It goes without saying that there were some over the top, oddball looks on the runways during the Spring/Summer 2010 fashion week. Here’s the ten not so “ready to wear” looks of the season:

1) Alexandre Herchcovitch

2) Anna Sui

3) Charles Anastase

4) Danielle Scutt

5) Kinder Aqqugini

6) Marc Jacobs

7) Rodarte

8) Vivienne Westwood Red Label

9) Mary Katrantzou

10) Louise Goldin

All images via Style.

One would think that a designer in his tenth season would progressively get better, and at this point, maybe show some of the best work of his career. Not for Charles Anastase. Is it just me or did Mr. Anastase relapse to remedial design school for his Spring 2010 collection? Garments were baggy and seemingly craft-like, looking as if they had been thrown together with a bit of glue and tape in a matter of minutes. Yes, things look girly, but they also look like a kindergarten school project. Intuitive theme, but this work just doesn’t translate on the runway.

GALLERY: RUNWAY: Charles Anastase Women’s, Spring/Summer 2010

Thanks Style!

The predominantly women’s wear brand designer Charles Anastase featured a limited number of men’s looks in his show this year,but what he did offer was quite the treat. The collection featured some down right rocker fashions, including a solid mix of plaids and leather.

Gallery: RUNWAY RUNDOWN: Charles Anastase Fall 2009 Collection

Courtesy of: Style.com

December. The month to sing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year” and do some major Christmas damage. With the current economic state taking a toll on numerous boutiques throughout the New York area, Linda Dresner, the phenomenal Park Avenue boutique, will join the many folding businesses as they will close shop next month. December isn’t so wonderful anymore, now is it? It was Dresner who brought couture labels like Comme des Garcons, Chloe, Charles Anastase and John Galliano to the Upper East Side nearly 20 years back. The failing fashion industry was best summarized by Dresner herself:

“There’s too much of everything right now. Would I open a store in New York today? No. Retailing has to be reconsidered. It’s become a commodity that’s less creative. There’s too many stores selling the same kind of merchandise and it’s not as beautifully chosen. It’s ruined the enthusiasm for fashion.”

Basically, boutiques need to be unique in order to survive. If four shops on Bleecker, within a three block radius, carry the same Jill Sander coat, of course shops aren’t going to make any money! Customers could use an incentive every now and then too.

So long, Linda Dresner, we’re sad to see you go.

Thanks Fashionista!

Marc Jacobs Spring 2009.

Charles Anastase Spring 2009.

Straw on the street.

Move over Mary Poppins! You may think it was this nanny who started the straw hat trend, but if you took your medicine correctly, you would know it was none other than fashion legend Coco Chanel! For those of you who watched the recent Coco Chanel Lifetime film, you saw hundreds of hat designs, many of them straw hats. Let’s be honest, who else did we expect to craft such dramatic fashion accessories from barnyard food?

This coming Spring season, straw hats are making a comeback! First seen during New York Fashion Week by Marc Jacobs and Charles Anastase, straw hats add a bit of mystery and sex appeal to the innocent girl in the sundress. Dramatically tip the straw hat to the side and we’re in business! For now, keep that head warm with a nice wool beret or a fitted cloche, but come Spring 2009…slap on the straw!

Thanks for the photos STYLE and Facehunter!

School girls on crack. Charles Anastase’s Spring 2009 collection stripped the innocence and whimsy out of the the cardigan sweater, ballet flat school girl and brought on the bad influence: a disturbing denim biker jacket, cork plat-form, ruffled high waist, garter wearing elementary goddess. Overall, the collection is sinless and delicate, but the specks of the unusual bring Anastase’s first collection revival out of REM sleep and into an uneasy nightmare. Forget dollhouses and dance class. These girls have got a whole new high.

Thanks STYLE!

Dazed Digital caught up with designer Charles Anastase as he prepares for his Spring 2009 Pre-Collection.

RM: Yes, you can keep your sunglasses on! Tell me how you would explain your label to somebody who didn’t know about it?
CA: It a very independent label of clothes. That’s very important because there’s not so many independent or small labels that are doing demi-couture at the moment.

RM: So you would consider what you do almost couture?
CA: Yes, because the clothes are made in such small quantities and we spend a lot of time on the details and you don’t find that everywhere – it’s only in very selected shops. It’s quite special and exclusive.

RM: So how did you get in to fashion – you were initially an illustrator, right?
CA: It was by accident. I’ve always been interested in fashion. I like the shows, the adverts, the magazines, but yeah, I started as an artist doing drawings.

RM: Did you study to be an illustrator?
CA: No. I’ve always done drawings. The first people that asked to publish my drawings were fashion magazines, and then I started doing drawings on t-shirts, and one thing led to another…

RM: How did the fashion magazines become aware of your work?
CA: It was all through friends of mine. Some of them worked at Self-Service in Paris. We were a little community of people around the same age working in fashion, assisting, and it was like a small family in Paris. I was doing my personal drawing and my some friends of mine introduced me to the magazines.

RM: And then you started with the T-shirts.
CA: Yes. I initially started life wanting to be an artist, then I started doing the T-shirts, then I wanted to do some styling… A bit of everything! I was hard to define.

RM: So how did your first collection come about?
CA: I won the ANDAM prize. It was a lot of money but I hadn’t actually done a collection before I entered. They asked me to do the contest and they gave me the prize because they thought I should do fashion. They wanted to push French creativity and they were interested in my illustration, my embroidery, and my installation. They were interested in a “multimedia” designer. They asked me to do a show so I was kind of forced to do a show.

More after the jump.