Ayyix1: Marchesa Fall 2011 Collection

Victorian red carpet.

For this collection, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig took their inspiration from the iconic Miss Havisham of Great Expectations. It's a good fit for the Marchesa aesthetic, which has always tended toward extremely fussy gowns with a hint of the Victorian about them. This time, the Victorian flavor is more than a hint, as high necks, puffy shoulders, more lace than you can shake a walking stick at, and an overall sense of decaying opulence infuses the line. We're personally a bit tired of the Marchesa aesthetic and have been for a while. They're not likely to abandon their fussiness any time soon (since it's been so successful for them), but this slight turn toward a more literal deteriorating, Victorian kind of beauty works quite well. It's not really our taste, but you can bet you'll be seeing these on the red carpet in the near future.