I always imagined a Proenza Schouler girl as a carefree, girl-about-town, cocktail hardcore, night-queen-party-crasher type of girl. And if the duo were envisioning the same girl while creating this collection, well I guess they have done a brilliantly good job! The S/S 2010 collection is definitely one solid, cohesive collection; there's a rhythm created by the colors that emphasize the aggressiveness of the girl wearing it.

The collection was personally so eye-crashing due to the mix of heavy optical materials with bright fabrics and opulent appliques. I also found the punchy beautiful colors chosen very intriguing, and the prints give a realistic and very refreshing Amazonian feel to the collection. It was definitely the edgiest color palette on a collection during the fashion week!

Marc Jacobs has always been one of my favorite designer, so I've been wanting to make an illustration of his outfit since like, forever. But somehow I never manage to do it because simply I couldn't choose which collection should I sketch! Then one day I came up with the idea of sketching one outfit that I like most from his spring collection from four years back until the recent spring 2011 collection, and what an idea it was; I certainly had a lot of fun drawing it. (:

Let's start with the interesting and unexpected S/S 2007 collection! I'd say unexpected because instead of continuing with his grunge theme, Marc went in opposite direction and did something so flowery and ivory and heavy 1920s inspired outfits. IMO it's a very wearable and memorable collection, and I love the blouses, the metallic, the sequins, and the 'tissue-paper' details, and the lightness of the clothes overall.


And of course the set - how can I forgot to mention the set! It was just surreal, I felt like I'm in a dream world.

S/S 2008 collection would be my favorite Marc Jacobs' collection, ever. I never ever get tired of this very wearable interpretations-of-the-surrealist outfits and these misplaced pumps are just adorable, and what's with the bag-on-bag bags? Well they just counts as another layer of adorableness, which makes this collection....hang on a second while I make some quick calculations...mmhmm...carry the three...ah yes, double adorable.


S/S 2009 collection was just disgustingly good. Like warm chocolate-chip cookies with almond milk kind of good. I got more and more excited as I saw more, the shoes and the hats were fantastic! The collection was so very much in the vein of the Japanese street wear, and overall it's collection of fun and quirky pieces crumbled together in a crazy mix, and styled with a good eye. All the pieces have this electric feel to it; it might be the hats or the materials used, but there's something about them that makes you feel excited!

S/S 2010 collection was all about eccentric ballerinas wearing ruffles, ruffles, and ruffles. While the styling is quite too much in my eyes, I love the details such as the black ruffle trims on the white tulle fabric and the pearl embellishment.

And finally, the S/S 2011 collection which looks and feels extremely 1970s. While I'm not a big fan of the decade, the pallette offered won me over, also the city-summer-seventies vibe that seems so easy and uncomplicated. The collection reminds me of Biba, Sonia Rykiel, and mostly vintage YSL, all at the same time, but overall I think the concept is charming and quirky as always, and because of that, Marc is forever in my heart.

A fashion rule says that it is either the colors should coordinate, in which case the patterns can clash, or the patterns should coordinate, in which case the colors can clash; but definitely not both. Well that certainly doesn't apply to Dries Van Noten in his spring/summer '08 collection, which I think may be his most extroverted collection yet, up until now.

I remember seeing this collection back in my first year in fashion school and was struck in awe. The styling was outrageous and actually quite genius, I guess. A flawless juxtaposition of prints and patterns is a major feat to achieve, and only few designers can deliver it perfectly. The way Mr. Van Noten mixes them, thanks to his creativity and ability to actually do it, resulting the collection not looking too heavy, instead it felt fresh and bright and the silhouette was very young, but strangely it also did suited any age.





I guess this collection really demonstrates the depth of Dries' talent; and his understanding of the diverse cultures and places that influence him. He's not just a tourist who picks up random ethnic inspirations and crashes them all together without any understanding of local aesthetics. But what I saw was an excellent collection, extremely traditional in a way of staying true to the roots, to the inspiration, and amazingly modern at the same time. What more a woman can ask for summer?

Few days ago, I started working on a project of couture fashion illustrations, which is a series of seven illustrations of my favorite couturiers; Armani Privé, Jean Paul Gaultier, Christian Dior, Givenchy, Valentino, Christian Lacroix, and of course, Versace Atelier!

I started with this illustration of Armani Privé from its spring/summer 2007 collection. While Armani might not be the most thrilling or dramatic and certainly not the most inventive of the Couture collections, I love it for its timeless and classic designs. And for me, the S/S 2007 collection is simply my favorite collection from the couture house, mostly because of the incredibly beautiful headpieces worn by the models!

p.s I'm going to post up another illustrations from the series soon, so do come back later! I just need to go outside right now, the weather's really lovely!