NY Fashion Week S/2011 RTW - Badgley Mischka

Badgley Mischka's spring 2011 ready-to-wear collection was a breath of fresh air for me Tuesday, September 14, 2010. I was becoming a little disheartened that some of the top designers of the day lost the 'season' in efforts to "push the envelope" on their creativity. I admire when a designer, or in this case a design duo, relies on simplicity for a season that requires it. Breathtakingly elegant is how I describe the Badgley Mischka spring 2011 RTW collection.

Badgley Mischka's Mischievous Inspiration

Inspired by the 1988 film "White Mischief," the collection pairs Mark Badgley's and James Mischka's trademarked evening glamour with the sportier feel of their Mark + James line. The collection does adhere to the decadence of the life of the characters from "White Mischief" but with a lighter hand. Delicate appliqué and crystal embellishments help to temper some of the bold seductive see-through pieces that call back to the film's debauchery of the British upper-crust in 1940's Kenya.

An Easy Spring to Summer Transition from Badgley Mischka

I am enamored with the transition from the delicacy of early to mid-spring into summer the collection offered. The pale, muted sea mist palette that permeated the start of the collection easily transitioned to stark whites, golden tones and stronger colors such as melon (a standard summer color). Badgley Mischka made use of the flirty melon hue by toning it down for a stunning evening gown featuring a lightly beaded bodice.

You can view slides of the Badgley Mischka spring 2011 ready-to-wear collection either on Vogue Magazine's Style.com or on the Women's Wear Daily website. For those of you on Facebook, take advantage of the 'Like' feature on each slide on Style.com to show which pieces grabbed your attention (in a good way). On Women's Wear Daily, you can even comment on the collection using your Facebook account. Of course, the Badgley Mischka collection was a hit for me. Let Associated Content from Yahoo! know if this collection was a hit or miss for you in the comment section below.