Pre-Fall 2013: DSquared, Badgley Mischka, Carolina Herrera, and Prabal Gurung

Previously: Ports 1961, Pringle of Scotland, Vera Wang, and more. 

I probably complain way too much about the aesthetic mid-season lookbooks. You know, they way the photoshoots are often just a series of sullen-looking teenagers standing in a glaring white refrigerator unit while wearing a minidress. WELL. DSquared's lookbook is not so. The clothes themselves are not exactly groundbreaking, but they are stylish as hell. And better yet, the model and her poses are full of personality.

"Make a comment about my socks and sandals. I dare you."

This lookbook proves just how easy (or seemingly easy?) it can be to create a great photoshoot without going all out. There are definitely some cases in which featureless white backgrounds can be beneficial to the look of a collection, but most of the time it just makes the models look washed-out and soulless. This collection has a kind of vampy noir aesthetic, but the individual clothes are relatively simple Ready-To-Wear. It's the overall design of the backdrop and the model's attitude that makes this lookbook interesting and fun to look at, while the clothes remain as saleable (ie, non-couture) as they would've done in a typically bland catalogue-style photoshoot.  

What with the instruments and antique furniture, the photoshoot theme seems to be vaguely jazz/blues-ish -- although most of the actual clothes aren't deliberately retro in style. The outfit below, with its slouchy high-waisted trousers and loosely-tailored shirt, looks heavily inspired by portraits of early 20th century blues musicians, but each individual piece could easily be taken and included in a modern outfit.

 SO DRAMATIC.

Badgley Mischka
Always nice to see someone designing clothes for the Asgardian deity market.

Carolina Herrera
If we ignore the rather glaring shirts, these two suits are awesome for two very important reasons:

1. HOUNDSTOOTH. Houndstooth is the best. Today my work outfit included houndstooth gloves, and houndstooth coat, and a houndstooth pencil skirt. I hope to one day work up to the lofty heights reached by Lady Gaga, but it may take a while.
2. These outfits make the models look like a girl version of Starsky & Hutch. Have you ever seen oldschool Starsky & Hutch? If not, DO SO. It's the best. Particularly all the disguises. I recommend the episode where Hutch is kidnapped and forcibly addicted to heroin, and then Starsky lovingly nurses him back to health in Huggy Bear's spare room. Or the episode where they go undercover as dance instructors and Hutch accidentally becomes a gigolo while Starsky wears a false moustache and speaks in an egregiously false Spanish accent. Really any episode where anyone has to wear a false moustache, to be honest.

Prabal Gurung
This is one of the collections that does work in the context of a near-blank white backdrop. Prabal Gurung's designs look beautifully clean, and the stark background just makes the colours pop even more. I love the contrast between the futuristic neon shoes and the baroque patterns on this dress.

Full marks for this origami-like robot suit. The shirt looks so flat and crisp, this could easily be a photograph of a statue rather than a model.