Fall Forward

A break from our regularly unscheduled blogging:

The past five years or so brought us a lot of varying ideas design-wise. We explored our many sides and desires. Fashion gave us the outlet to express every image and every mood from season to season. Not to mention that our accessories grew in price and size - teetering on platform stilettos while lugging a monogrammed carryall over your shoulder seemed to be the image of the aughts.

But honestly, who can keep up? We were over it before the items were even available for purchase. This is the time that stores like Intermix flourished because it maintained the idea that these luxury items flitted by you just out of reach and - whoops there it goes! out of style and was too expensive for you anyway. Just thinking about it exhausts me.

Personally, I like to retreat back to the idea my mother taught me, buying things feels great yes, but it's only going to make you want more. I interpret this as, while you may have the chance to purchase that hot new 'it' bag or feel it's ok to sell your arm to get one, the satisfaction from that purchase is fleeting and can only be restored by another equally as frivolous purchase.

Is it any wonder that men's wear is now the new women's wear? The exhausted and overstimulated fashion brains just want classic and timeless. Perfect tailoring fit perfectly for my body? Yes please. Overcoats, wooly and warm, cinched with a belt? Where do I sign up? Grays, camels, crisp whites and velvety blacks ring like a church choir to my lost sartorial soul. Sophistication and class, why have we forsaken thee? Because well, day-glo and studded everything seemed like a good idea at the time.

Honestly though, American Apparel watch your back because women will want more than a scarf that turns into 5 different oddly shaped dresses ... it's back to fit and function in the most beautiful way possible. This is the moment when women with true style can flourish. It will not matter how big the logo is anymore or how recognizable the label. But we'll remember why we loved fashion in the first place. We loved it because designers designed for your life and for your body.

Some good thoughts on the subject:

Lynn Yaeger on the Céline-ification of Paris

Remember when the recession first hit, and everyone in the fashion industry was going around saying that people would only part with their precious money for a really special, unbelievably irresistible, one-of-a-kind item? Wrong. It turns out those unicorn boots embroidered with angel’s hair are not what customers really want, at least not according to the Paris runway this season. Instead, it seems that what women are supposed to get really excited about are neat little overcoats, double-faced wools, double-breasted jackets with little belts, trim trousers, and a slew of other proper items straight out of Jenny Cavalieri’s closet.

Cathy Horyn on Raf Simons' forward thinking

(Raf Simons) is the rare designer who knows that futuristic images of fashion do not have the same degree of intensity as something based on a wholly rational view of the present, using normal materials.

Suzy Menkes on Céline

So few designers think inside the heads of women, and fewer still respond to the unanswered questions in such stylish yet thoughtful way. This show looked like the beginning of 21st century fashion — for women and not for girls.