Proenza Schouler, AW11, New York.

There are many different design elements at play in the Autumn-Winter 2011 collection from Proenza Schouler. There are geometric patterns, unusual colours, velvets, complicated cut outs, detailed accessories, and complex knitwear pieces.

For many other designers, on paper this would have sounded like too much, but for designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCullogh, when the elements are all about serving the same concept it somehow manages to work. And work incredibly successfully.

The end result is that once you get past the enjoyment of the colours and accessories, you are able to appreciate the interesting pattern making that has been used to create garments that spiral around the body. Once you can see the diagonal lines at work, they seem to suddenly appear in every garment in one form or another.

Part of the challenge in working with fabrics at these angles is to retain a nice seamline, even when fabrics are used on the bias. Care must be taken so that seamlines at these angles do not stretch and pucker creating unflattering fit problems and making the garments look altogether unprofessional. At times this may mean reinforcing the fabric with a line of fusing or stay stitching first, before attaching to the adjoining panel.

Images from Vogue.co.uk»