Ohne Titel

Influenced by 19th Century shapes, Ohne Titel designers Alexa Adams and Flora Gill took an athletic spin on Victorian style for fall 2010, toughening up Edwardian ideas and adding military details to give the collection the strong and sleek look for which the pair has become known. 

"The total idea was this sort of Victorian silhouette. We wanted to take some of the shapes and even some of the textures and modernize it in an interesting way," Adams told us backstage after the runway show. The theme was best illustrated in the graphic netting used in leggings and paneled dresses. For this Adams and Gill explained they used old world lace-making techniques on a series of meshes, then magnified the pattern to create an exaggerated lace—a look which stole the show and provided a constant theme throughout.

Overall the collection was powerful yet approachable and utterly wearable. Some of the designers' favorite looks will no doubt be flying off shelves come fall—most notably a all-mesh dress with matching mesh leggings, a black fox and shearling jacket with a black leather belt, jogging-style slouch pants, cropped leather jackets, and the leather and net booties designed with Cesare Paciotti.

Gill told us the most gratifying part of creating clothes is to see strangers on the street wearing Ohne Titel, and, with this collection, we're pretty sure she's going to have one incredible fall season.

The Ohne Titel Fall 2010 runway bravely combined textures and fabrics like mesh netting, velvet, fox hair, wools and knits — and pulled it all together into a beautiful, wearable collection. Massive leather belts at the waist, shearling moto jackets, and menswear trousers are just a few of the runway trends. Stay tuned for FabTV's exclusive interview with Ohne Titel's hot designer duo, Alexa Adams and Flora Gill!

>> Alexander Wang is experiencing quite the winning streak — he was awarded the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund of $200,000 last November, the 2009 CFDA Swarovski Womenswear winner this past June, and now he's taking home the 2009 Swiss Textiles Award, a prize of about $150,000, to go towards international development.  Wang becomes the second American designer in a row to win the Swiss Textiles Award, following after Rodarte, who were the first American winners ever last year.

The jury this year, chaired by Isabel Toledo, apparently had a tough time making a decision — Wang's fellow finalists this year were Peter Pilotto, Erdem, Thakoon, Alexis Mabille, and Ohne Titel, who will each receive a prize of approximately $6,000.

Former winners, Raf Simons, Kate Mulleavy sound off »

Anna Wintour hosted an annual event for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Wednesday night in her West Village townhouse. The ten designers gather chez Wintour to showcase fashion fund-sponsored design projects and mingle with past finalists and current CFDA members.

This year Google's Marissa Mayer was the guest of honor, as each finalist was challenged with designing pieces inspired by the Google search engine. (In 2008 and 2009 the project was sponsored by L'Oreal Paris color cosmetics.)

Designers arrived with models (Alexa Adams and Flora Gill of Ohne Titel with Dree Hemingway) and actresses (Waris Ahluwalia of House of Waris with Rose Byrne) to show off their one-of-a-kind creations. George Esquivel dressed Kemp Muhl in colorful "Google shoes" with search box back tags, and Wayne Lee designed a neoprene vest that could carry a 15 inch laptop.

The event was also attended by Vena Cava's Sophie Buhai and Lisa Mayock, Rogan Gregory, Thom Browne, Rachel Roy, Vera Wang, Patrick Robinson, and Georgina Chapman.

[WWD]

Although we mentioned the star-studded cover story, our personal favorite sitting from the November issue of Vogue, on newsstands today, is that introducing the ten 2009 CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists.

In its six years, the fashion fund has nurtured and championed young, American design talent such as Proenza Schouler, Doo-Ri Chung, Alexander Wang, Rodarte and Philip Crangi.

Today Vogue.com has interviews with each of the 2009 finalists—Sophie Theallet, House of Waris, Ohne Titel, Wayne, Esquivel Shoes, Monique Péan, Gary Graham, Spurr, Patrik Ervell, and Alabama Chanin. “We had very strong applicant pool this year, particularly among the jewelers,” said Vogue's Anna Wintour in a statement. “The ten finalists we selected are a talented, diverse group, who are building healthy independent businesses in challenging times.”

The winner, who will be paired with an industry mentor and receive a $200,000 cash prize, and two runners-up will be announced at an event on November 16 in New York.

Alexa Adams (left) and Flora Gill with artist Tauba Auerbach.

Source: Norman Jean Roy/Vogue

Flora Gill and Alexa Adams showed their spring 2010 Ohne Titel collection today in West Chelsea to thunderous applause. Recently named CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists and having won a 2009 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, this New York design team is one to watch.

The inspiration according to the show notes "from bold colors in Egyptian reliefs and sculptures" was evident in the first few looks — black and white graphic knits with bold pops of red and blue. Karlie Kloss opened the show in a stunning black and white tuxedo suit, a multicolored cropped sweater, and a lace-up neckpiece that set the tone for one of the best collections we've seen this week.

The laced-up theme carried over throughout the show, in an intricate multicolor bodysuit, black and gray knee socks and Cesare Paciotti wedges and flats. Although not nearly as hard-edged as their fall outing, Gill and Adams returned to the idea of body armor — albeit much softer — in the form of textured leggings and the aforementioned lace-up knee socks.

The second half of the collection appeared in muted gray, black and chalk — most noteworthy in a draped silk top and pant combo and a gray and black knit dress with leggings.

Towards the end of the show, the designers introduced feather details — using black and white plumes to adorn draped dresses and tops. If there is one complaint to make about the runway, it might be that it seemed to go by too quickly. We would have truly enjoyed a second encore.