First, a word to all New Yorkers: if you haven’t yet visited the penthouse at the Mondrian Soho, I highly recommend you book a drinks date there, stat. It was high atop the Crosby Street hotel that designer Shaun Kearney showed his spring collection for Cynthia Steffe, taking full advantage of the spectacular view as his backdrop. With guests snapping photos of the skyscrapers gleaming in the sunset while sampling the free-flowing wine, it was quite the civilized affair.
Read more »Archive for September 2011
Posted in:
Adventures in Copyright
Adventures in Copyright
Adventures in Copyright: Nicki Minaj Wears a Blatant Copy of Young Designer Jessica Rogers’ ‘Puff Ball’ Fashion; Rogers Says She Was ‘In Tears’ Over It
By Hayley Phelan
Jessica Rogers of SomedayNewYorker work on the left. Nicki Minaj at Carolina Herrera on the right.
Earlier this week, Nicki Minaj made headlines when she sat next to a soberly-dressed Anna Wintour, wearing a rainbow, shoulder-pad-dress-concoction completely covered in neon pom-poms, at Carolina Herrera’s Spring 2012 runway show. Everyone had a good laugh, and prasied Minaj for her gusto and originality…except that, as it turns, the hip-hop singer was wearing a flagrant rip-off of another designer’s work.
Young designer Jessica Rogers, 21, of SomedayNewYorker, has been producing garments nearly identical to Minaj’s–which both the singer and Rogers refer to as “Puff Ball” style–for almost three years now. What’s more, Rogers tells us that Nicki Minaj‘s stylists had contacted her in the past about using some of her clothing–among them a Puff Ball dress–however once Rogers sent further images of her work, she never heard back from Minaj’s team. Rogers said she even followed up a month later, sending more images of her puff ball garments, eager for the prospect of working with such a big-name star.
But it seems like Nicki Minaj–or more likely, her stylist–had different plans, copying the vulnerable young designer’s work without so much as a mention. “When I saw the photos [of Minaj at Carolina Herrera] I was in tears,” Rogers said. “I’ve worked very hard to make my dream of being a fashion designer come true. I have built contacts with Teen Vogue, Gaga, Katy Perry, and Marina and the Diamonds has worn my garments. [Now,] I feel like everything has crumbled down.”
Read more »
We basically eat sleep and breathe the internet. Which means, when we’re not sitting behind our lap tops glazed over checking our RSS feeds and favorite blogs for the latest breaking fashion news, we’re scrolling through Twitter on our smart phones when we’re on the move to stay on top of fashion news and see what all of our favorite fashion personalities are up to. And since we go from fashion show to after-party to launch event–we’re on the go quite a lot of the time. So Twitter is awfully important. Right now we’re at 498,000 followers and we can’t wait to hit that half a million mark (and get to a million somewhere down the road). But how to get there?
We’re decent at Tweeting. But some fashion folks out there are pretty ace it. We’re partial to Tweet-maestro John Jannuzzi who Tweets professionally for Lucky Mag, contributes for us, and most recently, was believed to have been the wizard behind the wildly popular and sadly short-lived, @CondeElevator. So we prodded him for his top ten tips on Tweeting chic. Here’s what he had to say:
1. Social media is a conversation. Possibly the most over-used phrase of 2010 and making a move for 2011, but you have to talk to people. If you’re at a party and don’t talk to anybody, you will be forever alone…same goes for twitter. But just like at a party, you better bring something to the table or get to steppin’.
2. Networking is key. If you’re on other platforms like tumblr, Facebook, flickr, catladies.gov, or you know, anything, connect it to twitter. But just remember, not everything you post on twitter should go to Facebook and vice versa.
3. Hashtags are your friends. But you should have fun with them too. During fashion week, always use #nyfw, #lfw, etc. but throw in some randoms for shits and giggles such as, #PradaCats.
4. RT, don’t cut and paste. If you steal somebody’s tweet and don’t retweet them, it’s going to be obvious. We all know you’re not getting the same access as WWD, Vogue or Grazia.
5. It’s twitter, not e-mail. Show season is coming up and let’s get one thing straight. Your number of twitter followers is by no means credentials to request a seat at any show. Furthermore, if you are going to request a seat, do not tweet to a PR firm…sometimes you need more than 140 characters.
Read more »
Posted in:
Fashion Week
Fashion Week
New Show Reviews and Galleries! Betsey Johnson, Creatures of the Wind and Zero + Maria Cornejo
By Dhani Mau
Happy second-to-last day of fashion week! A new batch of fabulous reviews and galleries are up for your perusal. We have the Nicki Minaj-appropriate collection by Betsey Johnson; up-and-comers Creatures of the Wind give us a trippy and promising third collection, and Mario Cornejo does easy summer elegance. Enjoy all that and more on our fashion week page!
Is Missoni for Target the most in demand thing ever? As you may have heard, the highly anticipated Missoni for Target collection went on sale yesterday online and in stores. While Target’s brick and mortar locations seem to still be in one piece, the same cannot be said for Target.com, which crashed within a couple hours of becoming available, meaning even Target was unprepared for our Missoni for Target hunger.
Target told the Times, in a piece published this morning, that the demand was “unprecedented” and higher than Black Friday, you know, the biggest shopping day of the year. The Times hints that the crash may have had something to do with the fact that Target separated from Amazon’s ecommerce, but Target says it was due solely to the demand for the products, which we can believe. Shoppers even got creative by ordering over the phone and using Target’s mobile site. Desperate times!
Read more »
Posted in:
Reviews
Reviews
Betsey Johnson Spring 2012: Lots of T & A
Reasons why Nicki Minaj might’ve felt more at home at Betsey Johnson yesterday than she did at Carolina Herrera:
- Her seatmate, the fabulously unconventional Lynn Yaeger (instead of buttoned-up Anna Wintour).
- Her blue afro, sure to get the stamp of approval from Johnson, who stocked the gift bags with scented fuchsia hair extensions.
- Her song “Fly”, which played as the opening music, and drew a humble laugh from the singer.
- And, of course, the clothes. If there’s a designer for Minaj other than, say, The Blonds, it’s Betsey Johnson. Last night, the hip-hop star’s outrageous rainbow ensemble helped her stand out from the audience, but the models? Not so much. Which is kinda great, because as much as we love surprising celebrity show choices, it’s also nice to see fashion week pairings that just make sense.
Maria Cornejo has managed the difficult feat of appealing to uptown and downtown ladies alike, not to mention a very high profile FLOTUS. Her dresses are easy yet never sloppy, and manage to look luxe yet casual at the same time. Always draped perfectly, Cornejo loves to play with structure and fluidity, and her spring collection was a vision.
Cornejo’s inspiration was urban structure and her prints are pulled from photos she took at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris. A Bolivian devil, an African headdress, and even a workman setting up an exhibit became gorgeous, exuberant prints. In the show notes Cornejo described the proportions as “dorky and androgynous.” Maybe, but they were the coolest dorks we’ve ever seen.
Read more »
Only Olivier Theyskens could take a brand like Theory–a bit dusty, a bit conventional–and turn it into the most sought-after label for the downtown cool girl. And his Spring 2012 collection certainly served to reiterate that point–and win over any late-comers.
Showcased at art gallery 548 Center, in a room lined with tin foil, the collection was the perfect mix of wearable, cool staples–like a perfectly-fit basic knit tank–and more fashion-forward, directional pieces like a pair of iridescent green-and-gold pants. Speaking of pants, this season it was all about slouchy swagger: Waistbands sagged below the hip, while models tucked their hands into deep pockets. Miriam Zittel, a member of Theyskens‘ design team, told us that the idea for the new pant shape was inspired by Olivier himself. “That’s how he wears his pants!” she said. “Slouchy, and with his butt hanging out kind of. You know, it’s how cool people wear their pants.” She points to the fabric above the waistband and explains, “See this is his underwear.”
Read more »
Posted in:
Reviews
Reviews
Rodarte Spring 2012: Starry Starry Night
Rodarte‘s Mulleavy sisters are nothing if not dreamers–and for their spring 2012 collection they got lost in Van Gogh’s dream world. Dresses with the post-Impressionist painter’s sunflowers and swirly stars from his starry nights floated down the runway.
The stars were watching the runway as well: Elle and Dakota Fanning, Beyonce and Solange Knowles, and Taylor Swift were there in the front row. Not too shabby. To counter the mainstream stars and the heaps of praise and attention Rodarte has received, the sisters’ chose a reference point that speaks to the heart of the creative person. Van Gogh—a mentally unbalanced genius who died alone, impoverished, unrecognized in his time—is a model for struggling artist, the outsider, he whose passion overcomes every other notion of his being, including his own physical body (he cut off his own ear; he shot himself in the chest).
The sisters Mulleavy will have people talking with this collection. And if the response is more shock than awe, the intelligence and originality in this effort should subdue any such moaning.
Read more »
Creatures of the Wind designers Shane Gabier and Chris Peters presented a spring collection yesterday that showed versatility, bravery and a strong sense of color. You don’t get a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nomination after only two collections without true talent, a requirement to pull off a collection like this. There was fluorescent pink under teal [...]
Read more »
In today’s Fashion Week Mad Lib, Phil Oh of Street Peeper dishes on how he survives not fashion week, but a whole fashion month. (Hint: It’s the coconut smoothies!)
Posted in:
Beauty
Beauty
Behind the Scenes with MAC: How a Product Goes from a Model’s Face to Yours, Plus We Get the Scoop on Never-Before-Seen New Spring Launches
MAC is a powerhouse cosmetics brand backstage at fashion shows–they currently participate in 23 global Fashion Weeks and have provided the makeup looks at some 850 shows worldwide–200 of those are in the Big Four fashion capitols. The brand also incites a lot of lust in makeup junkies because of the rich pigments, high-wattage ambassadors (Lady Gaga! NIcki Minaj!), and killer collaborations. (We were begging–nay, pleading–for more information about the Gareth Pugh and Daphne Guinness collabs launching in early winter, only to be teased with, “They will blow you away!” Duh.)
We had the chance to to do a Q and A with Gordon Espinet and Jennifer Balbier, two senior VPs at MAC, and to hang around backstage with their makeup artists at the Alexander Wang, Jason Wu, and Altuzarra shows. What we learned is that being a brand like MAC is a bit of art and science.
Read more »Most Read
- 1
Six-Month-Old Harper Beckham Already Has a Blog Dedicated to Her Style - 2
Victoria's Secret Launches a High End Line: See the Full Collection - 3
Now Boarding: A First Look at Chanel's Haute Couture Show on a Jumbo Jet - 4
Effie Trinket Wears Alexander McQueen in the Hunger Games, Plus More Fashion and Beauty Reveals - 5
Alessandra Ambrosio Walks the Runway 5 Months Pregnant for Colcci
- 1
Copyright © 2012 Breaking Media, LLC. All rights reserved.
Registration or use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
