Poshbot

I know you’ve been wondering: what about the Valentino show? I wanted to keep Valentino as my final Paris post (the final commentary of the season in fact) to give it the proper weight it deserves.

After 45 years in fashion, 75 year old designer, Valentino Garavani has finally hung up his needle and thread. Next season, the critical eye of the fashion world will be turned to Alessandra Facchinetti (formerly of Gucci) as she takes over design duties for the house.

Valentino’s final prêt-à-porter collection was a look forward as much as it was a look back. The multitude of white dresses were a nod to his “no color” collection of dresses in every shade of white and of course the red gowns were a Valentino classic that were a reminiscence of every iconic red dress he has ever created.

And still others were new, new, new. Valentino himself might be 75 years old, but this collection was very young. He mixed pink and purple to create dresses in short and long form that were elegant in cut but playful in color. He made big polka dots seem unbearably chic in a black and white polkadot cigarette pant and a gauzy seafoam dress with white polkadots. I loved the pieces that featured accordioned accents like the floor-length café au lait gown with twin layers of accordion pleating around the shoulders.

Valentino’s last hurrah produced designs so sick they made my stomach flutter.

Was this the best collection of Paris Fashion Week? Yes, yes it was.

What’s the biggest news to come out of the Luis Vuitton show? The collabo between Marc Jacobs and contemporary artist, Richard Prince that gave birth to cartoonish totes, colorful satchels, and logos splashed every which way. A series of chic nurses inspired by Prince’s nurse paintings ushered the bags out one-by-one like newborn babies.

Richard Prince’s “Debutante Nurse”

Marc put fuchsia snakeskin details on a multihued handbag, mixed his exotics (snakeskin with ostrich) on another, and spelled out “Louis Vuitton Paris” all over a yellow tote that I can see as my next travel carry-on bag.If you’re not such a fan of the monogram bags, there are still a lot of handbag options for you. There was a salmon colored ostrich Alma and a sand colored ostrich Papillion. These are both classic bags that don’t draw too much attention to themselves. I personally loved the logo-less bags with cartoon scenes stitched on them. They’re quirky and fun and come in some really punchy colors.

Look, I can tease you with a bunch of long shots to show you the clothes or I can show you what’s going to really matter in the world of Louis Vuitton next season – the bags.

Of course you have to have bitchin’ shoes to go with the hot new bags and MJ continued the funky footwear trend that he started in his eponymous collection.

For Louis Vuitton, Marc brought back the classic pump shape with heels a little bit lower than those towering platform stilettos we’ve been teetering on for the past few seasons. There was the “broken heel” pump, a shoe that mirrored the look of a woman who has just snapped the heel of her shoe as well as pumps with a notch taken out of the heel.

And yes, it really is the hottest ish to hit the streets. I may have given Marc the side-eye for his MJ show in Bryant Park, but it’s only because I knew he could do so much better.

More of this please.

Rich color ran down the runway at Lanvin. Spring 2008 saw Alber Elbaz in a Technicolor mood with juicy dress after juicy dress. I loved these beautiful jewel toned silk shifts and perfect feathered party dresses.

I really wouldn’t have pegged Sir Karl as a fan of things that are so overtly American, but more than anyone else, Karl Lagerfeld is the designer who continues to surprise us all. He delved into classic American culture and fused it with classic Chanel to create a Spring 2008 collection that is neither all-American nor strictly Parisian.

Lagerfeld took riffs on Old Glory with star spangled dresses and clamdiggers paired with red and white blazers. And then there was denim, denim, denim. My favorite of Chanel’s many denim looks was a sexy one-piece jumpsuit under frayed plaid shorts with classic pearl and gold chain accents.

I’m always a fan of quirky yet feminine looks, so my favorite piece of this collection was the champagne sequined dress with the dollar, euro, and pound symbols placed amongst Chanel logos on the left side of the bodice. Do you think Karl was trying to make a statement about Western obsession with money and excess? I love the frayed cut of the sleeves and I’m a sucker for a cute dress with pockets.

Even though this collection may seem “so not Chanel”, if you look closely, you can identify all the usual Chanel markers – black and white combos, boucle, remixed tweed jackets, streamlined suits.

Alexander McQueen’s Spring 2008 show stood as a tribute to the woman who discovered him – Isabella Blow, who took her own life earlier this year after a long bout with depression. Naturally, you can’t honor Isabella Blow without taking into account her collection of Phillip Treacy hats. McQueen’s models wore headgear that ranged from simple feathered creations to a full fencer’s mask. A rainbow colored dress with its winged feather collar both paid homage to Blow and made allusion to a phoenix rising. And after a not-so-successful show last year, McQueen may well have needed a rebirth of sorts.

So how did the bad-boy designer reinvent himself? McQueen looked to the ‘40’s for his throwback to rolled bangs and structured suits. Yes, even McQueen has come under the spell of the structured shoulder as seen at Dior. Feminine suits were fitted at the waist and topped with strong shoulders. I loved his use of gray and red in a flowing ombre dress. I was really interested to see what McQueen would do accessories-wise and I have to say that I was impressed by his red stilettos with gold tipped toe and ultra-ladylike croc clutch. This collection is all about McQueen’s interpretation of the femme fatale with a little bit of Blow thrown in for good measure.