Archive for September, 2006

The latest bunch of designers to walk were the epitome of New York style: Anna Sui's rocker chic, Narciso Rodriguez's minimalism, and Michael Kors's all-American looks. We round up the critics' reviews of the key New York collections so far. Did they keep their status as the best in show? Or did Kors's Flashdance collection fail to impress? Rodriguez captured the critics' hearts while Behnaz Sarafpour, well, did not.Behnaz Sarafpour Behnaz Sarafpour, who's about to become far more well known with her new Target Go International collection, sent out designs inspired by Charles and Ray Eames: graphic prints and a mod styling. Although her play on volume (WWD) was pretty, the styling of the looks was off (Style.com). Her black-and-white color scheme was a hit (British Vogue), and the textures added interesting dimensions. However, a little more subtlety would do her well. (Style.com). Her collection was cute and fun but not terribly impressive. Betsey Johnson Betsey Johnson's spring collection, which celebrated the birth of her granddaughter, was themed to match all those things about little girls: sugar and spice and everything nice (WWD). Bows, puff sleeves, jumpers, all in colors befitting a newborn — pinks, lilacs, whites and more — were the bulk of the collection (FWD). But Johnson also included some not-so-girlish looks with sheaths and short shorts. The critics loved the collection, calling it: Betsey at her best (WWD). Anna Sui Pirates! Punks! Versailles! Anna Sui's show had it all, with fishnets and frocks and crinoline and lace. But this "was no costume drama" (WWD). Sui tempered the pretty looks with some punk attitude (FWD), piling on chunky jewelry by Erickson Beamon. She stayed on trend with the season's key looks (Style.com) — whites, full skirts, and prints. Although Sui may have shown her typical rock-and-roll style, her "softer side" peeked through (FWD), to the delight of critics. Narciso Rodriguez The king of minimalism did it again: Narciso Rodriguez wowed editors with another modern collection. Eschewing the trends of the tents, the designer instead drew inspiration from Thomas Ruff's photographs. The result: "sexy clothes" with a "harder edge" (Cathy Horyn.) Rodriguez also used "futuristic fabrics" (Suzy Menkes) like black carbon fiber, achieving an "elegantly new" look (FWD). Although his tailoring was criticized for being "austere and tricky," (WWD), Rodriguez has, as Horyn noted, "more talent in his eyeballs than just about any other designer." Chalk up another win for the designer. Michael Kors Michael Kors had one thing on his mind this season: dancing. His collection was full of Flashdance-inspired pieces (Style.com) and could easily double as dancer's wardrobe. He layered knits and paired blazers with leggings (WWD), but it didn't "get your motor running" (Horyn). The eighties theme (Style.com) continued, with belted blazers, swimwear, and dresses. The show picked up toward the end, when Kors sent out little tops and python minis. His cardigans and pullovers won the most raves and "all but stole the show" (WWD).

There must be a moment in every event planner's life when it seems time to simply give up. You try and you try and you try to develop a great gimmick to bring the cool kids to your party — and this week, most often, that gimmick was a surprise, secret, special musical performance. Your gimmick works, and you go to bed thinking, as we're sure the Prada folks did last Friday night — after the amazing Raconteurs show at their Soho store — that your crown for best fête is secure. And then you wake up and discover the Diesel after-party booked James Brown. JAMES BROWN. The Godfather of Soul. It cannot, in fact, feel good.Just as impressive was the crowd milling on Gotham Hall's balcony to see the hardest-working man in showbiz: Rosario Dawson, Seann William Scott, Joseph Cross (our favorite dork, from Strangers With Candy and, soon, Running With Scissors), Heather Graham, Ryan Cabrera (looking like his hair had been styled by the Imitation of Christ folks), Christina Milian, Tyson Beckford (in a terrible mohawk), and Kayne from Project Runway. (So much for thinking he'd survived the episode we were TiVoing at home.) Go-go dancers gyrated on pedestals in the crowd and ripped men in tighty whities did nerve-racking acrobatics on stage. Brown appeared around midnight, wearing a bright-purple suit and a face pulled tight as a French-made bed. He smiled a lot and sang and yelped as well as ever, but, although he still puts on quite a show, we're not sure we ever saw him move his legs, even when, toward the end, he had three hipsterish white girls brought up to dance with him onstage — though only after getting a nod of approval from his wife (No. 4, for those keeping score), who was also in the show. Meanwhile, a very drunk, completely chiseled Diesel store employee mounted the go-go stand in the crowd, shed his shirt, and danced like a Chippendales pro — as guys and girls started shoving money and their numbers into his pants. (Kids, he works at the Lexington shop if you need another glimpse.) His stamina was unbelievable — he was still going long after Brown had left the stage (escorted off by two young things, as one might expect). Travis Barker, sans Paris Hilton this time, sadly, was the last celeb to arrive, at 1:22 a.m. He looked around, rather confused, and so we took pity and let him know he'd missed James. "What? I did? Are you kidding? That's the only reason I came!" And with that, he turned around and walked back down the stairs. "You missed out, sucker!" a Diesel staffer shouted after him. Indeed, he did. — Jada Yuan and Rachel Wolff

You'd think Fashion Week crowds are all girls and gays — and, well, you'd be mostly right. But just mostly. Some straight guys show up to see the collections — including Nick Cannon, the decidedly hetero 25-year-old rapper-actor-comedian, whom we first spotted chilling in Lil' Kim's booth with Brian Grazer at the Marc Jacobs after-party. We saw him again Wednesday night at the Moët Lounge in the tents and got to the bottom of why he was there: women and booze.So what brings a straight guy out for Fashion Week? The thing I love about Fashion Week is the models. The models and Moët. Together they are a great combination. Have you gotten anywhere with any of the models? [laughs] What do you mean gotten anywhere? Do you mean third base? [pause] Yes! [laughs] Yes! Have you ever sneaked into a show? Yeah, Marc Jacobs this year. It was cool, though, because they show love. When you come unannounced, they still find you a seat. I guess that's when you know you're real fabulous — when you don't RSVP and just show up like, "Yo, I want to see what's going down," and they let you in. Will you ever design your own line? I have a line! It's called PNB Nation. It's a line that was actually started in New York in the early nineties by this graffiti artist, and I purchased it and I'm taking it nationwide. My store on Melrose Avenue [in Los Angeles] opens on October 10, which is also my birthday. And my new single is called "It's Your Birthday." Good thinking, right? How very Beyoncé of you. What fashion trend can you take credit for starting? The fat gold chain. Let them know who brought it back. I've been wearing it for ages. People ask, "Why you got this big gold chain all the time?" And then you watch the VMAs and everyone was wearing one. Gold's value appreciated so much in the last few months that now I feel really smart. I'm wearing my wealth around my neck. What trend are you most embarrassed you rocked? Hammer pants. And the little baggy pants with the shiny suits. Hush Puppies. I did the Hush Puppies. I had every color. You're here at the Moët lounge. Do you suffer from swag guilt? No, I love it. Free swag is the best. I really like when they give me kitchen products, like toasters and blenders and juicers and coffee makers. I'll never buy that stuff. What do you like least about Fashion Week? That it's over too fast. More models and more weeks is what we need. — Shira Levine

For designers who never step too far from the eighties, this season's looks were less Madonna and more Azzedine Alaïa: rich gals lounging by the pool. Michael Kors went retro-crazy with belted suits, swimwear, and dresses. Catherine Malandrino opted for a "Thriller" vibe with a white satin jacket with zipper details. Proenza Schouler's collection was rife with references to Alaïa, Hervé Léger, and Geoffrey Beane. Flat, wide-brimmed hats held court with tighter-than-tight skirts and tops. The decade of decadence marches on.

Mary-Kate Olsen is one lucky girl: There's all the millions, of course, and then there's the fact that she — unlike the rest of us — doesn't have to stand in line to get into parties for Fashion Week. She sneaks in the back, accompanied by four bodyguards and covered by two umbrellas, thereby escaping the drudgery of queuing up, the pain of posing for photos, and the mortal danger of an incredibly light rain. M-K swept into the Soho Grand in a blur of hair and legs (which we're happy to see on display. Maybe this means her tragic Derelicte phase of enveloping herself in sleeping bags and calling them clothes is behind us), looking uncharacteristically happy and carrying a Red Bull. She made a beeline for Zac Posen, chatted him up for fifteen minutes and, having paid her respects, left. Indeed, Posen spent much of the night in company of the young women who love him: Kate Bosworth (who was drinking a beer, of all things — and good for her, she needs the carbs), socialite Camilla Al Fayed, and Bee Shaffer (on whom, we admit, we have kind of a girl crush. Her hair is so shiny!). And there was David Spade — petite and blond as a girl, but with the reedy facial hair of a boy who's waiting for his last delivery of hormones. And let us not forget Gretchen Mol, which we actually did until we reviewed our notes. At one point, we overheard a man telling her vehemently, "It's $4,000 a month. You have to take it." Apparently, she's either found a lovely new apartment or a cruddy new job. — The Fug Girls

Never let it be said that the Fug Girls don't know how to make an exit. The crescendo of our Fashion Week celebrity-spotting started slowly with Kristin Cavallari, built with Kristen Bell and Mischa Barton sightings at every turn, and peaked on our final night in New York at the packed Zac Posen show. We have never craved a pair of binoculars more than this week, especially on Thursday night. At least when you go to the theater, or to the races, you can hear the action; here, nobody's doing play-by-play for the benefit of those of us in the nosebleed section. (And that is a shame. If there's one thing Fashion Week sorely needs, it's the inane vocal stylings of John Madden.) And so, from our standing-room berth up high, most of what we saw was a constant stream of blurry dots lit up by a flurry of flashbulbs. It was like pointillism in action. "Is that Gwyneth Paltrow? She has such pretty hair!" It wasn't. It was a man. Open gawking is an accepted practice around Bryant Park, so we left our standing-room posts (which were promptly snatched up) and went down to troll the front rows.This is where we became the meat in a media sandwich. Roaming the front rows is a bit like being squeezed through a tube: You're pushed down the middle of the teeming array of photographers, cameramen, and producers, until you pop out into the open. Off the bat, we floated past gap-toothed modeling legend Lauren Hutton, who sat quietly in the shadow of comedienne Sandra Bernhard. Although even a Spinal Tap amplifier would exist in dignified silence next to Bernhard, we were surprised to see Hutton flying low while Bernhard gave a chatty, fashion-savvy interview to a camera crew. Next, we overheard Bee Shaffer telling a reporter that, although she's loving her gig writing for the Telegraph, she's still undecided about journalism as a career in general, and fashion writing in particular. Kate Bosworth, always tinier than we expect even though we keep seeing her around town, arrived moments before Kanye West and his date. The gray fur stole slung around Kanye's neck could have doubled as a tube dress on Kate. Even though she was there to scope out Posen's clothes, we'd love to see her in some baked ziti with garlic bread. Brown-haired Hilary Duff and boyfriend Joel Madden each wore hats to the show, which is a tad precious for our taste. Take a page from Ashton and Demi, guys — they color-coordinate, but we only know that because Ashton told everyone. Hilary's old blonde hair didn't miss out on any of the action — it made an appearance on the head of rapper Eve, who attended with fellow M.A.C. spokesmodel Dita Von Teese. Posen sent a range of clothes down the runway, from simple white knee-length dresses that were beautifully tailored to complicated froofy confections that were one tiny plastic sword away from being on the drinks menu at T.G.I. Friday's. As usual, the last dress was the biggest, best spectacle: all in gold and silver, its tight, mermaid-esque bodice exploded into a giant skirt bedecked with crinkled fabric. Clearly, Posen was inspired by the rejected, balled-up sketches in his wastebasket. — The Fug Girls