The Scandalous Empress

Inspired by the spirit of Rome, the Fall 2015 couture collection for Valentino showcased designs worthy of a Roman Empress. 

The tunic dress styles, flowing fabrics and gilded jewelry were reminiscent of the controversial Empress Messalina.

Barbie Girl

She's one of the most recognizable fashion icons. She travels from the beach house, to the boardroom, to the operating room. She makes rocket science and landing on the moon look easy. Her name is known across the globe…Barbie. 

In recent years her name has become less known as the top choice of doll and more known as potentially spreading a negative body image message. However, the tide seems to be turning as people begin to recognize the fact that Barbie has promoted over 150 careers. Take a look at this amazing new commercial from Mattel. 

Not just about looking a certain way, Barbie shows that girls can do anything.

She even proved to be an inspiration from Moschino designer, Jeremy Scott, in a recent collection. 

Models sauntered down the runway in bubblegum pink and platinum wigs. The designer even played with the font of the iconic Barbie logo, but instead, plaster the designs with the Moschino name. 

The collection blended classic Barbie reference with Moschino details like the chain belts and cheeky accessories. 

If you can't picture yourself in head-to-toe pink a la Barbie, you can get a piece of the Moschino style with the Barbie collection that hit Net-a-Porter.com earlier this week. 

Fifty years after her debut, Barbie proves to be an everlasting icon and that this truly is a Barbie world.

The Art of Fashion

Is fashion art? Certain types of art can be in fashion, but is the reverse also true? These are just a couple of questions that swirl between the fashion and art worlds. 

Designers Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren decided to further the conversation with a recent couture collection for their Viktor & Rolf label. Canvases collapsed into multi-dimensional designs that were worn by the models on the runway. By the end of the show, these sculptural pieces adorned the walls of the gallery. 

The fabric of the skirts and gowns acted as the canvas for painterly interpretations of fine art. Instead of trims and standard stitched edges, the designs were trimmed in structural materials to serve as the frames of the art work. 

Not only artistic in their designs, Viktor and Rolf also produced the runway show as a type of performance art. They displayed the stages of putting on the piece and then removing it to hang on a gallery wall, which questions the point at which the fashion can become art. 

Is it more valuable as a garment on a couture runway, or does it only gain artistic value once it hangs on a wall in the museum? 

It's an interesting notion of not only how we treat fashion, but also how we view fine art. The collection certainly serves as a conversation starter for these thoughts and questions, but the answers remain to be seen. 

Classic Beauty

Delicate fabrics, romantic touches of lace and flowing hair…these words easily describe the Chloe collection, yet also call to mind the beauty found in the works of the Pre-Raphealite Brotherhood. 

Seeking to express the genuine and what was found in nature, the English artists banned together in the mid-1800s to reform art. Their romanticism and attention to form produced works steeped in classical imagery.

Fashion for a Cause

When you say the word nursery, elephants may not be the first image that comes to mind. But that's exactly what exists in Kenya's Nairobi National Park thanks to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. 

This nursery rescues elephants that are orphaned from poaching or conflicts with humans. In both Africa and Asia, elephants are fighting for their lives as humans hunt them for their tusks or meat. 

The Woman I Wanted to Be

Diane von Furstenberg famously said, "I didn't always know what I wanted to do, but I knew the kind of woman I wanted to be." She builds on this idea in her book, The Woman I Wanted to Be. The book offers a glimpse into her world as a princess, fashion designer and brand builder. 

This philosophy seemed to come to life in the Fall 2015 collection. The collection ranged in the style types, offering options for every setting a woman may want to explore. 

Fashion meets Art: Georgia O' Keeffe

Artist Georgia O' Keeffe described her work as a means to express the "wideness and wonder of the world." The composition, color palettes and scale of the images certainly speak to this idea of wonder. Dating back to the time of their creation, her paintings of flowers have often been interpreted to have feminine qualities. Interestingly, designer Karl Lagerfeld seemed to invoke this spirit of powerful femininity in his Spring 2015 collection. 

In a literal sense, the Chanel fabrics mirror the floral motifs seen in O'Keeffe's paintings. 

Flowers Alight

Carolina Herrera's Spring collection uses florals, but with non-traditional techniques. Rather than simply referencing classic flowers for the season, the designer utilized photo-quality techniques on the fabric and seemed to reference the modern art of James Turrell.

Turrell is known for his work using light and space as a language to drive interaction with viewers. Herrerra clearly employed this same language. She intertwined natural motifs with a treatment of colors that seems to be inspired by the behavior of light.