there's always next season

Alber Elbaz for Lanvin closed Paris fashion week, or rather fashion month, with his sublime and darkly sexy fall collection. He's a natural standout to end the dialogue of the fall collections. His statement was grand and modern in his use of manipulating and constructing fabric as well as mysterious and feminine with the inky color palette. Collections such as his, and a few others, invite those who want to watch and will appreciate an artist really thinking about design, the body, and the world. The points of view of such designers as Nicolas Ghesquiere for Balenciaga, Stefano Pilati of Yves Saint Laurent, Miuccia Prada, Raf Simons for Jil Sander, Jun Takahashi of Undercover, Christopher Kane, and Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler make fashion intoxicating and tuned into something connected to beauty and truth. After absorbing their craftsmanship and thought, there's a punch-drunk feeling of surprise and satisfaction completely different from ingesting any other art form.

Breaking down the geometry and design of things that we put on our body to protect us, illicit a certain feeling or mood, or remind us of something gone by or yet to happen was the big story on many of the runway narratives for fall. You can really tell if something seems new and fresh if you're eyes get a little bigger as it inspects each look, which could be found coursing through the threads in several standout collections. It may seem like a simple notion, but when they're so much fashion out there available for us to admire and possibly own, there has to be some voices that speak with greater articulation than others for us to truly be excited each season. Take into consideration there's an undeniable recession looming and the cost of designer goods climbs a little higher each day, then it becomes a greater challenge to decide where, or if, to spend one's hard earned dollar on quality, special clothes. All of that might deter from the fantasy and appeal of constantly buying and looking at the trends in fashion, but true fashion followers must persist because fashion inspires us to keep thinking and relishing in the quiet sensation of feeling confident and comfortable with what we're wearing for the day. Every morning the hulking decision of what to wear can be reduced to a simple pleasure if you were to a take a cue from one of the many great working minds in fashion. I'm sure a woman is going to feel at ease in those sinewy Jil Sander winter coats or a bit like a Hitchcockian heroine in those Michael Kors camel coats. A woman will never feel sexier than in a Balenciaga or Naricso Rodriguez LDB, both with the appropriate air of a sexy beast and a demure urbanite. Men can never feel more masculine, despite the big trend that says otherwise, in smartly tailored suits by Duckie Brown or Nautica. Rag & Bone proposed something tougher and rougher for fall, which feels more align with how a man should look, not the twee version so many other designers tapped for inspiration.

Fortunately the collections left me with my appetite being whetted just enough. Balenciaga, Yves Saint Laurent, Jil Sander, and Proenza Schouler make you forget about the rest. Duckie Brown, Rag & Bone, and Michael Kors have my mind racing with ideas of things I want to experiment with for fall. Unfortunately we have to wait until October for the next onslaught of models, big ideas, celebrity front row gawking, and of course, the clothes.