Women for women

There's change in the air. Against the odds women are finding their voices. The current President (I won't write his name here) tells us it's a frightening time for young men while an alleged sexual preditor/Frat-boy is very likely to sworn in to hold one of the most powerful legal seats in the US for the rest of his life (and he's young).

And how does all this shake down to what we wear? I looked at the latest Celine collection designed by Hedi Slimane and it was very Hedi Slimane - in that it was designed for anorexic 17 year olds. It was definitely andrgynous which is officially "A Thing" but it took me back to the mid-2000s when he did it the first time around at Dior. You may remember that until last season Pheobe Philo was the designer at Celine where she lead it to become known as the "thinking woman's" brand.

This made me think about where women older than 30 might now look for their clothes and it appeared on the screen, the opening dress from Givenchy - not a label I have really given much attention to as in recent seasons as, while it was fabulous, slightly macabre and ornate under the helm of Riccardo Tisci it has never been one of those brands that I related to.

But this collection by Clare Waight Keller, was inspired by a Swiss writer called Annemarie Schwarzenbach who lived about 100 years ago and who prefered to dress in mens clothes, and it was killer.

Waight Keller clearly thought about the woman who wore those clothes and about the women who will wear these clothes and no doubt considered her own life in that process. The result was a sharply tailored and highly feminine collection which showed strength through its simplicity. It was an assured collection for the woman who is unapologetically in contol of her life and proud of it.