DAY 2:  FASHIONWEEK.

Woke up hurting.  2 hours of sleep before day 1 and 5, day 2, hit me like a sack of wet cement.  Bleat of the alarm.  Throbbing fashion-tent-blasting-Gaga-music hangover. Yigal Azrouel was my first show at 11 am.

One used to get Billy Joel’s wife, Katie Lee in the front row, his former muse.  But that blew up last summer.  Her marriage went South. Gossips linked the two, so Katie is out (of the front row).  And Malin Ackerman, who was sooooooo great in Heartbreak Kid perked up the front row. Seriously perky blonde. She was a few seats down from Hal from In Style.  Love her.

Again, I had a seat in front row, on the other side.  And when I got there, there was this young guy in black tights and a big fur in my seat.  I had someone take care of it for me, but he wasn’t budging when they asked if it was his seat. Oy.  He had a great seat at Preen later, so he wasn’t a nobody.  He got up, finally.  The show itself had a few clunkers, but also, some really beautiful clothes.  Much of the mens stuff was as good as it gets, really cool, and oddball.  Long sweaters and tweeds with lots of unexpected shapes, really stud-like and funky, not an easy combo.  Very Yigal.  The women’s clothes were more challenging.  They were more evening, sophisticated, but a little project runway, in that very four or five dresses he sent out one that added little, and might have sent him home if there were judges.  Some of the guys pants hung funny in the back, but I think some of the models didn’t have rear ends, to be fair.  He’s also great with really skinny tall thin women like Katie.  And the gal next to me, a fashion editor screamed out that she loved him when he came out at the end. Really?  Not even, I love your collection. Sounded a bit needy.  I guess people think he’s really good looking.  Some of the so-so women’s stuff had sculptural tubing squiggling around the shoulders.  A bit like Urs Fischer, but too art school for moi.

Jason Wu showed true promise, on the other hand.  And all the big gun editors turned out for this pink carpet spectacular. It was down on 11th Avenue way by the water in this huge old space, that they whittled down into a pencil thin space, so all the editors were having trouble getting by the photogs.  Lots of  vomit pink carpet.  Anna Wintour, Suzie Menkes, Hilary Alexander (both on the verge of tears at the mere mention of the world McQueen).  The real deal fashionistas.

And Kerry Washington and Amanda Peet (is she pregnant? I’m starting to think everyone is preggers) The show itself was just very light and pretty and unique, but not difficult.  Little easy hanging dresses with art designs drawn on, one was like a little white bell on the model.  Everyone loved. Each dress was it’s own thing. One had ripped up shredded strips. Another was a big wedding dress of a gown at the end.  And when the clothes came back out, it looked like a lot of gals had put on Wu’s coats.  So that was kind of great, because it just looked so real to wear this elegant, light sheer long dress and a big coat.  They looked like cool girls, not trying.  And yes, Anna did the b-line right after for the door, but people were being supportive.  It is nice to have young appreciative talent, and not emerged, disgruntled designer.  He’s really sweet and young and lucky. A great fashion M(oment) Made the mistake of running down to Preen next.  They did the holes in dresses look again.  And then big shell coats, that were nice.  But it didn’t feel wonderfully creative, more like more of the same, but less pushing the limits than last show.  Just made one realize how rare someone like McQueen was, who could just go hog wild hit it just right every time out. HUUUUUUGE, painful Lossss to the whole globe and the history of fashion. Raced back up to Christian Siriano, but, something was very, very wrong with traffic, and I missed it at 3pm.  I guess the guards know me after all these years, because I walked right into the back of the house.  Caught bits of show on tv in W lounge.  Looked very finished and elegant, which is a big right step in the right direction for CS.  After show, I hung with Mena Suvari and her fiancé, they are the cutest couple I know.  I think I have a crush on them. And she is so nice. We were talking about Virginia Beach. I guess she has relatives there, and my rents used to have a place on the beach.   We were in the Mercedes lounge, backstage and there are comfortable couches, and they are so cute and nice, I just didn’t want to leave.  And lastly, at 7 PM, Naomi Campbell and Duchess of York did a show to raise funds for Haiti.

I arrived at around 6:30 and cute little brunette ahead of me, stopping and chatting with everyone was Victoria Beckham! Backstage at Naomi’s show, I saw Karen Elson—so gorgeous.  And then  I just zipped over to Charlotte Ronson’s to say hi, and who is in the back corner getting her makeup done, but Naomi Campbell and Donna Karen.  Patti Cohen, Donna’s fab right hand woman was there, too. And the handlers fell out of their chairs when Naomi saw me standing there like a deer in headlights at the end of the row of porta potties.  She waved me to come over.  And, sadly, Naomi seemed really fragile.  And the handler next to her asked who I was, and Naomi, who was having her makup done, couldn’t see terribly well, but patted me and said, “He’s okay.  He’s okay.”  I think she thought she was patting me on my hip or something, but, hilariously, the hand was reaching out to the crotch, not the hip.  So Naomi was nudging my junk.  I mean, it was my biggest moment backstage since Kate Moss whipped off her clothes while I was standing right next to her.   She is so sweet, Naomi, and it was so sad to see her hurting.  One can assume it was the loss of her closepal McQueen.  I mean, Haiti was on her mind, but she told me she hasn’t even been to Haiti.  I, by the way, have been to Haiti twice.  And is a sensational, sensational country… I stayed in the Grand Hotel Oloffson in the Lady Antonia Frazier room.  And when I told her daughter, Natasha that, she quipped, “I hope they’d changed the sheets.”

Charlotte’s show—love her easy fashion–was a family affair.   Mom, Anne Jones was in the front row loaded up with her own jewelry that she now designs.  Samantha was spinning.  Annabelle was the first model.  And step brother Alexander Dexter Jones, who looks more and more like Mark Ronson, was sitting next to  Anne in the front row.  At other shows, the models show up in great looks, and then change into something nuts that most people might wear one evening out of every six months. Whereas at Charlottes, the models change into the clothes and look like they’re wearing their own coolest clothes.

She just has this innate knack for nailing that look, the way, Kimora Lee Simmons does hoochimama to perfection.  Charlotte does clothes that could likely make anyone look like a young rich spoiled hipster trying to dress down just a bit.  Peaches Geldoff was in the house. .. Mick Rock and his young daughter, who tried to take my seat.  Need I say more?

Posted under: Fashion

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 13th, 2010 at 7:07 am. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.