Naeem Khan is a designer whose work I almost like but seems to fall short in some way that I can't quite grasp. The dress below if from the current season A/W 2008 and it has all the hallmarks of a good piece of clothing. The textures play well against each other, the materials aren't flat and drab and it looks like a dress that would be exciting to wear but it's not quite right. Personally I think that the neckline lets it down, it makes it too vertically symmetrical because the neck and hem are the same shape. If a designer doesn't see that or if he thinks that it's appropriate then he's not the designer for me.



Shall I tell you a little secret? The first collection that Stella McCartney has ever produced that I have liked is this winter 2008 line. I can't help but feel that this is because a lot of the silhouettes remind me of Nicolas Ghesquire's Balenciaga dresses from S/S 2008 which were undoubtedly my favourite pieces from that season. What bothers me about Stella McCartney's clothes is that they seem as if they've been made for the more emaciated among us but they aren't costume, they're definitely outfits to be worn on the street. They're the kind of loose that only the slender can wear because they look like a tent on anyone who carries weight, even if it's around their collarbone and that bothers me. Look at this S/S 2007 outfit, it makes the body straight and imagine if the model was a UK size 14...

Items I quite fancy wearing this season:


Balenciaga

Camilla Staerk

Ermanno Scervino

Yohji Yamamoto

Peculiar fashion trends generally filter down from the catwalk to high street shops, currently you can find Balenciaga's hologram leggings amongst those trends. I'm definitely a Balenciaga fan and I find Nicholas Ghesquiere's clothes incredibly exciting so I was quite interested and amused to find that these had leaked into Topshop.



Urban Outfitters appear to be snagging the concept for one of their shoes from Tashkent NYC at the moment. There's been some outrage about it on the fashion blogs. Presumably that's because the price difference isn't particularly large and Tashkent NYC is not a major fashion label that makes a lot of profit. However if you knew about both of these shoes and could afford either pair (and had any sense of aesthetic) the clear favourite would have to be Cheyenne's shoe on the right, which is interesting, elegant and appealing from a design perspective.

Are you a pirate or a ninja? Gaultier is either a pirate or a man with a crush on Johnny Depp. One may lead to the other, it's difficult to tell without the ability to ask. His S/S 2008 collection was very revealing though, he's always been quite passionate about expressing fun through his collections and this season really didn't disappoint. There appeared to be at times a combination of styles slamming into each other and creating the type of fashion masterwork that only comes out of the best designers. Note the pirate-flapper overlap and if you take a look at the rest of the collection you'll see what I would describe as a complete inability to separate out periods of time in the fashion industry, which is of course what you want from a designer in 2007.


Manish Arora created a tribute to pop art that looks absolutely astounding. I can't put my love of these designs into words so I'm just going to whack some photos on here. I think a love-hate relationship will be instantly apparent to most people. Some of the dresses should be vile but somehow the cut and colour and utter vibrancy make them appealing. I really love the big, A-line dresses that wash over the model's bodies and create a completely different figure.


At the other end of the spectrum, coming from an alien race residing at the opposite end of the fashion galaxy is Martin Margiela, his clothes in a sense are probably more beautiful, certainly minimalistic but not quite as exciting as Gaultier and Arora.


Finally Balenciaga. Oh how I enjoy these garments, I find this collection the oddest but most enjoyable of this year. I would buy a piece from the women's show if I could, the structural quality of these dresses really appeals.