designer should look like. Aside from Kate and Laura's appearance, they make incredible clothes. For their Summer 09 collection, the girls stayed true to their goth-rock motifs when creating the clothes. Apparently, the structure of many of the outfits were based on the skeletal frame of the human body. I love the fact that these sisters are not afraid to push the boundaries of fabric and colour to make some really avant garde, borderline couture-type look. They have to be the edgiest designers to come out of New York since Marc Jacobs. Whether they start a whole fashion movement like Jacobs did with grunge, however, remains to be seen. The only criticism I would have for the Mulleavy sisters is that their Spring/Summer 09 collection looked awfully similar to their Fall/Winter 08 collection. Other than that, I loved it. To watch the full runway show, click here and here.

Same Old Same Old

For a long time the label herve leger has fallen out of the fashion spotlight but then reemerged when Maz Azria took over the design and produced their signature bondage dress in 07. When it first came out it was sexy but edgy and a new element to the world of fashion. Two years on and the same dress keeps reappearing. I'm sorry but how many times can Azria make the same short, tight, cris-crossed outfit and still be considered relevant. It would be understandable for them to try and maintain their signature look and build on it with every season but you have to show some type of change and growth. Unless the owners of the leger label want to go back to fashion obscurity they have got to change it up. Who knows it may be time for leger and Azria to part company. To watch the full runway show click here and here.

Cool Britannia 2.0

The Brits have brought us such great talent as Matthew Williamson, Stella McCartney, Alexander McQueen and John Galliano just to name a few. This time they have produced a talent in the form of Giles Deacon. I love how Giles manipulates fabric to produce unique masterpieces. I first heard of him last season when he produced a dress that was hand painted pictures of headless Bambi. In today's toned down commercialized world of fashion it's so refreshing to see someone who puts the excitement back into the industry. I loved his spring/summer 09 collection because it was just as artistic as his last with all the hand painted dresses and the shredded and manipulated fabric he once again produced a stand out collection. One thing I like the most about Giles, is that his clothes are unique but still wearable. All of his dresses could be worn at a society cocktail party or to the office. I especially liked the weird hats that he gave the models that from the side looked like a Mrs. Pacman. This is a designer that you can clearly tell is going places. To wait the full show click here.

Oh Canada!

The Canadian twins that are sweeping Italy have produced another stand-out collection. Dean and Dan Caten of Dsquared2 came up with a 1970s Charlie's Angels theme for Spring/Summer '09. This was a very sexy, retro, but yet modern type of clothes that could fit quite frankly a wide range of women. My favourite was the high-waisted wide legged pants because the Caten twins did proper high-waisted pants. This look is hard to carry off because a lot of people think that high-waisted pants need to be so high that they touch your nipple. In reality, they are pants that are situated right above the hip bone. The only thing I didn't like about the runway show, was that it was so theatrical it became borderline campy. The whole intro they had in the beginning about the Dsquared2 angels was just too much. All in all, I think that Dean and Dan have made Canada very proud and will continue to make Canada proud. To watch the runway show click here and here.

Angels Wear Prada Too

For spring/summer 2009, Miuccia Prada decided to take more of a sexier twist to her family's label. This collection was sportswear inspired but with a twist with all the sweetheart lined crop-tops and the lingerie inspired skirts. It was as if Miuccia took a page out of the Dolce & Gabbana handbook when she designed this collection. I loved the delicate look of the clothes and the sim[ple yet meticiulous detail that showed every piece. My one area of contempment was the was the gold fabric at the end that looked like yellow seran paper on the models. The bra-like tops were also meant for skinnier girls because if you were amble sized bosoms you would look like a high class hooker. The biggest show stopper in the entire collection had to be the shoes. I have seen many high heels come dowqn the run way for many years but these heels were at a whole other level. The shoes were so high that the models were practically on their toes. So unless you're a ballerina, admire these shoes from a far. To watch the full runway show click here: