Inside(s) Out: Abdala's Anatomical Glamour

Make no bones about it, a fascination with the human body is in 28-year-old Ronald Abdala's blood. As the only member of his family not to become a doctor, the UK-born, Lebanese fashion designer instead channels his medical lineage into his designs, which take inspiration from the invisible anatomy they encase.

After working for Rabih Kayrouz, a prominent Lebanese couturier in Paris, Abdala struck out on his own this year, producing a glamorous debut outing for a/w '08-'09, dubbed "X-Ray." The collection features an array of sleek skirts and trousers, but it's Abdala's richly-fabricated gowns that truly stand out for their unabashedly feminine construction, inventive details and scientific monikers. "Rib Cage" is a floor-sweeping red gown with white rib-like embroidery that wraps around the torso, while "Spine" is a pleated, knee-length black cocktail dress with embroidery running down the back in the shape of vertebrae. Other dresses, like "Funny Bone" and "Muscle," feature equally beautiful, but less literal, anatomical inflections.

When he set out to create the collection, Abdala wanted to fashion pieces that would overturn the usual macabre associations people have with skeletal structures. And in the spirit of his idols, fashion rebels like Jean-Paul Gaultier and Alexander McQueen, he's already exhibiting the daring necessary to uncover beauty in the most unexpected of places.

—Robert Cordero