Between the end of my Fashion Week duties and my chunnel train to Paris, I had approximately twelve hours to enjoy London.

Without the mental capacity to enjoy a museum, I spent three hours wandering Hyde Park, one on Portobello road, (which produced a vintage Louis trunk for just under £5,000), one hour controlling myself in Topshop, thirty minutes trying on Vivienne Westwood at Selfridges, (where, by the way, they hang Hussein Chalayan on the same rack as Alex Wang - strange, no?), and a few rapturous minutes in Luella’s shop, because I most definitely cannot do that stateside.

In the shop, I found two perfectly dressed salesgirls, racks of covetable, witch-like clothing, a ribboned bag I might defect for and the poster at left.

Ms. Bartley’s proudly displayed the Evening Standard news banner announcing her own shop raid on the wall of her store’s back room.

Oh Luella, we love you so.

Today’s dose of Vogue UK tells us that not only are Lazaro and Jack coming out with their first full-range of shoes (two months…), but now, so is Hussein Chalayan.

So far, we’re picturing 8-inch tall platforms, heels that double as swords and boots that may or may not transport models to another dimension.

We’re thinking it’ll be kind of like Gareth Pugh’s shoes for this Fall go on Star Trek, but we’ll all have to wait until the Fall 09 shows in February to see.

Those searching for a discount menswear fix should head to Yoox.com, where Hussein Chalayan’s small-but-psyched male collection is about 60% off.

We like the clothes because they’re both restrained and forward-thinking, and unlike the really cool but really exclusive outfits from Dior Homme, a lot of different bodies can fit into Hussein’s world - you don’t need to live on baby food to squeeze into this stuff.

But the collection has another sway within the fashion world:

We’ve heard that when several high profile stylists have been pregnant, they’ve started wearing Hussein’s menswear cloaks and button-up shirts instead of maternity clothes.

We wonder if the minimalist style rubs off on the babies - though you probably woudn’t be able to tell, until age two when all they grab are black and gray crayons…

Fashion Week is finally over, but one final debut needs to break.

It’s the Hussein Chalayan show, a holographic video made by Nick Knight and the ShowStudio crew that was kept so secret in Paris, you needed a password just to see it.

Three weeks later, the clothes are finally public, and internationally on display at the ShowStudio blog.

We wish we could see a closer view of the clothes, but getting to flick through the collection is certainly exciting -

At least, it is if you think it’s a strong collection…

Two seasons ago, Hussein Chalayan sent models down the runway in mechanical dresses. The result was electric, and amazing, and unforgettable.

This season, is he planning something equally Star Trek?

We hear he’s replaced his actual runway with a holographic video, done by the obsessable Nick Knight and his Show Studio crew.

Will Gemma beam down, Princess Leah style, from the light board?

Stay tuned…

UPDATE:

WWD has confirmed that Hussein’s collection will be shown entirely as video footage shot by Nick Knight. You can watch live on the ShowStudio website at approximately 7 pm Paris time (remember New York is six hours behind Paris).

This summer Nick Knight and the ShowStudio team brought us a YSL movie, starring Jessica Miller and directed by Stefano Pilati from reader-submitted scripts.

Now Nick Knight is asking for help again, for a new project with Hussein Chalayan and musician/Lagerfeld muse Chan Marshall, better known as Cat Power.

They’re shooting a film in late September that will be shown during Chalayan’s upcoming S/S ‘08 collection, which will debut in Paris on October 3rd. The collection is called “Readings” and Chalayan says it’s about “the dynamic between icons and their audience”.

Cat Power will provide the soundtrack, for both the film and the runway show— based on ideas submitted to the ShowStudio site and inspired by the following Chalayan-penned brief:

“Throughout history, all cultures have idolised and worshipped various forces, either as a means to define identity or simply as a way to feel more complete. In modern life, it can be said that this sense of idolisation is directed towards celebrity culture, the masses identifying with certain figureheads as a means to perhaps define themselves and their differences. In this light, I propose to draw parallels between Greek/Pagan and other ancient cultural perceptions of icons or gods and modern icons (people as opposed to natural forces or gods), which in today’s media are evolving much more democratically, with people becoming icons far more easily than in the past. My aim is to find the means to symbolise how all icons are kept alive by the synergy between them and their audience.”

Okay, now translate that into a catchy chorus!

—ANNA FIELDING GRIGGS

As much as we loved Hussein’s electronic contraption dresses, we are fully aware that as far as we are concerned, they about have as much to do with our everyday wardrobe as our toaster.

That’s why we got a crush on this blue shadow puppet t-shirt from the Hussein Chalayan e-shop.

It’s about $90, and as far as we know, it does not open or close while you are wearing it.

We were initially attracted to the shirt because it has a horse (cute!) and shadow puppet hands (nostalgia!), but then we read more about the concept, which is meant as a “playful interpretation of surveillance and CCTV where hand movements reproduce the shadow of a horse’s head, transforming sinister shadows associated with being watched into a game.”

The wording slightly boggles our mind, but we agree with the sentiment.

And the cute horsie!

—ALISON COOL

Last night at the Beatrice Inn, we crashed into model Leah De Wavrin, whom we try not to feature on the site too much because… well, she’s just too beautiful, and it gets a little difficult for us to breathe.

True to form, she was perched underneath the disco ball wearing a giant floppy hat that everybody wanted, and pointing a massive fish eye camera at her friends.

We said hi, and couldn’t resist asking:

What was it like to open and close the Hussein Chalayan show… nude?

“It was really cool!” She told us.

“They asked me at the casting to do it - they said, Leah, you are the youngest girl, you are the bravest girl, can you do this? And I love Hussein and so I said, sure, why not? But then on the day of the show, I got so nervous! And you know, they put the crazy hat on me for rehearsal, and I thought, oh no, I cannot do this. But everyone backstage started screaming my name and the dressers just pushed me out there, and I thought, okay, well, here I go!

And Carine Roitfeld stood up and started cheering, and I felt great. It was pure, it was beautiful, I’m glad I did it.”

But what did her mother say?

“Oh, she told me never to do anything like that again!”

(That’s Leah, fully clothed at right, with Paris Vogue’s Michaela Dosamantes).

We almost did a double-take when we saw this woman at West 4th Street. Her purple shoes were great, but it was her bag that made us look twice.

It’s a bag, but it looks like a folded shirt!

We love how it looks a little like a modern art exhibit, but it’s still wearable.

For some reason, it seems easier to pull off a cutting edge accessory, but if you try to wear a conceptual dress, you may look like an extra in a student art film. We’re dying to see if anyone ventures out in a metallic Dolce corset or anything from Hussein Chalayan’s spring collection. And how many girls can actually wear the plastic Gareth Pugh coats?

As for this bag, it’s from English (by way of Sweden) designer Ann-Sofie Back. We want one!

—ALISON COOL

Solarjo’s Power Purse is amazing for three reasons:

1. It’s built with solar panels that store energy inside the bag.

2. It comes with USB ports to charge iPods, cell phones, cameras, whatever, so you’ll never have to say, “sorry, my battery died” on a night out.

3. It actually looks like a cool, presentable accessory - especially when paired with Balenciaga, Hussein Chalayan, Prada, and the other designers embracing the Future Perfect aesthetic that’s invaded the runways.

The purse hasn’t been mass produced yet, but if you’re interested, email the company and tell them you want on the wait list.

Wallpaper’s new cover has Hussein Chalayan’s animatronic dress - shift the paper up and down, and the dress actually opens and closes, just like it did on the runway. The effect is similar to an issue of Visionaire magazine from last year, when Karl Lagerfeld made a moving image for Cecelia Dean - of course in that one, the dress wasn’t a robot.

Lindsay Ellingson wears the Hussein dress, but another model has a curious connection to Wallpaper - her father Matthew photographed one of their spreads in December of 2003.

Can you guess the model?