LE DIX: 2010 SPRING COLLECTIONS PART THREE

You've been so patient! The final four top moments from the S/S 2010 collections ...

PROENZA SCHOULER

I'm definitely a late-comer to the Proenza Schouler party, and what a party it is! My lack of attention to the PS boys is most likely due to the fact that they don't design menswear, and they shouldn't (yet) considering that their youthful, buoyant designs for spring are likely to sell-out fast. Until now, my only understanding of the PS duo (Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough) is that they are both brutally hot, once lovers, classmates and now business partners in a much-hyped and very lucrative womenswear venture. When I saw their latest show, I immediately responded to the colors: neon yellow, fluorescent blues and greens that gave uncannily simple sundresses some urgency, screaming: "It's party time!" The styling was sublime; the blogosphere was abuzz over the two-tone Manic Panic hair, and the accessories were lovely.

Seeing them in person gave me gender-envy - when dressed in Proenza Schouler, girls really do have all the fun!

GIVENCHY: THE ACID NEVER LIES

What more can be said of Givenchy design genius Riccardo Tisci if it's not some sort of ecstatic wailing? The man behind the red-hot revival of the storied French fashion house has stunned critics time and again, spinning dark fantasies that seem otherworldly, dangerous yet oddly familiar at the same time. Tisci hinted at the goth-luxe trend long before it became le mode du jour and quickly became a favorite among the style cognoscenti (Madonna tapped him to design her tour costumes 2 years ago). High-street retailers have co-opted his S&M aesthetic to the hilt, and with his most recent collection Tisci managed to trump Chanel's op-art bodysuit with this hallucinatory ensemble (shown above), a gauzy wonder and pure perfection. The psychedelic fever dream didn't stop there:

it extended well into the footwear, accessories and men's collection. Heavy stuff, and worth every penny I'm sure.

RICK OWENS

Rick Owens, along with his like-minded peer Gareth Pugh, has managed to turn the fashion world on it's head with a provocative and challenging design aesthetic. To me, Owens and Pugh represent what feels like the new new-wave; their work is radical, subversive and highly-coveted given the swell of praise they've received in recent years. But it was California-native Owens' year, and his is the ultimate fashion success story. He began making clothing in Los Angeles in 1994, and now, at the age of 48, Owens has achieved worldwide cult celebrity. His eponymous design house managed to turn a profit in a bleak economical climate, and his popularity has yielded two diffusion lines (Lilies and DRKSHDW) as well as the ultra-luxe fur line Palais Royale. His S/S collection was an attempt to temper the razor-sharp edge that is his hallmark, and the result was just as compelling as ever.

Oh, yeah. The shoes. TO DIE.

And last, but not least ...

LINDSANITY STRIKES THE HOUSE OF UNGARO

Okay, so Lindsay Lohan's turn as creative director at Ungaro was a total fiasco. Trouble is Lindsay's middle name, and her debut at Paris Fashion Week was rife with it. The clothes were mostly terrible: shoddy tailoring, questionable styling choices (pasties, anyone?) and overall failure defined Lilo's stay at the helm. But, let's face it, the sequined heart-print blazers weren't that bad?

LE DIX: 2010 SPRING COLLECTIONS PART TWO

The very pretty face in the picture above belongs to Mr. Rad Hourani who, awesomely and randomly, linked Rêves Mecaniques to his Twitter page yesterday! Rad, if you're out there, tell me where to place an order!

Now back to the next (and final) five entries in my top ten S/S 2010 moments ....

THE RETURN OF VERSACE (SORT OF)

I've always had a soft spot for the Italians, and who represented the Italians (and ruled the 1980's/90's) better than Gianni Versace? Ever since the design legend was (in)famously gunned down on the front steps of his Miami home in 1997, the embattled House that Versace built has lost it's luster amid reports of tepid sales figures, erratic behavior on the part of Versace's successor, his sister Donatella and, most glaringly, cultural and critical irrelevance. The S/S 2010 collection, though, was an obvious return to what made Versace a marketing pioneer in the first place: S-E-X. Gianni Versace began his career designing "trashy" nightclub looks for glamorous night-owls in his native Reggio di Calabria, setting the stage for the sex-and-status-obsessed 90's, a decade that made Versace a household name (and many millions of dollars). Under Donatella's watch, however, Versace seemed to lose it's identity in an increasingly saturated luxury market. The S/S 2010 collection was a shock in that it felt old-school in the best ways: barely-there hemlines, a boisterous and pretty color palette, revealing evening dresses (Versace's calling card), clear PVC mini skirts and some really, really fabulous prints. Whether or not the critical success of one collection will be enough to keep Versace afloat is yet to be seen.

Stay tuned for the final four ... 

LE DIX: 2010 SPRING COLLECTIONS PART ONE

These are my top ten moments from the 2010 Spring/Summer collections.

ALEXANDER McQUEEN GOES UNDER THE SEA

Unless you were hiding under a rock somewhere when M. McQueen showed his Atlantis-inspired runway presentation in Paris last October, you could have sensed a sea-change when his elaborate production crashed the Showstudio website (where a live feed was being broadcast) and a certain pop phenom by the name of Lady Gaga debuted her then yet-to-be-heard smash single "Bad Romance" at the show's end. The underwater alien invasion vibe that permeated the designs were both romantic and a bit frightening; McQueen is a master of color, texture and above all, tailoring, but it was in the high-def prints on the cocktail dresses (close-up butterfly-wing patterns, organic flourishes washed over with nuclear radiation) that he found a compelling narrative. Of course it was the "shoes" that ultimately stole the show:

RAD HOURANI

While the name might ring a bell, Rad Hourani is considered a newcomer to the fashion world, even though the Canadian designer has shown his work in previous seasons. It was his of-the-moment interpretations on extreme androgyny and luxe minimalism that put Hourani on the map with this collection, shown during NY Fashion Week, and fashionistas are drooling over his shredded leather leggings. The runway soundtrack remix of Suicide's "Ghost Rider" was pretty awesome too.

RODARTE'S BIRDS OF PREY

Rodarte has been pushing an envelope or two (or three) for years now. A critical favorite season after season, the Rodarte ladies (Kate and Laura Mulleavy) always turn out increasingly complex works of wearable art, and this collection was no exception. Inspired by a strange story concept (a woman dies alone in the desert only to be resurrected as a phoenix), the show was heavy on drama: austere makeup and hair paired with tattered leather, patches of burned fabrics and glinting metallics. And tribal tattoos. While the tribal-print trend seems a bit late in the game at this point to me, the Rodarte designers executed their vision with their signature whimsy, writing a dark fairy tale that will likely remain out-of-reach for the masses. But, hey, you can always snag a piece from their capsule collection for Target if you can't bear the RTW price tags.

PRADA: DEATH AT A BEACH PARTY

My first impressions of Prada's Spring 2010 collection were the various (and snarky) critical reviews I read online before I had a chance to see the show footage myself. Lying in direct contrast to Rodarte's witchy dreamscapes and McQueen's conceptual theatrics, Prada represents the gold standard of subtlety; functional luxury with high-brow humor and trend-eschewing dedication to detail. While I definitely have an affinity for all things Prada, I'm usually a bit underwhelmed by 70% of their runway presentations. The Prada hallmark is a highly refined attitude toward the creation of luxury goods that really need to be touched and experienced in person, wherein the "small stuff" lies the selling point.

It was a pleasant surprise, then, to be totally turned on by Miuccia Prada's gloomy, dancing-at-the-edge-of-a-volcano spring looks: frayed silks in black, ocean blues, bright purples and pewter-gray made into paper doll holiday ensembles replete with screen-prints of blacked-out palm trees and kitschy beach motifs. The accessories (always the highlight of any Prada collection) featured lucite and plastics that, when combined with the youthful and slightly nerdy hair and makeup, made this collection a surprisingly hip standout.

BALMAIN-IA CONTINUED

Balmain designer Christophe Decarnin hit another home-run for the revived house of Pierre Balmain, bookending a year of non-stop "Balmain-ia" that has alternately captivated and enraged fashion critics the world over. Yes, Decarnin's glitzy, disco-era sequined-explosions have been photographed on every pretty young thing from Rihanna to Lindsay Lohan, but it's also telling that Michael Jackson chose Balmain for his obviously-defunct arena show wardrobe ... and you can't forget the Demi Moore/W Magazine cover-shot controversy. Any way you slice it, Balmain has been maybe the most coveted label on earth for a good year now. I was relieved to see the Spring show since I had grown tired of seeing the same F/W '09 $22,000 biker jacket on everyone but myself, and Decarnin stoked the media fires anew with his usual trashy-luxe offerings: sequined jeans, military-style jackets with gold-fringed epaulets, perfectly distressed tops and tons of leather/hardware creations. Balmain will undoubtedly remain the party-crowd favorite for the foreseeable future.

To be continued ...