Former Harper's Bazaar fashion editor, Thakoon Panichgul, showed for the second time, and with his well- edited 15 pieces, proved that he is a force to reckon with. In such a short time, he has already stirred the interest of influential editors and retailers alike with sophisticated lines, precision tailoring, neutrally based and beautifully fabricated clothing, and his uncanny ability to offset elegant, ladylike designs (skirts that mainly covered the knee, bow blouses, tailored jackets) with enough sporty, modern, and youthful flourishes so that it all looks completely believable and relevant- not like the fantasy of some designer sitting in his ivory castle and dreaming up impractical creations.

Like all good fashion these days, it is all about contrasts and 'the mix': boy meets girl, day and evening, summer and winter, sporty and couture- which has marked not only the best collections shown, but is the one element needed by the customer, in order to successfully translate the runway to reality.

Thakoon admitted he was taken by the idea of weightless layering, and to that end, he added lace insets to blouses and skirts, paired a clear plastic mini pea jacket over an abstract printed top and trousers (his pants were great- fitted through the hips and often cuffed and floor sweeping)> He pushed up the sleeves of his tailored jackets 'just so' to reveal striped and plaid linings beneath; mixed dressy, antiqued gold lame pieces with unexpected items (for example, he put a gold empire waist short dress under a white wool softly tailored jacket). And in a season of amazing coats- notably trench coats- his duo were highly distinctive. The fresh faced naturally groomed young models had their hair pulled back into buns and sported elegant high heeled pumps (some with open toes). There are a lot of women- including myself- who would just love to look like this.