I had the immense pleasure of being invited to attend Irina Shabayeva's Fall/Winter 2011 runway show for last week's Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.  If you keep up with reality television, she was Project Runway's Season 6 winner.  But, regardless of any televised appearances or pop-culture fodder, Ms. Shabayeva is real designer with some serious talent.

Courtesy of Irina Shabayeva

Ms. Shabayeva's collection focused a lot on texture and shape - she heavily utilized laser-cut fabrics and mutli-layered glistening fabric.  Ms. Shabayeva's collection was also unique in that it featured Swarovski crystal embellishments heavily throughout the collection.

Swarovski embellished cocktail glamour!

The great thing about Swarovski crystals are their versatility and ability to an an infinite amount of glamour to any outfit - a lot is never too much!!  Could you just imagine how amazing the above cocktail dress would look with this hot zebra design Jimmy Crystal clutch?


Fab-u-lous!