DAY 7  Tory Burch, Anna Sui and the Wonder Girls!

10:04 a.m.  Just made it under the rope in time to witness Tory Burch’s presentation at The Salon in the tents at Bryant Park which officially ended at 10 o’clock.  The space is small and Tory has truckloads of tony friends.  So the venue was jammed.  TB had a colorful rich hippy look going on.  Didn’t expect that.  Past presentations have had a polished uptown look. But this was the big sweaters, colorful pants and sparkly leggings. (http://blog.toryburch.com/?cat=15)

Look mom, no sleeves. Kind of like what your bohemian, wild older sister might wear on the Upper East Side.  Fun.  And at TB, the Wonder Girls made their first appearance of the day.  I am told they are a South Korean pop group.  Okay, sorry, now I have to hear their music.
Fast Tube by Casper Wow.  Can’t beat that!  For some reason, I’m becoming obsessed with all things Korean, although, the cuisine doesn’t send me.

After a cold Starbucks Frapacino in a bottle in the Mercedes lounge, which has big white couches, I found Laura Linny hanging in the W lounge before the Kors show. She had on a light blue suit.  And they wanted to bring her out front, but she stayed as long as she could so as not to deal with the mobs of press up in her face.  The day before, Lee Radziwill accidentally walked into the W lounge backstage, which has futuristic airline-mod style this year.  She thought it was the door to a show, walked in.  And everyone inside was floored.  Living legend. Really, so unique and gorgeous and apparently, in Paris, she’ll just lounge around her apartment in leather pants and a little sweater. . WHAT STYLE!

Meanwhile, every season Michael Kors, comes up with a fun, tony theme.  One year it might be Italian Riviera, and he brings that kind of leggy glamour to the runway, the prints, the jewelry, the hairstyles, the attitude, another year, its the stars of the 70s look, and he’ll throw in cool jeans.   And he always has a big sign up backstage that gives the models directions to act the part, smile big, give the distant, haughty look…whatever.  I got to the front of the house late as they were just giving away my seat, but pretty blonde Kors flunky gave me a terrific option on the end of a row.  But I was sitting on my run of show list that usually tells you what the look of that show is.  Well, Kors had chamoi shirts, and did the pancho thing up and down.  And, all day long, I was guessing what the theme was.  To me, he was giving a kind of Colorado collegiate look, although, at the end, they played “You’re a native New Yorker.”  And, now, for the reveal:  Just found the list on my desk.  Okay, I wasn’t far afield.  He was doing American Sportswear wardrobe. . urban casual versus country lux.  The front row included Donald Trump and Melania, Michael Douglas, and Molly Sims.  And at the end, when they passed me, I was talking to Melania, and Mr. Trump, who has become friendly with me over the years, claimed that he only sleeps three hours a night.  I felt so much better, because I’d really thought that the late nights might be killing me.

Nanette LePore was the next show, next door.  Backstage, before the show, she mentioned that she and Bob, her husband, had been inspired by Pierro di Cosimo’s Portrait of Simonetta Vespucci, 1480 [http://janineflynn.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/piero_di_cosimo_simonetta.jpg]  Well, they win for most inspiring inspiration.  She did the hair up, and used velvets and renaissance prints.   And she still hit the pancho thing, and the really great sparkly numbers, and the sheer. But it was the renaissance styling inspiration that carried the show.  I was seated directly behind Abigail Breslin and Kelly Osbourne.  And AB’s mom was next to me, and I could just feel her cringing and Kelly told Abbie her antics from the night before. KO has fab spirit.

The next show had to be way over to the West side at Milk Studio.  Love that I was mentioned for my previous visit to Milk (http://myitthings.com/FashionWeek/Post/fashion/It-Thing/A-Supermodel-and-the-70s-at-Erin-Fetherston/) We not only had Neuro water on our seats at Jeremy Scott he had had a big bag folded up on every seat.  It was cloth with beautiful leather straps and printed images on it of little shinny plates with Scotts name on them.

Smart carry on.  And the generosity in this down economy–when the gift bag is practically an endangered species.  Cory Kennedy, also in the front row, told me she had never quite made it to bed the night before.  Her eyes did appear a bit rouge.  She was with Peaches Geldoff.  Kelly Cutrone, of Kell on Earth TV-show fame reps Scott, and there were cameras everywhere.  The show opened with a few models in body suits that had life-sized, black leather silhouettes of people attached to them at the belt. So the models were face to face with a second shadow person.  Even Fern looked impressed with this inventive madness.  One sweater had stripes that were actually just an enlarged bar code.  Some leather pants had big faux gems all over them, including on the rear.  One wondered how one could even sit comfortably, as the fake stones were so big.  And Scott did great velvet getups with shimmering crosses dangling all over them.  Yes, each moment was a clever trick, but the show was both consistent and fun.

Meanwhile, back at the tents, 3.1 Phillip Lim hit all the trends, but did it swelligantly.  Earlier in the day I heard Mr. Mickey of Paper fame telling a Japanese reporter that tan was in.  And she said, “But wasn’t that last year, too?”  Touché.  Lim did cool pancho skirts, and pancho shorts, and one shoulder pancho tops.  But he also did dreamy gray sweater dresses.

And there were sequins and brightly colored, big fur.  He hit all the notes, but he did it with fun and flair. He he told me later he was trying to do disco punk. But the man can’t seem to turn off the effortless glam. Damn.

Back downtown, oy, at the Chelsea Art Museum for Marchesa. Years ago, Marchesa had a runway show.  I recall The Duchess of York, and Mohamed Al-Fayed, Anna Wintour squeezed into the audience, cheek to cheek.  And there were problems with the sweep of the dresses, and there were stairs involved in the show.  And it was nearly impossible for some really important models, like Stella Tennant to walk. They were tripping all over the place.  Shortly thereafter, Marquesa began to do a presentation instead.

Now the models stand on boxes for an hour, while fashionistas walk through and rave about the orgasmic, museum quality creations of Georgina Chapman and her business parter, Karen Craig.  The dresses were created of the most ethereal tulle in dreamy colors, like confections.  They are fantasy gowns are out of a fairy tale you wished had been read to you as a child.

Nichole Richie came by in a little white number that looked oddly like a wedding dress, Estelle was enchanted, Beth Ostrosky, Howard’s wife told Harvey to tell Howard she wanted two.  Everyone was drooling.  The jewelry was a nod to American Arts and Crafts.  Karen Erikson, Mandy’s mom, who owns the showroom which provides Erikson Beamon jewelry, collaborated with Sui to create hippy-fabulous necklaces and more.

The show opened with a stylized Asian landscape. And Sui also hit a lot of fun, au current notes:  metalic Spray jacquard Anorak, a print metallic silk jacquard blouse, cocoa raccon fur collar.  Not so certain about the granny dresses that finished the show. Did I mention the Wonder Girls were in the front row! Oh, Lord, can we have another song.  They’ve toured with the Jonas brothers, by the way…

Strange how big fur is this season.  What happened to the whole green thing?  Brian Reyes showed fur mitts.  Really?  And June Ambrose, who has styled Rhianna, wore a big fur hat in the front row.  Reyes told me after the show he had been inspired by trees.  But that didn’t help make this quiet, beautifully-made collection grow on me.

After the fact I was told that his big beautiful backdrop got stuck in customs.  That likely sucked some of the life out of the show.  Bummer.  Just wonder if I’ll see the Wonder Girls again tomorrow?  Fingers so crossed.

Nobody Lyric:
Nan dareun sarameun sirheo niga animyeon sirheo
How can I be with another, I don’t want any other
Song writers Park, Jin Young; Rhee, Woo Seok

Posted under: Fashion

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