Designers Who Took Their Fall 2012 Inspirations Really, Really Literally

3:30 PM, March 8 2012

By Natalie Matthews

You could make a drinking game out of the stock inspirations that fashion designers seem to love so very much ("the modern woman", "darkness and light", "texture"). It all sort of gives me a headache. Which isn't to say that some of my favorite designers haven't created incredible collections attributed to predictable muses like "urban life" and "color." They have.

But I appreciate a super niche, oddly-conceived idea, too— which is exactly what's behind the designers' fall 2012 collections below, and their really, really literal translations of a particular notion, place, product. Click through to see how some surprising inspirations were reinterpreted for the runway.