"I'm really having a 'night moment,' " Gilles Mendel said of his pre-fall collection. His core clientele—starlets readying for awards season, included—will surely be drawn to the draped gowns and elegant cocktail frocks Mendel has made his name with, this season in metallic golds and stoplight reds that almost call to mind the twinkling lights of a city after sunset. But the designer wasn't focused solely on evening; he smartly experimented in other areas by playing with fabric combinations. A cropped wool tuxedo jacket, for example, got a youthful twist with jersey insets, and the furs were not exactly your grandmother's variety: A mix of sable, muskrat, and raccoon jazzed up a standard winter topper, while a cropped multi-fur trimmed jacket with removable leather sleeves was about as hip a pelt as we've seen.
