Top 10 trends: # 1

# 1: Internal SpacesAs clothes become more sculptural and materials more technologically advanced, designers are using negative space to shape their ideas. While fashion has always emphasized silhouette (and likely always will) the most significant trend this year engaged with the definition and decoration of internal spaces. This is a new visual frontier for fashion and perhaps is a reflection of contemporary culture; the environmental and economic crises evince a new era of social and political transparency and accountability. Combined with the sheer trend, designers may be parsing fashion’s fixation on the external, penetrating veneers and alluding to the importance of their customers’ interior worlds and lives.

TO PULL IT OFF: This is an avant-garde look, based on the notion of having nothing to hide. As such, the one thing you’ll need to make this work is confidence.


The most accessible way to incorporate negative space into your wardrobe is by using cut-outs, like this dramatic gown from Marchesa...
...and this quirky shoe from Proenza Schouler.

Viktor & Rolf rendered cut-outs in three dimensions.

Decoration of interior spaces: an evening bag hiding inside the fold of a jacket at Karl Lagerfeld

Cultural theorists often refer to a woman's purse as a metaphor for her mystery (I'll spare you the lewd Freudian interpretation). What, then, do we make of this candid bag from Stella McCartney...

...or this clear innovation from Prada?

(uh-oh... is my liberal arts education showing?)

Top 10 trends: # 5

# 5: Glitter Who doesn't love a little sparkle? But instead of a uniform bathing in glitter, designers this season used gems and sequins to illustrate naturalistic shapes and images, often over a sheer backdrop. This means that your head-turning entrance will be evocative as well as glamorous.

TO PULL IT OFF: While many bright young things are irreverently donning sequin embellishments on droopy tees and tanks, I urge anyone over 25 to keep glitter for evening. It's not just appropriate, it simply makes a bigger impact against more mysterious lighting.

Could we be a little more French, please? Chanel, mais bien sur!

Classical vines adorned this prim dress at Miu Miu...

... and this red-carpet showstopper at Marchesa.