Monkey Business

Fall collections always showcase a sufficient amount of fur, but this season I became acutely aware of a most peculiar sartorial trend that would make the likes of Leandra proud: ladies and gentlemen, behold the mighty gorilla sleeve!

From Left: Antonio Marras, Jason Wu, Versus, House of Holland

From New York to Milan, gorilla sleeves have been all the rage. Why make a boring old full fur coat when you can just make the sleeves fur!? As seen above, the trend can go many ways. From military cool at Jason Wu to rocker chic at Versus, there's a gorilla sleeve coat for every type of girl.

Will you tackle this tricky trend this fall?

(images from style.com)

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Moody Judy

In sewing class we've been talking about what really inspires a designer and how the process of creating a cohesive collection begins. Mood boards are really the basis of creating an understandable collection. Like a thesis statement makes or breaks an essay, the mood board is the explanation of inspiration. We humans are visual, and so a collage-style representation if inspirational images, text, and fabrics makes it easy to explain to others what message you are trying to get across with your clothes.

So of course I spent the afternoon searching the internet for cool mood boards by various designers. Here are some of my favorite finds:

Anna Sui

Matthew Williamson

Phillip Lim

Louis Vuitton

J. Crew

Meadham Kirchhoff (Picture from Rookie)

Jason Wu

Givenchy

(images not mine)

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