Wel, whaddya know? Rain and old age stopped play so instead of celebrating Mardi Gras in the rain and cold, I'm at home with a mini bottle of Number 7 branded fizzy wine catching up on a week's worth of Style.com. Let's go!


3.1 Philip Lim
Let's talk double denim. Obviously I'm behind it. Anything Bruce Dickinson can do I can do better. Except pilot a jet, fence and sing falsetto. I found this collection pretty hit and miss but I do love a nice jacket, particularly with denim and the leather/leopard number is pretty smart too.

I don't really want to talk about Alexander Wang. Maybe when I've had a good look I'll change my mind but for now, let's move swiftly on.


Alexandre Herchcovitch
If in doubt, go bat shit crazy with accessories. Everyone's saying this was his best yet and I think I agree. ~Punk~ meets traditional costumery of the USSR... how could it not appeal. Wish there were some detail shots on Style.com but I guess I'll have to wait for our catwalk photographer to file back.



Chris Benz said his collection was inspired by "bad girls I knew in high school, the ones who got sent away to wilderness camp. This is what I imagine them wearing." Cliché, obvs, but I'm a sucker. So what? I liked it. It started kinda blah but then hit a high note of weird fur and plaid and ponchos. I can't see any of the bad girls I knew at school wearing this, no matter how much they'd grown up, but still.

I had really good intentions to cover NYFW in suitably hardcore style. An empty house, a decent computer, plenty of shows I'm raging for... but then that little thing called work got in the way, there were birthdays, there were leaving dos... and now it's nearly over and we're champing at the bit for LFW?

There's a long overdue post on its way, but tonight I'm apparently celebrating Mardi Gras courtesy of Southern Comfort (my number one least favourite drink) and then... and then it's Friday so who knows. I'll get up to date soon, I promise. For now...

Let's talk WAYNE. I had no idea until yesterday what WAYNE was, but now I'm kind of obsessed. In England I think the name probably gets a bad rap, largely due to the fact that most people still haven't got over Wayne and Waynetta. Wayne Rooney only adds to the problem. Wayne Lee, however, is a different matter. A Vietnamese designer from a long line of tailors, Wayne grew up in Florida and launched WAYNE in 2007, winning the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation prize in 2008. Past winners include Zac Posen, Proenza Schouler and Derek Lam so that's a pretty decent start.



Anyway, it's love now. Wayne's website says her biggest influences are punk and science fiction so we're half way to being on the right track and her AW10 collection is definitely my bag. There's not really any lengthy reason why, it's just really fucking nice. That orange look right at the top is just... perfect? Nice jersey draping, nice tailoring (obviously) and more nice furry bits. I need to find a fake fox tail to hang off myself, but eBay only has the real deal. I do have a rocking horse tail lying around somewhere, perhaps that could be incorporated.

Much as I like it, I have to make it clear right now that I will not be getting behind the return of camo print which I have now seen twice in as many days at NYFW, including at WAYNE. Too soon, guys, too soon.

PS Check out the WAYNE website

There are few words for how much I hate the hair at Jen Kao (and I'm a fan of a short fringe usually), but I did enjoy the collection itself so I guess the bad hair is forgiven.



As a general rule I always think the Brits do knitwear better than anyone else. It's probably something historical -- we have more experience of sheep/dark satanic mills etc.than most, after all. There are so many brilliant British knitwear designers that I quite often discount the rest of the world with regard to wool but more fool me because American designers like Jen Kao are really fucking good at it. I have to admit that I'm not too familiar with Jen, but if she's good enough for fangirl Julia Restoin-Roitfeld then I suppose that's good enough for the rest of us. I really like the textural quality of her sexy/tough cable knits, apparently inspired by Moby Dick?? Hmm. I also am obsessed with the little rabbit fur (sorry) and leather/mesh flippy dress. I guess it's a little awkward around the hips but I'm still pretty physced on it. The other stand out look for me, in terms of textural interest at least, is the fine knit top and trousers, above. If it was an all in one it would be off the hook: if you squint, you can pretend it is. Like a sexier version of the AA long johns. I don't have much time for the trousers because they remind me of something from Dash (not that one) but the top is really nice and I love the combination of leather-trim zip with the fine knit. The strapwork on the crochet bralet is really neat too.

This is one of those shows where I suggest you look it up on Vogue.co.uk where you can zoom in really closely, because for me it's all the about the details that you can't really see on these full-lengths. Here's a link straight to it.

I don't care much for Charlotte Ronson, but I definitely liked the fetching long skirts swooshing along at her show. Regular readers will be aware that Iso and I are probably equally obsessed with maxi (mus Decimus Meridius) skirts, although I'm not convinced they'll ever catch on with actual cool people. As someone with Victorian sensibilities about revealing flesh I'm obviously all for them.

I like the fact that Charlotte's skirts are totally identical to the type I wore with my velvet bucket hat and waistcoat circa 1994. I bet they even have those small bells on the end of the drawstrings.