NYFW Fall 2012: Theyskens' Theory is Decidedly Mixed

[All  images taken from Style.com].

Let's cut to the chase: I'm going to start with the good bits, especially as I'm always so excited to see what Olivier Theyskens comes up with for Theory. His own personal style is a mixture of sleek, straight hair and baggy or draped clothing, and you'll often see this combination in his designs for women, though there is a lot more emphasis on the former. The stone dress above caught my eye because it seemed so historical, like a combination of Victorian feminine dressing and Little House on the Prairie frontier-style practicality.

Outfit #2 from my shortlist is a more traditional Theyskens approach, with a rock vibe seeping through in the dirty gold sequinned jacket, the slouch-fit trousers and the patterned charcoal t-shirt. This doesn't feel like the same target female as the stone dress; this woman is comfortable with adding a more masculine edge to her look, and she doesn't need everything to be neatly finished and tucked in.

I can totally see this dress being adopted on the red carpet. The unusual neckline means that the mainstream press will probably stick the unsuspecting celebrity in the 'Worst Dressed' category, but I don't feel the need. It's little details like this that freshen things up in fashion, and stop a plain dress being, well, plain.

My favourite look from the show was this simple but effective sharp jacket, that seems to mould its way around the body like armour, with a flimsy skirt that has the consistency of tissue paper. It's a really interesting contrast, with so much protection focused around the torso and the legs completely exposed.

Another piece that's sure to make it into fashion editorials and the wardrobes of celebrities is this ethereal off-white dress. The high neck and fishtail base make for an overly covered form, but the sheer layers look as fine as smoke in certain places. It's elegant and doesn't expose any flesh, but it still manages to be exciting and not as conservative as you might think.

This is the last of the stunning moments from the collection. It's another dazzling piece that is classy and daring at the same time, worn simply with loose hair and smoke grey heels. Look away now if you don't want to see what else Olivier Theyskens added to the mix, because it's going to be pretty frustrating.

I know that he's a master at tailoring and cutting around the female form, but this outfit is hardly groundbreaking. It reminds me of synthetic suits that you'd buy in bargain basements circa 2000-2005 - the ones that were well shaped but felt really strange and smelt a bit funny. I know that this version would set you back a ridiculous amount of money, but it just doesn't add enough interest. The shape you see here is only so exaggerated because of the model's thin figure, but on your average UK size 10-16 woman you would struggle to justify the price, because so much of the lengthening effect would be lost. Those flares would drown a girl, and the jacket would pull against an average UK bust. It doesn't work for me as an exciting or flattering look and I don't feel it's made for real women. I know that Ready to Wear isn't made for the high street, but it should be more realistic than Couture in terms of the modern woman's figure.

Another misguided attempt, the cream coat looks like something straight out of a Middleton sister's wardrobe. Meanwhile the gold pencil skirt and off-gold top are a little bit like a mid-life crisis moment, with a desperate attempt to draw attention to something, but it ends up being your ankles rather than anything remotely flirtatious (yep, the ankles were last seen as a scandalous body part pre-WWI).

Okay, enough of the designer-bashing. I want to end with a decent everyday piece that straddles the line between the beautiful event gowns and the cool slouchy trousers with a metallic tinge. Enter the burned olive playsuit (or shorts and shirt - I'll admit, it's very hard to tell from the catwalk image). This is the blend of hiding and revealing flesh, without the formality of a dress. It's the way that the rock goddess from my second image could have a meeting of minds with the prairie girl from the first shot. It's wearable, slightly flirtatious, and it's really flattering. This is what we need to see more of; attention to detail that can work for different body shapes, and not just one. We want to see intuitive design, not the reinvention of the wheel with a cream coat.

It will be interesting to see if my choices of the good and bad Theyskens' Theory pieces mirror that of the fashion editors and writers, or if I'm just not on the same wavelength and actually the Middleton sister look is the perfect way to appear edgy. In which case, all will really be lost. I stand by my selection, and I hope that Olivier Theyskens manages to hit the mark more often next season.

D.I.Y. Leather-Trimmed Mac

I mentioned previously on the blog about how I was a little bit in love with Topshop's leather edged mac, but I struggled to justify the £100 price tag. I bit the bullet and decided to use my old faithful charity shop mac and give it a make-over (or should that be mac-over?). It already featured some gorgeous tortoiseshell buttons, which I decided to keep, but I added leather on the cuffs and on a single lapel. The leather was left over from some trousers I bought on Ebay and turned into shorts, but you can buy offcuts from any good haberdashery or even just buy a cheap imitation leather product and use the raw material.

Here's a shot of the upper part of the mac, with gold studs in the top that I bought in a pack from a local haberdashery store. You can also just about see my hand-sewing of the leather onto the coat fabric, in a basic running stitch; I do have a sewing machine in the house, but I prefer to rely on hand-sewing if there's a lot of layers involved, as it can jam easily or break the machine's needle if you're not careful.

A full frontal view of the finished mac. I had originally planned to put leather on both lapels, but they were different sizes so I stopped half-way through to survey my work. It turned out that I preferred the asymmetry of having one plain lapel and one shiny.

I put the mac in the kitchen for these shots, as the light is strong there in the evenings. I also liked how the creamy colour of the base fabric contrasted with the stained wood. My D.I.Y. project seems to be a success and I'd happily add leather panels to another item in the future, such as a pocket for a t-shirt or as elbow patches for a jumper. It was incredibly easy but looks very expensive, and it'll see me through more than the current fetish trend - the mac will always be a fashion staple.

PFW: Miu Miu and Balmain both feeling traditional

[Images via Vogue Italia].
Miu Miu's vision for SS12 was decidedly girly, with lace and satin being the dominant fabrics and most pieces falling on, or just above, the knee. Bands of black had been transformed into capelets with ribbon ties, adding the finishing touch to layers of clothing. The use of a murky teal colour was fairly innovative for spring, considering most designers bombarded us with pastels.

If you were thinking things looked a bit far adrift without a Miu Miu print, panic not. Several pieces were given repeated motifs, which jarred nicely with the inky black lace. Make-up, meanwhile, really stood out - a sweep of matte red on lids and nude lips, but the hair seemed a little unimaginative. I would've liked to see black ribbons in there somewhere, maybe.

The look here is edging towards Renaissance glamour, which is very different to the kitsch of SS11. I'm not sure I can imagine current ambassador Hailee Steinfeld in any of these three outifts, without her seeming too mature for her age, but perhaps the capelets will work on the young celebrities such as Hailee that love Miu Miu.

As you can see from this parting shot, there was some patchworking and combining of different key fabrics that left a lot of the pieces feeling like re-workings of each other, trying to go one better than the one that came before. I think that patchwork could be a big trend if it's picked up by the high street, as Miu Miu has set a strong example with this coat (also available in other colours).

[Again, all images via Vogue Italia].
Balmain's SS12 collection played it safe with their classic shapes of skintight trousers and bold-shouldered jackets, alongside a muted colour palette. The focus was on embellishment and the incorporation of embroidery and brocade elements. I can see the middle look from this montage being hot for eveningwear next season, as it's easy for the high street to replicate using PVC and chunky belts or bangles to accessorize.

I love these shorts. Why? Because the embellishment doesn't try to hide the female form - it enhances it by emphasising the curve of your thighs (okay, so maybe that's not a big curve on the model, but you get what I mean). You just know that these shorts are made to be partied in, with chunky heeled boots and a simple top. The choice of black, with long sleeves and gold buttons, is a good one, but in everyday life you could pair them with a rock band-emblazoned vest or a slightly undone white shirt.

Further love of everything embellished, whether it be a power dress or a pair of trousers (though I do feel that the latter is a bit 90s - remember when we all had diamantes up the side of our jeans?). The middle option is what you might call metallic-lite, with simpler adornments that stick to key areas (shoulder and central shirt edge), so that the split skirt can really shine. It's clear that Balmain knows what works.

It wasn't all black at the show - here's a good example of a paler Balmain option, with baby blue brocade trousers (personally I wouldn't wear them, but they're certainly eyecatching). The vertical-horizontal meeting point of the gold belt and shirt edge is really nice and neat - you could replicate it quite easily with a selection of metallic fittings (studs, etc.) and a belt from a charity shop or market. This collection has really shown that the key Balmain styles will always be popular, and that loads of gold doesn't have to be tacky.