Spring 2008 Preview: Isabel Toledo for Anne Klein

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Summer in the city all the way!!! Wall Street as a beachfront resort, stashing a super twisted silk dinner shirtdress in your handbag to change into after work for a date on the wooden Cyclone rollercoaster in Coney Island (where we used to live when we first got married), catching the breeze off the subway grating (a la Marilyn), picnics in the park for dinner with sandwiches and champagne.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
For me, it’s always clean and extreme. For the new Anne - especially for summer – cool, clean textures and fabrics with bold art attacks for good balance. Some great psychedelic color combos are like a shot of Vitamin C. And I’m loving super silky see-through onionskin drizzle slickers over everything from bikinis to evening dresses. It’s all very industrial glamour and organic ease at the same time. I want to dress the city girl in all the moods she craves during the summer - and make sure even if she is a Slave of New York and doesn’t get out much, she can feel like she is on a great big ocean-liner, which is what Manhattan is kind of turning in to these days.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
I love options and believe in woman doing their own thing, big time. If your legs are golden and non-stop, then the shorter the better. Sack-y dresses are great when it’s hot as hell and you want no fabric to come near you; you can just float inside a great big bubble and enjoy the breeze from below. I personally love long as it gives you freedom of movement and accentuates your body language.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
The entire world is game for my wandering eye. This season, Three Mile Island has become a summer clutch.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Me!

What trend are you loving at the moment, what trend are you over and what trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
So sorry, I can't answer these. Trends are for amateurs.

Isabel Toledo is scheduled to show her spring 2008 Anne Klein collection on Wednesday, September 12th at The Promenade in Bryant Park.

Photo of Isabel and Ruben Toledo © Karl Lagerfeld

Comments

[Autre]

Sassy answers. I'll burst due to anticipation before seeing the show, maybe I shouldn't be that enthusiastic, but I am, why not, I love fashion design. Love that the inspiration is the city (and the gritty), not some flashy extravaganza. Industrial, organic - modern is the clashing of opposites, definitely. Like the way she thinks. Summer in the city and the wandering eye.

[Ron Mwangaguhunga]

Good for you!