The Shrimpton Couture Blog

As I trudge along life with one foot planted firmly in the past, I can't help but look to the runways to see what will work into my ever burgeoning vintage closets. I am a big proponent of mixing chic vintage pieces in with the best of what today's designers have to offer.

Designers of today are, after all, really just making the vintage of the future aren't they?

I don't normally have a little mini lust fest over a whole collection - usually, I spot one piece here, another there and diligently hunt them down to give my present wardrobe an update. I tend to buy mostly shoes (and more shoes and then an extra pair or two .....just in case......). My bag needs are pretty much met with my birkins and kelly's and it's hard to beat my vintage wardrobe. It's pretty fucking good, if I do say so myself.

However, I have to say I have fallen hard for the Jonathon Saunders Fall 2011 collection. I also have to admit I was like huh? when I first saw it.

JS is not a designer I even looked at twice in the past, so I was floored when I saw this collection.

I took these pics from The Sartorialist (cause they are better then any pictures I saw anywhere else - that Scott guy is good with a camera) and after swooning over them, jumped to Style.com to see what they had to say (and BTW, you can see the rest of the collection by following the style.com link)

"Jonathan Saunders' Fall collection started strict, with a belted mohair suit whose lines recalled the late thirties or early forties. That was the era when Paul Outerbridge was pioneering new techniques in color photography, using a complex process that produced intense, distilled images. Outerbridge is a kindred spirit, of sorts, for Saunders, whose mastery of his own medium's print process yielded spectacular results in his latest show. The designer had the photographer and his time in mind, hence the pencil-skirted silhouette, but the approach to color and pattern—bold even for Saunders—was, he claimed, also inspired by Outerbridge's graphic juxtapositions. That would explain the linear, geometric patterns at the start of the show. They mutated into abstract flora and fauna that crept up legs, across shoulders, down arms, like an exotic virus. Saunders' palette loaned the imagery a hyper-colored eeriness, much like that found in Outerbridge's photos.

But if his clothes were such a success, some credit was due the new rigor in Saunders' shapes. The sheaths with their side slits or the longer, languidly fitted dresses with hems flouncing out from under tiers of pleating made strong, sexy canvases for color and print. And it was surely significant that one of the most striking looks in the show was entirely print-free. It was a simple maroon skirt paired with a blouse that was jade green in front, dusty rose in back. Strict, yes, but oh so sensual."

Bold? 

Yes

Fantastic? 

YES!

On my buy list for fall 2011? 

HELL YES!!

PS I just happened to be on Vogue.com right after writing this and there is a little write-up there on Jonathon's inspiration for the collection - this was written before the show. I found it interesting that he said his inspiration for his collection is based around his search for “a sophisticated, thirties-forties elegance.”

That must explain why I love it so much - he is a vintage boy at heart obviously!

Here are two more great pictures for you - the first is Jonathon fitting a model. I love seeing the designers at work and the second is his mood board. I bet all you smart-as-whips, vintage loving girls can rattle off most of his references within seconds - can't you?

xoxoCherie