hi, fashion

Okay, so most of the time I'm not the biggest fashion fiend as far as what I wear every day. But fashion week always brings out the fashionista in me! So with the tents up and the flash bulbs going off, I thought I'd rave about my favorites—and rant about the duds—of this fall preview season.

First we'll start with the disappointments: Perennial favorites Donna Karan, Vera Wang, and Calvin Klein left much to be desired for me. Karan's fall collection was certainly beautiful, but pretty much everything was in the 20s droopy flapper style - i.e. "everything falls." A few pieces worked, but mostly I felt like her dresses in particular were verging on the mumu look, which I'm not so into. Others made me feel like she was flipping through her grandmother's closet for inspration - which sometimes works, but not this time. Wang had really beautiful cuts, but I think some of her floral patterns were a little too much for me. That said, she did have a few excellent outfits, such as her yellow-and-black satin dress covered by a long, sheer brown jacket (right). I usually love Klein for his minimalist and classy-yet-original look, but this collection was one of the most boring I've seen. Among other things, the colors were all extremely muted—which in itself isn't bad, but when your designs are very basic (simple overcoats, strapped dresses with familiar lines) it just makes everything that much flatter. And frankly I don't think it helped that his models had their hair back with very little makeup. Hopefully these guys will pick it up for next season!

On the positive side, my two favorites this time around were Narciso Rodriguez (center) and Proenza Schouler (left). To be honest, even Rodriguez's collection was hit or miss for me, but his hits were amazing. The cuts were classy up and down the line, and while some of his colors bordered on the tawdry (bright peach, ultraviolet, shocking neon orange), his blacks and whites were generally sublime. Proenza Schoulder, which I hadn't known about before this year, was probably my favorite of the bunch. The collection from designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough focused on sheer silks, which they used in colors ranging from navy to shimmery gold to chartreuse. A few of the pieces were a little too over-the-top, reminding me of the worst of women's 70s fashion, but I'll give the Proenza team a pass for their occasional missteps. For one thing, they redeemed themselves with their wool coats, which elegantly mirrored the draping of the silks underneath.

Anyway, that's all for fall fashion week '08. You can check out slideshows of the collections at style.com! &infin