Stella McCartney sent pants-less looks down her runway as early as her Spring 2008 collection (September of 2007, when Gaga was still just a noise babies made). She carried the look through to last spring’s line-up of pants-less suits and rompers, but this season almost every designer jumped on the bandwagon.

Charles Anastase showed a killer nude and black playsuit; Marc layered pants-less options under military jackets; Miuccia showed hotpants in Milan last night; Brian Reyes’ opening look was nothing but a white bodysuit. As if a lack of pants wasn’t enough, Alex Wang sewed sheer panels into his and Jenni Kayne added a matching leather bandeau, conservatively draped with a grandpa cardigan, of course.

But, well, you know which question remains.

(Photos and Nails by CND)

Cushnie et Ochs showed gorgeous, utterly unwearable clothes at the Chelsea Art Museum yesterday afternoon.

Their cohesive collection progressed from strong, structured pieces to soft, drapey ones very well. A number of the looks had large mesh inserts or cutouts in organic shapes, and needless to say, showed a lot of skin. We can’t even imagine the amount of double stick tape Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs had on hand to pull this off.

The best part of the whole thing was a feature present in a handful of tops and dresses - the easy, feminine draped backs and cowl necks, which were still sexy while actually being comfortable and wearable.

Alejandro Ingelmo sat in the front row and watched the models stomp by in his rock n’ roll shoes, but the real star was the diminutive Tavi, who couldn’t stop gushing over her first official fashion show.

—ALYSSA VINGAN

It’s that time, kids. The Fashion Week schedule is making its way into our lives, and we can already spot some time slot duels:

On Friday, February 13th, Cushnie et Ochs is showing at the same time (4pm) as Shipley & Halmos (which is a presentation, but you only have until 5pm to get there, so if Cushnie starts late - hah! - you’re out of luck.) Then later that day at 8pm, Form and Lorick will have to compete for pretty young things’ attendance.

Then on Tuesday the 17th, advertiser-driven Badgley Mischka will have to contend with buzz-driven Sophie Theallet at 10am, and Phillip Lim may lose some seats to Carmen Marc Valvo the next day at 3pm.

Also of note: Even though plenty of small designers are nowhere to be seen for the Fall 09 shows, Hayden-Harnett is officially on the schedule with a 6pm presentation on Thursday the 19th, and ThreeAsfour, who usually hosts a pretty heart stopping show, has switched to presentation format (Valentine’s Day at 7pm, same as Elise Overland.)

Three weeks…

Amidst all the talk of Fashion Week cutbacks for next month, there are at least two small designers we can all expect to find on the show schedule for Fall 09:

As part of their recently earned Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation awards, both Ohne Titel and Cushnie et Ochs have won $25,000 each to help support their Fashion Week shows.

It still remains to be seen whether these small designer duets will host presentations instead of shows (a recent recommendation from the CFDA to all the non-famous designers for Fall 09) but at least they’ll (probably still) be on the week’s grid - and maybe even at the same time, like an Ecco Domani showcase?

We’ll see - either way, we can now safely expect plenty of nipples. Phew.

It’s pretty evident that the 90s have made a come back - we all know about the crop tops, but now we’re seeing its big sister, the bra as top, all over the runway.

But the bra top raises a couple questions, like:

1. Is it a bra - as in, an undergarment made to wear under one’s clothes - or can it actually be considered a top? Cushnie et Ochs certainly thinks the latter, though we wonder what happens in cold rooms or in the rain.

2. Is it really ok to show not just a sliver of your midriff, like with a crop top, but the entire thing?

3. Where exactly is the line between “bra” and “bra top”? Is it in the construction / coverage / use of lace?

I’ve personally attempted this look with a structured bathing suit top, and another time with a cotton bandeau - BUT, only with high waisted pants. However, the runway’s been showing more skin than the new 90210, and, well, unless it’s hiding under a blazer, is anyone really going to have their six-pack hanging out like that? (Do regular girls even have six packs?)

So what’s the verdict: Runway or reality?

—ALEXANDRA BEN-GURION

We have to admit, when we first got our Cushnie et Ochs invitation, we were like, “Who the hell is that?” But after we did a little reading and came across endless references to them being “the next Proenza,” we knew we had to fit them in.

And we weren’t disappointed. The only truly appropriate word for the looks they showed would be “hot,” which, to be clear, is not a word we ever throw around.

In fairness, these looks are not for the faint of heart - you pretty much need to be a model, or model-sized, to pull most of them off - think skintight, sometimes neon, and so much under-boob cleavage you’re tempted to call the tops censor strips rather than clothes.

Sightings: Mickey Boardman and Lynn Yaeger giggling in the front row, Madeline from Model.Live walking her first show in New York, models getting pushed by the spaceship revolving door prop set up at the beginning of the runway (the door must have weighed a lot…) and the designers themselves, Michelle Ochs and Carly Cushnie, looking smoking as hell in their own designs even before they hit the Glass Houses runway.

The collection’s Star Trek attendant vibe kind of gave us memories of Fall 08 at FORM but Michelle and Carly managed to keep things so simple, we kind of thought we were at a Calvin Klein show circa the 90’s - but of course, it was so much hotter.