LOOKING BACK TO GO FORWARD

(Photo from DazedDigital)

(EDIT - Just realized that this is my 800th post. Major!!)

Last night as I was getting ready to go out, I was thinking about the softened siouxsie eye makeup for Kris Van Assche's SS10 collection. That got me reminiscing about his fake tatted "chola" girls from SS09, with their silk boxer shorts and elegantly relaxed tank tops. At the time of the collection, I was intrigued but not completely sure if it was suited for me - its amazing how clothing can come back and become more relevant than ever before.

I started flipping through a few collections that had been marked in my memory, but not recently revisited. I've had a desire for strong (NOT spectacle) garments for midseason springtime, and now have compiled a lookbook of sorts for bold garments that read as powerful without losing their femininity.

Beside pieces form Assche & Maria Cornejo, I have included three of my favorite collections that were absolutely striking from beginning to end. I fell in love with the entire FW09 show by Armand Basi One, and was devastated that the collection seemingly closed afterward. There were tightly wrapped and bundled long sleeved minidresses paired with creeper boots (pre-wang insanity), motorcycle jackets with oversized shoulders and sleeves, loads of awkwardly shaped pants, and an attitude of nonchalance which aided in the wearability of the trickier pieces.

Next is the short-lived "Angry Chloe Girl" of FW07 by Paulo Melim Andersson - his seasons with the house were the ones that I connected to the most, and I felt as though he was really building up an immaculate point of view. Reviews would always call the collections "arty", "bratty", a little bit more "punk" but I never saw any of that. I found his work to be hyper-feminine with an immaculate selection of fabrics and without any cliche'd silhouettes.

Rounding out the line up would have to be Junya Watanabe's 46-ways-to-drape-a-dress collection from FW08. The dresses specifically hypnotized me; single fabric numbers that highlighted the gravity of draping. Simultaneously simple, yet infinitely complex.

1-3: Kris Van Assche SS10 / 4: Kris Van Assche SS09

1-2: Kris Van Assche SS09 / 3: Zero + Maria Cornejo SS10 / 4: Zero + Maria Cornejo FW10

1: Zero + Maria Cornejo FW10 / 2-4: Armand Basi One FW09

1: Armand Basi One FW09 / 2-4: Chloe FW07 (I mourn the loss of the "angry Chloe girl)

1-4: Junya Watanabe FW08

Gotta love a show where a few mens looks are scattered in...especially when they're as hot as these two above. Both are for Fall 2010, and if this is what the near future looks like I can not wait. The look on the left is Zero + Maria Cornejo - on their own, there are several pieces that could be considered feminine - a printed scarf, pleated tapered pants - but combined together they truly take on a sexy masculine look. The look to the right is not so subtle, very brooding, tightly wound & severe - plucked out of a strong, stormy, androgynous collection by Nicolas Andreas Taralis

& then I got to this. Both looks are from the SS10 season, on the left is Zero + Maria Cornejo and to the right is Kris Van Assche. I can't figure out which is more disturbing: A) that the styling of the two looks is completely identical or B) the fact that out of all of the collections I looked at I ended up picking two looks that are literally the same without consciously realizing it. I guess that's a real, solid "point of view", no?