Balmain under Christophe Decarnin was known for its glitzy style and even though the designer was absent at Balmain Fall/Winter 2011/2012 Fashion Show the collection is said to be designed according to his vision. There is lots of glitz and dazzle in the collection to jazz up your fall wardrobe with.

Balmain Fall/Winter 2011/2012 collection is almost too shiny with all those glitzy pants, dazzling jackets, and mirror-encrusted dresses. Though Balmain is known for its dazzling ready-to-wear the collection has too much of glitter and needs a bit more solid texture to nicely balance out all the sparkling stuff. There are some basic items though but these are too made of glossy fabric. Nevertheless there are some great pieces in Balmain Fall/Winter 2011/2012 collection I want to show you.

Giambattista Valli’s Spring 2012 Couture collection is fantastic, one of the best we have seen so far. It features amazing ballgowns, red-carpet-worth floor-length dresses and chic cocktail outfits. To finish the looks the designer topped models’ heads with flower-inspired headpieces.

Giambattista Valli was born to design couture. I am not saying his prêt-a-porter collections are bad. They are fresh and interesting. But his couture ranges (two of them have been presented so far) are absolutely incredible. The one he unveiled for Spring 2012 left me breathless.

Giambattista Valli’s ballgowns impressed me the most. Pompous, luxurious and sophisticated at the same time these came as the climax of the designer’s Spring 2012 Couture show. Floral prints were amazing and the colors looked great.

Other floor length gowns were more demure but they were also chic and exquisite which automatically put them into the range of future red carpet choices. The drapery was outstanding and finished with golden flowers used as necklaces, and collars it created an incredible effect.

Just like his more sumptuous designs Giambattista Valli’s cocktail dresses and ensembles from the Spring 2012 Couture collection were clearly inspired by flowers which realized in a variety of patterns and lovely details that made the garments look interesting.

For so many years in succession and from so many stylists I’ve heard that horizontal stripes are complete evil that ruins slim shape and makes one look fat even if she is naturally very slender. I always obeyed the rule without even checking if it was really that bad to wear hoops. However, a couple of days ago I read an article about a research based on the sliming effects of horizontal stripes and I was shocked to know that all my life I missed the opportunity to look great in stripes only because someone told me those were bad for appearance of my body. Now I say: GIRLS, HORIZONTAL STRIPES ARE SLIMMING AND FLATTERING!

Of course I couldn’t believe I was such a fool for such a long period of time and googled photos of stars wearing hoops. They did look very good in those. Alas and hurray!

Dailymail.co.uk also wrote about this. They even went further. They asked their readers to wear dresses in both horizontal and vertical stripes to compare which types of stripes looked better. Most of respondent said hoops were better. And the photographs clearly demonstrate that.

Well, girls, this fashion rule is totally broken. And now I wonder which other rules are senseless…

Spring/ Summer 2012 designer collections abound with amazing little white dresses which will be a huge trend of the season. Dresses come in a variety of styles and can be girlie and playful or elegant and demure. Every woman will be able to find the dress to her taste.

A little white dress is a perfect item for warm seasons which explains why so many designers included interesting and fashionable white dresses into their Spring/ Summer 2012 collections. These dresses come in different shades of white, from snowy white to creamy white. And styles vary from simple and straight to girlie and cute, adorned with frills, sequins and finished with asymmetrical hemlines.

Badgley Mischka, Givenchy and Betsey Johnson decorated their little white dresses with peplums. Oscar de la Renta, Moschino and Roccobarocco played with lace and floral print. Louis Vuitton, Jason Wu and Marchesa used feathered elements to make their dresses more beautiful and unusual.

Vionnet and Bebe featured asymmetrical hemlines. Victoria Beckham, Andrew Gn and Jean Paul Gaultier opted for an open shoulder style. And Versace and John Richmond beautified their little white dresses with glittering studs.

Most of little white dresses presented by designers for Spring/ Summer 2012 fashion season come in mini lengths and will be ideal for young girls with slender legs. There are midi versions too, which are more demure but still very sexy.

Some of these little white dresses can make a statement on their own due to unique and eye-catching elements they feature. Others, simpler ones, need to be accessorized to become attention-grabbers. For example, Giambattista Valli dress with fur detail looks impressive without any bracelets, necklaces or bags. But Jason Wu frock with a peter-pan collar should be complemented with a black belt and a tiny clutch for an elegant look.

St. John’s Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 collection was the first to have been presented during New York Fashion Week. And it was a good start since the brand that had been specializing exclusively on knit suits changed its direction and became more modern and youthful.

Not that St. John decided to stop producing knits – that would be silly, as they do have such great experience in making this kind of clothing and lots of celebs love the label for these particular items. But they made a shift to maxi skirts and short-sleeve tees, something they hadn’t dared to try before.

The Fall/ Winter 2011/ 2012 collection by St. John was very elegant. Wide-leg pants, warm neutral-colored dresses, sophisticated floor-sweeping gowns – all looked great. However, some pieces were disappointing. For example, the burgundy skirt suit featured the jacket with a zipper – not very classy really, looked more like sportswear. And the burgundy jumpsuit was very unflattering.

Spring/ Summer 2012 Fashion Trend : Summer suits. Summer suits can hardly be worn to a real office but they look so smart and stylish that ladies will still rock them. Made in a variety of colors and prints summer suits can come trimmed with lace which looks very cute. And while designers team those up with shirts and ties you can experiment with different items in your wardrobe to create the unique look.

Spring/ Summer 2012 Fashion Trend:Rounded shoulders. This trend is as ridiculous as the low-crotch one that we finally kissed goodbye in summer. Rounded shoulders don’t make you look leaner or sexier, they do quite the opposite thing. Still, it is a trend and there will be ladies to wear it.

While black and white tones are the most traditional combination of colors for formal clothing, which isn’t normally very original in design, in the new season everything is going to be different. Black-and-white pieces on the runway were playful, stylish and chic. Girls paraded in feminine cocktail dresses, translucent gowns, leather suits teamed with sexy blouses, etc.