Fashion Week's Hipster Gridlock
Jan 11, 2008 @ 12:43pm
One of the challenges of New York Fashion Week is the sheer number of capable designers trying to mount their own work.
Since over a hundred catwalks and presentations get rolled out during the week, it's inevitable that some very stylish traffic jams will occur, and as of now, the first takes place on Thursday, January 31st.
At 5 pm, young designer Catherine Holstein (left) mounts her first full presentation at Milk Studios in the Meatpacking District. Ms. Holstein is a Teen Vogue darling with the personal style of a rock star's girlfriend and the posse of a regular Miu Miu shopper - Victoria Traina, Mary Kate, and the rest of the blondes too fabulous to be believed.
But also at 5pm is the second showing of Jen Kao, a recent design graduate whose beadwork and black eyeliner has also caught the eye of Teen Vogue, as well as Nylon and a steady stream of Beatrice-going socialites, not to mention the model Darla Baker, who's one of the designer's muses. She's also friends with Ryan McGinley, who was enlisted last year to shoot the look book.
And again at 5pm, there's Band of Outsiders, the ridiculously cool / successful / buzzy label by Scott Sternberg, a former Hollywood agent who's since garnered a CFDA nomination and a steady following of celebrities like Cameron Diaz, Vogue editors like Sally Singer, and... well really, if you have those two people in your clothing corner, you don't really need that much else.
Then at 6 it's time for EarthPledge, the eco-fashion show to boast clothes by Givenchy, Stella McCartney, and just about every label from Barneys.
Are you tired yet?
Would You Wear a Dickie?
Jan 11, 2008 @ 12:01pm
A dickie, (no giggles, please), is a sweater or dress with a removable collar and cuffs. It gives the illusion of wearing a blouse underneath an outer layer without suffering the inevitable bunch up.
We thought dickies were for another generation, as in they've never really seemed fashion forward.
A couple of months ago, we saw a dickie at the Marc store, followed by a string of Tory Burch sweater versions. Then, just this past week, we encountered a dickie dress from See By Chloe, one of our favorite lines. What's going on here?
We understand the practicality - it's like two pieces in one!
But there's something so old-fashioned (and kind of funny) about it - plus, we've perfected the art of comfortably layering a thin sweater over our favorite Steven Alan button-down anyway. So what's the point?
Would you wear a dickie? Or do you think you're layering skills are enough?
Explain: Men's Beauty Products
Jan 11, 2008 @ 11:39am
Tuesday's launch of Armani's first beauty line for men has us thinking - who buys this stuff?
It's been our experience (ahem), that men tend to just borrow their girlfriends' products, often times a surreptitious act while in the shower.
But we keep reading about beauty lines intended specifically for men, especially by non-drugstore companies.
Clinique, Frederic Fekkai and Bliss are just a few beauty brands with products intended specifically "for men." But we've never known any guys to actually buy themselves men's beauty products. In fact, when we have seen guys buy skin care/hair stuff, we've seen them in Duane Reade, buying gender neutral options like Neutrogena.
We don't know if this is an embarrassment of doing something "girly," or if men's products are sort of pointless, as if men's skin and hair is really so much different from women's, for whom most beauty products are made.
Do you buy men's beauty products, either for yourself, or for a boyfriend? Or does it strike you as the same stuff but in darker packaging?
Adventures in Copyright: Love Bracelets
Jan 11, 2008 @ 10:33am
When we spot a Cartier LOVE bracelet, we usually think of Elizabeth Taylor and the great pile of them she must have accumulated.
We're totally forget that their design was inspired by the chastity belts warriors locked onto their wives in Medieval England.
It's almost unsettling that the bracelet's design of screws, meant permanently lock on the wrist of a lover, has come to represent such a strong symbol of love.
So in this strange case of Adventures in Copyright, we're going to go ahead and say that Forever 21 makes a little bit more sense.
Their Polished Love Bangle is the same size and width of Cartier's, but they've foregone screws in favor of simply engraving the word "LOVE" around it.
And for $5.80, literally .3% of the price of Cartier's, you can rock an armful of love bangles with your new Marc by Marc spring dress.
Now that's love.
Jan 11, 2008 @ 10:09am
"The only person who might have known was Michael Kors." - Kevin, from Project Runway, explaining that if he had hemmed his bias-cut, silk georgette dress, it would have puckered - something he felt the judges didn't realize.











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