Givenchy Catwalk Fashion Show Paris ss2012

His prints of flowers and barking dogs were all over streetfashion during the last fashionweeks, and Riccardo Tisci of Givenchy is surely held responsible for the fact that fashion moved into a print-loving direction. But after two seasons of prints and black, the designer took the undersea world as his inspiration.

Tisci expressed in his show notes a desire to explore “a more romantic side….The general attitude is softer.” So the powdery colors, undulating peplums and sheer fabrics were indeed unmistakably feminine.

The tailoring was strong, innovative and varied. Tightfitted jackets with jabots swayed like seaweed. Skirts had swooping hems or were scooped open.

Starting in white the monochromatic ensembles became glossier, more mermaidlike, with leather slashed into fish scales and head-to-toe silver sequins.

Prada Catwalk Fashion Show Milan Womenswear ss2012

Shiny, streamlined and sexy like a car, that was Prada’s ss2012 womenswear-collection. The sweet colors, full (pleated) skirts and carcoats reminded of the Fifties but of course Miucca Prada added her own modern touch by the use of fabrics, prints and accessories. And instead of last summer’s bananas she presented another print that surely will be copied sooner or later: cartoon cars and Thunderbird-flames.

There was more, of course:  grey felt coats with appliqué flowers all over the front in blue and cream or in orange and green; stiff, pleated skirts worn to the knee with Thunderbird-flames in pale pink broderie anglaise; cotton tube tops worn over pencil skirts; cotton house coats in pale blue with lapels in a contrasting print;  dresses with elastic in the waist. This was certainly a collection to be remembered.

Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show New York ss2012

For a change, Marc Jacobs closed the New York Fashion Week. The Lexington Avenue Armory was decorated like a dance hall situated in the twenties.   As the Philip Glass opera Einstein on the Beach started, a sweeping gold curtain parted to reveal all the models waiting to hit the runway.

The collection was a cocktail of strange elements. Starting with the see-through plastic cowboy boots. And also: drop-waist flapper dresses, denim workwear, clear plastic sewn into skirts and dresses, sporty sweatshirts, and techno-checks.  Some of the silhouettes looked like last season’s narrow silhouettes, but there were also boxy, drop-waist shapes that reminded of the 1920’s. There was plenty of fringe,  bold-colored sequins and paillettes, and a lot of that clear plasticTextural experimentation was strong in this collection. To journalists backstage, Jacobs explained he didn’t want his collection “to feel real”.