Cynthia Cheng Mintz

 Celebrating his 30th anniversary this year, Michael Kors presented his Fall/Winter 2011 collection with a palette consisting predominantly of neutral greys, camels, whites and blacks along with a pop of colour (blushes, purple and two very eye-popping red pieces)  here and there for the women’s collection.  With both work-appropriate as well as evening, the styles were reflective of other collections presented for the upcoming season – a little 1970s-inspired, but also other time periods (noteably 80s office chic, probably in honour of the decade that gave the designer his start).  Flowy, drapy fabrics were very much part of womenswear, as well as translucent fabrics were seen in many of the looks.

There were plenty of assymentrical, leg-baring pieces as well as the interesting look of knee length dresses/tunics with pants beneath.  Sparkling dresses were also seen.  Another trend seen in this collection were cropped fur coats.  While this was seen several times in the show, it is not really a good look, not even on the models.  Because of it’s thickness, it either overwhelms smaller bodies or make taller women (such as the models) look like umbrellas or mushrooms.  All of these looks were presented on a U-shaped runway with models walking up and down, creating an “M.”   Michael Kors also showed his menswear pieces in the show.  However, compared with the women’s collection, it was quite dull and boring.