PARIS, Feb 28, 2008 / FW/ — Paris is and will always be a nexus of inspiration and design. For fashion, the sheer amount of talent in city is overwhelming which makes it impossible for everyone to have their own runway show during the prêt-a-porter season. Anne Fontaine and Matthew Ames chose installations instead of a catwalk show. But, before we went there, my partner Thomas and I, dropped by Le Carrousel du Louvre to attend the Akris runway show. [more]

• Day 4: Marithé & Francois Girbaud, Issey Miyake, Ann Demeulemeester

PARIS, Feb 27, 2008 / FW/ —- Day 4 was a chilly cloudy, drizzly day but energy of the shows made everyone forget.  Our first show Marithé Francois Girbaud was in one of the large rooms in the Louvre, followed by Issey Miyake at Musée de l’homme and Ann Demeulemeester at Couvent des Cordeliers. [more]

• Day 3: Atsuro Tayama, Veronique Leroy, Gaspard Yurkievich, Robert Normand, Isabel Marant

PARIS, Feb 25, 2008 / FW/ — The location for the Atsuro Tayama show was on rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré, but it caught many fashionistas off guard as it was in the 200 block and quite a distance from any metro stops. As a result, many arrived looking as if they had walked a full day first thing in the morning. [more]

• Day 2: Jefen, Lie Sang Bong, Rajesh Pratap Singh

PARIS, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — Day 2 is actually the official kick off of Paris Prêt-a-Porter Fall 2008, with Chinese designer Jefen opening the day and officially opening the season. Next show was Lie Sang Bong, who is always a pleasure to see. For Fall 2008, the Korean-born designer had the most creative use of textile ranging from beautiful sheer printed pieces to the excellent embroidery reminiscent of Courrèges during the 1960’s.  [more]

• Day 1: Fatima Lopes, Ivanahelsinki

PARIS, Feb 23, 2008 / FW/ — After a total travel time of 22 hours (including actual air travel and layovers) from Honolulu to Paris, it was great to be in our Paris apartment and lie down flat in a real bed. But no rest for the weary because in two hours, it was time to see the Fatima Lopes catwalk show. [more]

MILAN, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — The Caten twins are at it again, following their Men’s collection, this Fall/Winter Women’s collection hit the stereotype sexual fantasies. Well dressed clean-cut designs paired with fishnets and platform heels, change the librarian look into a sensual dominatrix. If there is something to be sure about it’s that the Dsquared woman is anything but dowdy, so when you see her looking a little too nice, look closer. [more]

• Just Cavalli: Bold Individuality

MILAN, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — Cavalli is known for his daring prints and sensual designs so where better to find inspiration, for his Just Cavalli line, then a place known for the same. This season with an array of outfits sporting flamingo prints, Cavalli took inspiration from the Miami, Florida. Designing this collection with youth and individuality in mind he reflected on vintage designs from the seventies and modernized them for present day. [more]

• Belstaff: Modern Amelia

MILAN, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — Belstaff always designs for the same woman, she changes with fashion but one thing that is always consistent is her inner strength and self confidence. This Fall Winter 08/09 collection took inspiration from a pioneer in women’s movements, Amelia Earhart. Not only is Amelia a great inspiration because she was the first woman to fly a plane across the Atlantic, but she also comes from a classic traditional time period that fits perfectly with the Belstaff style. [more]

• Prada Fall 2008: Lace As The Fabric of the Future

MILAN, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — With all the smart fabrics around, and all talks about sustainability in fashion, Miuccia Prada did the unexpected and chose lace as the fabric of the future – beautiful, sustainable, pious while being erotic at the same time. [more]

• Sportmax Fall 2008: Darker & More Grown Up

MILAN, Feb 24, 2008 / FW/ — It is truly a season of change when ‘reliable’ brands like Sportmax takes the plunge into being bolder and experimental by proposing a darker with a gothic vibe collection managing to be more grown up and sophisticated to the delight of Sportmax fans. [more]

• Moschino Fall 2008: The Royal Navy Blues

MILAN, Feb 23, 2008 / FW/ — Big hair that is reminiscent of the 1970s punk and military inspired coats, jackets and suit dresses in blue and black, Moschino combined quirky and whimsical with solemn and formal, creating a timeless and elegant collection. [more]

• Blumarine Fall 2008: The Grammar of Elegant Dressing

MILAN, Feb 23, 2008 / FW/ — For Blumarine, Anna Molinari’s premiere line, the Italian design maestro revisited the label’s core values, took the aesthetics that defined it, then reinvented it, resulting to a magnificent reinterpretation of her own work. [more]

• Moschino Cheap & Chic: Rosella Jardini’s Fertile Imagination for Fall 2008

MILAN, Feb 23, 2008 / FW/ — At Moschino Cheap & Chic, there was a t-shirt with a picture of a woman with flowers sprouting from her head and the sentence ‘I have a lot on my mind’ written below it. And somehow, that summed up the current world situation – so many things happening at the same time and we have to deal with it. [more]

• C’N’C Costume National Fall 2008: Perfect for the Millennial

MILAN, Feb 22, 2008 / FW/ — Millenial, the term demographers use to describe the internet generation who comes of age this year (they turn 18 and begin to join the work force). They’re a ‘plug and play’ age group, courtesy of the PC, the Mac, and the gaming consoles. And Ennio Capasa has his finger on this generation’s pulse as he proposed ultra-modern silhouettes with elements of techno and street for Fall 2008. [more]

• Love Sex Money Fall 2008: Black Out

MILAN, Feb 22, 2008 / FW/ — In her own words, Lorella Signorino, designer for ‘Love Sex Money’ described the Fall 2008 collection for the label: “Black has been liturgical, existentialist, gothic, punk, minimal, total… Through the centuries, the decades and through changing fashions, few colours have had so many and so different meanings. Probably because black is a non-colour which becomes tinged with the Zeitgeist.” [more]

• Romeo Gigli Fall 2008: A Change of Logic

MILAN, Feb 22, 2008 / FW/ — Japanese style dresses made of heavy wool, and trousers in ultra silk, Gentucca Bini, Creative Director for Romeo Gigli challenged the accepted norm of designing clothes and changed the logic of fabrication. [more]

MILAN, Feb 20, 2008 / FW/ — Rifat Ozbek went to the Far East and found Japanese sensuality so irresistible that for Fall 2008, he reinterpreted mystic allure of the geisha to 1970s glam thus creating the Japanese Roxy cover girl, an anthem to the constructions and architectural shapes of the clothes, played around well-defined lines. [more]

• Normaluisa’s ‘Home Sweet Home’ Equals Fashion Freedom

MILAN, Feb 20, 2008 / FW/ — Collaborating with Vitra, a Swiss manufacturer of designer furniture, Normaluisa aimed for fashion equilibrium as she sent a collection expressing essential and measured elegance that in so many ways was complimentary to the ultra modern furniture on the background. [more]

• Giorgio Armani, The New York Times and Economic Theorems

MILAN, Feb 20, 2008 / FW/ — Only in the fashion world that a healthy love-hate relationship can exist and all protagonists can kiss & make up within the next 3-6 months as if nothing happened. The latest incident, Cathy Horyn, Fashion Editor of the New York Times was ‘exiled’ from the Giorgio Armani show yesterday. [more]

• Gianfranco Ferré’s Golden Silence Speaks Louder Than Words

MILAN, Feb 19, 2008 / FW/ — During fashion week, rumors always abound and one of the most repeated since Milano Moda Donna started was the ‘imminent arrival of a new Creative Director at Gianfranco Ferré.’ Yesterday, the company issued a very short press release quashing that rumor and saying, “the company has at present no negotiations underway regarding the hiring of any new in-house figure.” [more]

• Les Hommes: Unifying Opposites

MILAN, Feb 19, 2008 / FW/ —It may seem strange to have a women’s collection by two Belgian designers and a French name that means “the men”, but in reality duo Tom Notte and Bart Vandebosch make it work. Les Hommes started off, through the collaboration of the design duo, as a men’s collection but with their success and growth they have branched out to the other sex. Les Homes, women’s collection, is exactly what you may think, a beautiful interpretation of men’s wear for the woman.[more]

• Blugirl’s Snow Bunny Goes Luxe

MILAN, Feb 18, 2008 / FW/ — With Anna Molinari, there is always a spirit of generosity in her collections and Blugirl Fall 2008 is not an exception. One could go on and on how beautiful the collection is beginning with the varying shades of white from cream to coral rose provided warmth. Or, how the inventive combination of wool and fur with organza, chiffon and lace made luxury also ethereal. [more]

• A Serious Emporio Armani Reaches The Nash Equilibrium

MILAN, Feb 18, 2008 / FW/ — Remember when Giorgio Armani did a treatise on ‘Theory of the Leisure Class’? For Fall 2008, the Italian design maestro might as well be doing a fashion treatise on the “Nash Equilibrium” a Nobel Prize winning economic theory made very popular by the movie ‘A Beautiful Mind’ starring Russell Crowe. [more]

• Missoni’s Fashion Connoisseurs

MILAN, Feb 18, 2008 / FW/ — There is a running joke among the fashion set, i.e., there are more fashion victims than fashion connoisseurs. And, though the fashionistas in general talk about it openly, very few will accept that they are slaves to fashion to the point that they have become fashion victims. And Missoni has found the cure for fashion victims! [more]

I found more photos of Hayden here:

• Hayden Panettiere Sparkles at Berlin International Film Festival With Montblanc
• Can’t Get Enough of Hayden Panettiere