From left: Alberta Ferretti, Marchesa, Mary Katrantzou, Dolce&Gabbana, Giambattista Valli, Christian Dior

Flowers. Flowers in every shape, color and form. Flowers on skirts, shirts, pants, shoes, bags, hats and more. Just in case you are still wondering:  yes, one of the biggest trends this season is, indeed, floral.

There must be something about flowers in spring that really inspires designers because this trend has been going on for quite a wile now – one of the best Miranda Priestly quotes in the 2006 movie “The Devil Wears Prada” is “Florals? For spring? Groundbreaking” - and it seems like it’s here to stay. I have to admit though that, while the flower/spring combo might not be groundbreaking, it certainly does make for a great and fun trend that can be interpreted in more ways than one. Designers like Alberta Ferretti, Marchesa and Oscar de la Renta presented us with the most exquisite, romantic and charming floral dresses that ever were, making their woman look like an ethereal nymph while Mary Katrantzou, Mulberry and Collette Dinnigan were ready toshake things up with their colorful and almost cartoony take on this trend.

Marni

And if designers like Dolce&Gabbana, Giambattista Valli, Monique Lhuillier and Marni were all for the pop-up effect making it impossible for us not to notice the incredibly realistic flowers applied to their creations, others chose a more subtle way to show their appreciation for the mode. Christian Dior, Michael Van Der Ham, Preen and Stella McCartney proved to us that bigger is not necessarily better by using small patterns that gave the clothes an almost pointillist effect only in reverse: the more you got close the more you understood what you were looking at!
Miranda Priestly might not be impressed with florals for spring, but I bet she would be impressed with these interpretations of the everlasting trend…I know I am.

Every year the MET’s Costume Center – or “The Anna Wintour Costume Center” as it’s going to be called from now on- and Vogue team up to host a gala to celebrate the year’s fashion exhibit and gather funds for the museum. In this single night, everybody who is anybody is called to attend what has become the biggest fashion event of the season. Each year, a different theme inspires the exhibition and this year’s theme was Charles James. For those of you who don’t know, Charles James was a British designer who then moved to America in the late ’20’s and became “America’s First Couturier”. His creations mostly consisted in sculptural and articulated ball gowns and have inspired designers like Cristobal Balenciaga, Christian Dior and, more recently, Zac Posen. In honor of James’s esthetic, this year’s dress code was “white tie” meaning that men had to wear top hat and tails and women ball gowns. I clearly remember complaining about the lack of voluminous ball gowns at the Academy Awards and apparently fashion’s god (a.k.a. Anna Wintour) heard my prayer because at monday night's Met Gala there were ball gowns galore! Arizona Muse, Taylor Swift, Hailee Steinfeld, Emmy Rossum, Claire Danes, Suki Waterhouse and many more braved the infamous MET’s staircase in gorgeous, Jamesesque ball gowns and impossibly long trains, but it was co-chair, Sarah Jessica Parker’s Oscar de la Renta gown that wowed me. Granted, maybe the hair was a tad too much, but the dress was impeccable with its full skirt, signed train and even a touch of Charles James’s iconic Clover Leaf ball gown; besides, you know what they say, go big or go home and SJP definitely went big! If some, like Zac Posen (and myself) were thrilled with this theme, others weren’t so much. When asked what Charles James meant to him, Tom Ford jokingly said “it means big dresses you cannot get close to! Women could not get pregnant in a Charles James dress. I’m serious! I keep trying to kiss these women and it (the dress) makes you automatically bow”. Tom Ford wasn’t the only one to have some difficulties with the dress code. Actresses like Rosamund Pike, Michelle Williams, and Elizabeth Olsen wore short dresses while Cara Delavigne, Kristen Wiig, Amber Valletta and Janelle Monàe opted for more comfortable looks with a touch of drama, choosing to wear pants instead of the required dress. One look that had people talking was for sure Lupita Nyong’o’s breezy netted Prada dress: personally, I didn’t like the dress or the accessories, but Lupita’s attitude was so laid back and happy that it made me like the outfit a little bit more. Between so many amazing looks, it really was a struggle to choose the best ones and, even though I liked many outfits per se – see Emma Stone’s beautiful hot pink Thakoon two-piece dress- I chose the ones that tried to stick to the dress code while still looking incredibly good and adding a little twist to it!