I am in love. Madly, stupidly in love.
With Dolce and Gabbana's Fall/Winter 2011 Collection.
It's beautiful. And fun. The designers really got out of the pattern box on this collection, using stars, stripes, polka dots, and music notes (!!). I also adore that they managed to stay structured and clean, and yet use flowing fabrics and see-through material without making the collection look like summer.
This collection really stood out to me, as I was flipping through the new Vogue Paris Collections book (it's wonderful, go snag it at Barnes and Noble and just read through it in the store. So worth it), because I feel like it really gets away from the typical Winter fashion tropes that crop up every season. Each year, for winter/fall it's fur, bondage, vintage (the fifties and sixties, most recently) and menswear. It's beautiful, obviously, but at the same time....it's a little dull. I love that this D&G collection doesn't seem to take itself too seriously, using certain of the winter commons (menswear) and yet doing something that looks nothing like any other page of Vogue. I love to see that innovation isn't dying out in fashion, and that there's always at least one designer (and many, many more I'm sure) willing to do something truly different, rather than an update of last year's "hot thing."
Although I could probably live without the comeback of the fanny pack : )
