Pre-Fall 2012: Max Azria, Missoni, Rachel Zoe, and Erdem.

Hervé Léger by Max Azria

Plain, pretty dresses: something you won't usually find much of on this blog. However, something about this line from Max Azria got to me. For some reason it reminds me of the Hunger Games, and the outfits Katniss was made to wear by her stylists before she went into the arena. Tight and sexy, but sporty and strong at the same time. Look at this model -- she looks ready and able to punch someone, I think:

pics from Style.com

I'm not sure where these strappy harness accessories came from, but they really lift the dresses from the oft-repeated skintight bandage dress aesthetic of Max Azria into something a little punkier and ever-so-slightly sci-fi.

Of course, there's a distinct possibility that I'm just in favour of all these minidresses because earlier today I was on the hunt for Star Trek uniform dresses. You see, my family gives gifts on New Years Day, not Christmas, and so far all I've been able to come up with for my wishlist is tights (which I can buy myself), Transmetropolitan books (except I can't remember which volumes I've already read) and an Uhura-style Original Series Star Trek uniform. The problem with this is that almost all the versions I can find online are either super-accurate cosplay dresses (EXPENSIVE) or "sexy" costumes made from, like, spandex or some shit. Is it so unreasonable to ask for a Star Trek uniform dress that looks enough like a normal red minidress that I can put a scarf over it and no one will know any different? OK, yes, it really is, and I am a terrible and ungrateful person. The eventual solution may just be to make my own.

Boring dress + harness thing = somehow interesting again?

Know what this reminded me of? The Obama HOPE logo. But I guess that comes from a long tradition of propoganda posters using simplified diagonal-stripe images to represent rolling hills of utopic plenty, or sun-rays. Anyway, the end result is a one-shouldered dress that doesn't look like a wrestling costume or a horrifying '80s monstrosity, and that's pretty unusual.

HUNGER GAMES DRESS.

Missoni

Not a big Missoni fan, but this collection was just feral sweater girl enough in places that I could go for it.

Nice dress, but what the hell is going on with that backdrop?

Rachel Zoe

Much as I dislike Rachel Zoe for her multitude of fashion crimes (popularising boho and the frustratingly offensive "hobo chic" trends by way of her stylist work with people like the Olsen twins; encouraging extreme weight-loss lifestyles; styling the stunningly beautiful and awesome Anne Hathaway in such a way that she looks terrible for practically every one of her red-carpet appearances), I really like this outfit. I like to imagine that (once one has removed the irritating Rachel Zoe bug-eye shades) this would be what Luke Skywalker would wear in a gender-swapped Star Wars.

Erdem

An underwhelming Pre-Fall line from Erdem this year, which is sad because Erdem is one of the very few pretty-flowery-dress designers that I actually like. ie, SUMMER GIRLFRIEND outfits:

The one thing I can say in favour of this unusually boring collection is the photoshoot, which looks almost like a series of personal shots of a "real" woman as opposed to an expressionless statue. A very rich, thin, conservatively feminine woman -- ie, Erdem's precise customer base.

As a palate cleanser, here are my two favourite outfits from the 2012 Resort collection, which retained far more of the enticingly crisp, fresh Erdem character.