As I walked through the narrow steel door I realized that my destination, 401 Project was an art gallery-the perfect place to have a fashion show.  The first floor was a photography exhibit, “A Procession of Them” by Eugene Richards.  It was a compilation of photographs, side by side, along the walls with a black bold painted sentence curling around the tops of the photographs.   I realized that each photograph capturing a naked, decrepit, and hopeless men, women and children were not from a concentration camps or prison; but from psychiatric and mental institutions throughout Mexico, Hungary and Argentina. The pictures were horrifying; filthy and unsanitary living conditions, people locked behind barred doors and window panes, each face with desperate and hopeless expression.  There is no glamour here. This is real life.

It’s fascinating that by just walking down the stairs, the ambience immediately sharply turned 180 degrees.  I made my way down into what looked like a cave that was filled with Katy’s beautiful, detailed, colorful, powerful, flirty and fun collection-just the opposite of the art upstairs.  It was like going from hell to heaven.  But the cave didn’t look like a typical heaven; the walls were old brick and cement blocks with graffiti along the sides.  There were cantaloupe pink, white and lime green soft spotlights placed around the room and blues music filled the air and in fact magically connected the beautiful clothing with its harsh surrounding.  A rusty steel pipe outlined the bottom of the cave’s walls and the cement blocks in the center. Two mannequins were perched on opposing corners facing one another on the center blocks.  The rest of the mannequins were sporadically placed around the dungeon, all standing and some leaning on one another-arms and legs carefully arranged in varying gestures.  The mannequins were all eggshell white, no shoes, no wigs, no jewelry and it worked perfectly.  The clothes wore the mannequins, not the other way around.

There were 13 mannequins, mostly wearing tutu skirts that were literally an inch thick.  It was as if a flower had been slightly flattened to preserve its beauty.  The first three mannequins I came across each had a thin sheer cotton black tee shirt on top that looked like it had been stretched so much that it became see through. On the bottoms, the models shirts each had a thick panel of a waistband and then boom; they sprouted out layer upon layers of pink organza and electric midnight blue.  It was reminiscent of her previous collections’ Mexican references but this time the genius was in the width and length of the tutus. They were as wide as a marching band’s cymbal and just as thin.

Then I came across three models, all wearing heather and dark grey prints of 1950’s pin up cartoon-like women; some holding handcuffs and one resting on a chair with her shirt half unbuttoned and wearing platform high heel shoes. I was being attacked by hundreds of little Betty Pages all over the place.  This was the most creative and innovative way of making a 50’s passé print de rigueur.  These 1950’s pin-up women were the only prints in the show and that was a smart decision.  They were fantastic, I couldn’t help looking at each and every angle of the dress, crouching on the floor with my face literally inches away from the material  in order to make out each delicious detail of the characters-I felt like I was reading an old ad from a women’s magazine or a 1940’s or 1950’s cartoon strip.  The dresses were v neck and bustier and had a thin grey ribbon wrapped around the torso from top to bottom that created the illusion of an even skinnier waistline-I felt like I could wrap my hands around the waist having every finger touching.  These women had curves; even though their waistline was only an inch thick, the silhouette was certainly hourglass-very rare yet incredibly refreshing.

I then came across a mannequin dressed all in black. She wore a transparent gauzy like turtleneck, a sharply tailored cropped leather jacket with pinched feminine shoulders and a black leather and organza ballerina tutu.  The top of the high waisted skirt was solid black leather from the torso to the top the legs, and then, like a low slung mermaid tail, the bottom exploded into black organza ruffled layer upon ruffled layer.  I couldn’t help but touch it.  It was rock and roll with a mix of poodle skirt –an excellent recipe for a hip and chic wardrobe staple.

My favorite look of the night was placed toward the back of the cave, a royal electric blue and midnight precious chubby(titled by Katy herself -aka vest) paired with a blue flattened flower skirt with black lace overlay.  The top was so striking, the mannequin’s head looked like the bud of a flower and the ruffles, layers, and rushing of the fabric around the head and torso mimicked May’s famous flower petals freshly in bloom-it was midnight blue sprouting in a manic, marvelous, madness.   Although this outfit was displayed downstairs below the gallery, it could just as easily have been in an exhibit of its own. It was no different from fine art and master craftsmanship.  Dare I say couture? Perhaps, because it looked as if many laborious hours went into the placing and construction of each petal.  Katy’s creative curiosity guided her to her to a masterful manipulation of dimension and architecture.-the key to this collection’s success. She clearly looked outside the box.

After I had reached my last mannequin, I sneaked my way through the crowd, determined to meet Katy, who I spotted on the top floor.  She was incredibly charming and she generously shared a few spare moments with me to extrapolate on her inspiration and philosophy behind the collection.  According to her, the skirts which were the highlight of the night, later she dubbed them the “new jean.”She explained that “everyone is getting tired of always wearing everything with jeans,” and so her solution is her scrunched up inch thin hula-hoop wide skirt.  “Because it is so short, I think of it like an accessory.  You can throw on any pairs of heels, a tee-shirt or sweater and just look put together;”thereby replacing the jean zeitgeist phenomenon.  I quite liked her solution.  This certainly is the season of the skirt for her and I agree.   I’m over the jeans with everything solution; I think I’ll stick to the micro mini pancake poodle skirt from now on.
I hope you enjoyed Fashion Week as much as I did, stay tuned for details of the New York shows I missed and in depth coverage of the upcoming shows in London, Paris and Milan. Stay tuned for more fashion show news flashes…

As I walked into the studio’s double doors and gave my name, I was standing directly across from the point of a black triangle painted on the floor that was used for a platform for the models to stand and pose on.  At each point and along the sides, 14 models were standing, slowly moving from back to front and then ordered to another spot.  They looked like chess players moving along the checked floor.  The models all had shoes with red soles – which only meant one thing, they were Christian Louboutin, but they were all different colors (which caught me off guard at first). As my eye traced the corners of the black triangle, I came across a pair of sporty white laced sneakers creeping in and out and knew it could only  be one person – Michael himself. He stood along the line for pictures and interviews and playfully kept checking in with the models and his co-workers.  As I scanned the collection, one of the looks caught my attention immediately; however, I could not find it on the line sheet that had been passed out. Who better than to ask the designer himself? Dare I? Yes I did. He looked down the list using his finger to point out my favorite look, number 15 (which I will go into detail later).  I was shocked, we had never met but we double air-kissed and he was adorable and warm as can be – Mental Note: DESIGNERS NEVER DO THIS!  Most are incognito or backstage and want nothing to do with you. I guess this means that Michael really is an Angel.

Anyhow, back to the clothing. Everything was sharply tailored, paneled towards the center of the torso like a center of a star or flower bud whose petals had just begun to bloom (also known as inverted pleating) on his jackets, dresses, waistcoats, and low-slung skirts.  His colors were based around black and hot pink, with some heather and charcoal gray in mostly stretch wool, jersey, felt, and angora.  The most intricate, tantalizing and mesmerizing material and color appeared in the dresses, panels of waistcoats, lining of pants, and jacket sleeves.   It was a  silk chiffon that looked like a campfire or a sunset view of an eclipse.  It was yellow, orange and red, with smoky gray and white and black.  It resembled a kaleidoscope of colors, and each section look like mini squares that could have been digitally enhanced leaving what looked like an  explosive supernova.  Even the black wool and felt looked like they were swirling around in a black hole, facing up to and around the model’s neck and up to the moon, turning back around up, down, in, out and around the model’s body.

Back to look number 15: It was a black wool and felt dress with the center of the dress highlighted by the campfire silk chiffon,  and layered with a black felt sleeved cropped vest with Swarovski crystal detailing.  The back of the dress was solid black around the waist, and then from the princess inseam down, the kaleidoscope silk returned in the shape of a fallen leaf or serpent’s tail.  It was magnificent.

My second favorite look also used the same fire burning silk print on a dress which had front inserts of black felt on the sides and was straight black jersey in the shape of a square in back with small a golden zipper. The genius of the dress was truly in the back, outlining the solid jersey on the back, the printed silk crept its way around from the front to the sides of the back and naturally folded over, like the silhouette of  an open of unbuttoned jacket that had zippers on each side as well, and were styled hanging open . It looked like one dress from the front, and then in the back, a black dress with a sunburst color exploding coat to top it off.

I also enjoyed his kaleidoscope leggings which had black Swarovski crystals creating a cluster of sparkling midnight stars around the bottom of the leg. The same sparkling Swarovski stars appeared on the various black, grey and pink turtlenecks on the model’s chests.

The campfire-kaleidoscope of color, and the sharp structured Jane-Jetson-like shoulders felt like I was in flash-forward mode, transported into the future.   I felt like I was on another planet, another galaxy.  This was one trip I was not going to miss.  Beam me up Michael!

I walk up the to the help center at the tents and get escorted into the show, to my seat, center stage but second to last row in the back. I was so lucky to have a seat but I was nervous that I wouldn’t be able to describe the clothing in such detail for you so I put on my thinking cap and managed to snag a second row seat “fill in” for an empty seat. I was straight across from Kanye west and had clear view of my favorite fashion Editors, including Carine Roitfeld who looked as chic and sharp as a knife. There was one runway that made a circle like a racecar track but in this show, the models were on the catwalk three at a time, once the first model had hit the end, she walked through the center of the stage and walked up and down the other side. I quite liked it because it gave me more exposure to the clothing and more time to take notes.

The show consisted of short and knee-length coats with skinny legging pants underneath, dresses with bodysuits underneath, worn as a hood with a zipper down the bib of the front of the dress – making the two pieces look like one. There were also day and evening sharply cut skirt suits, and a mixture of party dresses, some silk crepe and chrameuse, and others knit and embroidered silk crepe. The palette was a musty smoke grey/green khaki with a dash of power suiting-black. The spotlight colors in the show were literally colors narciso labeled “highlighter pink” and highlighter yellow”. The colors reminded me of the 80’s; however he managed to weave them through his garments so they were not passé, but instead de rigueur.

His coats were all sharply tailored either to the hip or just below the knee and one in particular struck me immediately: it was a black and white enlarged camouflage printed silk shine coat with matching dress and skinny pants. The coat swung from left to right following the model’s swaggering hips and I couldn’t take my eyes off the outfit. After following that outfit for its second trip up the runway a new model stepped onto the runway wearing a black and white tweed jacket with the accessory of the season, the most fabulous black cloche that sat so low on the head that there were large oval holes cut out in the middle of the hat for the models to see. They reminded me a little bit of Darth Vader –perfect for the matching laser lightening colored dresses in the collection.

The jacquard platinum, back and bronze, and pewter silk dress made for the perfect cocktail party attire. The two that screamed out to the audience were the black cobwebbed layered lace over highlighter yellow and pink fitted dress with hemlines just above the knee. When I squinted I could make out the black embroidery and actual beading on them as well.

To top off the show, the last few pieces were dresses and skirts with bubble hems, but the focus was on the torso’s material, made out of onyx matte lurex in tank top v neck and crew necklines. Instantly I thought of Cat Woman. These final outfits would have been perfect for the Superheroes exhibit that just closed at the Costume Institute at the Met. Narciso engineered his magic by contrasting this shiny black spandex leotard with a light, flowing , girly bubblegum pink skirt. I don’t remember the 80’s looking this good and that goes the same for Darth Vader and Cat Woman!

Stay tuned for the juicy details form my shows tomorrow….

I made my way to 174 Ludlow street where Raquel was showing her collection when I came upon a tattoo shop with the same address and began to panic that I had left the correct address at home. I glanced right and there was Assembly with the same address and I sighed with relief. I walked into the showroom and asked for Raquel who had just stepped out but was helped by her friend who brought me to rack of tee shirts and tee shirt dresses.

The best way to explain the collection takes me back to when I was a little girl when my mom would read “The Very Hungry Caterpillar.” If I read this book today, looking at Raquel’s collection, the last thing I would do was doze off. The earthy and natural aspect of the collection further proved that this caterpillar had shed it’s skin and turned into the most beautiful and unique butterfly. Her deconstructed tee shirts and tee shirts dresses were just like butterflies. The color palette was sand, charcoal smoky grey, a burnt brown, off white and black.

The basic components of her collection were boat neck or crew neck tee-shirts, hand painted in horizontal stripes. The same striping in her basic silhouette was also apparent in the rest of her more complicated and deconstructed pieces. The front and center were shredded, cob-webbing like a long bib on the front of the shirt thereby making natural cowling and draping. I learned that the draping that happens creates a cowl with the drape slightly falling down the front of the shirt on a diagonal because the original fabric is milled in tubes. This is most interesting because most designer need to add fabric to drape and she does the opposite. My favorite pieces were in fact called the “butterfly silhouette” and they all looked like striped butterflies that had just spread out their glorious wings to fly.

Nature is never perfect, so each silhouette was slightly different, different frayed hemlines, armholes (mostly dipping very low), and most flatteringly. The technique was to make the front significantly shorter than the back and in this case it bubbled on both shoulders, falling down the back and then made its way back up the legs again toward the waistline. The wings (sleeves and arm holes) sprang out of deconstructed vintage tee shirts with strips of contrasting untouched cotton with the cobweb, cut-up, cheese-cloth like cotton that also continued along the sleeves and the tops of shoulders. The cobweb, balloon sleeves were as light and ethereal as angel wings. I wanted to slip one on and fly away.

My favorite piece from her collection was a spaghetti strap square neck purple smoky tank that also had the butterfly silhouette, but this time, executed differently. There was a double layering in the front because it was just like a normal tank top but when she put it on, the front and back layers played the role of wings and hung away from her body like cobwebs on either side of her , like beautiful layers and draping that hung below the second layer of the tee shirt and was low slung on each side. The deconstructed top was literally two in one but looked like two separate pieces-I was pleasantly confused at how complicated the deconstruction and detail was in the top but a the same time was sure of one thing, I loved it! It intrigued me and I politely whispered to Allegra, “I’d love this one in every color. It’s a must have!” Her dresses and tee shirt dresses in the butterfly silhouette shared the frayed shorter hem and in some cases came just below the chest like a sports bra and then long to the floor or the calf of your leg.

Allegra’s caterpillar turned into the most beautiful, natural and peaceful butterfly. Just try to catch her, no two butterflies are alike.

Stay tuned for more juicy details from my next stop of my fashion show extravaganza… 

I anxiously, but excitedly walked up and opened the heavy glass wooden door of Balthazar’s and took a quick look around the room before I asked the hostess if he was there yet.  Within an instantly, a bright light reflected off a perfectly polished and shaven q-ball head and I knew I had spotted him.  His skin and head looked as soft as newborn skin.”Shiseido” he explained, “It’s all Shiseido.”

His charismatic demeanor instantly put my nerves at ease.  He was friendly, funny, and genuine-he answered every question I had and told me answers to ones I hadn’t even thought of.  How did I get this opportunity meet the magician behind Westwood, Comme des Garcons, John Galliano, and just last night, the man who designed all of the hats in the Marc Jacobs show?  I asked him this very question and he gave a simple answer, “I like your writing!” I almost died.  I will never forget that compliment.

We talked about this history with hats and how he started and who he has collaborated with and I learned what I had already begun figuring out, that the key to making it in fashion is making connections with all different types of people, and you never know where or when it’s going to happen.  When Jones first met Galliano, they were just social friends at clubs and went out together at night and then one day Galliano saw one of Jones’s hats and he asked Jones if he would design some for him. “Not in your  lifetime, “Jones replied. Then he laughed and explained to me that “By the time you get to my age things come back to haunt you.”  But his denial of Galliano’s request did not last very long.  Instantly, Jones became Galliano’s right hand man for all of his collections.

We then spoke of  his upcoming exhibit at the V&A in London, Hats: An Anthology by Stephen Jones opening on 25th February 2009 and running through May 31st 2009.  It will be 1/3 hats from the V&A, 1/3 hats from Stephen and 1/3 hats from the Costume Institute at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.  I have been anticipating this exhibit since I had first read about it months ago in an international fashion magazine and wanted to hear all his input and juicy details…

(The exhibition will be arranged in four main themes – Inspiration looks at the myriad of sources including historicism, exoticism and the natural world; Creation explores the techniques, materials and processes; The Salon focuses on the buying and selling of hats and the millinery shop; and The Clients which will examine the wearing and etiquette of hats and will feature headgear worn by well known clients. www.stephenjonesmillinery.com).

He was just as excited as I was about the upcoming show and I learned from our discussion that he is also a writer, a modest one. However not only did he write the forward to the book for the V&A exhibit, he also wrote the introduction to each section.  (I should have known he was writer just by listening to him speak. When I asked what his favorite color was, he said a grayish purple, “just like the inside of a cloud.”  Could not have said it better myself.)  I told him that I was planning to buy the book and asked if I could send it to him and if it wouldn’t be too much trouble if he could sign it and send it back?  He was so generous and made me write down my address on his thick manila parchment notebook and said he would sign one and send it to me for free-What a treat!

We also spoke of his latest project making a fragrance in collaboration with Rei Kawakubo from Comme des Garcons, a very dear and old friend of his.  I asked him to describe it and he said, “It’s like a violet struck by a meteorite.”  The scent isn’t too flowery, just a hint of violet with a touch of Comme des Garcons’ trademark scent, a smoky musty undertone.  I am not a big perfume girl but after hearing about his one, I know that my curiosity will inevitably lead to me to the nearest beauty counter at my first free moment.

We also spoke of the color black, which I had asked him about because I had read that he said “I would never be caught dead in it.”  Incidentally, I never wear black but that’s because I am not a fan of it, I think it is the easy way out. Ironically, Stephen’s explanation was just the contrary, “to me black is sacred….I save it for the most special things.”  He goes on to say that he doesn’t like black in the winter but goes on to say that “there is nothing better than a little black linen dress on a tan woman in the summer.”  I teased him because he was wearing a black shirt and jacket and he joked, “Don’t torture me you only just met me” and laughed.

He was  texting in maniac mode on his phone towards the end because he had to get back to Marc, check out of his hotel room and then catch up with l’wren Scott all before catching his flight in a couple hours. We hugged goodbye and laughed.  This millinery magician had certainly put me under his spell. 

Check in later for my next shows and more details and interviews with top designers….