There's a chapter in Anthony Bourdain's A Cook's Tour book where he's in Morocco and he gets getting promised 'something special...' by his Moroccan hosts and he keeps on getting the same old tagine dish, not to say they're not nice but Bourdain was after something special (which resulted in a whole spit roasted lamb out in the desert... culminating in him eating sheep's bollocks...nice...).  Ok, food related comparison over because what I'm really trying to say is likewise, in fashion, 'something special' is hard to come by... something REALLY special. 

I'm intrigued therefore by Valerj Pobega's work and her backstory.  Born in Alghero, Italy, her fashion creativity started at the age of three when she refused the colour inside the lines of a colouring book (I on the other hand, stuck to the lines resolutely... ergo, creativity was never going to be in my career path...).  Then moving to Rome and then Milan, she became a model and also took up making clothes for herself.  She then moved out to L.A. and decided to do something that was entirely her own, making a speciality in hand treating fabrics and revelling in really luxurious fabrics at the same time, the makings of 'something special' in itself.

Her SS09 collection takes the 1920s' fascination with all things Grecian and the period's surreal photography (Man Ray comes to mind...) and with that comes the expected curves but then they're unexpectedly mixed with a 'special' treatment of fabrics with specially dyed/hand painted effects.  Each piece is also named after a Grecian heroine which gives me a chance to reminisce about why I never did classic civilisation (or 'CLASS CIV' as it was known at Henrietta Barnett...yes, I love shouting out to my old school just en cas someone out there is also a fellow HBS-er...).

Aphrodite

Ariadne

Hera

Medea

Nausicaa