For her Fall 2012 collection, Monika Chiang delivered luxury. Not an opulent luxury, but a luscious extravagance comprised of the most buttery of leathers, plushest of sherling and mink, and softest of wools. Precision tailoring and an attention to the smallest details - a leather collar on a silk blouse, oversize exposed zippers on a sharp wool coat and fitted leather jacket with sherling sleeves - took the collection from strictly uptown into uptown-girl-goes-rock-n-roll territory. Perfect for a collection in which the designer was inspired by "the jolt to the senses experienced when seemingly contradictory elements combine in unexpected ways."
This combination of contradictions and aforementioned extravagance is evident in a supple leather turtleneck bodysuit paired with expertly cut berry wide-leg trousers, a navy bomber with lush sherling at the shoulders, and a leather mermaid maxi skirt slit to the upper thigh and toughened up with an oversize gold zipper. An array of snug leather leggings, including a pair with suede side panels, provided a simple but sexy balance to the larger-than-life outerwear.
Color was kept to black, with pops of grape, army green, and wine appearing in a striped boat neck tee, structured hand bags, and opera length leather two-tone gloves. Mink equestrian hats (!) and sky-high platform stilettos were the finishing touches, as well as spiked and chain-fringed minaudieres in soft watercolored and exotic stamped leather. Ladies with a taste for decadence and a downtown lifestyle will have will have a hard time resisting this collection.