{ interpreting inspiration }

this morning, i had an exciting appointment with fred allard, the dashing creative director of nine west. after previewing their fabulous fall line (more on that to come!), i finagled my way into his team's trend room ~ where walls are covered floor to ceiling in inspiration, and box after box is filled to the brim with vintage belts, hats, prints, clutches, shoe lasts, bits of antique beading, and other assorted day dreameries. entering a room like that is akin to stepping inside the creative mind ~ made three dimensional.

whenever you have multiple people collaborating on any one collection or thing, it is important to create this sort of concrete code to define your direction. a designer like mr. allard travels the world to cull references for his vision; putting them together in one place both metabolizes his message and broadens the visual vocabulary of his team as a whole.

recently, vogue.com made similar studio visits around new york city in anticipation of fashion week. below are their photos of three different designers' mood boards, followed by images of the resulting collections that i felt best reflected the imagined intentions. in any art, the process is always at least as interesting as the outcome.

mr. de la renta described this season's energy as: "polished and elegant ~ a celebration of modern femininity." more specifically, he's translated art deco references and a cinnamon and pumpkin palette into beautiful beadwork, chic cocktails and indulgent daywear.


for phillip lim, "fall is the tension between disco and punk, a classic wardrobe worn by a girl who would cut her dress." with shades of debbie harry and halston, this became an incontrovertibly covetable collection.


the designers of rag & bone looked to "england in all its colonial glory, in contrast with the people of the himalayas." this collection brilliantly illustrates how a little styling can go a long way toward evoking an inspiration, so that the clothes themselves don't get too costumey.

{ moodboards via vogue.com / runway photos via style.com }