Doo.Ri

Summer is almost officially over (we know, sad) and that means that New York fashion week is right around the bend. Like three-weeks-from-now-around-t

Vogue Italia EIC Franca Sozzani has snatched the title of UN Goodwill Ambassador. She'll be working with industry insiders to promote sustainable development and much more. {Telegraph} World-renowned milliner Stephen Jones will be fabricating fascinators for Raf Simons' Dior Haute Couture premiere. Jones called the collection "exciting, beautiful and new," but wouldn't say much more than that. {Vogue UK} At last year's Webby awards, Anna Wintour told us that "sometimes geeks can be chic," and the rise of fashion-forward online games only reinforces her statement. {WWD} Mary Katrantzou, reigning queen of jaw-droppingly beautiful digital prints, won't, or rather can't, show pre-fall or resort collections because her intricate patterns take too long to produce (hint: four days to make a single print). {Vogue UK}

Is designers leaving their namesake labels a new trend? Just a couple of months after Simon Spurr announced his departure from six year old label Simon Spurr, WWD is reporting that Doo-Ri Chung has decided to leave Doo.Ri, the clothing company she founded in 2001. Like Spurr's move, Chung's is difficult to understand. WWD offers zero details on why Chung left or what she plans to do next and, by all accounts, the label had a pretty good couple of years. She dressed Michelle Obama for a state dinner honoring South Korea (Chung is Korean-American) and designed a high-profile Macy's capsule collections--two projects that boosted the designer's name recognition significantly.

Baggy leather pants. It is as dubious as it sounds. New York had its fair share of these voluminous trousers, and it wasn't long before they began

Can't get enough of our fashion week coverage? We checked out Cushnie et Ochs' Fall runway, where their typical body con style went a little bit dark

Lana Del Rey may have been playing on the sound system during Doo.Ri’s Fall 2012 show but that was about the only nod to anything that could be descried as "trendy." And that's a good thing because like all of Doo.Ri's collections the focus was on the designer's masterful draping and fit rather than the season's "it" styles. Backstage at her Fall 2012 show, Chung offered a helpful analogy. “Doo.Ri is like Butoh,” the designer said, referring to the avant-garde Japanese modern dance style. “It’s based on these really slow movements. There is just such a poetic way that these dancers gesture, and I aim to do the same thing with fabric.”

You might not be too familiar with New York-based designer Doo-ri Chung. Despite her serious fashion cred (her first job out of Parsons was working in Geoffrey Beene's sample room with Alber Elbaz) and being able count First Lady Michelle Obama as a client, she still considers herself a "very small, very young" niche designer without a ton of name recognition. But that should change come February 15, when her capsule collection for Macy's contemporary fashion department 'Impulse' hits 185 stores and goes up on line. Chung is the latest in an impressive list of designers to design capsule collectons for the mass retailer--a list that includes names like Karl Lagerfeld, Giambattista Valli and Matthew Williamson (to name a few). We got a chance to chat with Chung yesterday as she previewed her collection--a wearable mix of Chung's signature draped jersey pieces priced between $39 and $159--at hot Hell's Kitchen resto Danji. In these collab-happy times (in the last few months alone we've seen Versace for H&M, Jason Wu for Target, and Missoni for Target work shoppers into a frenzy) Chung was still hesitant about doing a collaboration.

more There was lots to love on the red carpet last week. We're especially fond of the jackets--Kirsten Dunst's sunny Stella, Elizabeth Olsen all-whit

We haven't even had a chance to try on the Giambattista Valli for Macy's collection yet--which hits stores next week--but the retailer has already announced its next collaboration. Doo-Ri Chung, who just made headlines after dressing Michelle Obama for a state dinner in South Korea, is the next to design a line for the mass retailer's Impulse line, WWD is reporting. The collection will drop February 15 and be available for about eight weeks; prices will range from $39 to $159. So what the collection will look like? You can expect to see the draping, color-blocking and prints that Doo-Ri is known for on mini and maxi dresses, leggings, blouses, and trenches, another Chung signature. As for designing at a lower price point, Doo-Ri says it wasn't much of a challenge.

Target's Web President Exits Post-Missoni Ordeal: If you got stressed out trying to purchase those Target/Missoni collabs online when the site crashed, imagine what it was like for the poor guy in charge. Target announced that its web operations president, Steve Eastman, has left the company just a month after the fiasco, which caused more site traffic than on a typical Black Friday. {WWD} Uniqlo Set to Become Largest Apparel Retailer on Planet Earth: The fast-expanding Japanese retailer is set to have 4,000 stores worldwide by 2020, and are opening 150 overseas stores this year alone. Uniqlo's revenue goal for 2020 is $54 billion. Just... whoa. {WWD} Doo Ri Designs Custom Dress for Michelle Obama: The always-stylish First Lady appropriately chose to wear a custom modified purple Doo Ri gown for a state dinner with Korean leaders. The Korean-American designer "loves that [Obama] supports young designers." {Washington Post}

New York has been full of brights the past week, none more obvious than the shades of orange that have already graced at least two dozen collections

The latest shows are up on our lovely fashion week page! Among them are Adam's High Line-inspired candy-colored confections, Jill Stuart's ladylike

There were a lot of really beautiful looks at Doo.Ri, but our favorite by far had to be the purple, printed pajama-like shirt and pant set. Of course we are biased--we loved the trend on the runways last season, and we're happy Doo.Ri is keeping it going--and executing it well, no less. Our only bone to pick is that we didn't see more of the silky prints. That being said, we were also pretty smitten with the slew of drapey dresses, which Doo.Ri has built a solid reputation on. In particular, the floor-length grey jersey dress with plunging neckline and daring slit, moved beautifully on the runway--and gave the impression that it would feel like pajamas, while looking like a red carpet-worthy gown.

It sounds like if anyone can stay zen during fashion week, it's Doo-ri. Also, we are starting to get jealous of all these post-fashion week vacation

more Doo.Ri, Prabal Gurung, and Peter Som went manic for fur sleeves this season. While most stayed on the darker end of the color spectrum, Prabal

The bass at Doo.Ri’s fall show was so loud it rattled my esophagus, even out-thumping the platform combat boots that clamored down the runway. But bass and boots aside, the rest of Doo.Ri’s fall collection beat to her traditional track of quiet restraint. Doo.Ri Chung, the master of draping, jersey, and monochrome, deviated very little from her favorite formula this season. So when she did play with something new—a texture, a tweaked silhouette-- it made one thing very, very clear: The beauty of being a designer who works within fairly rigid parameters is not having to raise your voice to make your statement.

Perhaps you're a little too tough to wade in the velvet sea, or maybe you're not beginning to see the light... Worry not, AW10's spawned another tre

Oh the horrible things we'd do for a piece of Proenza or Valli. Thankfully, we can keep it civil via Rent the Runway; they let you rent what you want

I was taking the 6 uptown yesterday when the chicest girl stepped on. She was wearing what I can only describe as a short-sleeved trench coat dress (

[Britt and Natalie sit in the backseat of a cab, on their way to the Doo.Ri Under.Ligne launch, last night. Taped to the back of the cab's partition

Phillip Lim's starting a line for dogs. While Zac Posen and Doo. Ri get to work on their bridge lines and Carlos Miele and Roland Mouret work out thei

While most smaller labels are scaling back their Fashion Week presence, Doo.Ri's charging ahead with her eponymous brand, launching a secondary line t