Article and images excerpted from stylebubble.typepad.com

I like to click on Couture Lab from time to time while I pretend I'm in the mindset that I can drop £5K on an item of clothing (it's a whole other level of dream-shopping from the likes of Net a Porter....) and Maurizio Galante is a name that I frequently hover over.  Jackets, wraps and cover-ups are not a purely functional item for Galante and he proves it with the excessive accordion and pleating effects. 

This picture from Foto Decadent from Stiletto magazine also stuns me with it's mille feuille of pink layers of organza that is supposed to be a cape.  Now considered a regular on the Paris Haute Couture week schedule, Galante is promoting a fashion as a laborious craft that doesn't necessarily need to be tagged with a Parisian fashion house. 

The S/S08 collection, which he presented in January, consists of many an example of those extroverted pieces of outerwear that I'm now making a life mission to obtain, or at least aspire to, with my general approach to outerwear which in the past has erred more towards functionality than beauty.   

The dog-eared grey peacoat therefore needs to be given a heave-ho to make way for jackets that could be hung up on a wall as an art installation.  These are the sort of empowering exterior garments or 'shells' that I'd love to just try on for a few minutes...