District L

By far one of the most pleasant surprises thus far, Project Runway S6 winner Irina Shabayeva has taken to the skies. Literally. The flight-inspired runway was an incredibly cohesive and truly original collection, fitting with the season’s urban primal/tribal trend. It evoked an earthy scent of wilderness but possessed simultaneous wild and whimsical avian motifs- real and plastic feathers, wings screenprinted onto oversized coats, including one outfitted with feather cutout leather caging. The color story never strayed far from a simple white/black/grey/tan and contributed without overpowering. What is immediately and ultimately apparent is that Shabayeva possess true intuition and admirable sensibility when it comes to garment construction.

Catherine Malandrino unleashed a primal roar with her A/W 2010 collection, entitled “Khan”. According to the designer, who took the earth as seen from space as a springboard for her inspiration, our planet’s “constantly changing and varied landscape became an abstraction of contrasting color and texture...the woman who inhabits this world must simultaneously embody strength, ease, and raw femininity”. Jackets in goat hair, shearling, and fox fur cocooned and enveloped the body, shoes in distressed leather and suede pointed up into hooves. The pleasing tension between luxuriant draping and rugged execution embodies a perfectly complementary relationship between strength and savage.