Archive for September 2011

Reviews

Rebecca Taylor Spring 2012: Piecing It Together

Rebecca Taylor is nothing if not a girl’s girl, and she certainly knows how to please the ruffle-loving crowd. Exhibit A? Clad in appropriately embellished numbers, Louise Roe, Jordana Brewster, Ashley Tisdale, and (shocker!) Sophia Bush all sat front-row.

Still, the designer opted for a more eccentric, even slightly subversive–for her, mind you–direction this particular season. Rather than being worn traditionally as looped necklaces, for instance, long strands of pearls finished with a single colorful tassel were slung cross-body like a fancypants sash. I, for one, dug the look, and may even have to rock my favorite pearls in similar form sometime soon. Snakeskin-patterned leather popped up, too–here as a peplum apron top, there as a cropped cardi-jacket, and it all looked nicely finished. Continuing their winning streak after being declared the embellishment du jour at Prada’s fall show, champagne-colored paillettes appeared on tons of knit separates. They looked particularly cool on the open-weave cross-back tanks that showed a flash of skin in back–risqué, Rebecca!

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  • Elana Fishman
  • Saturday, Sep 10, 2011 / 5:18 PM
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Reviews

Costello Tagliapietra Spring 2012: Lighter Than Air(Dye)

It would be tough indeed to find a male design duo more appealing than Jeffrey Costello and Robert Tagliapietra. In addition to cutting killer draped dresses season after season, their uniform–plaid, suspenders, and those signature grizzled beards–make them the original cuddly hipsters of the fashion world. But back to those dresses!

Whether their frocks are cowl- or halter-necked, wrapped or belted, the guys consistently resist the urge to incorporate newfangled cuts or daring body-con. This was no different for spring ’12, but amongst their usual bold solids, Costello and Tagliapietra worked in a number of gorgeous digital-print numbers too. “We took photos of flowers, put them on the computer and layered and layered them,” Costello said. “That’s how the prints came out and informed the collection.” As for the palate–forest green, grey-blue, dusty rose-colored prints–Tagliapietra told us “the colors don’t wear you, they emphasize your personality.” Simon Doonan agrees. “I thought the colors were enormously sophisticated,” he said. “They have an unusual juxtaposition of color.”

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  • Elana Fishman with Amanda Enowitz
  • Saturday, Sep 10, 2011 / 5:11 PM
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Fashion Week

Nicki Minaj on How She Gets Dressed: ‘I Don’t Give a Damn’

Nicki Minaj was the front row star at Prabal Gurung today (more on that later–it was amazing) and she owned that front row in a way that only a megawatt star (or really, just Nicki Minaj) can. If you thought she couldn’t out-do that crazypants outfit she wore to the VMAs, think again.

At Gurung’s show she wore her hair big and curly and pink with a bleach blond fringe and a ginormous pink bow. As for the clothes? A half-pink-half-blue knotted in the front bikini-ish leotard top was paired with a tiered tulle ’80s miniskirt over crazy colorful collage-y tights. She topped of her look with a hot pink oversized pretzel around her neck.

So we had to ask her, what was she wearing and how on earth does she put it all together?

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Reviews

Rag & Bone Spring 2012: ’70s Surfer California Cool Girls

Rag & Bone is always cool, and their spring 2012 collection was no exception. See: a soundtrack created specially for the show by Thom Yorke; a runway that actually rose before the first model walked out to become a ceiling of lightbulbs; an A-list model casting that included Arizona Muse, Karmen Pedaru and Joan Smalls; a front row that included Dwyane Wade (sitting next to Anna Wintour) La La Vasquez with hubby Carmelo Anthony, and Mary J. Blige; and quirky ’70s California surfer inspired clothes from designers David Neville and Marcus Wainwright in cobalt, orange sherbet and lemon yellow, layered to perfection.

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Reviews

Rag & Bone Spring 2012: ’70s Surfer California Cool Girls

Rag & Bone is always cool, and their spring 2012 collection was no exception. See: a soundtrack created specially for the show by Thom Yorke; a runway that actually rose before the first model walked out to become a ceiling of lightbulbs; an A-list model casting that included Arizona Muse, Karmen Pedaru and Joan Smalls; [...]

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Fashion News Roundup

Fashion News Roundup: Karlie Kloss on Under-16 Models, Nicola Formichetti’s Interactive Video and Being Forced to Wear Louboutins by Anna Wintour

Making Kenzo New Again: New Kenzo creative directors Humberto Leon and Carol Lim discuss further details about their Kenzo revamp–including repositioning as “top contemporary,” bringing their retail knowledge, and starting from scratch from digital. {WWD}

Karlie on Underage Models: Karlie Kloss, backstage at Jason Wu, talks about feeling old at 19 and starting out at 15, and shares her thoughts on under-16 models. {The Cut}

Anna Wintour’s Shoe Influence: Florence and the Machine guitarist Rob Ackroyd once had dinner with Anna Wintour, which resulted in him being forced to wear a pair of Louboutins (men’s ones, obviously) to the Met Ball that he would not have worn otherwise. {Vogue UK}

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Fashion Shows

Rachel Antonoff Spring 2012: Sweetly Spooky

Rachel Antonoff’s quirky-cool presentations are always a refreshing respite from the sometimes monotonous drone of Fashion Week–In a week where shows and presentations often follow the same formula, Antonoff’s are completely different, unusual and, best of all, pretty fun.

This year, Antonoff took her presentation to darker levels than ever before, looking to unusual sources for inspiration: “It’s sort of Minnie-Mouse-meets-Wednesday-Addams,” she told us. “But for the set we obviously went more Wednesday Addams.” The set, designed by Aux Armes in collaboration with Antonoff, was made to look like the inside of a black and white cartoon, no doubt inspired by the original Addams Family show, complete with spooky tombstones and gothic looking furniture. The models’ slightly undone braids, “a modern take on Wednesday,” Antonoff said, completed the effect–while pal Tennessee Thomas’ tunes made sure the presentation kept a modern flavor.

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Events

Surface to Air Party: Ziggy from The Wire Hits the Fashion Week Scene

As the night wore on (and a monsoon raged outside), Surface to Air revelers made their way from the store’s new flagship to the late-90s staple B Bar on Bowery. By the time we got there, we were soaked to the bone, but somehow all the lovelies and trendsters miraculously managed to stay fresh and dry through their transit. Another 90s reference of the night–lots of guys toting bulky backpacks, which got to be kind of a bitch navigation-wise as the bar got crowded.

We spotted Surface to Air co-founder Jérémie Rozan schmoozing with his party people, plus DJ/fashion girl Mia Moretti, Genevieve Jones, and Emily Weiss (who did a drive-by for some champers and photo ops), editor of the Fashionista-awarded “Best Fashion-y Beauty Blog” Into the Gloss. Kid Cudi himself stopped by later, along with Chromeo, who performed for the pumped up crowd.

On our way out, to our pleasant surprise, we bumped into James “PJ” Ransone. Who, you ask? Well, hipster subway commuters may recognize as the denim-clad guy in those Opening Ceremony x Levi’s ads, but fans of The Wire know him as tragic, trigger-happy longshoreman Ziggy Sobotka.

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  • Fawnia Soo Hoo
  • Saturday, Sep 10, 2011 / 1:30 PM
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Fashion Week

New Show Reviews and Galleries! Peter Som, Rachel Antonoff and Wes Gordon

By Elysia Mann Saturday, Sep 10, 2011 / 1:05 PM

Peter Som, Rachel Antonoff, Wes Gordon

Check out the graphic floral prints at Peter Som, sweet shapes and sheers at Rachel Antonoff and Kate Middleton-esque dresses Wes Gordon over on our fashion week page. Read more »

Fashion Shows

Project Runway Finale Spring 2012 : Um, What’s the Theme?

Do people still say “hot mess” anymore? If not, it should be resurrected for the purposes of reviewing the Project Runway season nine finale show I saw yesterday. But the collections are not really why one attends Project Runway shows, is it? Of course not…it’s for seeing Michael Kors, and all the random celebs who show up.

This year delivered Jennifer Love Hewitt, wearing an unfortunate orange bandage dress, and Andie MacDowell, looking rather radiant and sure of herself. It’s always fun to see who they dig up as a guest judge, with Jessica Simpson–clothing line doyenne and worst-dressed list inhabitant–doing the honors last year. This year they went with an actual designer, the amazonian L’Wren Scott, who makes me want to wear even higher heels. And then there was Heidi, who was completely stunning in a sparkly, backless black jumpsuit.

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Fashion Shows

Jason Wu Spring 2012: Pop Art, Peplum, and Pink

Jason Wu likes a little bit of juxtaposition in his collections, mixing chic glamor with very subtle elements of subversion. This season it’s a print collaboration with a street artist, mixed with peplum and haute couture shapes. Throw in some Pop Art, neon, and chiffon windbreakers and you’ve got Wu’s vision of spring 2012.

It’s a vision that worked. The prints, conceived in collaboration with the artist KAWS–who’s best known for warping street advertisements and beloved cartoon characters–did a subtle cartoon-y hand print behind a more classic Wu petal print. This print appeared on pants, blouses, and dresses. Dresses, as befits a Wu lady, were generally belted with fuller skirts to the knee. After a few black and grey looks, the clouds parted and out came the big gun color, continuing the neon theme he hinted at in his resort collection.

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Fashion Week

Peter Som Spring 2012: Big Florals and Bold Colors

After spending the morning with Peter Som a few days before his spring show, we couldn’t wait to see the strong, bright—but not overly feminine—floral prints take shape on the runway. Although we knew what to expect, we were still curious to hear Tommy Hilfiger’s predictions before the show began. “Fun and lux,” the designer told us. Clearly, Hilfiger knows his consultant well. We couldn’t have said it better ourselves.

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  • Amanda Enowitz
  • Saturday, Sep 10, 2011 / 1:23 AM
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