Fashionista

Nina Garcia

Friday August 12th, 2011

10 Questions for Project Runway
Entertainment

10 Questions for Project Runway

by Misty White Sidell

1. Why does Mood always give the designers nice fabric bags, and give everyone else (pedestrians like me) the gross plastic ones?

2. Why does Joshua want to switch genders with Julia?

3. Tim Gunn, you were the dean of Parsons’ fashion school, right? I’m pretty sure you weren’t hugging everyone that shed a tear back then, so why are you doing it now? Especially for designers who get to end their days at 11 pm?

4. Why is there a fashion show in Battery Park? Are they trying to fast forward five years to a time when Conde Nast girls will be roaming Manhattan’s nether region?

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Published at 3:30 PM

Monday May 23rd, 2011

The 10 Best Tumblrs By Fashion Industry Insiders
Fashion Is Fun

The 10 Best Tumblrs By Fashion Industry Insiders

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Tumblr can be a little daunting for those don’t “tumbl,” especially when it comes to navigating the myriad of fashion-related ones.

There are a lot of decent tumblrs out there devoted to fashion, but after awhile they all start to blend together in a sea of pretty pictures. Luckily, there are quite a few industry insiders whose access to the industry lends itself to smartly styled pages, valuable tips and insights, and, of course, very pretty pictures. Here our are favorite tumblrs run by folks within the fashion industry–they range from models to editors to PRs to photographers but they’re all, clearly, ahead of the game when it comes to social media.

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Published at 7:12 PM

Thursday February 17th, 2011

10 Things We Learned at New York Fashion Week: Fall 2011

10 Things We Learned at New York Fashion Week: Fall 2011

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1. Sometimes, Tumblr tumbles. Despite the awesome access the Tumblrs received, including a private party at Donna Karan, breakfast with Nina Garcia, and more, the week’s events were reportedly badly organized.

2. Strippers are the new new thing. From go go girls at Rag & Bone‘s after party to casino hostesses at Karen Walker, topless dancers haven’t been this big since Striptease.

3. If you are under 21, you can still DJ an over-21 party. Thanks for the lesson in NY State law, Tavi.

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Published at 4:26 PM

Tuesday February 8th, 2011

Fashionista 50: The Most Influential People in New York Fashion

Fashionista 50: The Most Influential People in New York Fashion

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How do you measure influence?

Is it through website hits? Or sales? Through ad dollars? Or the number of mass retailers who’ve knocked off your work?

The answer is all of the above and none of the above. Influence is an intangible thing that just happens when you know your craft and you work hard at it.

To determine who belongs in the Fashionista 50–our list of the most influential people working in New York fashion–we used our own knowledge of the industry, combined with advice from industry sources. We also considered each candidate’s consumer reach–through sales, media, etc.

To be considered, candidates had to live and work in New York for most of the year.

What’s Fashionista’s definition of influential? It describes people who are shaping the direction of the New York fashion industry, both aesthetically and in terms of how the business works.

You’ll find the entire Fashionista 50 list after the jump. Click on the person’s name to read a full bio. And if you really want to click through the whole slideshow, you can do so here.

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Published at 12:01 AM

Friday November 19th, 2010

Ashton Kutcher, Nina Garcia, and Others Invest $1 Million in Fashism
The Business

Ashton Kutcher, Nina Garcia, and Others Invest $1 Million in Fashism

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Fashism, the Hot or Not for street style, just closed its first round of funding, and some pretty major celebs have signed on.

Ashton Kutcher, Nina Garcia, Demi Moore, and a bunch of investment firms–SV Angel, High Line Venture Partners, NV Investment, Vast Ventures, and Rick Webb–have raised $1 million for the New York-based company.

Fashism‘s premise is stupidly smart: Users post pictures of outfits and others give their feedback by voting and commenting on each look. It’s particularly popular with teenagers, but we’ve been surprised by how many late-twenty-somethings are into it as well.

What’s the injection of cash going to do for Fashism? Well for one, they’ll be able to hire more people and add new functions to the site. Given the influx of user-generated e-commerce in the fashion space, some retail component makes sense. Maybe that’s why FourSquare’s Dennis Crowley and plaid shirt hero Steven Alan have come on board as advisers.

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Published at 12:07 PM

Friday October 22nd, 2010

Nina Garcia Thinks You Should Wear Hot Pink Roland Mouret When You’re Getting Divorced, Plus More Style Advice
Events

Nina Garcia Thinks You Should Wear Hot Pink Roland Mouret When You’re Getting Divorced, Plus More Style Advice

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Ever dream of meeting Project Runway host Nina Garcia? For some die-hard fans, last night was their chance.

The Marie Claire Fashion Director and American Express invited a select group of cardholders to the Hearst building yesterday for an American Express Platinum Cardmember event. The occasion? Celebrating the release of her fourth book, Nina Garcia’s Look Book: What To Wear For Every Occasion.

I got to chat with Nina for a few minutes before she went to mingle with everyone. In a nutshell:

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Published at 12:14 PM

Friday October 1st, 2010

Ten Questions For Project Runway
Entertainment

Ten Questions For Project Runway

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1) Is this possibly the most emotional show that Lifetime has ever broadcast? And that’s saying a lot. Everyone cried. Tim. All the contestants. Michael Kors almost did. Oh, but not Nina. (Shocker.)

2) How hot is April’s mom?

3) Who else absolutely, positively knew what a foulard is? I certainly did. It didn’t take me five attempts to spell it either.

4) Can we all agree that make-up that makes you look like a streetwalker or a figure-skater is never a good thing? Thank goodness the L’Oreal Paris make-up room is around to remind us.

5) What kind of crazy ass fights do you suppose take place at Michael C’s house during family parties?

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Published at 9:00 AM

Wednesday August 25th, 2010

Nina Garcia: Full-Time Fashion Director, Part-Time Neurobiologist?
Fashion Is Fun

Nina Garcia: Full-Time Fashion Director, Part-Time Neurobiologist?

by Brittnee Cann

The September issue of Marie Claire features an excerpt from Nina Garcia’s Look Book, the editor’s fourth installment of fashion non-fiction. The usual bank of style advice is present–always be prepared, try the unexpected for a refreshing look, etc.–but one thought in particular really stuck with me and, moreover, had me feeling surprisingly impressed by Ms. Garcia’s knowledge on the science of the human brain.

Welcome to neurobiology 101. Class, if you’ll all take out your Marie Claire magazines and turn to page 92, we can begin.

Here Nina says, “Style is like a muscle: you have to exercise it regularly or you’ll lose it.” Seems simple enough, right? It’s the same old “practice makes perfect” idiom that most of us came to know about in early years of elementary school. And even though Garcia is using a cutesy comparison of ‘style is like a muscle’ to make her point here, her humble simile is backed by hard scientific data.

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Published at 1:49 PM

Friday April 23rd, 2010

Friday January 8th, 2010

Quote of the Day

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“The casting was a little different for Season 7. They really focused on people’s portfolios much more seriously and scouted in a more professional manner. There’s a wide range of backgrounds — some designers who just came out of school, and some who’ve already had experience.” –Nina Garcia on Project Runway improving this season. Lord, Read more →

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Published at 2:06 PM

Friday November 20th, 2009