Spring/Summer 2010 Trend Alert: Leather??!!

Lots of COWS.....
Draped Capelet: Celine: Designer Phoebe Philo shows leather (her debut collection for Celine)

Yes, we may be in the beginnings of Fall and Winter 2009 when it comes to the actual season but it is all about Spring/Summer 2010 in terms of what designers are showing at the recent NY, Milan and Paris Fashion Weeks (and LA Fashion Week coming soon!).
Valentino: Designers Maria Grazia Chiuri and Pier Paolo Piccioli show leather and suede on Chanel Iman

After looking at most of the recent collections, something kept coming up: Leather. Say what? Yes, you read right! It's all about leather for Spring/Summer next year. Go figure. I'm sure it's soft and supple as silk but leather? For Spring? Asymmetrical Calf: Nicolas Ghesquiere treats leather like silk at Balenciaga

Well, if it is up to the top designers of the world, and you've got the thousands of dollars for it, you will be expected to be "working the leather". All the top designers--from YSL's Stefano Pilati to Nicolas Ghesquiere at Balenciaga to Christopher Decarnin at Balmain and the "bad boy" of fashion, Alexander McQueen--used leather as one of the main fabrics in their collections. Le Traditionel: Stefano Pilati shows black leather at YSL

They used it in various colors--from traditional black to lavender to grey and anything in between. The "new" factor is the "draped" silhouette we saw more and more from the collections. Love Is A Battlefield: Christopher Decarnin's black leather Warrior Princess at Balmain

But there was still plenty of the hard-edged looks people are more accustomed to seeing in this fabric. Very Fall---do designers know something the Weather Channel does not, in regards to the temperatures for next year?
Working the Leatha': Amanda Fields in NIKOLAKI Spring/Summer 2009

I suppose here at NIKOLAKI we were ahead of the curve because last Spring/Summer 2009 we also used leather in our collection. We utilized the leather more as accent pieces and combined it with draped silk jersey, but this season the designers have taken it to a whole new level!

Will you be wearing leather next Spring/Summer 2010?