It’s that time of the year again! A press conference was held at the Red Dot Museum yesterday afternoon to announce the line-up for the upcoming Audi Fashion Festival.
AFF is back after a very successful 09 run with Lacroix couture, Gareth Pugh, Vivienne Westwood, and it is ready to rock the tents at Ngee Ann City from 28 April to 2 May with a number of invited international designers/labels, two of which are amongst the major league in Milan.

The opening show will be Dsquared² by Canadian twins Dean and Dan, the label just opened their first store in ION Orchard last year. They are known for putting a sexy, contemporary spin on preppy classics and of course their runway theatrics (Rihanna appeared in their Spring ‘08 show remember?)

Like every other year, a well known model will make an appearance during the festival and this time it will be Carmen Kass, who opened and closed the recent Dsquared² Fall ‘10 show. She is set to open the show again on AFF Day 1.

You might remember the Estonian beauty from the Dior j’adore fragrance ads pre-Charlize Theron, looking poised in the gold pool. Carmen probably has one of the fiercest struts on the runways. She tends to walk fast in heavy steps, but steady and ultra confident, and she always carries a slight smirk. Simply look back at all her walks in Versace shows, and of course, opening Dsquared²

Other names in the line-up include KTZ from London, Marchesa from New York and closing show Roberto Cavalli, retail chains like Warehouse and Mango will also have a slot in the schedule, as well as local labels like alldressedup and Raoul. Besides the shows, ‘Star Creation’— a fashion competition organized by the Textile and Fashion Federation of Singapore— will reveal three winners from a selection of 12 finalist during a gala event on 27 April. Stay tuned to see who will receive the lucrative prizes of cash and opportunities.

To find out more about AFF, simply visit audifashionfestival.com when it is nearing the dates. Like the previous year, a number of shows are open to public (you can purchase the tickets via mastercard) while the others are invite only.

These are the photos released from the presentation of Alexander McQueen’s final collection he worked on before his passing on 11 Feb, a total of 16 looks. It’s a really beautiful collection, not as harsh as Fall 2009, and is quite similar to his Fall 2008 story about princesses and royalty. The inspiration seems to come from religion, as shown in the prints. After seeing the pictures, don’t you have a bitter sweet feeling?

[images: catwalking]

Couture gowns seems to be the to-go choices this year on the red carpet, besides Jean Paul Gaultier and Valentino, a number of major couture houses had at least one celebrity endorsement. Kudos to those who took risk and went for the more unpredictable, unconventional choices (Saldana, SJP), BUT pulling off couture is not an easy feat without the body, the posture and high drama, will leave you to judge who wore it best.

Zoe Saldana in Givenchy Couture

Diane Kruger in Chanel Couture

Sarah Jessica Parker in Chanel Couture

Jennifer Lopez in Armani Privé

Unflattering much?

Amanda Seyfried in Armani Privé

Rachel McAdams in Elie Saab couture

Anna Kendrick in Elie Saab couture

Charlize Theron in modified Christian Dior Couture

Poor Charlize endured quite an amount of ‘cinnamon bun’ jokes.

[images: style.com]

The finale parade at Lanvin.

[images: daylife.com]

After the Milan shows are over, do you have this image of designers scrambling to dig through the archives for ideas and inspiration? Save for a few houses who still went for a more daring route (Versace, Bottega), it’s another season of calming down and re-thinking the old roots.

At Moschino, Rosella Jardini revived a bit of Franco’s eccentricity, something that he was famous for— poking fun at Chanel.

In his time, Franco created the infamous t-shirt that has a television set and read ‘Channel No.5″ (LOL) and mocked fashion classics such as the Chanel jacket with garish trimmings and details. There are a handful of skirt-suits in the Fall’10 collection that reminds me of Moschino’s past, especially this one which has earrings as trimmings, and the overload of gold that is so anti-Chanel, almost tacky, but then, it’s meant to be fun in the Italian spirit.

[images: style.com]