2014…..sigh………spring sales are now upon us, but I had to include these pieces as a prelude to upcoming fall selections….seriously, these delicacies should come with a fainting couch……
Well I quickly perused Dolce & Gabbana's Fall winter show on style.com during a break at work, and just about got the vapors. I had to drag one of my straight male partners over to gaze in breathless wonder at the assembly of wares in front of us. Forrest whimsy meets the dark ages, but without the bloodbath that was the Crusades. And the show harkened back to Byzantium which made an appearance at the Fall Winter 2013 show. All of a sudden one is transported back to Camelot, with Lancelot, Guinevere and the forrest creatures making an appearance of sorts. And once again we rounded up the usual suspects, with the cloquet, diaphanous silks, and embellished garments fit for a king! (And of course in the mix we have the bar wench and the subdued monastic additions for the whore and the nun in us all). Thank goodness this duo didn't end up in the clink for ahem, tax related issues. I know I would have been the first one in line with a nail file cloaked in a cannoli!
A total of 71 looks made up this runway show, I was hard pressed to pick the ones I did, care of style.com. The images above are usually NOT part of the average buy. More likely, the outfit to the right of Milan's knightly duo is what is typically purchased for a routine buy, zzzzzzz. If a particular designer strikes your fancy based on a retail therapy sojourn or you've seen something on the back of a passerby or in a magazine, go to style.com and peruse the runway show items. It is often very difficult to gauge price based on these teeny tiny images, with the caveat that ANYTHING with beadwork and/or fur will most likely set you back the equivalent of a 2 carat Tiffany diamond ring, i.e., 40-50K. So, swoon, drool, sigh, then pass on by to the next less opulent selection. Based on my experience, the choices above will range from $3500-$50,000. You can always find a point person at Saks or Neiman Marcus, and ask them to investigate certain items. They can tell you which pieces were actually made, as not all pieces viewed on the catwalk will make it to production based on a host of factors. You might spot one of these items in Elle, Bazaar, or Vogue. If the caption beneath the piece of clothing states "price upon request", DANGER WILL ROBINSON. You get the picture. But, if you find yourself dreaming of a certain piece, no harm in having an associate do some research. If you're lucky, you will stumble into an associate who has been to Milan or Paris for the buy, has laid hands on the pieces, and knows first hand, what is worth the sometimes shocking prices, and what needs to stay on the continent!