SQUA.RE Guide: Top 10 Women’s Collections for Fall/Winter 2009-2010

The Fall collection generally this year supported a somber tone, but with a clear message of hope and “classics”, paying tribute to their roots or mirroring a different time. In most cases it was the subtle sexiness and sobriety of the 40s, and in some other cases it was the amusement of the 80s. Coats, coat-dresses, boots and suits, black, camel, red, or bright-yet-subtle tones, all made a welcomed come back.

Lanvin

Alber Elbaz (the designer whose life purpose is to make women happy) played the realist role and created a collection with timeless pieces of what women need for their day to day life. The collection carrying a noticeable Parisian 40s look and making sure every piece is an investment in these tough economic times, with beautifully draped coats and enough Lanvin glitter to put a smile on every woman.

Louis Vuitton

Marc Jacobs paid serious homage to French haute couture of the 1980s, in an exceptionally admiring, ultra Française-chic and playful manner. The shoulders were big, the boots were high and the colors were everywhere (in a Louis Vuitton manner)… It is always refreshing to see a designer stray away from the normal Fall/Winter tones, and Marc Jacobs is always that designer.

Dries van Noten

Never one to care about the opinion of critics, Belgian designer Dries van Noten masterfully created a beautiful Fall collection for women featuring the typical Dries ingredients: roomy coats, draped dresses and blouses, and alluring prints and colors. His merge of colors and prints surely added a much needed exhilaration to normal yet stylish day to day wear.

Hermès

Jean-Paul Gaultier outdid himself with this collection of women in pilot gear with a 40s edge and a Casablanca touch (Hermès remains to be the top luxury brand with most profit yet in this economic condition). Leather ruled this collection, with head gears, bomber jackets (even in crocodile), amazing coats, suede boots and graceful satin dresses mixed with grey Kelly bags.

Giambattista Valli

A designer whose clothes seem from another time, Giambattista Valli certainly never fails to impress the ultimate luxury followers (Queen Rania of Jordan remains to be one of his most high profile clients). The collection, he said, was inspired “by Yves Saint Laurent—but more his lifestyle than his fashion”. Simple silhouettes paired with magnificent colors allowing the skill of his cuts and design to speak for themselves. The short orange swing coat that opened the collection truly is brilliant.

Yves Saint Laurent

Celebrated creative director Stefano Pilati sure made a splendid reverence to the roots of the legendary French house. The collection was filled with bona fide YSL designs with that subtle, stunning Pilati touch conveying a message of “timelessness”. Including variations on the plain and striped suits, monochromatic tones of black and grey, the most elegant heels of the season, that gorgeous black tuxed-dress and sheer simple sophistication throughout, all true to Pilati and YSL.

Prada

City girls meet country girls, sometime in the 40s. Forward thinking, Miuccia Prada always manages to bring together luxury and utility through a single thread. “It was about a need for feminine empowerment” said Prada referring to her inspiration. Beautiful belted coats in red, crimson, dark blues and browns, luxurious velvet and fringed, studded fantasies for your feet, all with a subtle sexiness that is palpable to the strong and powerful.

Alexander Wang

Notable New York based fashion designer (and recently CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund’s latest big winner), Alexander Wang does what he does best: sexy clothes for the urban empowered girl, with continuous references to that era of shift from the late 80s to the early 90s. Wang is very talented, always illustrating luxury in a very youthful, tough, ultramodern and above all sexy way and paying attention to every detail in the process, in his signature monochromatic blacks and whites.

Jil Sander

Jil Sander always stood for minimalism and Raf Simons for simplicity, and both stand together for above par tailoring. For this collection Simons paid tribute to the original style of the German house in the first section, one-tone cashmere simplicity, coats in white, grey, black and camel, over very plain dresses and trousers, with only flat shoes in astonishing bright hues of green, yellow, orange and red. Which paved the way to the second section, the Simons we love and adore. Clothes inspired by the mid-century French ceramicist Pol Chambost by shapes with sculptural curves. The references were in the glimpses of these bright hues flashing inside a funnel neck, a dipping hemline, or a peeled-away back view. A truly exquisite collection.

Miu Miu

Miuccia Prada for Miu Miu wanted to portray the state of the bourgeoisie right now, and explaining they were “different kinds of femmes fatales with an ironic eye to some clichés about beauty and elegance”. Opening the collection were beautiful short coat-dresses in nude colors, followed by provocative slim skirts and dresses flaunting chunky embroidery with colorful gems or intriguing full-on prints. Beautiful pieces that stand out in their audacious simplicity and others in their flashy and playful exquisiteness.

All photos are courtsey of Style.com