SNAP Fashion

MFW: the glamour edit

Milan is the most glamorous fashion week – or at least it seems it to me and every time I have visited Milan it has been awash with super polished, glossy ladies with a penchant for pricey handbags, heels while shopping, snakeskin, silks, furs and seriously glamorous Italian designer labels – epitomised for me by Versace and Gucci.

So without further ado, here are the looks that scream MILANO to me (unfortunately some would appear to contain real fur, which some consider luxe and glamorous but we think that fur only looks cute on happy furry animals).

Dolce & Gabbana’s show stopping finale

Etro, Versace, Bottega Veneta and Roberto Cavalli

Gucci, Alberta Ferretti, Max Mara and DSquared2

Armani’s 1920s glamour

Salvatore Ferragamo, Emilio Pucci (LOVE those boots!) and Gianfranco Ferre

MFW: Dolce & Gabbana vs Versus

Both are behemoths of the Italian fashion and feature plenty of gold and winter florals – but in very different ways this MFW.

At Dolce & Gabbana every surface was encrusted with gold embroidery or beading decorating 19^th century shapes – corsets, voluminous shorts and capes – yes they’re back! We spotted more pointy shoes, which are now definitely worth investing in.

Even socks were covered in ribbons and earrings replaces with massive bejewelled chandeliers, while floral tapestry-style dresses added to the Sicilian style. And of course there was velvet and gold more velvet and gold.

Over at Versus there was also gold but Christopher Kane style, which for AW12 is edgy and super sexy, with laces, slashes and rivets to flash some flesh. After floral and sporty looks of SS12, the winter Versus woman means business with slicked-back hair and lots of side lacing (a Versace thing). I personally lovre the leather and burgundy combos.

Which collection do you prefer?

Amazing black + gold creation

How I love this dress

More gold!

Ooh covetable coat!

All gold!

The regal runway

Floral slices

Floral shorts for winter

My fav floral piece

Gold Versus-style

Cute dress with sexy boots

Sheer perfection?

Clever cut-aways

Love the pocket detail

Leather and burgundy - a match made in heaven

MFW: Colour for winter *super post!*

We’ve mastered colour blocking and are now seduced by Spring’s pastel hues as well as Pantone’s ‘tangerine’ tango and sherbet lemon so some good news…bold and bright colours were a big feature of Milan Fashion Week.

Seeing as we’re drowning under a heap of Fashion Week news we won’t wax lyrical but let the colour do the talking because it’s punchy…ka-pow!

Perky purple at Blumarine

Big bird by Blumarine!

Little Red Riding Hood and sharp lines at Marni?

And some blue sky thinking

I kind of love these Moschino dresses in a princessy party dress way

Cara Delevingne and some excellent detail

A little military twist for Moschino

Lindsey Wixson for Moschino

I love this little red handbag!

Love the geometric prints at Prada

Punchy purple handbag at Prada

Tangerine again! In love with all the bold beadwork.

MFW: minimalism with Jil Sander, Marni + more

Minimalism…in Italy? Of course! There were plenty of beautiful simple cuts around but of course all eyes were on Raf Simon’s final collection for Jil Sander. And it was predictably good!

Packed with pretty pastels, soft shapes and luxe fabrics, we loved the loose coats, bustier dresses in cashmere, metallic leather and even PVC and full billowing skirts and trousers – romantic and feminine but not in a frilly way! And there are still those gorgeous pointy ankle-strapped shoes.

Oh Raf, please move to Dior!

Cannot express how much I want this Jil Sander coat!

Perfect bustier dress

Details

The bustier goes demure

I never thought I'd want a PVC dress but...

Metallic leather lives on - yay!

I LOVE this Gabriele Colangelo look

Another incredible cocoon coat

Kinda illusion-esque coat by Sportmax

A new twist on a roll-neck

A very Sportmax dress

Luxe tees at Marni (with amazing skirt!)

Fun but functional

Love this dress - so Marni

MFW: all that glitters – Versace vs Blumarine

There are certain Italian labels *cough Versace* that we can count on to provide studded, metallic, sequinned fabulousness for when more is more.

Versace stuck to slinky silver with mesh and sequin detail – this time more space age knights than underwater mermaid – whereas Blumarine opted for neon, translucent jackets, silver and pale blue metallic reptilian accessories, skinny trousers with voluminous puffer jackets, bright furry coats or slick biker styles. Brash is back…did it ever leave?

The nineties but kinda spacey

Cara Delevingne silver jacket

Kick-ass booties

Lemon yellow continues into winter - yay!

It's kinda trashy but in a good way, non?

Space age Versace

Scary hair cut!

And again...

MFW: LBDs to die for from Gucci, Versace, Pucci + more

No-one does grown-up glamour like the Italians, especially making the LBD look out of this world. After the effort of colour blocking, print clashing and working tricky pastels, it’s nice to be able to throw on a LBD to look (and feel) a million dollars…so thanks Italian designers for giving girls what we really want!

Gucci brought strategically-placed foliage, velvet and a touch of military romance to the catwalk (some red carpet looks here y’all) while Alberta Ferretti’s dresses were softer and beautifully made (and my personal favourite).

Gucci gown on Angelina Jolie's wish list?

Super sexy LBD

Foliage gets risque

Beautiful Alberta Ferretti (want!)

Backstage via Tumblr

Oh to have this dress for the Christmas party season!

Versace’s collection was all about the tough girl (with scary hair) and party armour, with mesh creating structured pieces, fishnets, leather and a touch of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo about it.

And so on to Pucci. Sheer panels and geometric shapes were the order of the day. There were confusing references about the Bell du Jour look but if you ask us this is about self-assured women looking sexy, a little provocative in a covered-up (just) intriguing way.

Versace for the red carpet

Deats

FIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIERCE!!!

Sheer + sexy at Pucci

Close call!

Geometric drama

Pics: Elle, LFW + Tumblr

Cavalli opens Tel Aviv Fashion Week

We’re used to covering London, New York, Paris and Milan Fashion Week(s) but now there’s a new kid on the block and it’s a little controversial in some quarters.

Italian fashion legend Roberto Cavalli opened Tel Aviv Fashion Week (well, 3 days) in Israel after a 30 year leave of absence.  The flamboyant designer showed off his SS12 collection already seen at Milan.

Cavalli in his element

But why Israel? Well politics aside Milan is twinned with Tel Aviv so the two cities have close ties. Consequently as well as its own Fashion Week, five Israeli designers will be allowed to show off their collections as guests at Milan’s biannual fashion events, according to reports.

There will be two Tel Aviv Fashion Weeks a year, with the next in April 2012. But with high fashion labels and couture huge in the Middle East we’re sure we’ll be seeing more fashion weeks springing up.

Mario Boselli, President of MFW’s organising body, apparently said that he was impressed by the creativity of the Israeli designers and wanted to encourage a new generation of them, while Cavalli reportedly said that Israel is in his heart.

Details of the collection

Metallics + Jewels at ASOS Revive (SO Dolce & Gabbana)

Perfect for ‘wow’ party wear this collection really reminds us of Dolce & Gabbana’s super sparkly collection for S/S12 as shown at Milan Fashion Week.

ASOS REVIVE Jewelled Bodycon Dress £250 - Arabian Nights meets 90s Madonna?

A little like Dolce-style

Super embellished cardi £95 teamed with clashing neon mini £75

Amazing embellished shorts£85 with gold quilted jacket £60

Sneak Peek: Versace for H&M

Put the 19^th November in your diaries – the day Versace for H&M hits the shops.

Vogue US has a sneak peek of what we can expect and the collection seems to focus on the 1990s heyday. We love the $30 print leggings and the full-on $149 mini dress – for the serious Versace fans. But we’ll be interested to see if the belt, bracelet and earrings on the model will be on sale too – a potentially cheap way of adding that blinged Versace look to the simplest of outfits.

Are you excited or would you prefer to see another designer H&M collaboration? (Or even something in subtler pastel shades as just seen on the catwalk at Milan Fashion Week?)

OTT or in love?

Scarlett Johansson in Dolce & Gabbana frow

We were so so worried about D&G winding down as it’s defined some serious trends for over a decade but Dolce & Gabbana is still very much alive and our go-to for sassy evening wear (after we win the lottery).

Inspiration: Glamour and incredibly detailed beading in a Vegas show girl kind of way. And vegetables (who’d have thought!) Of course Italian culture also figured…PASTA EARRINGS!

The Look: For party time: sexy crocheted and lace black dresses showing a lot of skin, dresses encrusted with plenty of coloured stones mixed with glitzy fringing, show-girl style sequinned swimsuits with fringing.

For daytime, Dolce & Gabanna took inspiration from vegetables (in a more grown-up way than Moschino Cheap & Chic) with chills, aubergines, onions and tomatoes creating rural idyll print retro-style dresses. Full skirts, printed chiffon, cut-out cotton playsuits and 1950s style underwear made for a sexy rustic look.

Best Bit: The finale where models packed the catwalk wearing retro sequinned swimwear. So glam.

Notes: Scroll all the way down for the frow including Scarlett and Paloma Faith.

An evening dress to die for (must weigh a tonne with all that beading!)

Sewing skillz innit.

50s inspiration but so glam

The Dolce look we know and love.

A snapshot of the models in lots of different sparkly swimsuits.

WOW!

Lemon loving (hello, it's yellow again!)

Chilli pepper print = hot day wear trend

Pasta earrings - a DIY project?

And now for the frow…

Dolce girl Scarlett with the designers

And nude coloured lace for the main event

Paloma wows in Dolce & Gabanna gown (black, of course)

Poppy Delevigne keeps it simple in classic LBD

Pics from: Harpers, Elle, Cosmo and Twitter.