Christian Lacroix

I love the red, black, and white together. We saw quite a bit of this for fall, but it still looks fresh. The ginormous necklaces (most extreme case: fifth picture) are really fun, though I'm still trying to figure out how they could translate to real life.



A great look-at-me print (also on the jacket above).



A few more colorful prints, also great. (What is it with me and fun prints this season?)



These prints work really well together. I love how one is in color and one is black and white, but the little shapes make them coherent.

Vena Cava

Vena Cava's latest collection was filled with modern, effortlessly chic clothes. I wish I had the occasion to wear such lovely cocktail dresses (and the money to afford them, of course).

It's a good thing that the clothes were obviously beautiful, since the presentation format wasn't doing them any favors. It was very hard to tell what the clothes looked like, and the picnic setting was somewhat inexplicable. (Who would ever wear clothes like that to a picnic? How do the clothes even relate to a picnic? Whatever, I guess I shouldn't complain...)

A great casual outfit.



This day dress is chic in both color combinations.



Here are the fabulous cocktail dresses. I especially love the cityscape print in the first and third pictures.



Here's a video so you can see the clothes a little better. While you're looking at the collection, note how terrifyingly skinny the models look when they're just milling about instead of strutting down the runway. (Also note the really awkward "dancing" about halfway through. Priceless.)

Proenza Schouler

I thought Proenza Schouler's latest collection was underrated. The 80s shapes are very fun, and I love the palette of using greys with brights.

Even if these narrow, striped skirts are totally unwearable for people who aren't model-skinny (can you even imagine having hips that narrow?), they are super cool.



These graphic prints are great.



I love how they have taken the wild grey and yellow print from above and combined it with the basic jacket to make it more accessible.



With these two, they used more mod shapes, again making the somewhat 80s-ish print look very wearable.



A good basic, with another great combination of neutrals and brights.

Trovata

I think Trovata's casual wear was the prettiest we saw this season. Their clothes are entirely wearable, with great attention to detail.

How much do I love big buttons? They seem to make any good basics better.



The collection drew somewhat heavily on last season's trends (but only the trends I liked, so it was fine with me). First there's a shirtdress, which still seems very clean and a great basic. Next we have a couple examples of the high belt that was so popular for S/S 2006. While this may be getting a little played out, it is still extremely flattering and may therefore have some staying power. (I, for one, love it.)




More great basics. Still borrowing heavily from last season's trends (e.g. nautical), but with some great personality unique to this label.



I would definitely wear these pieces now and think I'll still love them several months from now. I think Trovata, as a new label, still lacks the confidence to break totally new ground, but these clothes are great and fun and wearable. Just for their take on these old ideas this is one of my favorite collections for spring, and I'm excited to see where they take the label next.

Pucci

Normally I'm not a huge Pucci fan, but this season Matthew Williamson managed to make the label fun and young and relevant. The bright colors are uber-fun, and I love the easy-to-wear retro shift shapes.

My only worry: according to style.com,

Rachel Zoe was the first in line to congratulate Matthew Williamson after his Pucci show.

Please don't tell me Rachel Zoe will ruin this collection for me by pawning it off on Nicole Richie.

I loved the color-blocking with the big, graphic necklaces. Maybe they're too much for real life, but on the runway they couldn't look cooler. The shift shape in the first and third dresses here is just splendid.



These classically Pucci prints look great on these shift dresses. (No, I have no idea what's going on with the skirt/shorts in the first picture, though I do love the purse.)



This bling is fantastic.

Chloe

This season I think Chloe did a good job of creating a collection that is both wearable and fashion-forward. Last season's clothes seemed too much like they had been vetted by focus groups, but--in contrast--these have a nice dose of personality. The shapes are some of the same we've been seeing from Chloe lately, but the volume is taken down a notch to a more flattering level.

The collection included quite a few good basics like these below. I especially liked the jumper with the blue blouse, because I can't get enough of the jumper-layering trend.



I love the mustard and brown colors used here. They're so 70s, but with the Chloe shapes they seem very rich and modern.



My favorite pieces were these embellished ones. The second dress especially looked like it was straight out of a Gustav Klimt painting. I can't quite tell what's going on in the front of the first dress, but it looks like it has some dimensionality to it, which is very cool.

Basso & Brooke

While everyone is going to be talking about Marc Jacobs's take on the 20s, I think Basso & Brooke did it best this season. Their collections had tons of beautiful drop-waist dresses in gorgeous prints and vivid colors. The prints reminded me of beautiful old near eastern and far eastern tapestries. (I know, not all the links are strictly tapestries, but Google image search only gets you so far and I was lazy...)

A few of the best dresses:



There also were quite a few leggings-based looks, which I thought were awful. We'll just pretend they weren't there.