Fall 2012 London

While shoes got a bit tamer for Fall 2012, handbags have only gotten more wild. Fur and faux furs bags were all the rage at Marc Jacobs, Proenza Schouler, Dries van Noten, and Michael Kors, and while the perspex bags at 3.1 Phillip Lim and the cute minauderies from Diane von Furstenberg may not be totally useful, they sure are cute. Or course if you need a bag that will actually fit your things inside it, the giant leather carryalls at Alexander Wang might just do the trick.

We've scoured the Fall 2012 collections for the most amazing shoes, and it was easy, because there were plenty. The best part? Footwear options for Fall 2012 are a lot more reasonable than their Spring 2012 counterparts. (Remember those 6 inch Versace lucite wedges?) Fall 2012 saw lots of wide heels and mary-janes on the runway, and sometimes both simultaneously--like at Prada, Louis Vuitton, and Marni. Knee-high black boots ruled at Alexander Wang, Altuzarra, Givenchy, and Rick Owens, and ladylike pumps could be found at Lanvin, Nina Ricci, and Jil Sander. Of course, if you're looking for something crazy, look no further than Alexander McQueen's heel-less fur shoes. Impractical, but so lovely. Take a look at all the amazing shoes from Fall 2012 and just try to pick a favorite. It's near impossible.

She wore blue velvet. And black velvet. And purple velvet. And... well, you get the idea. Prints aren't the only thing getting the all-over trea

We attended Aussie designer Dion Lee's debut London presentation over the weekend, and loved the sexy, modern vibe of it. We liked the shoes, too, but didn't think much about them again, until we saw an interesting tidbit posted on the Daily Pedestrian: Kanye West designed the shoes with Dion Lee. Dion Lee's PR representative confirmed that the shoes are indeed by Kanye, as a special collaboration for A/W 2012. We also read that we just missed Kanye at one of Lee's continuously looping presentations--he showed up for one of the intimate gatherings to lend his support, according to PagesDigital. Which leads us to wonder, is Kanye hedging his bets with a shoe design career if he can't get his fashion line off the ground?

One of the great things about London is that the schedule isn't so packed that you don't have time to see the presentations of smaller, newer labels. This season we hit a bunch of them, and are excited to report that there is lots of good stuff out there. We chatted with three up-and-comers: Dion Lee, the designers behind Bolzoni & Walsh, and Lucas Nascimento. They all have different backgrounds and orgins, but they have one thing in common: You're going to be seeing a lot more of them. Click through to see the collections and what the designers had to say.

Milan and New York spent weeks arguing about the scheduling for fashion month come next September, and we subsequently spent weeks trying to follow along with all the arguments and compromises. While Milan and Paris ultimately “won” the day, and New York scheduled its week around the European weeks accordingly, London was sort of in the middle of the scuffle, getting squeezed time-wise and ignored in general. London has only recently become respected as a fashion city, and they’ve produced some world-class designers and labels like Alexander McQueen, Stella McCartney, and Gareth Pugh, who all subsequently left to show in Paris. Up-and-comers like Christopher Kane and Erdem are making international fashion news, but will they stay? How do London designers feel about being treated like fashion’s poor relation?

We went to 20+ shows and presentations during the five days of London fashion week, where we saw a lot of quirky, original, and interesting fashion. L

Fashion month is halfway over now, with London and New York behind us. London was a whirlwind of shows, many of which took place over President’s Day weekend. In case you missed the coverage, we’ve rounded up our ten favorite collections from what was a very innovative and colorful five days in London. We saw a diverse bunch of fall 2012 collections, from established British heritage designers to buzzy wunderkinds, and even a high street label or two. London fashion represents a lot of different lifestyles, and this season’s shows had something for everyone to love. Click through to see our 10 favorite collections from London fashion week, in no particular order.

London Fashion Week has come and gone. And along with a stream of innovative, exciting and fun fall collections, there were a slew of well-dressed sho

LONDON--The crowd at Meadham Kirchhoff looks a lot different than at your average fashion show. You see very few Chanel bags--and quite a few plasti

The setting for the Roksanda Ilincic show was unabashedly English--a series of small, elegant drawing rooms (which were connected by a runway) made it feel very intimate and a throwback to another era. All I needed was a tea trolley. But the clothes were definitely of this day and age. Think slouchy "sweat pants" and hoodies made of cashmere.

LONDON--First of all, I would like to thank the seating fairies for granting me a perch on a front row bench for this show--if there is any collecti

LONDON--Peter Pilotto and Christopher de Vos are another London design team known for their prints. Pretty soon all of London is going to be covered in digital prints. But we're not complaining. Their first point of reference was "Japanese fetishized light trucks," which are vehicles decorated with thousands of lights--these were made into exaggerated prints, as were carnations and irises. The palette was mainly blue, yellow, and green, accented with reds occasionally. A few elements stuck out to me:

LONDON--London venues this season have either been full of gilt and chintz and huge chandeliers, or large spaces with industrial details. Erdem's show, held at a pristine white art gallery on a cool street in London, was a nice change. I got there way too early, and watched several amusing things before the show started: A young reporter with a cameraman in tow worked up her courage to speak to Anna Wintour, did a short interview, then realized the recorder hadn't been on and had to go back and do it again. To her credit, Anna did the whole thing over again. Then she spent a good 20 minutes whispering to Franca Sozzani. Were they planning to go out for a Guinness after the show? Anyway. The crisp white gallery space was the perfect backdrop for Erdem's collection.

LONDON--Pringle of Scotland is the thinking woman's label, as evidenced by fan Tilda Swinton, who was sadly missing from yesterday's show. However, Rose Byrne--still rocking her Anna Wintour 'do and decked out in fall 2012 Pringle--came instead. While Pringle probably won't be her go-to label for the Oscars red carpet this weekend, she will have no shortage of lovely things to choose from in this collection once fall hits. Alistair Carr based his collection around a girl who is "growing out of her teenage angst into a sophisticated woman." To that end, the models all had dip-dyed hair but there was no sign of punkiness in the clothes.

Last London Fashion Week, before Kanye debuted his eponymous (and critically panned) collection in Paris, he hit up a bunch of big shows: Burberry, Christopher Kane, and then, seemingly randomly, smaller more indie designer Louise Goldin--only then it turned out Goldin was helping him with his first go at a line. This season, Kanye has only turned up once, yesterday at Mark Fast's show. Coincidence? We think not. A while back a little birdie told us that Kanye had enlisted Fast for help with his second collection, set to hit the runway in Paris on March 6. Second time's a charm? We have hope. Do you think he'll pull it off?

Call it intuition, call it fashion ESP, call it whatever you want. But when we predicted the Mark Fast show would pack a London style star-studded front row, we were right. The grand line-up included model Portia Freeman, TV presenter Zara Martin, stylist Grace Woodward and finally singers Mollie King (The Saturdays), Nicola Roberts (Girls Aloud) and Marina Diamandis. And the man sitting in the midst of all these lovely British beauties? None other than Mr. Kanye West, who pretty much avoided all the high octane, spotlight shows in London this season. (Too busy prepping his collection, maybe?) If there’s one word to sum up Mark Fast’s aesthetic, it’s haute knitwear. He’s got the ability to make crocheted knits appear less grandma and more glamma (OK, sorry for that one.)

LONDON--Twenty8Twelve's head designer, Elsa Elphick, is probably absolutely sick of people asking her about Savannah and Sienna Miller leaving the brand. They held a presentation over the weekend to showcase the new collection and a fashion film called "Faceless Featured Future." Faceless future, indeed--at least a famous faceless future. So let's get that part out of the way first. I asked Elphick what has changed since the Miller sisters left, and she told me, "For us it hasn't massively changed." Hmm. So how much involvement did they actually have? Elphick assured me that she worked very closely with Savannah, but that now she would be making design decisions rather than have them made for her. When I asked if the Millers leaving would hurt the image of the brand, a member of Twenty8Twelve's team jumped in.

LONDON--Upon walking into the lilac-carpeted space (this includes the walls) above a shopping mall where Christopher Kane showed his fall 2012 collection, I didn't know what to expect. It seemed like such an upbeat, punchy shade, and his spring collection was full of color and sweetness and light and flowers. Well, after a few looks went down the runway, I came to the realization that his fall muse was a lot darker and more sinister, and all the flowers had wilted. And it was completely thrilling.

LONDON--Acne was the last show of a packed Sunday of London fashion week, and the fruity delicious cocktail offered to me by a lovely young guy wearing an all-black outfit (which included shorts, black knee socks, and black shoes), went down in about three seconds flat. If I could have pushed it via IV, I would have. Perhaps that line of thinking got me focused on medical stuff, but this Acne collection looked like it could have walked straight out of an orthopedic unit. The pants were shown with girdle-like belts that sort of reminded me of those back support garments that movers wear. Some whiplash neck braces popped up, too, and there were a lot of flesh-toned garments reminiscent of ACE-bandages. But all very avant garde.

LONDON--The Burberry show, which is the jewel in the crown of London fashion week, was held at a huge tent in Kensington Gardens, a fitting place to

Last night’s McQ show was, if not fashion history, then certainly London Fashion Week history. The diffusion line’s first runway show brought back s

Maybe it was the freezing cold, maybe it was the eagerness to see what the eclectic Louise Gray (and spring NEWGEN winner) would present at her Fall 2012 runway show, but attendees were anxious, really anxious. So much so that crowd control had to come in to direct the rush of frozen fashionistas into a single file line. Once inside, we were greeted with champagne and haggis toasts (only in London does this combo work!) as the sounds of pop music royalty (i.e. Whitney Houston and Madonna) pumped through the massive Topshop venue. Once the show started, it was a barrage of fiercely colorful prints on top of, well, fiercely colorful prints, one after another after another. Each of the looks sent down the runway revealed Gray’s source of inspiration; she claims “the collection is everything, all the time.” Perhaps a more appropriate description would be “everything all at once.”

So have you guys all enjoyed your long holiday weekend? We have, too...working in London, where no one cares that it is President's Day and that every