Prints are found in almost every look of women’s Spring-Summer 2012 collection; in the dresses, skirts, tops and even in bags. As for the cutting, it allows you to move freely since the clothes are designed to be very functional. And don’t forget the accessories! There are plenty of choices, ranging from floral-printed Pagodon bag to multi-color laced wedges.

“We’ve created boldness in color, functionality and reversibility, playful patterned fabrics and an overall ease and youthful sophistication. The primary colors of the American painter Ellsworth Kelly, who lived in Paris in the 1950’s fresh out of the military, captivated us. A collision of our love of American style and street wear, with an effortless Parisian spirit, is brought forth in this collection”, Kenzo Takada, the artistic director explained about this collection.

Curious about what Kenzo has in store this season? Let’s take a look at their look book.

1. Bird

This print filled the runways with whimsical feelings. Since an image of a bird is usually composed of more than one colors, it makes the bird prints easy to be matched with various colors, soft pastels, bright bold colors, even metallic tones look great with bird print.

Kenzo, Suno

Giles, Marcs by Marc Jacobs

Jill Stuart; Commuun

2. Baroque

Baroque is a pattern that gives rich, ornamental and antique vibes to the fabric. Baroque pattern used to be applied as an embroidery, but these days designers have taken them to a more modern direction by using assorted textiles like luscious metallic and light fabric.

Aquilano.Rimondi

Thakoon

Stella McCartney, Roberto Cavalli

3. Landscape

Now the image of a landscape not only belongs to paintings. Whether it is tropical jungle or the sea; they’re used nicely in the right proportion on the garments. It’s hard not to be swept away by the prints because they are all beautiful and soothing to look at. Let’s enjoy the view!

Dries Van Noten

Mary Katrantzou, Peter Pilotto

Colorful palette in women’s collection consists of pink, mint green, deep and vibrant purple, blue, indigo, grey and bright whites. The women attires are said to be made of crepe de soie, sandy chiffons, frayed threads, prints, tulle, rustic linen, silks and wool jacquard. Lastly, they’re detailed with embroideries, encrusted stones, sketches, kimono patterns and prints. While the men’s collection was presented in the shades of blue, grey, black and white. The materials involved hand-dyed cotton, linen and denim. Motifs such as stripes and watercolour printed added details to the attires. To spice up the look, some male and female models carried bags that came in several styles.

The Bag: Ciciero Ashley

The content (from left to right):

• HP Mini Notebook di dalam Sparks Softcase
• Small Sparks softcase untuk kabel notebook dan printilan lainnya
• 16 Million Bag Organizer
• 3 Notes. (Ada 2 notes ala inang-inang dan satu notes kalender). Dipake untuk nyatet hal-hal menarik pada saat nonton show. Tapi saking banyaknya notes, kadang-kadang nggak bisa nemuin yang apa ditulis di mana
• Pulpen (oh well.. of course…)
• Tissue Basah
• Dompet
• Bath and Body Works anti bacterial handgel
• Kenzo mini EDT
• Bag Hanger
• Kodak Digital Camera (yang dipake untuk motret)
• BB Curve (Yang sangat berguna untuk update Twitter)
• Press Tag JFW 09/10, kartu pengenal sakti yang mengijinkan masuk ke semua show sebagai perwakilan dari FD
• Press Releases dari show-show yang habis/akan ditonton dan banyak kertas lain entah apa aja isinya yang tentunya telah disembunyikan dengan manis
• Sisir rambut kecil berwarna pink yang juga disembunyikan dengan cakap

Want to participate? Please send yours here

Balanced, beautiful, elegant and perfect. Beauty that’s the epitome of all that’s chic and grown up, you can’t help but want to emulate.

Quotes:

Gordon Espinet “Think airbrushed…there’s definitely more of a focus on beauty this season then about thinking outside of the box: it’s the idea of exaggerating human beauty…more like an Irving Penn face in which the lighting is exaggerated to emphasize the face.”

Kenzo

Charlotte Tilbury “I want the girls to feel fresh, like garden nymphs running through the forests..a high crimson pink flush on the cheek, a little doll-like..”

Products

Cheeks:

Cremeblushes in Laid Back + Posey “applied with fingers high on the cheekbones”

Paintstick in Red “high on the cheekbone, blending down into a muted blush’

Eyes:

Zoomlash Mascara in Lofty Brown “to the roots only”

Brow Set in Clear

Lips:

Paint Stick in Red + Lip Conditioner “for a naturally pigmented lip”

Moschino Cheap & Chic

Charlotte Tilbury “I want the girls to look young…fresh with a punky edge”

Products

Eyes:

Clear lipglass “swept from lid to brow”

Skin:

Studio Sculpt SPF 15 foundation for “fresh natural skin”

Lips:

Lip Pencil in Night Moth “applied to the centre of the lips and blended out to give mouth a dark stain with soft diffused edges”

Marni

Tom Pecheux “It’s inspired by the black and gold antique feel necklaces that the girls are wearing. I simply wanted to pick up on the eyes with this one gesture. There’s no contour, there’s no lip – I wanted the girls to have skin that looks like fine porcelain, almost translucent. It’s recession makeup, focusing on just one part of the face.”

Products

Eyes:

Pigment in Rose Gold “brushed over the lower lashline, lids and up through the brows, with a focus on the tearducts. Brush Gloss Texture up through the eyebrows so that the gold pigment sticks to them as it’s swept up from the lids and faded out towards the brow”

Skin:

Studio Sculpt SPF 15 Foundation + Face & Body Foundation “for a porcelain finish”

Invisible Set Powder

Lips:

Lip Erase in Dim “patted onto the mouth so that they completely match the skin tone. I wanted no lip so the eyes really shine.”

Thanks to the increasing popularity of gourmand fragrances, we can now smell those delectable scents without having to run to the nearest bakery!

The commonly accepted definition of gourmand fragrances is any perfume that contain “edible” notes such as chocolate, vanilla, cinnamon, sugar, bread, rice pudding, pink pepper, caramel, coffee, almond, wheat, liquorices and many more. The first gourmand fragrance was the phenomenal Angel by Thierry Mugler. The fashion designer wanted to create a fragrance that smells “mouth-watering and tasty” that reminds him of his childhood. The perfumer, Oliver Cresp, then whipped up a mixture of Bergamot, Jasmin, red currant, dewberry, honey, patchouli, vanilla, coumarine, chocolate and caramel notes together and so Angel was born in 1994. Today Angel is still as popular as ever and interestingly, people seem to either love it or hate it!

These days you can find gourmand fragrances almost in any perfume house / brand. If you like the really sweet ones you can try :

• Estee Lauder Pleasure Delight (pomegranate, whipped strawberry meringue, caramel with a sprinkling of sugared rose petals, dewy freesia, white peony and fresh greens)
• DKNY Charmingly Delicious (red fruit, apple, vanilla)
• Ralph Hot by Ralph Lauren (cinnamon, almond blossoms, mandarin, mocha cream, orchid, honeysuckle, jasmine, fresh milk, fig, maple, creamy vanilla, amber, musk and sandalwood)

If you like an exotic, unusual yet interesting type of gourmand fragrances, you should try these :

• Kenzo Amour (cherry blossom, white tea, rice steam, frangipani, tanaka wood, vanilla, musk)
• Lime, Basil & Mandarin by Joe Malone
• L’Artisan Premier Figuier (fig, fig leave, milk of almond, sandalwood, coconut)

Laura Mercier also has a gourmand fragrance collection called…well The Gourmande Collection consisting of delicious-sounding scents such as Almond Coconut, Tarte Au Citron and Creme Brulee. Hungry anyone?

Image from marthastewart.com

The bottle was designed by Karim Rashid, who also designed Kenzo Ryoko packaging and Kenzo Summer bottle. It comes in 3 colors, the orange one is 100 ml, the white 50 ml and the pretty fuschia one is 30 ml.
The notes in Kenzo Amour are cherry blossom, white tea, frangipani, heliotrope, tanaka, wood, incense, vanilla and musk.

When I first sprayed it on, I could definitely smell cherry blossom and white tea before it settled into a creamy vanilla and musk scent. Some people claimed they could actually smell ‘steamed rice’ in this perfume but I haven’t got that at all. I mean, I eat steamed rice all my life, I should know, right?

Anyway, I love the drydown of Kenzo Amour. It’s sweet (but not overly sweet), comforting as well as quietly sexy. It’s definitely a perfume for those of you who don’t like complex scents and something you could actually wear everyday.

And I just can’t stop admiring the cute bottle!