Recently in Fashion Week Category

Ms. Prada loves to examine our sentimentality about women and beauty, and in some respects this was her most assertive anti-fashion statement in awhile. Something about these clothes -- the matronly dresses, the classic cable-knits -- felt so outside current fashion and obsessions as to be but a distant squeal from a 60s fondue party. True, some of the outfits almost dared you to call them ugly. But the methods of examination have begun to feel dated.

Excerpt from "Prada: Old Dears" by Cathy Horyn, New York Times (speaking of the clothes at Prada's Milan runway show)

Chanel's show was on Tuesday.  They decked out the Grand Palais in a farm theme inspired by Marie Antoinette's Petit Hameau at Versailles.

Photo: Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

There is a good slide show of the looks at the New York Times, here.

Of course there were a lot of tweeds, that's pretty standard Chanel.  What I really did not like are the following:

Clogs (nearly every model in the show wore clogs), many with strange lace-up legs

Exaggerated Bell Shaped Skirts

Pink with lace

Crochet Looks

I guess I'm alone in this, the critics liked it.  The New York Times' Suzy Menkes says "...expressed such a fashion joie de vivre and a dizzying desire to buy".  And Cathy Horyn: "...was completely charming; the clothes were great, too".

NOW that the dust has settled on the spring fashion collections in New York, it is possible to sum up the news of the season in three simple looks: above-the-knee skirts, above-the-knee dresses and Spanx.

- excerpt from article, "Trend of the Season, in Brief" by Eric Wilson, New York Times

Fashion Week starts on Thursday, and it's also the night of Fashion's Night Out.  As I previously mentioned there are a bunch of cool events going on.  Here are a few more.

RSVP here: http://www.whoscoming.com/socialdiva/FNO.html

Every fashionista's favorite time of year is coming up - - Fashion Week. The New York shows are September 10 - 17.

You can preview the full schedule here.

Also during fashion week this year is Fashion's Night Out on Thurs. Sept. 10th.

Tons of special freebies, treats, meet the designer opportunities etc. will be going on at hundereds of stores accross the city.  You can view the participating stores here. Details of what each store is offering is explained...  looks like fun!

Shopbop is sponsoring a fashion week trip giveaway.  I live in the city, but I would still LOVE to win this.

I think it's so fun to stay at a hotel in your own city!  Enter here.  I went to a show at the Bryant Park tents only once, it was several years ago, and it was some obscure designer I had never heard of... but it was so fun and the goody bag had good goodies!!

Wow, this is a surprise, Lily Allen isn't known for her fashion sense, that's for sure.  But check out this wonderful little Chanel ensemble!

I am so jealous.  I want that dress, the bag and the jewelry!  I suppose they may have dressed her since she was there for the show at the Grand Palais.  Again, SO JEALOUS.  I would die to be able to go to the Chanel show.

Today is the end of NY Fashion Week.  It's pretty much over; there are just few more shows, the last one being Ralph Rucci at 2 pm.  There's a review in the Times today by Cathy Horyn "All Kidding Aside, Some Good Clothes".

It's a weird time for fashion, which can often be frivolous, but now is not a time for frivolity. Ms. Horyn reviews how the designers dealt with this.

She says "Designers haven't tempered their creativity so much as trained it like a spotlight on the things they are known for".

At Vera Wang - "Vera Wang has a thing for such abstract notions and textures that it occasionally lands her in a puddle of fabric. This was not one of those times. Her collection, shown Thursday to a pared down crowd of editors and retailers in her SoHo store, was very appealing -- well crafted, engaging and right for the moment."

Oscar de la Renta - His "collection was strong on suits, in gray and plum wool tweed and in a fuchsia and black diamond-patterned alpaca." ... "If the collection felt a bit stodgy and old hat -- or old hair, considering the models' stately heads -- it may be that Mr. de la Renta thinks his customers will buy cautiously, looking for replacement pieces".

Proenza Schouler - "McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler seemed to be thinking harder about the women they dress." "But while some of their proportions and layers were interesting, rounded skirts in nubby wool with scalloped hems looked clunky. That might have been the desired effect, but combined with the rest of the oversize layers -- well, you wonder if the lady has central heating."

Giorgio Armani is this week's guest blogger for the New York Times' "The Moment" section since he's here for his store opening and it's Fashion Week. He's posted 2 entries so far on Monday and Tuesday.

It's cool to get a glimpse into the life of someone like this.  But he does come off as a bit of a snob. About dining at Scott Conants' Scarpetta, he says "I liked the décor and the food was pretty good, but you know the service was a bit slow. I ate spaghetti con pomodoro and basilico -- and, here, I must interject something for your benefit. Americans overcook their pasta. Always. And there's too much sauce. Too much of everything! Please, try to control yourselves."  Geez.  Actually overcooked pasta is TOTALLY one of my pet peeves too, but it's not true that every single place in the U.S. overcooks the pasta.

And about going out to a club he says "I noticed that the crowd was dressed in a rather basic way. In Europe, the people you see at clubs are extremely beautiful to look at and are wearing very elegant clothes." Maybe it was a bad fashion night at Cielo, but it does seem that he is rather eager to castigate us boorish Americans. That's not very cool.

Today was the start of New York Fall 2009 Fashion Week.

Today's schedule included Yigal Azroiuel this morning at 11 am, afternoon highlights are BCBG and Nicole Miller.

The weekend's highlights include DKNY (not at the tents), Herve Leger by Max Azria and Diane Von Furstenberg. 

The party of the week just may be the Armani party at the new Fifth Avenue store (Fifth & 56th Street) on Tuesday night. The store is billed to be a "megaflagship" (as per WWD). It will house everything from his home collection to his signature lines (Giorgio Armani, Armani Collezioni, Emporio Armani, etc.) right down to his jeans label.

The New York Times had an article today, A New Home For Fashion Week, that says an announcement is expected very soon that the tents will be leaving Bryant Park for Lincoln Center starting in 2010. 

They've been at Bryant Park for 15 years.  The management of the Park has apparently wanted the shows to move since 2006 because they have become too large and interfere with public use of the park.

There are only a couple days left of Paris Fashion Week - it ends Sunday.  Somehow Paris Fashion Week seems way more cool than New York, to me, mostly because the shows are scattered about Paris. Many of them are at the Carrousel du Louvre, which serves much like the Tents at Bryant Park do for New York. But many are at other interesting places like the Espace Eiffel on the Quai Branly in the 7th or in the Tuileries gardens in the 1st or the Grand Palais in the 8th. You can see the full schedule at Mode a Paris' official site.  I would just die if I could go to a show, any one!!

I LOVE Paris, having studied there it feels like a place I know (very well) which is rare for a foreign city because most of us only can visit for a week or so.  You can get to know a city in that amount of time, but not "really" know it.  So anyway, for my ode to Paris, here are some of my favorite spots.

Stopping for a cafe creme on the Rue Soufflot in the Latin Quarter, you have the beautiful Pantheon looming on one side and my favorite gardens the Luxembourg Gardens down the street in the other direction. My absolute favorite place to buy a baguette is also right there, Boulangerie Moderne (16, rue des Fossés-Saint-Jacques).

Shopping around the Eglise de la Madelaine. I love the Habitat store (30, Boulevard des Capucines), Fauchon (30, Place Madeleine) and Hediard (21, Place Madeleine). Habitat is a home goods store by Terence Conran - back then I didn't even know who that was, but I loved the store! Fauchon and Hediard are both gourmet food shops that put Citarella and Eli's to shame. They're like food museums.

And very conveniently, Place de la Madeleine is very close to Place Vendome where the Ritz is. If you're not staying there you at least have to stop in for a cocktail! And of course Rue Saint-Honore is right there also, nice for just a walk and window shopping - or some serious ($$$) shopping!

I could just go on and on. I really love Place des Vosges in the Marais, the Parc Monceau in the 8th, a great little restaurant near the Eiffel Tower, La Fontaine de Mars, walking around the Saint-Germain-des-Prés quartier on the left bank, the Musee Guimet (asian art) in the 16th.....etc, etc, etc.  Wow, I really need to go to Paris!