Sept. 18, 2009

Friday night, a fashionable crowd packed into the Hiding Gallery in Brooklyn to view “Selenite”, a presentation of emerging designers, Ann Yee and Pipertree Leather. With video art displayed in the lofty art space, the crowd enjoyed an evening capped with a runway show, while later, models mingling amongst the crowd, decked out in spring ‘10 designer wares by Ann Yee and jewelry by Pipertree Leather.

The twelve look presentation offered an adorable collection of ultra feminine, too-cool-for school fashion looks complemented with earth-like, leather & stone crafted jewelry. The organically feminine feeling was conveyed through such looks as the soft layered drapings of silk georgette and charmeuse in varying pastel shades, the petal like folds of silk shorts, and the ruffled edges of a billowing cape like sleeve on a silk romper. The soft pastel palette, contrasted with a neutral pale grey and a shot of magenta invited the viewer further into this feminine romp.

Favorites included the orange creamsicle silk dress with detachable back draping for the wearer to decide on dramatic effect, the pocket details on nearly every piece, and the cotton shirt dress with lapels that extended to the hem, with pleat stitches hidden in the racerback detail.

The jewelry, not to be outdone by the clothing, was modern with an old soul. The designer of Pipertree Leather, Alexandra Lauro, handcrafts each piece with earth-laden objects, such as stones, shells, lanyard, & leather to create objects reminiscent of talismans of old and that special piece of jewelry made as a child.

Favorites included a mollusk shell ring with various crystal-like stones jutting out from the surface of the shell and a necklace of flattened rocks, hinged by what seemed to be rope like leather surrounding each piece and the wearer’s neck.

Photos courtesy of Ann Yee

Tags: Ann Yee, Pipertree Leather, runway show, spring 2010.

Tom Scott, whose Fall 2009 presentation took place in a garment district storefront transformed into a mannequin-filled drycleaning studio, took a step further in his exploration of fashion presentation as conceptual installation for his Spring/Summer 2010 collection last Thursday.

Inspired by “’some of the old-fashioned things you can find in your grandmother’s house,’” Scott upped the Fashion Week ante by moving the location of his most recent presentation out of the garment district altogether, and into Room 710 at the historic Chelsea Hotel in Manhattan’s contemporary gallery center. The hybridization of art-fair theatrics with clothing design resulted in a environment with charms hard to resist.

In a fully-furnished apartment redolent with the spirit of mid-century domesticity (complete with pink tiled tub, overstuffed couch and an array of milky glass plates filled with sweets on the sideboard), models dressed in Scott’s collection played the roles of glamorous residents in the household vignettes staged in each room. The attention-grabbing detail, beautiful light and authentic tone of the presentation almost overshadowed the understated beauty of the clothes themselves.

Taking cues from the nudes of photographers Melanie Bonajo and Georges Tony Scott, the designer showed knit separates and dresses and in muted flesh and pastel palettes that draped on or exposed on the body in unexpected ways. Notable pieces included a jersey drape-back curtain dress and sheer drape pants.

Visit Tom Scott

All photos by The Totam

Tags: 2010 fashion week, Chelsea Hotel, knits, Spring Summer 2010, Tom Scott.

Vena Cava’s Spring 2010 presentation at Milk Studios was equal parts traditional runway show, presentation and happening as models came down the catwalk, then arranged themselves on steel workladders accompanied live by Brooklyn experimental indie duo The Fiery Furnaces.

The looks centered around clean silhouettes in acid wash prints in shades of grey, black and dark brown punched up with details like nylon mesh, laser cutouts and safety-pin trim.

Some of our favorite designs included an orange cupra jersey asymmetrical minidress with a black mesh strap inset, and a sleeveless, halter duster with a rolled collar worn over washed navy leather jeans. The duster’s print was inspired by Ndebele house paintings in South Africa.

Designers Lisa Mayock and Sophie Buhai cited the character of Maude Lebowski as an inspiration, reflected in the styling of their models (and in Mayock’s hair!) who sported matte purple lips, Robert Clergerie shoes, black sunglasses and mystery-woman visor hats.

Clockwise from top left: Patrick Robinson, The Fiery Furnaces, Julianne Moore as Maude Lebowski (photo: Merrick Morton), Lisa Mayock of Vena Cava

Visit: Vena Cava

All photos by The Totam except where credited.

Tags: 2010 Spring Fashion Week, Milk Studios, Vena Cava.

Organic's spring 2010 presentation

The dark recesses of the famed midtown steakhouse Keens hosted Organic’s spring 2010 presentation earlier today. The collection is designed by John Patrick and in just a handful of seasons, Patrick has created a label that has a strong voice as well as a CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund nomination under its belt.

Straight out of a scene from Louis Malle’s Pretty Baby, Organic’s troop of models lolled and lounged on a stage area and nearby leather banquettes while Shalom Harlow stood nearby at the century old bar in a crisp cotton suit. The girls were mesmerizing, with lush pin-curled hair (courtesy of hairstylist Odile Gilbert), matte red lips (by Gucci Westman) and holding stares (their own). The atmosphere as well as the clothes was highly addictive. Cotton seersucker was abundant and appeared as a casual blazer with rolled up sleeves (an Organic staple) and as a shawl-collared jacket complete with matching shorts. A Laura Ashley lilac floral print graced a 1940’s day dress silhouette finished with shoulder pads. Heavier fabrics were offset by a gorgeous sheer camp shirt in a washed silk chiffon cut splendidly with fuller sleeves. Sumptuous and sustainable, Patrick’s line goes entirely beyond the notion of the organic cotton t-shirt, producing a full collection of beautiful clothing that just happens to be good for the Earth as well.

Shalom Harlow at the bar

All images by the Totam

Visit Organic by John Patrick

Tags: 2010 fashion week, John Patrick, Organic, organic clothing.

Two looks from Kate Spade's new clothing line

“She packed her tote and hit the road,” the Joan Didion-esque caption reads next to one of the looks from Kate Spade’s new clothing collection. The wool A-line marigold shift worn under a boxy short sleeve jacket is part of a fashion time machine that is firmly parked in 1962, the year Kate Spade herself was born. Polka dots, sequins and scalloped lace are also abundant, adorning classic shapes which are paired with unexpected colors (lilac for fall?). Ironically for a brand which heralded the minimalist accessories movement in the early 90’s with boxy black nylon handbags, Kate Spade has evolved into one of the few labels that does color and print very precisely.

The Madeleine Dot Ruffle Placket Dress

Over the years the brand has slowly introduced a scattering of tops, dresses and coats to complement their wildly popular handbags and shoes, though this is definitely the largest and most thought out clothing collection so far. The looks are all very office appropriate, that is if people still dressed this way to go to work. The culture of contemporary work attire has somehow allowed for things like flip-flops to make their way into the office and Kate Spade is notably addressing this issue one ladylike trench coat at a time. A standout piece is the Bisous Stella Chubbie, a plush faux-fur jacket with a removable collar and three-quarter length sleeves.

Zooey Deschanel seems to be their unofficial muse (note the model’s bangs, blue eyes and quirky vintage style). Though avoid the literal vintage over-saturation and stick to one piece at a time. The look book’s suggestions are paired with dark denim, crisp white shirts, a smattering of costume jewelry (Kate Spade as well) and above all a sense of humor.

The Bisous Stella Chubbie

The Embellished Gail Dress worn under the Bisous Michelle Jacket

The Debora Peacoat worn over the Dot Maggie Top

Kate Spade clothing is available at Kate Spade.

Tags: 1960s, accessories, color, costume jewelry, faux-fur, Joan Didion, kate spade, minimalism, print, vintage-inspired, Zooey Deschanel.

The X-Girl catalog, winter of 1996

So few celebrity fashion lines are actually cool and wearable and the list of tacky brands thought up by famous folk (or their money-minded managers) could fill a small phone book. Do we really want to wear Lindsey Lohan designed leggings? Probably not. A high-waisted skirt thought up by Chloë Sevigny? Perhaps. A pre-cursor to these many lines was X-Girl, Kim Gordon of Sonic Youth’s casual streetwear line which was launched in 1994 (when Lindsay Lohan was eight). Gordon and her partner Daisy Von Furth were asked by their friends at XLarge to start a sister line and X-Girl was born. It was the summer of 1997 when I first visited the X-Girl store in NYC (later that year the label would be sold and moved to Japan) and one of my first boutique experiences. The store was a small whitewashed room on Lafayette Street across from the old XLarge store. By far the best part of visiting the boutique were the die-cut X-Girl stickers that were doled out for free with the Tron-inspired logo in a heap of shiny colors. I spent my two weeks in New York that summer snapping up every possible color each time I walked by the store.

Surprisingly the designs were very basic and wearable: slim-fitting boatneck tees, crewneck sweaters, cotton minis, all in two or three solid colors every season and most discreetly branded with the X-Girl logo patch. A gray raglan-sleeved mini dress could have been picked up at Uniqlo yesterday. It was the t-shirts though that were the main draw. Mike Mills, the graphic artist and filmmaker (director of Thumbsucker) designed many of the t-shirts and posters for sale every season. Silkscreened with a slew of cool monotone graphics (cameras, the Earth, birds) and always a punchy phrase, the tees were hard to come by and always sold out. A memorable graphic featured a crudely drawn horse smoking a cigar with “Good Luck” imprinted below.

Two of Mike Mills' X-Girl graphics

The aesthetic of X-Girl was influenced by skateboarding, the mod sixties, and downtown New York in the era of Larry Clark’s Kids. The then unknown Chloë Sevigny also served as a model for the first X-Girl catalog. Even the name was brilliant, with ‘girl’ having so many connotations at the time - X-Girl may have had a slight reference towards the Riot Grrrl movement but ultimately referred to a more cleaned up grrrl and with the coolest letter ‘x’ all but summing up the entire feeling of the brand with one letter. Gordon sold her shares to a Japanese company in 1997 and the brand shuttered in the US until a store briefly opened on the same patch of Lafayette Street but with none of its former élan. Fans of X-Girl can see Gordon’s designing talents once again with Mirror/Dash, a line which she has designed exclusively with Urban Outfitters. Elements of X-Girl can be found in a zip front mini-dress and a simple rolled cuff tee, though overall, fans of X-Girl will just have to relish the pieces they already own and watch the fashion show that started it all in 1994.

Tags: celebrity fashion lines, Chloe Sevigny, Daisy Von Furth, Kids, Kim Gordon, Larry Clark, Mike Mills, Mirror/Dash, New York, Sonic Youth, Urban Outfitters, X-Girl, XLarge.

Peter Lindbergh: Naomi, Linda, Tatjana, Christy and Cindy, British Vogue, Jan 1990.

If the 1990’s symbolized the end of the supermodel era, the forty years before that was a steady climb of pretty girls, each decade giving us a set of faces that served to define an era. Then the 2000’s made it abundantly clear that models were simply mannequins again, nameless girls, still beautiful, though none with the stature of a Cindy, a Christy or even an Amber.

The Model as Muse exhibit at the Met is a a beautifully organized history lesson of those names and their Vogue covers (support is provided through Condé Nast), illustrated also with the important fashion designs of each period from the 1950’s until today. The exhibit design feels very similar to a fashion version of It’s a Small World, with each room revealing a reconstructed decade through mannequins in various dress and pose, projections of films and videos starring models and loudly looped music reaffirming the Disney ride atmosphere. However kitschy, it is an immensely guilty pleasure to read about each model’s life (Jean Shrimpton actually graduated from a modeling school) and to watch an enlarged Freedom ‘90, George Michael’s seminal supermodel music video.

Left/ Irving Penn: Jean Patchett, B&W Vogue Cover, 1950. Right/ Carmen Dell'Orefice, Vogue Cover

The grand hallway leading into the exhibit recreates the famous 1955 Richard Avedon photograph of the model Dovima posing with elephants at a Paris circus; the actual photograph follows later down the hall. To have been a model in the ’50s, one had to have carriage, posture that was as physical as it was mental, an air of elegance and refinement. Hallmarked by Irving Penn’s luminous black and white photograph of model Jean Patchett and Avedon’s 1949 image of model Dorian Leigh, the 1950’s monochromatic-ness was soon to change.

Richard Avedon: Dorian Leigh, evening dress by Piguet, 1949. Gelatin silver print.

Leaving carriage far behind in the ’60s, modeling changed drastically. We are treated to a snippet of William Klein’s art house film about fashion, Qui êtes vous, Polly Maggoo? (Who are You, Polly Magoo?) where a heavily eyelashed Dorothy McGowan is fussed and hairsprayed in a stationary metal dress (an early rendering of fashion as immobility). The aluminum alloy dresses in the movie are center stage here in the 1960’s room, on rotating mannequins, along with Yves Saint Laurent’s Mondrian dress and Rudi Gernreich’s topless swimsuit. Subsequently, the ’70s-’90s explode with name brands and inflated modeling contracts, the dawn of Sports Illustrated and then grunge. Brooke Shields’ iconic Calvin Klein pose, photographer Peter Lindbergh’s supermodels in Chanel ballgowns and leather jackets. Then a strange thing happens at the end of the exhibition: the model disappears. Instead a glowing cabine of minimalist designs from Prada and Helmut Lang cap off the forty plus years that we have just seen.

The name of the show, Model as Muse hints at this complex relationship, whether it is between model and designer or model and photographer, however, never quite examines either working marriage completely. Fashion has always been regarded as that hollow medium, and this exhibit does little to discredit this notion. In showing movies about models or the fashion world, what is notably missing is Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up (1966), which highlighted the elongated limbs of model Veruschka and explicitly detailed the notorious relationship between photographer and model. These relationships are only hinted at here and never entirely dissected. What is fully illustrated though is that models are the paradigm of the values and movements of each time period; their faces, body types, pedigrees, and attitudes adjusting accordingly. The age old question of whether a model is merely a clothes hanger or a cultural icon was best addressed by model Lisa Fonssagrives-Penn in 1949. Quoted in a Time magazine article she stated, “It is always the dress, it is never, never the girl.” Though Naomi Campbell may heartily disagree, it seems nowadays the sentiment rings true again.

Model as Muse: Embodying Fashion through August 9, 2009 at the Met

Tags: Blow-Up, Chanel, Christy Turlington, Cindy Crawford, Dorian Leigh, Dorothy McGowan, fashion photography, George Michael, Irving Penn, Jean Patchett, Jean Shrimpton, Met, models, Naomi Campbell, Peter Lindbergh, Polly Magoo, Richard Avedon, supermodels, Veruschka, Vogue, William Klein.

John Rawlings

A blizzard like the one that has hit the northeast today is the perfect weather to channel thoughts of poolside cocktails and flirty swimsuits. Photographers Slim Aarons and John Rawlings captured the bathing Bettinas of the 1950’s and ’60s, lounging grandly in figure-hugging maillots, halter and bandeau bikinis, with a only a book and a great hat to finish the look.

Here we have found their modern counterparts:

Slim Aarons c. Getty Images / Retro Skirted One-Piece available at Victoria’s Secret

Slim Aarons c. Getty Images / Grand Haven Bandeau and Bottoms available at Anthropologie

Slim Aarons c. Getty Images / Lomellina Halter Top and Bottoms available at J. Crew

Slim Aarons c. Getty Images / Retro One-Piece available at Victoria’s Secret

Tags: bikini, blizzard, cocktails, John Rawlings, maillot, poolside, retro, Slim Aarons.

Images via WWD.com

New York Fashion Week brings with it every year unique collections that range from the bizarre to the clean-cut, but few have the distinction of including fabrics that were blessed by the Dalai Lama like at Ecco Domani Award winner Bodkin’s presentation. The show was hosted at the Horticultural Society, located on the thirteenth floor of an inconspicuous building on West 37th Street. The small space teemed with fashion editors, presumably friends of former Vogue writer and creator of Bodkin Eviana Hartman, who were all eagerly awaiting the newest collection from the eco-friendly line.

The Horticultural Society on West 37th Street

The low-key event had models standing on a runway displaying a total of twelve sustainably sourced looks. Great care was given to each piece, from the silks dyed with natural materials like blueberries which created the ethereal dresses to the handmade, sustainably-dyed leather and wood shoes worn by all the models. Catsuits in soft, organic fabrics were layered underneath tie-dyed dresses and oversized tunics. High-waisted skinny pants paired with loose-fitting tops and oversized jackets completed the collection. The casual aesthetic of the collection fills a niche that is often overlooked amidst the forced avant-garde sometimes expected at Fashion Week and many are looking forward to what is in the future for this innovative designer.

Previously: Bodkin in Escape from Bryant Park: Fashion Week’s Other Venues

Images by My Nguyen unless noted.

Tags: blessed, blueberries, Bodkin, Dalai Lama, eco-friendly, event, Eviana Hartman, Fashion Week, Horticultural Society, natural, new collection, New York, presentation, silk, sustainable fashion, Vogue, wood.

Conservative times call for conservative.. headdresses. Fashion week has turned out a new trend we can only describe as chaste-chic as numerous designers sent their models down the runway resembling nuns and monks and obscuring hair and ears by wrapping heads in costume-like hats and wraps. Ninja-like head coverings first appeared at threeASFOUR’s Saturday evening presentation and then mysteriously emerged again barrelling down the runway at Zero + Maria Cornejo’s Monday show. Matthew Ames‘ entire collection seemed to be a commentary on modesty and restraint by using enormous amounts of fabric to cover the models up as much as possible. Skin was hard to find as even wrists and ankles disappeared underneath billowing folds. Even Marc Jacobs whose show was about exuberance and color sent a model out in a large folded wool hat whose expanse resembled that of The Flying Nun’s.

Tags: chaste, Fashion Week, hats, head wraps, headdress, Marc Jacobs, Matthew Ames, monk, monochromatic, New York, ninja, nun, Runway, The Flying Nun, threeASFOUR, Zero + Maria Cornejo.