Pour L'amour de Fashion!: BEST OF: NY Fashion Week, Fall 2010 Collections

Well! I don't know about the rest of you, but I am pretty excited about the looks debuted mid-February at NY Fashion Week. Don't know? well, for your convenience I just spent 5000 hours going over all of them, picking the best looks (my favorite looks), from the best collections (my favorite collections), and posting them here.

Yes, the more famous, established, fashion bloggers (well famous in the fashion blog reading/writing community at least), have sponsers, and money, and get flown out to Fashion Week and given pretty designer gifts and put up in fancy hotels... I am not quite so well know... not quite, hahaha,

read my blog! tell your friends! then I can actually go to the shows and bring back shwag for all my friends who knew me when!

still, even though I may not get to go to the shows, I can still see the looks online, and share my favorites with all of you.

I find it so interesting the way similar styles weave their way throughout the collections of such different designers (Monique Lhuillier to Zac Posen?), year after year.

The collections debuted this February had featured very distinctive trends, lines and fabrics.

I love the highly stuctured dresses like the one below from lela rose, and the abudance of rich textures and fabrics (thick knits, wool, velvet, leather, tweed...) layered and layered upon one and another. Almost every collection featured mini-skirts and dresses (my favorite thing to wear), in super flattering and shapely tulip and a-line cuts.

The color pallet was mostly warm metallics: deep golds, coppers, bronze and pewters. There is a clear startrek/avatar influence visible in many of the collections, apparent in the architectural lines and shape in the hips and shoulders.

Bulky coats are back, there were high dramatic collars, menswear inspired tailoring with structured shoulders and straight arms, longer blazers, trenches, and a definite trend of coats and jackets ending at the same length as the skirt or dress they were worn over.

Cynthia Steffe, Michael Angel, Lela Rose

I loved the layering of sumptuous fabrics, and the sort of tomboy-schoolgirl looks at Cynthia Steffe. That was definitely one of my favorite collections. Here, Michael Angel shows the more feminine side of the very structured look, and the use of velvet which was extremely popular. The dresses at Lela Rose were really beautiful. I absolutely love the cut on this one, it seems really wearable, they also went more towards the futursex/spacegirl direction very trendy this season.

See all 33 of my favorite looks after the jump:

Strong shoulders, mini's, layers of fur, satin and wool:

Elie Tahari, Luca Luca, ADAM

Metallics, clean lines, great blazers at DV:

Narcisco Roderiguez, YeohLee, Diane Von Furstenberg

Spacegirl dresses, cinched waists, I was surprised how much I liked the collection from Tory Burch, and I would love to wear this Twinkle dress:

Twinkle by Wenlan, Tory Burch, Toni Francesc

Fur embellishments, layers of black tulle, long-sleeves, very futuristic:

Nicole Miller, Toni Cohen, Vera Wang

Stunning evening gowns at J. Mendel and Monique Lhullier, both collections showed really great casual pieces as well, but these are breathtaking (click to see a a larger image for the detail on both dresses, the fabric on the first and detailing at the waist on the second):

J. Mendel, Monique Lhuillier, Michael Kors

Herve Leger is undeniably the king of the bandage dress, check on the little avatar-style wings on the hips. This Donna Karan coat is stunning!

Herve Leger by Max Azria, Carlos Miele, Donna Karan

Soft knits and menswear inspired tailoring, oversized coats and cowl-necks, and this Milly suit! I'm enamored. The entire Milly collection was so cute. Tons of colorful tights and lovely french-girl looks:

Rebecca Taylor, Irina Shabayeva, Milly

Military inspired pieces, dropped-crotch pants, this rich plaid at Jill Stuart, and this over-sized blazer hitting the hem of the models dress at Nanette Lepore: