Can I please be you?

Backstage at the Victoria's Secret fashion show.

{jak & jil}

Chanel Cruise 2010: Backstage

{backstage photos via fashionologie}

The French say you get hungry when you’re eating, and I get inspired when I’m working. It’s my engine.

                                   - Karl Lagerfeld {via twitter}

Quote of the Week

{image via Abdul Lagerfield}

"A-dubs (a.k.a. Anna Wintour) gets a police escort from Extreme party to Versace show. She is the Obama of Milan."

-The Cut, NY Times Blog

I'm not going to lie...

I wanted to hate it.

{images via the Cut}

And yet.   I can't.  Because it's actually quite good.

A little boring, and certainly "borrowing" a lot from other designers (Roland Mouret anyone?), Victoria Beckham's Fall 2010 Collection was surprising better than expected.  She actually made the jump from Sweet Face and Lohan leggings to the Elizabeth and James successful side of celebrity fashion lines.   Perhaps the reason her sophomore collection was acclaimed over other celebrity "designers" is that she makes clothes you could actually see her wearing.  She features clean lines with beautiful seaming, slim figure flattering silhouettes, and recession-friendly colors that can easily fit in most women's wardrobes.

Oh Salvatore Ferragamo.. How do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...

1. You are consistently beautiful season after season.

2. You collections are flawlessly constructed, with clean lines, flattering color palettes, and figure-friendly silhouettes. 

3. You are never "trendy".

4. You use Italian craftsmanship.

5. Your accessories are to die for!

6. Your pieces are as perfect on a 50 year old as they are on a 20 something.

That about sums it up.

{Images via NY Mag}

P.S. This skirt is dying to live in my closet!!!

 

Dsquared2 Street Style

{images via NY Mag}

Can I mention how much I love this season's Dsquared2 collection?  Love, love, love.  I'm also really enjoying models coming down the runway as real women, with their Starbucks (future fashion sponsor?) and their magazines.  Love the juxtaposition of the evening dresses paired with the rugged outerwear.  Looks kind of like a walk-of-shame, no?

Academy of Art University Fashion Show

Designers: Heather Howard, Fashion Design, and Cat Janky, Textile Design

Models: Katie Fogarty and Olivka

Designers Heather Howard and Cat Janky collaborated to showcase an eco-friendly collection inspired by environmentalists John Muir and Theodore Roosevelt, paired with sometimes-macabre prints based on photographs of American life in the late 1800s.  Their bold new silhouette may be this seasons update to the trapeze dress, white the prints are very Dr. Zhivago-esque, no?

Designers: Emily Melville, Fashion Design and Ivanka Georgieva, Textile Design

Models: Chanel Iman, Anja Rubik, Edythe Hughes

In a collection that is anything but "student art", designers Emily Melville and Ivanka Georgieva, presented some of my favorite looks of the season, with prints inspired by the landscape paintings of artist Leslie Shows.  Incorporating fresh silhouettes and muted colors, this collection is innovative yet still remains completely wearable. 

Models: Anja Rubik, Karlie Kloss, Chanel Iman

Chanel Iman, Nia Long

Karlie Kloss

Chanel Iman

{AAU fashion show, The Tent, Bryant Park}

{Runway photos by Randy Brooke, Backstage photos by Dooley}

Best of Fashion Week

F/W 2010 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is underway, and so far it is a season of Recessionista chic, consisting of dark hues with the occasional jewel tones and safe silhouettes.    In the words of the great Michael Kors, I'm underwhelmed.   Where is the edge?  The avant-garde? The outright absurd?

With that being said, I did discover a few treasures that stood out in the sea of grey.  Here are my fashion week faves so far this season...

{left to right: Carlos Miele, Donna Karen, Matthew Williamson, Thakoon}

{Left to right: Elie Tahari, Jenni Kayne, Lela Rose, ThreeAsFour}

{Monique Lhuillier, Lela Rose, Erin Fetherston}