Another highlight of the season for me. I need evenings worthy of these dresses.
Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig's collection for Marchesa is simply exquisite. Their stunning gowns are the stuff of girl's dreams. The jewels, the lace, the hand-painted florals, the draping...breath-taking.
I fell in love with the black lace harem-panted jumpsuit, yet sadly it didn't translate so well from the runway to the red carpet, as exhibited by Leighton Meester's buttocks at a Harry Winston cocktail party...
Along with her exposed bum, the poor girl's proportions were all out of sorts, as the jumpsuit proved to be terrible unflattering on the thighs. Such a pity. Hopefully the next person to step out in this delicious jumpsuit will do it justice.
One of today's most innovative and conceptual designer, Hussein Chalayan's Spring 2011 RTW collection was my personal highlight of the season.
Chalayan showcased his work in a short film, Sakoku, inspired by the Japanese foreign relations policy of the same name. This policy stated that no person could enter or leave the country under penalty of death. Chalayan was fascinated by this period in Japanese history, and based his collection not on Japanese clothing but the concept of abstract isolation, as exhibited in his stunning range of black and white pieces, as well as the gorgeous colour-blocking in lime, fuschia and gold.
Chalayan has created many exceptional pieces throughout his career, including:
1) The Bubble Dress - SS07
2) The Transformer Dress - SS07
Chalayan created six pieces with designer Moritz Waldemeyer which reconfigured themselves on the runway. See them in action below - the final piece disappearing into the model's hat, leaving her completely naked. Amaze.
3) The Laser Dress - in collaboration with Swarovski - 2008
Ingrid Sanfey is a London based artist whose last exhibition, "In Significant Lives", centered around death masks she had knitted for the dead mice and birds her cat would bring her. He work is utterly fantastic, primarily done on but not limited to watercolour on paper.
Alex Prager is one of the four artists featured in MOMA's exhibiton of New Photography for 2010. A self-taught photographer from Los Angeles, Prager is known for her fabulously kitsch and deliciously cinematic portraits, and this selection of highly-saturated photos from her 2008 series 'A Big Valley' are no exception.
Also, have a look at her wonderful short film Despair, starring the beautiful Bryce Dallas Howard:
Sandy Kim is a pretty new American photographer with major talent. She enjoys photographing her friends in San Francisco and New York and pissing out windows with her boyfriend Colby of the band Girls.
She's also got an awesome blog: http://lovebryan.com/sandy/ -M