Category Archives: Fashion

Versace presented its Spring/Summer 2011 collection in Milan on Friday and the garments showcased the keywork motifs of antiquity paired with sleek and unique summer silhouettes. It’s all so lovely, it’s almost enough to make us wish summer were starting all over again. Take a look and tell us which of the ensembles you’re into.

Read more: Versace Spring Summer 2011, Versace, Slidepollajax, Fashion Week, Versace Fashion Show, Milan Fashion Week, Style News

Welcome to the Last Look, where we round up the Style scraps that didn’t make it to our news page this week. Click through and catch up on what else happened since Monday!

Read more: Slidepollajax, Style News

Today I spent some time in Naeem Khan’s studio and was excited to watch him work. Once again I missed Nanette Lepore. Then I ran over to Lincoln Center to start counting nipples. I can report eight today.

I’ve fallen into a fashionable groove, yet feel a cold coming on. Odd Molly had good swag – the first decent swag of the week. I wonder – why doesn’t Emergen-C ever sponsor this event? We’d all mix some Fiji with the miracle powder to form a rejuvenation elixir, which wards off the air kissing transfer of germs. Also, oddly enough, the cops hovered around, as I was photo editing in the American Express booth – a police report was being filed; someone stole an iPad from Maybelline. They finally cornered the guy in the bathroom. As rumor has it, somewhere between Zang Toi and the Amex Tory Burch party, a naked woman was supposedly arrested in the lobby. Strange things happen at Fashion Week.

Jeremy Scott

Jeremy Scott might be the only designer that can create a dress out of a black plastic trash bag and make it work. In attendance was Kanye West, Kelly Osborne and an excited Terence Koh in white feathers. The Wonder Girls from Korea did their thing and posed for pictures. I’m being informed they’re trying to get some street cred in New York. Beefcake men in leather chaps, ‘like-a virgin’ Madonna corsets and a straightjacket bridal dress (all in one look). Do I see a meat dress? Yes, I see two. Plastic Prosciutto actually. This is when I wonder, how did he know? Some of the looks are for the girl that wants to look like Gaga but doesn’t have Nicola Formichetti as a Facebook friend. I’m glad he didn’t use those lanky men, and just did beef – both in the clothes, and in the men. I’m still swooning from the black hunk with a size 28 waist. Wearable and stylish can describe the line. ‘Admit One’ shirts for boys and girls; bags from your local Chinese take out and deli. Downtown chic at Milk Studios.

Philip Lim 3.1

Perfect luxury. If Michael Kors is Anna Wintour’s Gap, surely Phillip Lim should be her Club Monaco. This is the first time the designer’s shown at the Armory, and the expansive space was filled with the serious fashion crowd. The stoic ensemble of experienced onlookers earnestly watched the bougie blue (a color dead center between sky blue and teal) skirts and sublime luxury parade the through the expansive space dotted with monumental white molding. Did we shrink and fall down a rabbit hole? No. In Philip’s hands, we see blush skirts and laser cut leather shorts, perfectly woven into sublime simple lux. If Holly Golightly could, she’d wear Lim to eat Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Anna Sui

The Wonder Girls popped in with a costume change from earlier today. Who else? Not sure. The models trotted past under a backdrop reminiscent of an Andrew Wythe painting, with harvest wreaths and Indian bands. The dresses were quintessential Anna Sui: frilly with mosaic prints from the prairie years. But the Anna Sui girl can go from field to haystack and still keep her purity. Crocheted tops, embroidered rompers and beaded necklaces won the crowd of friends and buyers.

Gant by Michael Bastian

This is the first time Michael Bastian has ventured into womenswear, creating a collection of boarding school chic. If you’re sailing off the Hampton shore or a well-healed teen, you’ll love the offering for Gant. Maybe he’s been watching too much late night TV or felt mod. The old movie reels and empty theater seats with animated models effortlessly said ‘wear me and look rich but young.’ He’s known for his work in menswear but this collaboration has allowed good design within affordable reach.

alice + olivia

alice + olivia get the award for best lifestyle marketing. Traipsing into their presentation/party last night, I was met with what looked like a Hollywood premiere. Celebrities (why hello Denise Richards, hello “Man Men”‘s Elisabeth Moss) strutted by a press pit while Cobra Starship blasted beats from the stage. Standing on a vintage-inspired set at the back of the space were about a dozen models, all coyly showing off shades of gold and sand, flowery prints, and silky creams. There was nothing groundbreaking here, but nothing tragic either. The point is, though, that the atmosphere made me – and probably everyone else there – think that anything associated with the brand was fabulous. What really made the night for me, was when a DJ Mia Moretti and violin-wielding Caitlin Moe took to the stage and rocked out like few have rocked before — well, at least this Fashion Week. Oh wait, wasn’t that done in the Richie Rich runway show too? And isn’t this DJ the same person who played the violin for Richie Rich? Apparently it’s a trend, and one at which this girl is adept at both ends.

Read more: Philip Lim 3.1, Alice + Olivia, Jeremy Scott, Zang Toi, Gant by Michael Bastian, Anna Sui, Style News

The Gottex Spring 2011 Swimsuit show, held at New York Fashion Week at Lincoln Center, featured some of the most sought-after models (including Crystal Renn!) in the latest bikinis. I was there to catch the action backstage and on the runway.

WATCH:

Read more: Models, Video, Gottex Fashion Show, Gottex, Fashion, Fashion Week, Karolina Kurkova, New York Fashion Week, Style News

It may only be three seasons old, but Istanbul Fashion Week has definitely whetted our appetites for more sartorial Turkish delights. Its latest staging saw a gathering of the best of the country’s fashion in the city’s Itu Taskisla Campus.

Read more: Istanbul, Wallpaper Magazine, Bora Aksu, Style, Fashion Shows, Istanbul Fashion Week, Arzu Kaprol, Textiles, Dice Kayak, Fashion, Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2011, Arts News

It may only be three seasons old, but Istanbul Fashion Week has definitely whetted our appetites for more sartorial Turkish delights. Its latest staging saw a gathering of the best of the country’s fashion in the city’s Itu Taskisla Campus.

Read more: Istanbul, Wallpaper Magazine, Bora Aksu, Style, Fashion Shows, Istanbul Fashion Week, Arzu Kaprol, Textiles, Dice Kayak, Fashion, Fashion Week, Spring/Summer 2011, Arts News

Fashion’s Night Out: The Show sent major models like Alessandra Ambrosio, Gisele Bundchen, Naomi Campbell, Lily Donaldson, Karolina Kurkova, Adriana Lima, Angela Lindvall, Sasha Pivovarova and Coco Rocha strutting through Lincoln Center in NYC, modeling 170 of fall’s hottest looks on Tuesday night. So who scored a ticket to the largest-ever public fashion show in the city? Take a look.

Read more: Fashion's Night Out, Leighton Meester, Fashion's Night Out the Show, Blake Lively, Anna Wintour, Slidepollajax, Fashion Week, Style News

These days it seems the most en vogue thing you can hear is not, “Don’t you love these boots, I bought them at Chanel,” but “You won’t believe where I got this blouse — it’s from Target!”

With that mentality, I went last week to preview a new “design collection” from mass retailer K-Mart. On the cab ride down to the Tribeca studio, I was nothing if not skeptic. The most I was expecting was a good free brunch.

Walking into the clean, minimal studio, I found myself exclaiming, “I can’t believe it’s K-Mart!” as if in a commercial for low-fat butter. Faux fur vests that cost as much as a week’s worth of lattes, treggings (a new term coined for the for the offspring between leggings and trousers), and lace-print T’s that capture this season’s romantic nostalgia were lined up on mannequins that could easily have been purloined fully clothed from the windows of H&M or Zara.

Unlike its competitor Target or “Tar-jay” for the stylishly inclined, K-Mart has never had a fashionable following. No one’s ever said, “K-Marché” when referring to the clothing department or proudly brandished a new purchase at a cocktail party — at least in New York.

Believe it or not, K-Mart has been upping its fashion game for the past five years, you probably just never heard about it. “We didn’t publicize it too much and we got to the point where we wanted to let people know,” said Kathy Huynh, VP of Women’s Apparel Design. “We’re just getting the word out there now. More people are recognizing it.”

With fashion and entertainment more fused together than ever, hunger for style and taste level have risen across every socio-economic level. That mom at home in Wisconsin watching Project Runway or The Rachel Zoe Project is being exposed to fashion through pop culture and suddenly desiring more than just running sneakers and boxy, one-size-fits-all jeans.

Rather than being intimidated by a cropped jacket with epaulet shoulders, they’re looking for it at a price they can afford. “The customer is hungry for affordable, good quality fashion,” Huynh said. “We’re in an age where everything is available online. They know what’s happening already, they just want access to it. They know that military is in. We want to be able to give it to them. “

Budget-conscious fashion has been exploding over the last decade with retailers like H&M, Forever 21, and Zara leading the way, desire, and expectation for high style at low prices. Now with designer collaborations and partnerships, almost everyone can have a pair of Jimmy Choo heels (H&M) or Zac Posen dress (Target) in their wardrobe. Fashion is starting to feel more inclusive, egalitarian, and inviting.

With K-Mart also getting into the game, consumers almost have no choice left but to be stylish.

Read more: Target, Zara, Fashion, Budget Fashion, H&M, K-Mart, Style News

“CHARLES LEDRAY: workworkworkworkwork” brings together over 25 years of remarkable work by Mr. LeDray, an artist who makes meticulously detailed, handcrafted work presented at an unexpected, usually small scale, using materials including fabric, ceramics, and human bone. This comprehensive survey of Charles LeDray’s work was organized in close collaboration with the artist.

The exhibition at the ICA/Boston, which will travel to the Whitney Museum in New York in November, brings to audiences the artist’s significant and fascinating body of work, work that we felt was under-recognized by the art-going public. To accompany the exhibition, we wanted to create a book that would be beautifully designed and would contribute to critical thinking about Mr. LeDray’s oeuvre. We engaged Skira Rizzoli, and Stefan Sagmeister to design it, and invited three thoughtful and engaging authors, Adam D. Weinberg, Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, James Lingwood, co-director of Artangel in London and Jen Mergel, Beal Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston to contribute essays.

— Randi Hopkins, Associate Curator
Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston

Charles LeDray was born in 1960 in Seattle, Washington, and currently lives and works in New York. “Charles LeDray: workworkworkworkwork,” a major exhibition surveying 25 years of the artist’s work can now be seen at the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston (July 16–Oct. 17, 2010). The exhibition will travel to the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York (Nov. 18, 2010–Feb. 13, 2011) and to the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (June-September 2011). The artist’s previous exhibitions include a solo show organized by the ICA Philadelphia (2002-2003); and a number of significant group exhibitions including Sculpture, the Cartin Collection, Hartford, Connecticut (2005); Past Presence: Childhood and Memory, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2005); and the Lyon Biennale, France (2000). In 1993, LeDray received the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Award and in 1997 he was the recipient of the Prix de Rome from the American Academy in Rome. The artist’s work can be found in major public collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art.

Read more: Slidepollajax, Art Gallery, Art, Artwork, Charles Ledray, Fashion Art, Art Showcase, Fashion, Ledray, Labor Day 2010, Work, Labor Day, Labor Day Work, Books News

Their ascent to the top tier of New York fashion represents an important demographic shift on Seventh Avenue. At the Fashion Week that begins here on Thursday, many of the most promising new designers are of Asian descent, a group that includes Mr. Wang and Mr. Wu; Thakoon Panichgul, one of the stars of the documentary “The September Issue,” about Vogue magazine; Prabal Gurung; Phillip Lim; and Derek Lam — names that are increasingly likely to represent the future of fashion.

Read more: Alexander Wang, Fashion, Jason Wu, Richard Chai, Thakoon, Style News