NYFW Fall 2010 Preview: Custo Barcelona, Rebecca Taylor, Academy of Art University, Feral Childe

As the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2010 collections prepare to kick off, a number of designers have unveiled a sneak peek of what is to be expected on the runway through sketches and photos.

Spanish label Custo Barcelona, headed by designer Custo Dalmau, has been a staple of New York Fashion Week for 13 years with high-octane shows that feature dozens of wild men’s and women’s looks, bright colors, pulsating dance beats and strobe lights.  His Fall/Winter 2010 collection, titled “Bejeweled Fantasy,” promises to deliver similar energy.  “The graphics are based around dreamlike and surreal images like jewels, diamonds, lips, perfume bottles, butterflies and feathers,” Dalmau said in a statement.  “You will see a lot of faux fur and heavy knit fabrics used throughout the collection.”

A pair of cities (Paris and New York) and decades (‘70s for the former, today for the latter) inspired the latest women’s collection by New Zealand designer Rebecca Taylor.  Expect neutral tones combined with wool, cashmere and leopard prints in Taylor’s typically classic vetements.

Based in San Francisco and staging runway shows in New York City since 2005, The Academy of Art University is showcasing capsule collections from six of its students enrolled in the MFA in Fashion Design program.  The womenswear collections draw from a variety of inspirations, from Italian architecture to mathematics.

Last but not least, the design duo that is Feral Childe will show their Fall 2010 women’s collection, “The Lightning Fields,” in New York as part of the NOW Showcase from Feb. 20-22.  Emerging from drawings, the clothes are, of course, accompanied by humorous accessories; one model in the lookbook is seen carrying a large lightning bolt.  (Past collections have included stuffed crows and furry nunchakus.)

“Part of what we’re doing is…making fashion in a much more social way,” said Feral Childe co-designer Alice Wu in a past interview with Meniscus.  “It’s meant to be worn. Have a good time wearing it, and just be goofy and silly.”