The Russians are coming (YES PLEASE)

Having a little neck-piece obsession these days - which is funny because I have never been into stuff I can wrap around my neck other than a scarf. Truth is, I'm too much of dwarfian proportions to get away with massive adornments without looking like a petite Christmas tree.

But THEN, browsing around, I found the wonderful Russian designer Alena Akhmadullina, who, in her SS09 collection took neck pieces to a WHOLE new level. You know how editors love to tell us we should toughen up a pretty dress ("throw some biker boots there, love")? Well, Akhmadullina just showed an entirely different way to do just that. Shaped like clavicles, she paired her knitted body-armours around flimsy, floaty dresses, making it VERY rock'n'roll.

I was hooked. That is, until I saw her AW09/10 collection. Bloody hell, hair extensions never looked SO COOL. These outfits look like they could be in a Blade Runner/Neuromancer-style sort of film: sort of punk made pretty in a new way, an uniform for urban girls who need practical but contemporary, visionary, avant-garde garments. I don't know much about this lady yet other than she is from San Petersburg and shows in Paris (and that Style.com hasn't picked-up on her yet! hellow?), but, hell yeah, I'm an instant fan.