[irulan]

I can see where you're coming from, but I do wonder to what point you think fashion should lead?
A big thing in my book with fashion right now is that I tend to prefer designers who manage to create a look to fashion our decade and the next. Endless chains of references to other centuries of style as most designers prefer to do will not do for me anymore. Phillip Lim does the sixties, Zac Posen does Victoriana, Nina Ricci does Edwardiana, Marc Jacobs does the eighties in absolute hideousness true to this time.
Fashioning our decade means to cut all temporal references, to go away from all these established shapes that already have a stamp on them, colours that work fine with them, hairstyle and make-up and shoes included.
Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga, Miuccia Prada, Alber Elbaz come to my mind when I think about this way of designing. And not on the same level, but as the next generation maybe I think of such likes as the Mulleavys.
Their designs whether deliberate or not, I can't tell, point to nothing but themselves. Of course there are well-hid inspirations. But you can just as well forget them and the clothing is entirely self-referential. That is the point a good collection should lead to, at least in my fashion philosophy.