Fashion Models and the Hottest Designer Trends

Presenting her fourth collection last Sunday, February 14th during Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week, 35-year-old singer-turned-designer Victoria Beckham has received a very positive response for her fall/winter 2010/2011 collection. The collection was focused on dresses and high platform shoes embodying her own personal style.

For a change, Victoria opened the show by greeting the audience, which designers normally only make an appearance on the runway at the end, and continued to comment on the designs as they came down the runway. She said, “I feel the clothes express how my own personal style has evolved, more relaxed, a little more slouchy, but still structured.”

The dresses are classy, chic, and sophisticated ready for any red carpet with the use of draping throughout the backs and necklines. Puffed hemlines were used to enhance the strict silhouettes and long slits were added along the sides to add a sexy touch. The range of dresses were inspired by the comic book detective Dick Tracy using deep reds, blues, greens, nudes, and a dazzling pale gold. With this collection, Victoria feels that the fashion world is finally taking her seriously as a designer and her dream is to open her own boutique within the next five years. As a designer, she says, “But, I’m still learning. I still feel I need to prove myself – all my life I’ve had to prove myself. Each season, I have to better myself. I really want to grow as a designer.”

About Victoria’s collection, WWD said, “The collection Beckham showed for fall … presented none of the neophyte awkwardness one might expect from a four-seasons’ new designer (and not just one with a pop star past).”

Lauren David Peden of British Vogue praised Victoria’s collection saying, “Beckham presented a very beautiful collection that evolved her body-con aesthetic while still leaving room – literally – to breathe, thanks to a new-found focus on draping and fluidity.”

Lisa Armstrong of The Times also said, “These clothes are not being churned out to make a quick buck (leave that to her jeans, perfume and sunglasses) – they’re extremely work intensive. I like the collection a lot, it’s just what I prefer wearing.”

Every season, designer Betsey Johnson doesn’t just show her collection. She always creates a party on the runway with a theme and decorations enhancing her eccentric collection. Presenting her fall 2010/winter 2011 collection, Betsey decided to open the show with none other than 25-year-old Kelly Osbourne parading down the runway with a bandana over her face. Reaching the end of the runway, Kelly tore off the bandana to reveal the Wild Wild West theme for a cops and robbers style show.

Blowing kisses and sashaying down the hay-covered runway, Betsey allows her models to be themselves playing and showing off their personalities to the audience. Her fall 2010/winter 2011 collection consists of colorful tutus, catsuits, faux fur jackets, and funny frilled bloomers for a whimsical, bold, fun, and flirty collection.

About this season’s collection, Betsey said, “I’m working on my stuff, being very true-blue Betsey.’” She also claims, “We’re not in seasons anymore, anyway. We’ll show a little bit of now and a lot of later.”

Doing her part to raise money for Haiti relief, 39-year-old British supermodel Naomi Campbell did what she does best by organizing the Fashion For Relief Haiti runway show on Friday, February 12th at Bryant Park’s The Tent in part of Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week hosted by 50-year-old Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson.

The show consisted of models and celebrities walking the runway in some fabulous designers threads styled by Rachel Zoe with celebrity models in the likes of Chris Brown, Fergie, and Kelly Osbourne. The show featured designers such as Diane von Furstenberg and Donna Karan with looks from Dolce & Gabbana, Ralph Lauren, Christian Dior, and Carolina Herrera to be auctioned online at at Net-A-Porter.com starting Monday, March 15th. Having held 950 guests and with tickets from $100 to $150 per seat, all the proceeds are going to CARE, an organization dedicated to rebuilding Haiti’s health-care system for women and children.

Although she rarely walks the runway nowadays, Naomi took three trips down the runway with her last look being dedicated to her good friend designer Alexander McQueen, who committed suicide just one day prior, in a thigh-high, multi-colored graphic print dress by McQueen. Along with Naomi, seven other models paid tribute to McQueen by showcasing his creations in a tribute set to Patti Smith’s “Because the Night” to close out the show.

For the finally farewell, Sarah Ferguson told guests, “Thank you, by being here you’ve made a difference.”

In the past, Naomi has also staged Fashion For Relief shows in New York after the Hurricane Katrina disaster as well as the massacre in Mumbai, India. To further benefit Haitian women, Naomi is holding a similar show this Thursday, February 18th during London Fashion Week.

Karl Lagerfeld’s Chanel Haute Couture Spring 2010 collection takes inspiration from a mix of romanticism and space age to quite eye-tricking handwork in pale pinks, straw yellows, almond greens, beiges, and grays with whites. The collection, steering clear of any gold, which is rare for Karl, black, and navy, was presented during Paris Fashion Week featuring top models Freja Beha Erichsen of IMG, Siri Tollerød of Marilyn Model Management, Kasia Struss of Women Model Management, Jacquelyn Jablonski of Elite Model Management, Magdalena Frackowiak also of Elite, Lindsay Ellingson of Viva, Anja Rubik of Next Models, Angelika Kocheva also of Marilyn Models, Sofia Fisher also of Marilyn Models, Skye Stracke also of Viva, Hanne Gaby Odiele also of Women Models, Sophie Srej also of IMG, Abbey Lee Kershaw also of Next Models, Liu Wen also of Marilyn Models, Shu Pei Qin also of Next Models, Dorothea Barth Jorgensen also of Elite, Isabeli Fontana of Silent Models, and more.

Karl does not like to describe clothing as ‘futuristic’. He says, “I don’t believe in avant-garde clothes for a future that will never happen. Fashion is always now.”

The collection is very young and joyful exemplifying luxury through light using sequins, crystals, embroideries, silver threads, and ethereal volumes from short suits to liquid togas. Some pieces even had embroidery resembling smashed glass and molten metal using jewelry as part of the structure of the garment. This Haute Couture collection is very dreamy full of bows and girly embellishments that would make any women feel gorgeous and confident.

20-year-old designer Bradley McLennan has created an architecturally appealing dress entitled ‘Pre-Packaged Lover’ crafted from hand-painted silk and intricately detailed Swarovski crystal embellishments. Not only is the dress a stunningly fashionable creation with exaggerated shoulders and a perfectly figure hugging form, it is very deeply thought out which you can easily at any angle. The modern works of Japanese architect Toyo Ito inspired the design, which Bradley strived to instill within his garment constraints with a sense of conflict between man and nature.

Bradley’s fall 2010 collection will be featured at the Avant Garde section of Fashion Exposed at Sydney Exhibition Center from February 14-16, 2010.

At Fashion Week in Paris, violence was the statement at Jean Paul Gaultier’s runway show with boxing as the main inspiration showing the wide range in the collection from casual to formal wear. The line is infused with an eclectic mix of silhouettes and pieces inspired from a boxer’s uniform in robe-like outwear, voluminous waistlines, and tapered legs using multi-functional leather giving shape to a variety of ready-to-layer basics and suiting pieces.

Christian Dior was born in 1905 and died in 1957. Dior left a mark on style like no other designer and the Dior runway shows today always have a bit of his inspiration from a half century back. This is a Dior dress from post WWII era

and this is a dress from last years spring collection

Looks like they re-used the hat. Christian Dior created what the press called the “New Look”. The Dior look was called new because it moved away from the slim skirts and broad shoulders that were in style during that era and introduced designs with wide skirts, small waists and smaller shoulders.

That look still continues today and wide skirts with small waists have been a part of the line for many decades.

The Dior line has also kept the hats. While most designers have gotten rid of hats, the Dior line still has flashbacks to post WWII and the large hats that were in style.

As decades pass and styles change, the Dior line still seems to stay true to its creator, following in his footsteps of very feminine and detailed fashion… with a good amount of hats in their shows.

One of my favorite Dior shows was the Paris show of the spring 2007 line. It had a lot of great makeup with a heavily Asian influence. As with any Dior show, the hair is a spectacle in itself and the models looked as flawless as porcelain dolls. Christian Dior Spring 2007