Sometimes I really wish I was a Hamptons girl. Not for the scene, or especially the concept of having to dress up to pick up some groceries at Citarella. But for the occasional event that I wish I was attending on some summer weekend, like this one.
I’m occasionally found in Montauk (which I so don’t consider the Hamptons despite this summer’s attempts to make it seem otherwise) and if I was on Saturday I would so be making the drive to East to meet one Christy Turlington, who I professed my undying love for just the other day.
The thing is…you can live the dream for me, as I maneuver the weekend crowds in Park Slope. The supermodel is co-hosting an event with Temperley London called Shop for CARE on Saturday, to help equip women around the world with the tools they need to get above the poverty line.
There will be a silent auction of one-of-a-kind and vintage Temperley gowns and proceeds from the week’s sales at the store will also go to the cause.
Just in case you need one more reason to want to escape to the Hamptons every single rainy weekend, Temperley London’s opening up a pop up shop.
The shop, in East Hampton, is a miniature replica of their New York, London and LA stores and will house Cruise 08, SS09, and Pre-Fall 09 as well as a few pieces from their Black Label collection and accessories.
To celebrate the opening, and because everything kind of comes with something these days, every 50th shopper will receive a $250 gift card to the shop, which means you have to use it before it closes in December.
So if you’re still looking for the perfect dress to wear to all your summer weddings, go east.
This time last year she had a bash of a runway show in the big tent; last season, a more intimate show in London and today a presentation and the above video present her Fall 09 collection.
Temperley according to Alice:
The mood — “Everything needed to be special. It’s really about key things with multiple uses, pieces that function, easier silhouettes. But I wanted to get tough, too. “
The inspiration — “We called the collection ‘Empress of the Orient.” It’s really inspired by Beardsley and Poiret. I want it to be a celebration of the clothes.”
The presentation — “I’m so relieved to not cast, not deal with the models or the politics of seating and all that. It’s just not the most creative way to show your collection. Everyone’s traveling, and so busy, you have the press, the buyers, the customers and now everyone can see it all at once. And see the clothes move and all know what’s happening at the same time in this really creative way.”
Alice Temperley’s the latest designer to cancel her Fall 09 runway show and the first outside of New York.
The British designer, who just returned to London Fashion Week after years in New York, has been planning this for over a year.
She, along with various directors, artists and photographers, will stage a series of installations in New York, London and Paris in collaboration with MILK Studios and Starworks. They’ll be half digital, half live and distributed to the media and customers just as soon as editors and buyers get a peek. The concept debuts February 18th during New York Fashion Week.
“The four seasonal installations will allow us to communicate our brand message and aesthetic to a larger international audience while supporting both economic and environmental challenges,” says Lars, Alice’s husband and the company’s CEO.
He’s right - each season the idea of sending ten editors and five buyers from the same magazine or store all over the world for a month sounds more and more antiquated and becomes less and less necessary.
With our love divided equally between the internet and trips to Paris, it’s hard to say just which side we’re on.
We hope you can take an extra long lunch break today.
Start at the bottom on Walker Street for Proenza Schouler Fall 08 samples starting at $85. From there, swing by the Temperley sale on Broome and grab this season’s merchandise for 60% below retail. Don’t forget to make a pit stop at the Ksubi store where even their latest shipment is 40% off.
Then you can hop in a cab to the West Village and grab a handful of severely marked down Rag & Bone for both you and any deserving guy in your life, or the other way around if you’re a boy reading this. Maybe pop your head into Scoop - since they’ve marked down their sale racks - on your way to the Lutz & Patmos sample sale where you’ll snag cashmere for 80% off.
Jump on the subway and head uptown because Bergdorf Goodman just marked their designer collections down 75% in store.
By the end you might have one of everything for the retail price of a single Lutz sweater.
WWD just announced that Temperley has designed a little apple purse made of napa leather and metallic python, of which only 25 were produced. They’re hoping it creates a bit of buzz for holiday.
Coincidence? Or does Temperley think their customers don’t shop at Hermes, therefore will never know their $1,000 purse is actually somebody else’s cute idea?
To be perfectly honest, the thought of runways kind of makes me nauseous.
I’ve spent the past four days perfectly Fashion Week free - but I can’t get sheer pants out of my head.
Out of all the transparent whatevers this season - dresses, tops, head gear, etc. - barely-there pants might be the thing that kills the trend dead in its tracks, or they might be the one thing we’re still semi-interested since everything on the racks requires specific underpinnings anyway.
But you can’t just throw a slip underneath, or a cardigan on top, and call it a day. Do you wear boy-shorts like at Erin Fetherston? A bodysuit a la Ali Michael at Paul Smith? Nude Hanky Pankys from Temperley?
I’m not sure what Angela Lindvall wore under her jumpsuit at Stella, but I do remember thinking how strange it was that the jumpsuit started out solid on top and became sheer on the bottom.
So we want to know, if you could wear sheer pants without looking like Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie, would you?
Maybe it’s the jet lag or maybe it’s the freedom of being in a different country, but the truth is, I really didn’t think there would be a show more over the top, read - worse than - Erin Fetherston.
Well, Alice Temperley, you’ve got her beat.
You were, at least, smart enough to put one of the worst dresses on the best models - see Jourdan Dunn. But you weren’t smart enough to realize that ruffles, studs, bows, butterflies, feathers and beads probably don’t all belong in one look.
Did you mean to have the front row whispering about how your usually made-for-women clothes are perfect for Taylor Momsen’s next event?
With the exception of Iekeliene’s exceptionally frothy dress and the Charlotte Olympia shoes, (which explain the front row presence of Alice Dellal), this collection won’t even be ripped off by Forever 21.
If you’re still looking for some seriously pretty dresses to get you through fashion week, we suggest heading to Temperley’s sample sale tomorrow.
The British designer’s girly, fancy, perfect-with-flats pieces will be marked down up to 70% off which means $1,000 dresses can be yours for $300. Or you could snag the Milla coat at left for $500 and make us a bit jealous.
The sale takes place at her Soho store (so you can browse Fall too) - 453 Broome Street at Mercer - from 8am to 8pm starting Wednesday. It continues from 11:30 to 7 through Sunday, though we’d highly suggest getting there earlier rather than later.
And that should just about perfect your sample sale wardrobe.
Sometimes, we wish we were in the army. Okay, maybe not. But we wouldn’t mind wearing the uniform. Case in point: this cute little military inspired number by Jovovich-Hawk on sale at Shopbop.
Military was all over the runway for Fall 08 and this dress fits the bill perfectly, kind of reminding us of the Temperley show, over which we obsessed. It’s simple enough that the military influence isn’t overwhelming and the brocade fabric makes it evening appropriate while it’s gold buttons and classic cut kind of make you feel you just scored a gem at some obscure vintage store.
We could totally picture it with little black flats in the summer but if we paired it with black tights and boots we’d rock it all through winter. The best part? A $500 dress at 70% off - click quick!
What wasn’t floral or plaid last week, was most definitely sheer. And actually, sometimes both.
There were transparent blouses at Ruffian, wispy dresses at Cynthia Rowley and Marc Jacobs, lacy gowns at Temperley - we finally have a use for those vintage slips we always buy.
But what about tops? What’s the perfect undergarment for a see-through blouse?
We’d love to just wear a bra underneath, though that would require the perfect one for each top. Not to mention the perfect body to show off.
And throwing a cotton tank underneath kind of kills the image - it’s like saying you can’t quite commit to wearing this really sexy blouse you had the courage to buy in the first place.
The best thing we can think of is a camisole or a super thin, super low cut tank. So does this mean we have to buy a bunch of new tops to go with our tops? Any amazing top recycling ideas we’re not aware of?
Still wishing you bought that Anna Sui dress from Spring ‘07?
There’s still hope, sort of:
It basically resurfaced on the Temperley runway yesterday, with a slightly toned-down shape and a repeat of the cross-front, stripes, and colors that everyone loved back in September of ‘06, when the dress originally debuted on Coco Rocha.
Karlie Kloss rocks the new version at right; it won’t be on sale until August, but we expect it’ll cost around $750 - more expensive than the Anna Sui version, but it does come with pockets.
I crashed the Temperley show tonight***, and about an hour later (when the show finally started), Alice Temperley crashed D & G’s party.
The flowy, threaded British designer steered her usual knit dresses and cropped jackets into something straddling S & M wear, with black police caps, tight leather pants, and black garters chafing through sheer black capes and tunics. All the models wore shimmery boots which reached past their needs and came equipped, or maybe I should say armored, with a four inch pointy heel.
It was a little bit of a shock for those of us who cling to Alice’s trademark hippie-chic outfits the way that we cling to our friends at the end of a loud party, but there was some very cool stuff:
A gold crocheted evening gown that looked like an Art Nouveau fish net and swooshed capably through the night. A really fun silk striped dress in black and white bias with red flowers on the bottom, echoed in a red and white zagged evening dress that Gwen Stefani will totally want (us, too). And she paired all her long, jewel-tone chiffon dresses with high black boots, which was kind of ’90s but also kind of awesome, especially for those of us who take the subway everywhere - even to the Whitney Ball.
When the show was over, everyone bolted - they’d just lost an hour of their Gucci Party prep, or (like me), they were starving.
***The Temperley Show was crashed with permission from their publicists. No seat holders were harmed in the making of this crashing. Do not try this at home, though if you’re near Bryant Park, we’d secretly say go for it.***
Socialites are no strangers in front of the camera, but there’s a new trend from Britain that places them behind the flashbulb too.
Earlier this week, Kate Middleton quit her job as an accessories buyer for the UK chain store Jigsaw - sources say it’s so the girlfriend of Prince William can become a fashion photographer. She’ll certainly book jobs, but we don’t know yet if her talent will match the boldface byline she’ll get in print.
Meanwhile, former Storm model Poppy Delevigne (left) has snapped everyone from Lulu Guinness to Lily Allen for her growing portfolio, which also includes fashion spreads from Nylon and Paper, and the Made in Heaven look book.
There’s also Alice Dellal, the model-turned-photographer who’s Lizzie Jagger’s best friend and Mario Testino’s god daughter, who made Tatler’s recent list of their Top Invited girls and shoots for Nylon and London’s Evening Standard.
The trend reminds us, a little bit, of Linda McCartney’s photography pursuits, and in the grand tradition of British social trends coming here - Soho House, Supper Club, Temperley house parties - it’s only a matter of time before someone on the Vogue Best Dressed list is shooting the rest of the girls for W… any takers?
Every season, Alice Temperley has an afterparty in her beautiful Soho store.
What most people don’t know is that her store is also her New York apartment, and a particularly spacious dressing room serves as the bedroom when she’s in town.
That means her store also has a nice little kitchen in the back, and a huge gorgeous bathtub - that she had flown in from Europe - in the “loo.”
Sometimes the bathtub holds ice and champagne, but last night it was bare - and so pretty, we had to take a picture.
Maybe it’s because we were yearning to re-condition our hair -
The party was strewn with Rachel Zoe, Jacquetta Wheeler, Padma Lakshmi, and a lot of hot British boys, and suddenly we were painfully aware of the frizz factor.
But then we realized there were some great pieces hidden among the oddly graphic jersey pieces.
We’ve culled our favorite four looks and featured them above, and while we’re still more excited for the Libertine collection, some of these pieces are incredibly forward - we were shocked that Target would gamble on those insane overalls, but also quite pleased.
The clothes do remind us of Alice Temperley’s last fashion show, when British Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman told us,
“The thing is, nobody looks better in Alice Temperley’s clothes than Alice herself.”
That rumor we spread about Mark Fast doing a line for Topshop? It's true. And it's in last week's Sunday Telegraph magazine which means it was true before we even said anything and we've had it in our lap since... Read More
Meet Blue Logan, if you haven't already. A couple of years ago a friend dragged the soft-spoken Brit to a show at London Fashion Week, Aquascutum he thinks, and he started to draw the models as they walked down the... Read More
Sometimes I really wish I was a Hamptons girl. Not for the scene, or especially the concept of having to dress up to pick up some groceries at Citarella. But for the occasional event that I wish I was attending on some summer weekend, like this one.
Socialites are no strangers in front of the camera, but there’s a new trend from Britain that places them behind the flashbulb too.
What could preempt us from putting Agyness Deyn on our homepage? 
Every season, 
