fashion

Well the Academy Awards Red Carpet was an interesting one thanks to Sacha Baron Cohen “cremating” Ryan Seacrest. But besides his cheap attempt to increase box office numbers, there were great moments that I oooh’d and ahhh’d at in the fashion of today’s stars.

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Michelle Williams: She is without a doubt my Best Dressed winner. After a series of ho-hum pieces displayed at the previous awards shows, the Best Actress nominee epitomizes the kind of Marilyn Monroe glamour she’s nominated for portraying, while adding in a touch of Michelle Williams softness. This Louis Vuitton gown foreshadows big trends for 2012, like it’s bright hue, peplum and small hip bow. The dress took over 300 hours to create, and is made of silk mousseline and organza ribbons.

Kristen Wiig: Wins the Underdog Award in this nude J. Mendel gown. Her dresses have been heavily criticized throughout the awards season, but this is an obvious winner. The tiered dress looks couture, yet feminine. The green and crystal jewels compliment, without overwhelming.

Maria Menounos: She stole the show in this Maria Lucia Hohan dress. She is my choice for Best Use of Color in this beautiful seafoam green shade. Ashley Tisdale actually wore a one shoulder red version of the gown, luckily she wasn’t seen on the arrivals red carpet.

Rooney Mara: Wins for Best in Haute Couture in this Givenchy gown. There was plenty of white on the red carpet, so it was nice to see Rooney try something different with the sailor inspired bodice.

Kate Mara: She hit the carpet in Jack Guisso Couture, and is awarded with Best Embellished Gown. The detailing is so delicate and whimsical, this dress is everything I love about fashion.

Sara Platt

Jason Wu’s Ready to Wear Spring Collection has me praying for warm weather. The Manhattan-based designer knows how to perfectly incorporate risks into a ready to wear collection. While there was plenty of white/black pieces, candy pinks, neon yellows and a palette of blues in florals dotted the runway.

Let’s start with my favorite trend, the peplum. In some pieces, Wu used feather and beading embellishments and also successfully incorporated a short under a peplum top – no easy feat. I adore the the white dress with exaggerated feather detailing, it makes me think old hollywood. The strappy shoe and long earrings were a great way to update this look to 2012.

Wu collaborated with KAWS, the graffiti artist who came to fame in the nineties for inking up bus-shelter ads of Kate Moss, on the flower-petal print that repeatedly walked down the runway. Florals are no new idea for a Spring collection, so Wu’s use of a graffiti artist is a nice way to ad diversity in the inspiration process. I loved the high waisted, thigh-baring shorts in florals. My favorite is the pairing of the opaque floral top with the solid short. We saw lot’s of floral pant suits in couture Spring and Summer shows, and I like this twist on the trend.

The hemline went up and down in this colllection. Extremely high on sport shorts, which I loved paired with a cropped bustier or beaded-collar top.

Extremely low on the maxi dresses with cascading hemline. These dresses combated a winter feel with lightweight fabrics, bright colors and strapless necklines. For the ladylike pieces, Wu showed a fit-n-flare knee length dresses along side A Line shifts with excessive high-low hems.

Sara Platt

Erdem Moralioğlu is on his way to becoming a household name.

Born in in Montreal, Erdem earned a B.A. in fashion from Ryerson University in Toronto and later received a Masters at London’s Royal College of Art. He moved to New York where he worked alongside Diane von Furstenberg before relocating back to London to launch his own label in 2005.

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This label is synonymous with color and femininity, and known for mastering floral prints. His fan base includes celebrities from all walks of life, and can be seen on everyone from Sarah Jessica Parker to Kate Middleton. His label “Erdem” is sold globally in more than 50 premiere department and specialty stores.

Erdem won the 2010 inaugural British Fashion Council/Vogue Designer Fashion Fund.The Award which is comprised of £200,000 and access to director level mentors across the industry. The BFC invites eight design houses to present their collections and future plans to the judging panel of Fund sponsor representatives and industry experts chaired by Alexandra Shulman, Editor of British Vogue. Along with Erdem in 2010 the shortlist included: Angel Jackson, Christopher Kane, Clements Ribeiro, E. Tuatz, Marios Schwab, Nicholas Kirkwood, and Richard Nicoll.

When asked to name his design hero, he chose Yves Saint Laurent.

Sara Platt

Traditionally, Francisco Costa (womenswear creative director for CK) has chosen masculine styles with rigid architecture. For Spring 2012, Costa said goodbye to androgyny and hello to sweet feminine pieces.

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Calvin Klein is known for chic minimalism, and that credo may be doing them a big favor this season. So many designers used electric neon colors and distracting patterns for Spring. CK kept to a clean color story, using only nudes, black and silver. The simplicity and color choices make this line a great ready-to-wear collection.

Most of the pieces were silk and included sheer detailing. Many pieces are lingerie inspired, as this was a breakout trend this past fall/winter. Which again, is good news for CK as a large part of their empire is lingerie. Uma Thurman, Naomi Watts, Ashley Greene, and Chloë Moretz were all sitting front row for the Spring CK show.

Sara Platt

I am in love. And at the same time, heavily motivated to hit the gym, because I know Spring 2012 is filled with belly baring fashion.

Now stop right there! Do not immediately judge and say you won’t wear this trend! Why is it so taboo to show a little navel?

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We bare legs, shoulders and cleavage — at what point did we decide that our middle needs to stay covered? After all, is two inches of bare midriff that offensive? Now with that being said, let’s talk about how fabulous this is.

We had fun in Fall and Winter of 2011 with the cropped sweater, which we layered with a cami or tunic. The Summer 2011 take on the crop had more coverage than what we’re seeing for this Spring, so this is going to be the more skin than recent history has shown. Another notable difference is how structured the tops are now. Spring is showing us bra-like fitted tops, which believe me is more flattering than the exaggerated over sized crop top.

Asymmetrical banding detail was popular with designers when revealing their take on this trend. Donna Karan decided to pair their banded top with a full midi tribal pattern skirt. Rouland Mouret wanted the top to stay the focus and paired with a soft blue pencil skirt. My favorite look of this trend is the matching pattern top and full skirt, like the one seen from Dolce and Gabbana in the above image. D&G captured the essence of a lady like Spring dress with their yellow and green floral pattern. The small section of exposed waist puts a chic twist on what would have been a ho hum dress.

Gweneth Paltrow got her lucky hands on one of Emilio Pucci’s Spring designs for her Emmy appearance this past September, and this dress sent shock waves through all of Hollywood. The amazing fabric and pattern make the dress stand out, but Pucci took it to a different dimension by separating the pieces.

Ladies it’s finally time to grin and bare it!

Sara Platt