IN MY DREAMS YOU WALK DRIPPING FROM A SEA-JOURNEY ON THE HIGHWAY ACROSS AMERICA IN TEARS TO THE DOOR OF MY COTTAGE IN THE WESTERN NIGHT

I'm not the most buttoned down person in the world, so at first it was a struggle for me to relate to the super-coiffed, slickly manicured looks from Jasper Garvida AW11. The tailoring looked too heavy, the cutouts and thigh-high slits dated, and the hardware and knotted accents seemed like they belonged on a cabinet, or wrapped around my great aunt's winter curtains. I sat there grumbling to myself, "Scarlett O'Hara only wore curtains because of the WAR, today we have more CHOICES..."

Then he started in with the graphic prints and keyhole cutouts... and I pretty much shut up.

And as for dowdy embellishments, LOOK AT THIS KEY BELT! I MEAN LOOK AT IT. I can't comment because my mouth is full of humble pie/crow.

So, I found some things to love. The way Jasper worked with the ligher fabrics REALLY worked to me, I suppose because a silk or a light jersey just can't sustain heavy accents and willy nilly cutouts that looked like some 10 year old's construction papered art project. Anyhow, by the end, he really got his point across. And won a cynic over.

[This post's title is the last stanza of HOWL by Allen Ginsberg]
[All photos by Rosie Allt, www.rosieallt.com]