Giorgio Armani Spring 2006 RTW

A very large show with lots of nice things, and more skirt styles than I've seen all in one place for quite a while. Very nice all around.


Cutaway jacket shape, and cute topstitched band on the blouse.


Darling collar treatment.


Classic Armani pantsuit.


Darling use of bias plaid in the jacket.


There's that collar shape again, in a great jacket, and another of his unusual skirt shapes this spring.


And here's "that collar" one more time, on a tweaked trench coat this time. The asymmetric hem is quite nice.


Another intriguing jacket shape, and a cute skirt.


Cute, cute jacket with the stripes and bands.


Very unusual jacket fabrication.


Interesting jacket with inset flounces in the princess seams. This is a very dark navy, lightened here to show the details.


Knitted lace zip-front cardigan and an unusual skirt/belt combination.


Sawtooth neckline edge on a lace jacket with a layered skirt.


A beautifully draped knit dress.


A lovely combination of sheer prints.


A meltingly beautiful fabric and gown.


Beautiful beading and embellishment on this gown.

Gary Graham Spring 2006 RTW

Very interesting layers, asymmetry and exposed construction details, such as the boning.



Classic, understated handling of chiffon.



The tiniest, lightest layers imaginable.

Gary Graham photos courtesy of Olympus Fashion Week.

Chaiken Spring 2006 RTW

The first two photos are from Olympus Fashion Week.com. The last two are from Style.com.




Great black and white contrast effect with just the small sash edging.


Tassels are prominent in this collection, including hanging from sleeve cuffs.


Still showing the tiny little shrunken-effect jackets, along with a tassel belt, and great pants.


The opposite positive/negative effect.

Pucci Spring 2006 RTW

Christian Lacroix does seem the perfect choice to design Pucci's color-soaked collections. Here he uses a very spring-like palette, with lots of white and skyblue.


White cotton sheath with faceted china beading in Pucci swirls.



What an elegant coat!



A signature print, and just look at all the rows of topstitching at the sleeve and skirt hems.



'60's feel to this scarf-print jacket.



Another print in his favorite dress silhouette.



Lace pants with a severe knit top for a toned-down mod look.



A lovely style for chiffon, with great placement of the lace.



Plain sleeves with the print body of the top give a fresh look, especially when paired with the lace skirt. A very nice blend of textures and colors.



Classic print dress.

Emporio Armani 2006 Spring RTW

Emporio Armani seems like an unfocused show, and it also seems to be trying to show us ALL the different ways each idea can be translated into a style. That's fine, but a little more discrimination would have helped, I think. There are 95+ looks in this show. That's about 3 times what a really tight, well-edited show generally has. Menswear is also shown in this collection.


A very interesting waist treatment, but the bag adds nothing.


A high-relief braided passementerie as edging.


There are a series of jackets and tops with a seam right under the bust, as well as princess seaming. The skirt would be adventurous, but I could see it about 6" longer, with a semi-sheer layer underneath. I like the shape of it, though.


There are a lot of variations on these curved pleated ruffles, including tiers on skirts as well as tops. Cute jacket closure.


A real slip-style dress with this jacket in front. Behind is the same smocked yoke on a skirt this time, showing the versatility of the idea, although I'm not sure it's a success on the skirt.


A cute T-shirt style top.


Yet another variation on the Twist Top.


A darling jacket, and almost the first thing in this show that's not somewhat "sloppy" in feel.

Badgley Mischka Spring 2006 RTW

Shades of Ginger Rogers, but how romantic!


What a very pretty and rather plain tweed dress, enlivened by the small fabric rosette. Simple, but graceful.


Classic lined lace dress, with a woven leather belt.


A fairytale look with an encrusted ballerina skirt, woven satin belt, and beaded cardigan.


Very nice beaded jacket with a slightly tulip-shaped skirt.


There are a lot of these cameo-type embellishments in this collection, including use on bags and shoes.

This suit is so pretty, but the close-up shows more clearly why.


Embroidered jacquard fabric, and look at the matching belt!


A very simple, linen wrap dress with more "cameo" embellishment.


Here's a complete change of pace, but I like the shapes together.