Katya Leonovich Fall 2012

Last night I went to my first show of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2012, Katya Leonovich. I'd been expecting to have a standing spot at a runway show (they generously gave me a seat at the ADAM show in September, but when I was back at the same venue for the Tibi show tonight (the Stage), it was packed, and I was standing way at the top. More to come on that. So much more.). I was right about the standing part, wrong about the runway part. It was more of a gallery of models standing on raised platforms. It was incredible to see the garments so close up--you'll see in a moment just how close I got. Like, I-can-see-every-hair-on-your-arm close. Basically, we just walked around the room taking photos for an hour, from 6:30 p.m. until 7:30.

While looking at some presentations from this week on style.com, and I noticed that printed dresses are a huge trend for F/W 2012. This suspicion was only confirmed by Katya Leonovich. She used a combination of leather and snakeskin as well as impeccable draping skills to create looks that made the models look as though they were caged in. She was taming the creatures, so to speak. (Models=creatures in this analogy.) The whole vibe that I got was this sort of urban rebel being suppressed. From the encasing rope-like shredded sleeve on one gown to the military-inspired quilted jackets, the entire collection just oozed untamable tameability (note that this is not a real word), if that makes sense.

The craftsmanship and tailoring were flawless, and every detailed seemed to be planned out. The effortlessly slouchy elbow-length leather gloves (another fall trend that I have spotted) matched perfectly with the ruffles of a printed dress. The two black and white show-stopping pieces were on the same platform together, the black ensemble on the black model and the white garment on the white model. At first glance (trust me, I spent the entire hour in that room, so I took at least twenty seven glances), the looks are not really cohesive. But a truly good collection tells a story and has a concept. Ten points for Katya!

Here are some (funny--when I say some I mean twenty) photos I took of the show.

Leather as a trend is still going as strong as ever, as well as our good pal snakeskin. I'm relieved neither of them are going anywhere, because I have not gotten all the use out of my BCBG snakeskin platforms. Not even close.

Leather elbow-length gloves: also seen at Organic by John Patrick, and undoubtedly several more shows that I haven't seen. Hypothetically, there's a third example, so that makes it a trend.

Those pants. Yes. That's all I can say.

Q-tip dress? I'm also reminded of earmuffs, but I can't figure out why. All I know is that it's amazing, and fluffy.

The designer herself. I actually talked to her, and it was kind of incredible. It was such an intimate setting for a show. Usually the designer just pops their head out for like five seconds, but Katya was walking around, talking to whomever.

It made me a bit uncomfortable at times when a model was staring straight at me, only because I thought I was making them uncomfortable by taking their photo, which is just absolutely ridiculous, because that's their job. 

What you see is snakeskin and that cray-cray shiny sateen (?) fabric ruched and corsetified (again, not a real word, but that's not an issue). 

Just modeling, whatever.

Check out those ruffles!! 

Fancy necklines? Check.

Shawty got dem killah shoes. 

Model twinz! I love the Lego-inspired clasps on these jackets. I highly doubt the designer's inspiration was in fact Legos, but we'll pretend.

Things I've never seen before: an inverted Y-shaped seam.

Black and white times three. See if you can figure out what three things I'm talking about, I'm curious.

More printed dresses and drape-y ropes. And boning. And mullet hemlines. I'm so glad the latter is still on trend for next fall, because I plan on wearing this dress a billion more times. 

The hair: loose, undone braids. If only I had enough hair to braid without looking like a deranged four-year-old...

"Don't sass me."

Identical ruffles.

Reminiscent of Harry Potter's scar, no?

I often forget the beauty of black and white. After spending the first semester of this year working solely in pencil and ink in art class, as soon as second semester started I was so ready to just go all freaky with some color. Shooting part of the show in black and white helped bring me back to my senses. 

There you are. A beautiful show with beautiful people. One down, five to go. Okay, technically by the time this has posted I will have seen four but that's irrelevant. 


See the photos that didn't make the cut here on my Tumblr.

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