Events

Photo: WWD
Events

10 Fashion Exhibitions You Won’t Want to Miss in 2012

Given the record-breaking success of this year’s Alexander McQueen retrospective at the Met, museums would be smart to put more fashion in their halls. And if today’s piece in WWD on museums “getting fashionable” is any indication, they are. Harold Koda, curator in charge of The Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, told the trade, “Clearly the critical as well as popular success of the McQueen show suggests that fashion design has a more secure place in the precincts of an art museum.”

While any museum would be hard-pressed to recreate the magic that was “Savage Beauty,” more fashion exhibits are popping up all over the world and several big ones are already on track to debut next year.

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Housing Works Patricia Clarkson
Events

Patricia Clarkson Hosts Housing Works’ Fashion for Action, Thinks Her Parks and Recreation Character Could Use a New Hairdo

While shopping season is in full swing around New York City, there was a charitable retail therapy party raging in Chelsea last night at the annual Housing Works Fashion for Action benefit. Hosted by Thom Browne, Patricia Clarkson and Rachel Roy, the gala event benefits the Housing Works mission to end homelessness and AIDS.

In years past, the boozing and silent auction took place at the Rubin Museum of Art, while the shopping went down in the Housing Works Chelsea location across the street. But this year, organizers brought both past-times together under one roof at the Altman Building. Energized by the cause and with easy access to beverages, guests shopped majorly discounted brand new items donated by designers including Marc Jacobs, Diane Von Furstenburg (wrap dresses: check!), Tory Burch, and Black Fleece by Brooks Brothers.

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  • Fawnia Soo Hoo
  • Thursday, Nov 17, 2011 / 6:30 PM
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Events

Marisa Berenson Talks ‘Titties,’ Tom Ford and Actresses vs. Models at Her Book Launch

The idea of having a charmed life seems very far-fetched these days, but Marisa Berenson is living proof that it’s possible. Elsa Schiaparelli is Marisa’s grandmother, and Diana Vreeland was a good family friend who put Marisa in Vogue at the age of 16 (well, actually, Marisa first appeared in Vogue as a baby when her christening portrait, shot by Irving Penn, was printed in the glossy.) She went on to have a stellar career as a model, being lensed by the likes of Irving Penn, Helmut Newton, Hiro, and Richard Avedon. She eventually smashed through the model/actress barrier, with a breakout turn in Stanley Kubrick’s film Barry Lyndon. While we could go on and on about her accomplishments and career, luckily we don’t have to: Marisa has a book out now titled Marisa Berenson: A Life in Pictures (Rizzoli, 2011) which was edited by Steven Meisel. As the title suggests, it’s a pictorial retrospective, and much like Marisa herself, stunning and completely fascinating.

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Events

Here’s What The Man Repeller’s Leandra Medine Designed for Raise Cache, a Tech/Fashion Benefit Show You Can Attend!

We feel like the fashion industry has seen a lot of change this year and much of that change has taken place online. A plethora of new fashion-y tech start-ups have revolutionized the way we experience fashion, especially in the realms of e-commerce and social networking. While the west coast may get most of the credit for technological advances, the fashion industry lives here in New York, which is where over 75 tech start-ups will converge this Thursday for a fashion show benefit called, cleverly, Raise Cache.

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2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show - Runway
Events

From Gaining Weight to Liquid Diets, Which Victoria’s Secret Angel’s Pre-Show Diet and Work Out is the Craziest?

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show will be filmed today and although the models always talk about how much fun it is, we bet many of them will breathe sighs of relief once it’s all over because that means their weird, crazy diets will be over too. Those outfits are pretty unforgiving, so everyone’s been asking the VS angels what they’ve been doing to get in shape for the show and many of them are open about it.

If you thought they all did the same starving and constantly working out routine, you’d be wrong. They all have their own method (or their nutritionists and trainers do, at least). So, whose worked the best? Click through to learn their tricks.

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Events

The Evolution of the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show From 1995 to Now

The annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, which is now in its 16th year, has come a long way since the first one in 1995, which wasn’t even broadcast. The 2011 show, which will be filmed tomorrow and air on November 29, promises to be the most extravagant yet with 38 big-name models, three huge musical performances and a $12 million budget. However, did you know that they started out with a budget of only $120,000? That’s a fraction of what some of their bras cost these days.

Click through to see how the shows transformed from normal girls in a normal fashion show to the celeb-filled over-produced extravaganzas they are now, including a video of the first ever show in 1995!

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Photo: WWD
Events

The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show by the Numbers

The Victoria’s Secret fashion show is set to air November 29 (and is being shot tomorrow) and as we’ve come to expect, will be an expensive display of wings, supermodels, performances and more.

According to WWD, preparations for the event are a year-long affair. Every detail is thought out from costume inspiration (“global cultures and vintage films to Impressionist painters and looks on the ready-to-wear runways in Paris, Milan and New York”), musical guests (Kanye West, Maroon 5 and Cee Lo Green or Nicki Minaj?), model casting and, of course, designing the costumes themselves. The costumes are handcrafted by artisans under the guidance of the show’s lead creators Todd Thomas and Sophia Neophitou-Apostolou.

Click through for what all of this has come down to by the numbers, including the number of these handcrafted costumes, record number of new models, the budget for the show and more:

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Events

Lucky Shops Is Happening This Weekend: The Bargains You Can Score, What the Celebs Bought and Styling Advice From Mary Alice Stephenson

Last night’s Lucky Shops VIP shopping night was a bit of stylish mayhem in the middle of Manhattan’s Meatpacking District. I estimate there were at least a zillion people in attendance, all carrying reusable Lucky shoppers loaded with discounted designer duds and nibbling away at the most adorable miniature hors d’oeuvres I’ve ever seen. A decent smattering of celebs mingled amongst the crowd as well, also scouring the racks for deals and trying on sparkly costume jewelry.

There were two whole floors of excellent bargains, with most stalls offering 30 – 50% off of retail prices, and some even more.

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Entertainment

Zoe Saldana, Eva Longoria, and Olivia Wilde Talk about Life in the Director’s Chair at Glamour‘s ‘Reel Moments’ Premiere

LOS ANGELES–When women get behind the camera, they’re a force to be reckoned with–armed with voices to be heard and stories to tell. Over the last few years, the brazen ladies over at Glamour have championed a cause called “Reel Moments” to not only inspire more stories about women on the big screen, but to also push our favorite leading ladies (Demi Moore and Jennifer Aniston have been past participants) to take hold of the director’s chair and steer their cinematic talents behind the camera for a change.

On Monday afternoon, Glamour and Clarisonic hosted a ladies luncheon at the Soho House in LA to allow this year’s Reel Moments directors Zoe Saldana, Eva Longoria and Olivia Wilde to chat about their directorial debuts. They confessed to everything from a need to please to the shock/pleasure of not having to sit through hair and makeup.

“I’m naturally bossy, so I felt right at home. We had to move fast and think on our feet—which comes quite naturally as a woman–but trust me, I was afraid of disappointing,” Eva Longoria said.

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  • Jennifer Chan
  • Tuesday, Oct 25, 2011 / 5:58 PM
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Events

Rodarte’s Kate and Laura Mulleavy Would Never Wear Their Own Designs and More From Their Talk at the NYPL

Last Thursday afternoon, as fashion week came to a close a few avenues west, we sat near its former home at the Bryant Park-adjacent New York Public Library, where Rodarte‘s Kate and Laura Mulleavy were on hand to discuss their new photography book: Rodarte, Catherine Opie, Alec Soth (JRP | Ringier).

For the project, Catherine Opie and Alec Soth, both acclaimed (non-fashion) photographers, collaborated with the Mulleavys on creating original work that explores the world of Rodarte: Opie with a series of portraits of people wearing Rodarte and Soth with landscape shots from a California road trip (the Rodarte sisters gave him a map of places to visit including Berkeley, Big Sur, Santa Cruz, Joshua Tree, the Salten Sea and other places that have inspired their designs).

Catherine Opie also took part in the hour-long discussion with the Mulleavys, offering her perspective on the book’s creation and working with them, but we also learned a lot from Kate and Laura about their affection for California, how they get inspired, why they would never wear their own designs, and their mostly counter-intuitive approach to designing and selling clothes.

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Events

Nicola Formichetti on His New Sportswear Line for Uniqlo and His Own Line, Which He Hope to Launch Next Year

Nicola Formichetti has been on a roll lately. He just opened his pop-up shop, Nicola’s, on Walker Street in Tribeca to great fanfare (and a bangin’ party), selling everything from stuffed pandas to Gaga memorabilia to, now, Uniqlo. Today, Nicola’s became host to Formichetti’s new collaboration line with the Japanese mega-brand (for whom he’s the fashion director), a sportswear line called The Innovation Project that uses Uniqlo’s highly developed fabrics to make basic, easily wearable clothing.

It’s quite a departure from Formichetti’s usual robots-in-bondage type stuff; cranberry puffy nylon winter parkas, lime green HeatTech fleece pullovers and snowy white windbreakers don’t exactly scream the kind of stuff he’s been doing for Thierry Mugler. The attention to detail does, however, like the zippers which can pull apart Hulk-style to make shedding layers easier on athletes. The price point is fitting for the pop-up as well; prices don’t rise above $200, even for the parkas.

I got the chance to chat with Formichetti about his partnership with Uniqlo, his store, and what he has planned for the future (hint: he’s working on his own brand!).

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Events

Last Night’s Party: Nicola Formichetti Brands Party Goers With Panda Stamps at His Pop-Up Shop

It seemed all of lower Manhattan got their freaky dressing on last night to celebrate the opening of Nicola’s, Nicola Formichetti’s pop-up concept store with BOFFO Building Fashion. The black-leather-filled line that snaked up Walker Street held enough silver studs to decorate a Hun army, and I counted no fewer than six people with primary-colored hair all before even entering MI-5, the uber-cool bar next to the pop-up where Thierry Mugler parfums was throwing the celebration.

The outfits themselves weren’t the only unusual sight. Rarely do you encounter a store in the middle of Tribeca with an interior of fractured mirrors and a giant panda in the window. But that’s Formichetti for you; the Thierry Mugler designer and Gaga stylist is always mixing it up.

So how did it all come about?

“Boffo approached me and asked if I’d be interested in opening a store,” Formichetti told us. “And I was like, ‘Well, it’s not like I’m not busy.’

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