In Which Jenny Packham Kills It and Earns an A+, Spring 2011

Dear Kristin,

Donna Karen felt dated.  The crinkled silks reminded me of that bad phase we went through five years ago that, while convenient for the lazy and ironless, always looked a bit too hammered together for me.  And the antiquey, lingerie-inspired dresses looked still older (and yet still very 2005), but due to their gorgeousness, it probably doesn't matter.  They are boidoir and sexy since forever:

(This and Halston, below, from style.com)

Halston had a nice, slightly nuanced dress or two - asymmetrical float-away hems, body-conscious cape-draping for the waist - but left me fairly cold:

Perhaps because these were nuances I much preferred at William Tempest:

(From WWD.com)

I will somehow incorporate these into my day to day.  I mean it.  Yes, I love jeans.  I will still wear jeans.  But I also want this sculpted drapery in my life.  I want a discretely corseted, defined bust, and diaphanous layers that do all of the hard  work for me - revealing and concealing and shaking up a look's natural lines.  This is impressive stuff and my best unexpected acquisition thus far this fashion week (Derek Lam being less new-to-me or unexpectedly great, though that was a bit of a surprise).  Moving on:

(This and below from nymag.com)

 Monique Lhuillier had some murderous reds and a punchy, bubblegum blue to show for herself, but besides a few very notable highlights (above etc.), she felt like a poor rich man's Jenny Packham.  (Which is to say, she did a good job, but her competition was serious).  AND SPEAK OF THE DEVIL.  Jenny Packham is ready to make all of our dreams come true and we probably don't even need to sell her our soul (easy, Faust).  We will, however, have to sell all of our belongings and live with our parents and declare bankruptcy.  But when we're sleeping in our childhood beds, nightmaring about insolvency, we may also be sleeping in these:

(I HIGHLY recommend you click to enlarge)

Wrapped in this soft picture of dawn:

Because we will have nowhere to wear them but at home in bed, seeing as we'll be working three jobs just to keep ourselves out of debtor's prison.

Love,
J. Benny

P.S.  Jenny Packham really did a bang up job: