Favorite Designers

Dressing Us from the Feet Up

by Lauren Doyle on September 03, 2010 at 02:38AM

Isabel Toledo is one of the rare designers recognized as much in the art world as she is in the world of design. Her pieces are inventive and bold, but rather than being more for the runway than the real world, Toledo's designs are extremely down to earth. Because, as she says, "I dress women. I want them to be able to wear it."

And not just some women, but all women. Toledo wants to make clothes for a woman's every mood. She make what she calls icons, symbols that say so much about the mood, the time, and the woman wearing them.

This was at the forefront of her mind when she designed perhaps her most famous dress to date, the "Lemongrass" day dress and matching coat that First Lady Michelle Obama wore to her husband's inauguration in 2009. "Everyone would be wearing black, so we wanted it to stand out," Toledo says. And the mood she wanted to communicate? "Optimism."

For the fall collection, Toledo was more concerned with clean lines than the texture that usually characterizes her designs. From the chunky Mod Ghillie patent pleather lace-up, to the Sliver boot and companion tote, Toledo is definitely walking the line. Next year, though, Toledo will return to working with textures for round two. The stunning pair of heels she was wearing last Tuesday at the W on South Beach, in a rich black and white herringbone tweed, are sure to be next year's best sellers.

This year, you're bound to see women sporting her fashion-forward designs, available at populist, Payless, prices. Our favorite has got to be the red and black Companion Satchel, and the gorgeous black peep-toe heel, wrapped in a big red bow.

And she hopes they'll feel good wearing them. "I have a lot of control over the way a woman feels," she says. "If your blouse is slouchy then you will slouch. If the lines in a dress are clean then you will feel clean...I have a lot of power."

Lucky for us, she's using her powers for good.

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