SHOWTIME: Luella at New York Fall Fashion Week 2005

Michelle L - February 2005

Aussie girls tend not to fuss over a distinct winter wardrobe since our winters are relatively mild and very long lived. Usually, a cozy sweater and warm jacket over our summer clothes will do. That's probably why so many of the fall/winter collections in New York, Milan and Paris with their chunky wool knits and long coats are great fun to look at but sometimes seem pointless to us. However, British designer Luella Bartley's Fall/Winter 2005 collection in New York had plenty of nice looks that will not need a snowy background.

Bartley is one of the hottest young names in fashion. Like fellow Brit designers Stella McCartney and Phoebe Philo (of Chloe), she seems to know exactly what the coolest girls want to wear. In this collection, most of the clothes were girly, but not in an annoying way. Dresses and skirts fell to the knee, a lovely look if only because I'm getting bored of seeing girls in minis everywhere. (Though the boys would probably disagree). Skirts were worn with cute blouses or striped sweaters.

As expected, the bags were gorgeous. The Luella Gisele has, of course, become one of the hottest bags around. For this collection, Luella showed bags that were just as covetable. Expect to see them hanging off the arms of stylish 'it girls' soon, especially since two of them were sitting in the front row. That would be Julia Restoin, who is the daughter of Paris Vogue editor Carine Roitfeld, and New York designer Charlotte Ronson, who was with her stylish mother, socialite Ann Jones. And no wonder, as this was a collection any girl 'it or not' would love.

Some of the bags...

Some of my favorite outfits...

For more about Luella, visit their official site: Luella.com