Wear What When

Grays and camels are always going to feel right, whether you pair them together or throw some unexpected brights into the mix. There sure were a lot of ’40s-esque head treatments on spring runways.

Another A Detacher look. I love all the new world denim that’s been around lately, but this sure looks like that Celine dress that we shot for our fall fashion editorial. Hmmm.

Now, I don’t typically pay a lot of attention to Victoria Beckham, let alone her newly spun Victoria by Victoria Beckham line, put her playful cat prints could be used as proof that the recent silly banana patterns from Prada, and the millions of knock-offs and riffs and ripples they caused, are a trend with surprising staying power.

Barneys started carrying A.L.C. recently and it’s proven to be a super wearable line with lots of interest and perspective. This drop-waisted maxi feels like something you could wear for the rest of your life. And while I certainly don’t want to say ‘white is the new black,’ you could find a lot of evidence to support such a statement if you really wanted to.

I like checking in on former Seattleite Chris Benz. While his girl is typically very, very girly and sort of not entirely Seattle-y, the graphic, unkempt nature of his spring collection feels right for us.

More Chris Benz. There’s a fair bit of exaggeration in terms of slacks these days. I love the volume of these. They’re not drop-crotch, not flare-legged, just roomy, textural, and kinda ’40s.

Speaking of proportions and exaggerated volume, Thom Browne’s show was pretty out there. But a few key sharp shouldered looks might encourage you to keep this year’s Jetson jackets around.

Zero by Maria Cornejo is always a favorite of mine. Three trends current trends live on in this one dress: polka dots, tribal/animal kingdom prints, and the mixing and matching of patterns.

Diane von Furstenberg is a favorite around these parts. I hope her followers embrace the idea of electric pistachio with rainy-day rust.

There were stripes of every size and direction; Ohne Titel’s feel super modern and just playful enough.

Sass and Bide can get pretty frothy and feminine but these looks were boxy and sporty. It’s almost a trend or a mini-movement: femininity with a slightly less fitted, less structured point of view.

I just love this Suno dress. Definitely a line that’s doing it right in terms of business practices and prints. And again, it’s ladylike, but not overly so.

Olivier Theyskens is killing it at Theory. He’s so fresh and new. His waistbands for fall were not paper-bagged, not the same-old sky-high thing, and really, really fun. The elevated, interesting take on denim is definitely right for Seattle.

More ’40s head treatments, more ’40s slacks, these from Vena Cava.

SLIDESHOW: Leather macrame (leather macrame!!!) and more: We’ve got all 16 looks from former Seattleite Logan Neitzel’s Spring 2012 line—straight from his recent NYFW show.

SLIDESHOW: Local models take Manhattan. Here, Maja Hansen in Seattle Met’s Spring ’11 fashion spread. The Seattleite was just short-listed by a top fashion casting director and pictured on style.com. To see Hansen and fellow Heffner model Miles Frank in action during New York Fashion Week, click the slideshow link.

Maja Hansen the recent St. John show in New York. I’ve observed that walking the runway isn’t exactly Hansen’s strong suit. If you were at Nordstrom’s Designer Preview, you observed the same thing. But that face! So it’s interesting that she was cast for a live mannequin-style show.

Miles Frank for Richard Chai’s Love line. Fellows, note that striped jacket.

And Frank for Timo Weiland. The Kirkland-based model certainly has the disaffected thing down.

Slideshow: What do the spring 2012 collections, currently being shown at New York Fashion Week, have in store for you? Leather continues to factor in in a big way, as with this dress from Derek Lam. Those leather tee-shirts, pants, and skirts you’re seeing out there? Good investments. I think my favorite leather pieces are really just leather pieces; the leather sleeves set into wool and cotton jackets for instance.

If, this summer, you were doing bright, vivid color in combination with tones that we don’t think of as colorful, good. Continue doing it this fall, knowing that it’s still going to look good next spring. This look is by Diane von Furstenberg, a line that’s always popular and wearable in the Northwest.

Lela Rose is another designer who thinks there is absolutely nothing to change about that bright yellow-with-taupe-and-pale-pink thing you’ve been doing.

Another thing I saw you doing this summer: Sheers. I’m not going to suggest you should continue the look into fall (speaking of impractical …) but make sure you save the sheer layers and the best under-sheer layers. There has been plenty of see-thru stuff on the runways so far, from both conceptual, very exclusive designers and those, like Gary Graham (a favorite at Alhambra) who can be counted on for everyday not-so-basics.

I loved Gary Graham’s sheers-wtih-prints, too.

Do you see yourself in this finale look from Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen’s The Row? Here’s what style.com reported about their inspiration for the all-white Spring 2012 collection:

“The Olsens said their twin inspirations were a Seattle exhibition of Nick Cave’s Soundsuits and the country of Tibet. ‘We wanted everything to float and breathe, or make a sound even,’ Mary-Kate explained afterward. Tibet came into the picture via the prayer beads slung across the torso of one model and the handmade open-knit sleeves of a sweater. As for Mr. Cave? In the stillness of the performance space, the shell buttons densely embellishing a long tank faintly jingled.”

Didn’t run into the Olsens at SAM? The women were in town last April for a trunk show at Nordstrom. Here’s the Q and A I did with them while they were here.

I know there are a lot of Project Runway fans in Seattle. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to former PR’ster Christian Siriano, but his Spring showing suggests that maybe he’s outgrowing that (insert me rolling my eyes) ‘fierce’ thing. While the collection takes a lot from what Raf Simmons did for Jil Sander last spring, it’s a notable continuation of that hugely popular tee-shirt-with-full-length-skirt look, and the aforementioned color blocking theory. I wouldn’t have previously imagined Christian Siriano at, say, Mario’s, but with this collection, I can see it.

I’m seeing a lot of engineered draping, a cool juxtaposition of free-flowing prettiness and strapped-in architecture. Here’s a pretty putty-colored example from Jeremy Laing.

Similarly, a look from Kimberly Ovitz, whose collection was really strappy. Ovitz cited highly innovative post-earthquake emergency housing in Japan as a major influence.

Though I’m no athlete, I love the infiltration of sport in fashion. Here, a riff on track pants from Rag and Bone. You’ll see this at Nordstrom and Barneys, I’m sure of it.

Alexander Wang, a personal favorite, has pretty much made a career out of taking sporty elements and transforming them into highly coveted street wear. I’d run a couple of miles for this pull-over.

I’ve followed VPL since discovering it at Impulse (now Totokaelo years ago). The line isn’t carried there anymore, or in Seattle at all as far as I know, but I love the colors, prints, and sport-meets-street look.

Richard Chai’s Love line felt super fresh and worth noting for Spring. A lot of play on proportion, layers, and prints. Note those stripes, because a lot of other designers did.

Another look from Richard Chai Love; this one shows the cut-outs that were in a lot of runway shows so far. A little peak of collarbone there, some shoulder here.