Red Carpet Report: 2011 Teen Choice Awards--The Leather Gals!!

Trend Report: Leather Dresses



Several gals wore leather on the Teen Choice 2011 red carpet (OK, it was BLUE!). It was a nice and balmy 70-something degrees in Universal City yesterday but that didn't stop the "Leather Fashion Brigade". Let's take a look:



Blake Lively in Gucci Resort 2012: Blake chose a very fitted sheath pale orange leather dress from the House of Gucci and their Resort 2012 collection (yes, kids, we are still in 2011!). I think she looks great. Nice accessories, nice pointy-toe pumps. Very 1950's chic. A Tippi Hedren up-do would have taken it from "Nice" to FAB-u-Lous!



Elizabeth Banks in J Mendel Resort 2012: Actress Elizabeth Banks also wore leather--and very nicely. Gilles Mendel is one of my favorite designers and of course: LUV his J Mendel line. The dress is edgy and fun at the same time. The tangerine color is perfect for the BLUE Carpet and I'm also a fan of the asymmetrical leather panel "cascades". It just turned this otherwise "basic" leather dress into something far more interesting.



How NOT to do Leather:



Choreographer (and Yelling Queen) Mary Murphy of "So You Think You Can Dance": No. No. And No. Oh Mary. She looks like the Hostess at a Hofbrau somewhere in a seedy part of Munich or like she works at a Meat-Packing Company somewhere in Kansas City. Who. Told. Her. To. Wear. This? And then with those 2008-looking peep-toe boots. Step off the blue carpet and go get me a flank steak...and some German Beer!!!

Spring/Summer 2010 Trend Alert: Leather??!!

Lots of COWS.....
Draped Capelet: Celine: Designer Phoebe Philo shows leather (her debut collection for Celine)

Yes, we may be in the beginnings of Fall and Winter 2009 when it comes to the actual season but it is all about Spring/Summer 2010 in terms of what designers are showing at the recent NY, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks (and LA Fashion Week coming soon!).
Valentino: Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli show leather and suede on Chanel Iman

After looking at most of the recent collections, something kept coming up: Leather. Say what? Yes, you read right! It's all about leather for Spring/Summer next year. Go figure. I'm sure it's soft and supple as silk but leather? For Spring? Asymmetrical Calf: Nicolas Ghesquiere treats leather like silk at Balenciaga

Well, if it is up to the top designers of the world, and you've got the thousands of dollars for it, you will be expected to be "working the leather". All the top designers--from YSL's Stefano Pilati to Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga to Christopher Decarnin at Balmain and the "bad boy" of fashion, Alexander McQueen--used leather as one of the main fabrics in their collections. Le Traditionel: Stefano Pilati shows black leather at YSL

They used it in various colors--from traditional black to lavender to grey and anything in between. The "new" factor is the "draped" silhouette we saw more and more from the collections. Love Is A Battlefield: Christopher Decarnin's black leather Warrior Princess at Balmain

But there was still plenty of the hard-edged looks people are more accustomed to seeing in this fabric. Very Fall---do designers know something the Weather Channel does not, in regards to the temperatures for next year?
Working the Leatha': Amanda Fields in NIKOLAKI Spring/Summer 2009

I suppose here at NIKOLAKI we were ahead of the curve because last Spring/Summer 2009 we also used leather in our collection. We utilized the leather more as accent pieces and combined it with draped silk jersey, but this season the designers have taken it to a whole new level!

Will you be wearing leather next Spring/Summer 2010?