Iris Van Herpen for United Nude, €850
Iris Van Herpen has made headlines this year with her 3D printed pieces, but her penchant for precise, sculptural fashions has also been translated into this intricately laced booty that’s all about maximum style.

Wolford Sky Scraper Tights, $51
Tights are a playful way to spruce up any winter wardrobe and Woldford’s quality tights come in varying knits and prints. We love the Sky Scraper version with alternating nude and black ascending vertical stripes.

Made In Brazil #4, $70
With only 1,000 numbered copies, the November 2011 release of Made in Brazil magazine is a must for internationally minded style mavens with an insatiable appetite for unique design.

Gareth Pugh x MAC, $39
British designer Gareth Pugh has launched a new limited edition cosmetic range with MAC. The collection boasts rich, dark hues with nude combinations. We recommend the metal x creamy shadow in Ardent, or lipstick in Restrict for something more natural get.

Alexander McQueen’s skull-clasp Britannia box clutch, $1,995
Alexander McQueen’s skull-clasp Britannia box clutch is a formidable gift for a strong woman. The pale pink clutch with Union Jack leather stitch and signature jeweled skull will complete any New Year’s ensemble (and beyond).

Christopher Kane Pleated Wool-Crepe Skirt, $1,030
Christopher Kane has a knack for turning classic pieces into utterly of-the-moment clothes. This pleated, pink stretch wool crepe skirt bucks the style’s demure tradition with its powerful hue and waterfall hem.

Tze Goh, Wool Turtleneck Top, $1,271
Tze Goh’s sculptural clothes are subtle on the high eyes, but high impact on the body. The beautiful tailoring on this wool turtleneck top creates a subtle sculptural effect, while the beautiful fabrication ensures that it feels good on the skin.

Goemai waitscoat, $703
Goemai is the latest designer to take neoprene out of its surfing context. The French brand’s waistcoat not only looks sleek, but also conceals those unflattering body parts.

Yves Saint Laurent hobo leather bag, $1,495
Yves Saint Laurent’s bags are timeless and chic, the perfect accessory for seriously stylish ladies. This hobo bag is perfect for overbooked women who need to transition from day to evening looks more often than they would like.

Eddie Borgo silver-plated turquoise spike earrings, $248
If you want to give gifts with a bit of off-kilter glamour, check out Eddie Bongo’s silver plated turquoise spike earrings—they’re an unexpected piece of ear decoration that’ll grab lots of attention.

Versace scarf print dress, $795
With its H&M collaboration with a spectacular commercial success, Versace’s popularity is riding higher than usual. All this attention has gotten us hankering for the label’s famous prints from the ’90s, like this scarf print mini dress—perfect on its own for the beach or layered with an oversized sweater for a stylishly urban look.

The Row Pablo Sweater, $1,575
Cozy knits are hard to pass up, especially this winter. The Row, whose basics-driven line is underpinned with uncompromising luxury, makes it hard to resist. Both for its timelessness and for its chicness.

While animal-friendly faux fur alternatives have increasingly appeared in more collections, the real deal was all over the recent runways. Derek Lam knit fox into a black and white cardigan, Halston’s Marios Schwab embellished the sleeves of a sweater dress and Marc Jacobs used it on the lapels of a see-thru trench. Fresh off his Swiss Textiles Award win, Alexander Wang experimented with a number of different fabrics, backing a zip-away leather jacket and criss-crossing lapels with mink. Many of these looks will show up at H&M and Forever 21 too, albeit in decidedly less expensive manifestations. The heretofore fur-free designer’s unfortunate use of pelts in his show makes sense given recent supported from Saga, but thankfully some of it won’t be produced for stores.

Leather was the most common go-to fabric for fitted, asymmetrical jackets. It was also used in more novel ways, as in the case of men’s leggings at both Maria Cornejo and Rad Hourani. To wit, Joseph Altuzarra held high-slit pencil skirts together with straps of leather, lending the pieces a vaguely S&M vibe. Threeasfour, meanwhile, paired it with wool to create a collared, almost hood-like coat and Ohne Titel’s Flora Gill and Alexa Adams coupled it with silk to fashion a chic, patchwork drawstring skirt. In addition to singular pieces, expect to see leather—both real and faux—used as embellishment or in conjunction with fabrics like wool, cashmere and twill.

Velvet’s sartorial connotations ran the gamut—little girl party dress, “festive” formal wear, hippie-chic topper—but there’s little doubt we can escape it for fall. Elise Øverland showed a velvet menswear-inspired suit and tuxedo wrap dress, while Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs fashioned a lace and velvet cap-sleeved dress for their semi-eponymous label. In keeping with his naughty schoolgirl vibe, Peter Jensen’s take was admittedly cheekier (tartan bloomers), while Zac Posen’s conjured thoughts of chi-chi late ’70s holiday parties.

Cutouts continue as a reining trend. When strategically placed they imbue basic black with some much-needed sex appeal, but not-so-gym-toned flesh might be better kept under wraps in any of the season’s other trends. Max Azria’s designs for Hervé Léger have never been a go-to for the faint of heart, so it’s little surprise that his sheer-paneled cutouts came courtesy of some killer mini-dresses. Speaking of itty bitty, Halston incorporated the technique into Grecian-style party gowns, featuring artfully exposed flesh and miles of leg. Preen offered what was perhaps the most wearable take in bandeau bra topped silk and cashmere dresses that revealed the areas above and below the décolletage—and leaving just enough to the imagination.

Although last month’s World Retail Congress in Barcelona pollinated signs of a slow economic recovery, brands are still trying to think outside of the box. Renzo Rosso, meanwhile, performed a controversial move during the Milan fair when both Diesel and Maison Martin Margiela introduced lines of items for the home, begging the question: Why expand when most brands seem to be producing less and taking safer style shots?

Part of the answer may rest in the fact that the economic situation has offered a filter for fashion brands and consumers are only pulling out their wallets for the labels that have established a solid message. With its “successful living” core value and its smart marketing actions, Diesel, for instance, developed a relationship with the consumer that has since become a valuable means of transforming the harsh scenery into an opportunity.

According to Faith Popcorn, from Brainreserve trend bureau, consumers are reverting focus back onto their homes. She believes that the decrease in spending has marked an increase in the time people stay at home, which, in turn, has evolved into über-cocooning. People are nesting and enjoying their time with digital alternatives for entertainment as well as reading, cooking and other domestic pastimes.

Thus, if home is the new Starbucks, there’s more reason to revamp it with iconic fashion brands that have always given us pleasure. After all, a Margiela chair will be useful longer than the same brand’s shirt—ditto a Diesel lamp. In both cases, Rosso was smart to perceive that people would switch from spending on ephemeral fashion to re-focus on the consistency of the home.

This kind of recessionista rationalism seems to be leading the way with ecological issues as well. During the Milan fair, Fendi also attracted the media attention with its Spazio Fendi, which gathered young designers in a “Craft Punk” performance in which they transformed materials and processes in live demonstrations. Scraps of discarded leather from Fendi’s factories became tabletops, for example, while folding techniques from fashion were used in paper chairs.

Indeed, the marriage of fashion and furniture is not a new pairing, but these days it seems like a positive alternative for major brands. In fact, Armani is also successfully doing it, as is Missoni and Ralph Lauren—the latter even sells wall paint with its exclusive colors. Of the bunch, Armani is a true vet, having begun investing in interior design products almost a decade before the current economic crisis. And unsurprisingly, the brand is sticking to its aggressive expansion program, which recently opened its 80th Armani Casa store in a Dubai mall and has plans for more openings in Jakarta and Manama, Bahrain.

The ability to transfer a brand’s identity to home objects is also relevant for fast-fashion companies. Following Zara’s suit, H&M launched a home line last February. For H&M Home’s Maria Lindblon, this concept is valuable because it “uses H&M’s expertise in fashion and applies it to the house.”

No matter where the economy goes from here, we can always fall back on the sanctuary of home.

—Flávia Mendonça

Always the champion of the chic and cheap, clothing label Weekday is once again doing its part to promote Swedish fashion sense. “Extended Weekday” is a collaboration with both up-and-coming and established Swedish designers, which seeks to promote a new, more accessible kind of fashion.

The concept has been rolled out over the last few months, kicking off with “CW designed by Carin Wester” in February. Wester’s eight womenswear items feature details such as butterfly-inspired arms and intimations of lingerie, while her seven menswear pieces have a touch of the feminine, with pastel stripes and jackets with oversized collars.

Also exclusive to Weekday is a new line of hand-printed t-shirts by 5preview, an often hard-to-find label based in Rome. The Swedish-Argentine duo is known for its large, black-and-white prints depicting motifs such as the Eiffel Tower and the Chanel logo.

At the end of February, Weekday introduced a new collection from Minimarket, a label founded in 2006 by sisters, Sofie, Jennifer and Pernilla Elvestedt. The collection includes three tops, a dress and wedged high heels. The tops and dress are made of jersey and come in either glittery black or a photographic print of wrinkled paper. The three Swedish sisters also launched two printed men’s t-shirts, which marked their first ever garment for guys.

In March, Weekday presented lines by two other well-known Swedish designers, Nakkna and Nhu Duong. Nakkna is recognizable by its characteristic geometric and minimalistic silhouettes, while Duong’s pieces are often an experiment with materials and patterns. “Safety Pin” is Duong’s first commercial collection and is based on her 2008 graduation project from Beckmans College of Design in Stockholm. She was also the first recipient of the Mercedes Benz Young Fashion Industry Award, and her show was one of the highlights of Stockholm Fashion Week in February.

The Extended Weekday concept is a response to several indpendent labels being swallowed up whole by the giant of Swedish fashion. In June 2008, Weekday and its sister brand Cheap Monday, along with several other labels, were scooped up by H&M. Since the acquisition, Weekday and Cheap Monday boutiques aren’t allowed to sell other brands, which is why these collaborations have proved to be a clever workaround to the dilemma.

Weekday stores are located in big cities throughout Sweden, with the first international store opening in Copenhagen last year. Plans to launch new shops in New York and Paris are also in the works, so get ready for an influx of Scandinavian style.

—Charlotte West