Five Key Fall Trends: Shape Up

One of our favorite trends from Fall 08 is the body con/exaggerated silhouette trend that we've titled 'Shape Up' for today's shoot. Shape Up is by far the most notable trend from the Fall 08 shows. Designers articulated this trend by skimming the body with razor-like precision or by exaggerating the silhouette to comment on the landscape of the body. Whichever direction they went, the physical form was at the forefront of their minds. From Yves Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Calvin Klein, Jonathan Saunders, Miu Miu, and of course, Balenciaga, Fall 08 saw the female form (and not florals nor lace--though there was plenty of that, wasn't there?) take center stage. For our purposes we created two looks which articulate the trend.

The modern look called up a pair of Marc by Marc Trousers we'd written about in a while back in an immaterial post. Though there are options galore when it comes to parachute trousers, we thought these appropriately priced and nicely tailored. On top a Harlan Bel blouse tucked everything in to a tailored point (we first discovered Harlan Bel back when we shot our La Belle Dame sans Merci editorial). On the vintage side of things we couldn't really go wrong with a vintage Dior jacket from Zachary's Smile. The cuffed bell sleeve on this jacket inspired many a Fall 08 daydream in our mind. So nicely does it display the Shape Up vantage point.

Below, check out a spread of our favorite pieces from this trend and, below that, a trend gallery from the Fall 08 shows with every sort of Shape Up frock and trouser you can imagine.