PreFall 2015: Milly

Milly, the iconic American brand founded by designer Michelle Smith and her husband, Andrew Oshrin, in New York, is well known across the jet set worshippers of Bergdorf's, Neimans and Saks (and of course, Holts in Canada). It's well known primarily for its broad use of bold, custom made fabric and prints on elegant lines perfect for a tea party in the Hamptons. It's also known for the tremendous quality of goods that come from Smith's fashion lineage working at the iconic French design houses of Hermes, Louis Vuitton and Dior Haute Couture - where she apprenticed and learned her French atelier techniques.

What really stands out in this collection is the more minimal use of color but it still has the signature tailoring of its structured dresses that is Michelle Smith's trademark. The collection is primarily black and white with purposeful hits of cobalt blue that lend a striking and welcomed contrast. There's a gorgeous strapless watercolor graphic on one of her gowns that yields a lovely canvas of color along with a fun cobalt blue graphic application on another strapless dress that is paired with a laser cut blue jacket. While not quite sombre in personality with Milly's marginal use of color, it does lend a more serious tone to Smith's design direction for the brand. And that's not a bad thing.