Cynthia Cheng Mintz

For Fall/Winter 2011, Ruffian is all about lace, with more than half the pieces containing this elegant material.  It is also very much 1980s inspired – not only are we seeing the lace, but also shoulder pads (the show opened with pieces that were inspired by formal menswear) as well as poofy numbers that remind many of 1980s prom dresses.  With added grown-up elegance, of course.  Most of the pieces looked wearable, opposed to “art,” which is also a good thing.

Cranberry, which has made appearances in several shows, seems to be one of the “it” colours for the upcoming season as it once again showed up for Ruffian.  The combination of that with black lace, definitely gives many pieces a “bad 80s girl” yet with added elegance and definitely won’t make the wearer look she was auditioning for a Madonna biopic.   To add to the MTV feel, many in the collection, especially tops and the menswear-inspired pieces, were metallics. At the same time, the main neutral, camel, gives off the aura of the sophisticated career woman of the decade.   Of course, to add to the 1980s theme, there were also a couple of Joan Collins-inspired gowns, which did not look that great on the models – this style really doesn’t work on women who aren’t of a “certain age”. 

All in all, this was a good collection, with very wearable items that will look great on most.  Favourites of ours include the lace dresses and menswear inspired pieces.  We also found the black tutu quite interesting (although difficult to pull off). Our dislikes?  Definitely the plaid jackets.  Also not a big fan of the skinny cropped pants.  Skinnies have been around for several seasons now and frankly, we’re getting tired of it.