Geren Ford

I spoke with the advertising exec-turned-designer Geren Lockhart last week about why she has decided shutter her label—and what's next.

First, Chris Benz announced that he'd be sitting out the Fall 2013 shows. Soon after, Peter Som decided to forgo the traditional runway for one of KCD's nifty digital fashion shows, following in the footsteps of See by Chloe and Pierre Balmain, amongst others. Then last week's Wall Street Journal article about designers forgoing New York Fashion Week hit the real nerve, highlighting several up-and-coming (as well as established) labels choosing not to stage runway shows or presentations. Suddenly, it's okay—even respectable in certain circumstances—not to show at Fashion Week.

Karl Lagerfeld's Creating a Book For Newest Hogan Collection: For his third collaboration with Hogan, consistently overachieving Karl has created a 32-page companion book featuring photos and sketches of models wearing the collection. Previous Lagerfeld/Hogan endeavors include a film and a photo exhibition... Does this man sleep? {WWD} Kanye West Sends Out Invitations, Drinks Tea With Fabric Store Owner: Here's a look at an invitation for Kanye's show tomorrow night in Paris - the 'DW' is thought to be for his late mother, Donda. The rapper-turned-designer stopped into a London fabric wholesaler twice this past week for last minute trimmings, delighting the owner by staying for tea. {High Snobiety and NY Mag} Oliver Spencer on How Men Should Dress: The British menswear designer breaks down every man's closet essentials, and explains why England is the world's best dressed country. No bias there, I'm sure! {Telegraph}

Designer Geren Ford loves to travel. She even wrote a column for us chronicling her fabulous romps through El Bulli in Spain, to Doris Duke's Shangri La estate in Hawaii, to Jamaica. So it's no surprise that for her summer holiday she crammed five European cities into a month. She house-swapped for a lazy stay in the English countryside, rode bikes in Amsterdam, stayed at a super fun hotel in London that offers guests a trunk of vintage clothes to play dress up in, and fell in love with Stockholm. Have a read, take a look, and try not to hate Geren for having so many fun adventures. From Geren: This summer I stole away to Europe for a month. I was lucky enough to have friends in almost all the places I visited which made for a very off-the-high street experience. I ended up in London, Lewes in the English country, Antwerp, Amsterdam and Stockholm. It was both inspiring and relaxing and reminded me of when I was little and spent my summers traveling between familiar places and people while visiting my dad in NYC and my grandparents in the country in Northern California. Click through to follow Geren on her European adventure and pick up some tips if you find yourself in one of these cities anytime soon!

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Designer Geren Lockhart, of Geren Ford fame, has been traveling up a storm, and she's decided to tell Fashionista readers all. This installment of "Travels with Geren" takes us to Jamaica.

On a trip to Shanghai last year, L.A. based designer Geren Ford discovered a little-known Chinese artist, LanLan, whose work dates back to the 1930s--an era of style that fits perfectly with Ford's effortlessly elegant yet simple aesthetic. After a visit to her showroom in SoHo this week, we learned that LanLan's paintings and travels to Paris inspired Ford's latest collection. Loose-fitting trousers in fuchsia, navy, and black were paired with feminine tanks adorned with ruffles and bows. LanLan's luggage played muse to leather jackets and mini skirts in a creamy burnt amber hue. Ford takes a cue from 1930s style by giving basic sweaters and henley shirts sex appeal with inserts of sheer fabrics.

Designer Geren Lockhart, of Geren Ford fame, is traveling up a storm this autumn, and she's decided to tell Fashionista readers all. This installment of "Travels with Geren" takes us to London. When/Where: London November 22–26, 2010 Why: Outside of Los Angeles and NYC, I have more friends in London than anywhere else, and the art is the best on the planet right now. I saw more art in the days that I was there than I have collectively all year long: in small galleries, some of the best museums, and in the street. It’s sort of overwhelming how amazing it is. Best Meal: I was extremely lucky in London, each meal was the best because I got to sit down with friends I haven’t seen in forever.... Here’s a list of the great restaurants I visited while in London. From fancy to local, each meal was divine!

Designer Geren Lockhart, of Geren Ford fame, is traveling up a storm this autumn, and she’s decided to tell Fashionista readers all. The second installment of “Travels with Geren” takes us to Barcelona…. When/Where: Barcelona, November 17-21 Why: Meeting up with a chef friend who worked at El Bulli for four seasons and knows the city’s food scene inside and out. Best Meal: Deep breath…this one is hard to answer…. It’s every meal to be honest, BUT Dos Palillos was to date the best meal of my life: 23 courses of magic at every turn. And because I was with a chef who had worked with Albert, the owner and chef, when they were both at El Bulli, it was an amazing evening, to put it mildly. You'll find the best mojito on the planet at La Whiskeria just around the corner from Dos Palillos--if you’re there you might just see the staff of the restaurant joining you after they finish service for the night.

Designer Geren Lockhart, of Geren Ford fame, is traveling up a storm this autumn, and she's decided to tell Fashionista readers all. The first installment of "Travels with Geren" takes us to Hawaii. Next week, she's visiting New York City.... When/Where: Honolulu, October 29-31 Why: I love a quick getaway to Hawaii--Oahu is actually my favorite island. There are more tourists, but along with that comes a great deal more going on. Plus, it's the capital of the state, so there's a good bit of local fun to check in on. Oahu also has some of my favorite beaches in the world. Best Meal: Dinner at Town: They use mostly local ingredients and the menu that changes daily. Townkaimuki.com

Before she launched her line, Geren Lockhart--the designer behind Geren Ford--was an ad exec. Long hours and constant traveling inspired her to create a label that would be versatile but chic, even in transit. Yesterday, I stopped by Lockhart's studio to preview her Spring 2011 collection. There were maxi dresses and flowy tops in an textured fabrics, as well as these awesome brown leather shorts that I want to have in my closet right now. The most intriguing part of the collection was the prints. If you looked closely at one dress, it seemed to be covered in a print made of, well, fingerprints. Lockhart told me that the print is actually comprised of her own fingerprints, which were been scanned and translated onto the fabric (she also confided that her fingerprints had been altered a bit so that no one would steal her identity --ha!).

New designer collaborations keep popping up at Urban Outfitters and we kind of love it. Urban is always full of on-trend, reasonably priced clothing and it's hard, at least for us, to walk out of that store without impulsively buying something. However, a lot of the clothes are not the most well-made or original, and there's nothing worse than seeing everyone in town wearing the same dress you just bought, or just knowing instantly where you bought it, even if it was only $50. This is why we tend to stick to their designer duds. They always end up partnering with cool, independent designers that we already like, so we see more value in being able to purchase their designs at Urban Outfitters prices and get really cute pieces that actually seem pretty well-made. Some of our personal faves are Fletcher by Lyell, Rapscallion by Samantha Pleet, Lark & Wolff by Steven Alan and David Page by Timo Weiland. We're also fans of Geren Ford's Hawks collection, whose latest delivery is available online today (and in stores sometime in the next week) and is full full of black, draping, and little rivets--all things we like. Coincidentally, we just snapped up a dress from the last delivery, all of which is now on sale.

Just a little reminder that we're hosting Taco Tuesday tonight! Come by the Hudson Terrace to eat tacos, watch us try to bartend and enter a raffle to win one of the following amazing prizes: RESIN "black garnet" style jeans Lee Angel box chain fringe necklace Melissa Joy Manning Quartz necklace Rachel Leigh bracelet Lela Rose Pyrite necklace Aloha Rag eco tote Geren Ford leather top, leather shorts and blue rivet flats Beirn cross body bag Chris Benz Sequin Tank Matt & Nat SantoGold Convertible Shoulder Bag Giles and Brother by Philip Crangi Pied-de-Biche Cuff Olivia Harris Large Ball Hobo

We stopped by Geren Ford’s showroom on Tuesday to glimpse the upcoming Holiday collection. Luckily, designer Geren Lockhart was there to take us through the line. This season, she was inspired by the late Louise Bourgeois and actually began the collection before the recent death of the renowned artist and sculptor. Though a lot of the shapes were quite simple, as they often are with Geren, she pointed out several impeccable details, such as pleating on the neckline of a blouse and the perfectly straight exposed zipper on the back of a dress.

We are so excited for September. While the official list won't be released until August 17th, we just received a huge rundown of events for Fashion's

We've been pretty into Urban Outfitter's collaborations. We welcome Steven Alan in any form and surfed through Spring Fashion Week in a couple of Hawk

Fact: We've been fans of Geren Ford ever since they became a regular on ShopBop. Fact: We really don't like knock offs, especially when they're of des