Our network partner, Fashion Indie, reported this morning on the Marc Jacobs Resort 2009 collection. His take on the collection (and the title to his post)? "Jewel-Toned Heart Adorned Kimono Wearing Gladiators from the 90’s Enslave Powersuit Wearing Women from the 80’s with Bows". Well, 'aint that a mouthful. The Marc Jacobs Resort 2009 collection was, indeed, a menagerie of cultural references (as usual, eh?) but one unified sentiment stood out to us.

Yves Saint Laurent, who passed away this weekend, pioneered the iconic look known as Le Smoking. That suit, in the mid-late 1960's, emboldened suiting for women and gave them, perhaps for the first time in a long time, a sleek, powerful silhouette. Now, it's impossible that Marc Jacobs could have anticipated Yves Saint Laurent's death (Jacobs can be perverse, not that much so) but it does strike us as one of those coincidences we might attribute to the collective unconscious.

Le Smoking, as everyone knows, single handedly gave way to the all-encompassing 'power suit'. The Le Smoking look, reinterpreted many times by Saint Laurent himself, encouraged strong shouldered blouses and jackets and androgynous trousers on every working woman from the 1970's clear through the 1990's. The Jacobs Resort collection, whether referencing the 1980's or 1990's has this silhouette in mind. Jacobs, for Resort, called up the power suit (with a definite nod to French style--also relevant) as a source of inspiration and this, to us, is a coincidence that only solidifies how unforgettable and irreplaceable are both Yves Saint Laurent and Marc Jacobs to fashion.

The streetwear symbol for collaboration involves combining two names with an "x" as a signifier that two brands joined forces for a creative project. Often it is the collaborations that bring out the best from each side, highlighting the strengths of the players while creating something that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is the "x" factor of unique teams coming together to do something great. It is this spirit of collaboration that inspired us to host a photo shoot with iconic womenswear line Diane Von Furstenberg and the Coutorture community.

Thus it seems fitting that we call the Coutorture community's collaborative photoshoot with Diane Von Furstenberg DVF x Bloggers. After an agonizing process of slimming the potential list of collaborating blogs to ten (though we shot eleven as our intern Maleeha The Shoptometrist got in on the fun) we brought Shopalicious, Fops and Dandies, The Shoptometrist, See Pretty Things, Clothes-Pin, Eyeshadow Government, The Daily Obsession, SheFinds, The Fashion Bomb, The ShoeBlog, and Fashion Indie.

Ten bloggers arrived at Diane Von Furstenberg's 14th Street Meatpacking District store to discover a full crew of professional photographers, models, makeup artists, hair stylists, sales women, publicists, creative directors, and a few interactive agency types from Morpheus Media (the collaboration may have been our idea but Morpheus helped bring it to fruition) ready to help the bloggers play.

And play we did as bloggers dressed, styled, and modeled (and ate and drank) to their hearts content. Every blogger looked fabulous in the diverse number of outfits their educated fashion minds gravitated towards. It was a true testament to the project's aim, to bring the personality of the bloggers to DVF and the integrity (and, we must say, wearability) of the brand to the bloggers.

We hope you will enjoy the results and take the time to peruse the many galleries, write ups, links and Shopstyle Spreads we will be posting through out the next few days to help celebrate this phenomenal creative collaboration.

Fashion Indie likes to break the rules. They are known for just being a little bit badly behaved and reveling in it when it comes to getting their voice heard. Sometimes we want to smack Daniel Saynt upside the head but we respect their taste when it comes to bringing together rule breaking styling. Combining the Bowenia Dress in Azalea and the Diane von Furstenberg Lunalilo Jacket is pretty daring at first blush. The combination of a pink cocktail frock with a blue hoodie-like jacket is just the sort of thing an independent minded Brooklyn girl would do. The outfit is of course quintessentially DVF even if you didn't quite expect it. And of course they just had to put their model in the most expensive dress of the evening the Alika Dress in Multi which just happens to be Look 39 from their Spring runway. The pricey frocks are what any self respecting girl playing dress up gravitate towards too. There is something to be said for rule breaking after all, at least when it comes to fashion.

For More Bloggers and DVF coverage

If you're in London, take a tip from Fashion Indie and stop by the unveiling of Uniqlo's UT Gallery. Its location, Shorditch's Old Truman Brewery, is where you will be able to see some 200 portraits of their UT Project tees, styled by Nicola Formichetti and photographed by Matt Irwin (not to mention mow down on some serious outdoor burgers and fries). The portraits feature models, artists, and designers (and other brands of hipster) culled from London to New York to cyberspace. Fashion Indie's Daniel Saynt questions the artistic merit of such an exhibition, wondering whether it's truly art, or just a clever marketing scheme. These days, it's sometimes hard to tell the difference.

Community member Fashion Indie turned us onto Awareness and Consciousness today. As much as we find jersey to be somewhat played as a fabric choice, we admit to being intrigued by the line. According to Fashion Indie, Christiane Gruber studied fashion under Raf Simons, Victor & Rolf and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac at the Viennese University of Applied Arts. Having won the fashion award of the BKA, she acquired international experiences working for Haider Ackermann and A.F. Vandevorst. A&C also stands for Acccessories and Clothing which we think is rather clever. The line doesn't feel as if it has its own unique identity yet but give her a few more seasons and we can see it evolving into a flowing collection just perfect for a certain kind of fashion woman that likes her clothing body conscious yet discrete.