Via WWD, a photograph from Brit designer Giles Deacon’s presentation at the pre-fall 2010 Pitti W trade show outside Florence. (View full image slideshow here; subscription req’d., photo by Davide Maestri.)

Apart from the buttons and XXL paper clips used for elaborate headdresses, Deacon “also experimented with leather, molding a fitted coatdress out of bronze leather, fastened with utilitarian hardware. In another area of the installation, a model in a cropped flannel, heather-gray jacket with fur pompoms and sexy black trousers sulkingly fed plates onto a conveyor belt that carried them to a loud, smashing demise, which kept guests on their toes while heightening the festive atmosphere.”

The outlandishness is true to form, given Deacon’s alma mater is Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design, which counts avant garde designers like Alexander McQueen and Denmark’s Henrik Vibskov among its many esteemed alumni. (Stray thought: I love Vibskov’s usual flare in his appearances at the end of each show, case in point here, at about 1 minute 50 seconds; he’s playing the snare drum prior to his little jig.) — Paul Dexter