Text and Videos, Vivian Kelly
SHANGAI
This City served as a source of inspiration last season for society designer, Douglas Hannant. This season, designer Tadashi Shoji drew inspiration from past and present Shanghai to deliver a beautiful collection that stars such as Olivia Spencer, will continue to love and wear.
To read more and to view my backstage video interview, click here for the full story on my new URL.
Enjoy!
Text, Vivian Kelly and Laura Wood
Reported by Laura Wood – Thursday, Feb. 9, Milk Studios, NYC
This season the guys had a lot of prints [for them] using their eco-friendly airdye technology. The first look came out and I knew that I was at a Costello Tagliapietra and I felt that although the colors were strong, they would suit a lot of colorings. The plunging V-neck and flutter sleeve were easy-sexy and that’s what you go to C.T. for.
Look #5, the Costello Tagliapietra fall'12 Runway Show
Look #5 was an easy transitional reversible coat in chartreuse and orange, perfect for when you can’t just go out in your dress and meet even extend to chillier summer days.
Although some of the prints included editorial eye-popping colors, Laura loved the sophisticated print of look #8. The skillful construction minimizes what you want to hide and maximizes the curves you want to highlight.
Costello Tagliapietra Look # 8 The Perfect Dress
Costello Tagliapietra Look #9 - the Medieval Hooded Theme
In look #9 they address the hooded theme of the season. After looking at this coat, we can’t wait to throw-away our hats. The hoods are reminiscent of the ones people wore in Medieval Times which were a hooded cloak, not to be mistaken with a sweat shirt hoodie.
Although Vivian loved the skinny pants we agreed that #15, the high waist park pleated trouser is a necessary wardrobe staple whether you’re a size 2 or 12.
Costello Tagliapietra Look #15 The Essential Bark Pant
They offered five evening gowns, and our favorite was look #26 – a lavender sheath with beautiful draping and just enough sheen to be glamorous without being overdone.
Costello Gown Look #26, Our Favorite Evening Option From The fall '12 Collection
Bravo Costello Tagliapietra! You did it again.
STORY, Anthony Palermo
Preface,by Vivian Kelly
I’ve always admired gorgeous women with long blonde locks since I was 5 years old, starting with Goldilocks and later, Princess Aurora, Farrah Fawcett Majors, Marilyn Monroe and more recently, Blake Lively and Maria Sharapova. Family friend, William, then a Dutch University Student, and now a KLM pilot, jokingly showed me an image of Maria Sharapova on his iphone, casually calling her “my girlfriend” and then laughing when I believed him – for a second.
Apparently, we weren’t the only ones to think Maria was something really special.
This season, at NYFW, Maria was front row at some of New York’s biggest shows. Below, Anthony Palermo, tells us how his ALS partner, Leonard Zagami, created some fresh looks for the gorgeous tennis star. I’ve featured the one she sported at the Marc Jacobs show.
And, now… here’s Anthony!
“Mercedes Benz Fashion week is always filled with fabulous people. These Fall RTW 2012 collections were more about the who’s who in the front row. One of our all time favorites , Maria Sharapova , knows how to make an entrance and cause a frenzy on the court, but the real commotion starts when she is spotted at all the hottest shows! Celebrity make up artist and friend of the AnthonyLeonard Salon , Andie Markoe -Byrne, teamed up with Leonard Zagami, Creative Director of ALS, to complete Maria ’s looks for the shows.
Read on as Leonard explains look 1 of the 3 looks he gave the grand slammer for this very fashionable NYC Week!
AT Marc Jacobs:
Maria , seen here with famed photographer Patrick Demarchelier and his wife Mia , had a slightly pinned back side part . “I used Super Shine Cream by Oribe to get a sleek look with out it being too overdone” says Zagami. ” I also used a Kent Brush ( for fine hair) to help smooth down fly-aways”. Maria usually parts her hair in the middle so this was a great change for her!
Text, Vivian Kelly and Laura Wood
This was the last show of the evening and we almost didn’t go but thanks to the ridiculous self-created chaos at Milk Studio we scrapped our plans to stay for Erickson Beamon, M. Patmos, and John Bartlett. Lucky for us, we’d gotten our interview with John early on – [thanks Ross from the Deborah Hughes team!].
We heard later from Tracy E. Hopkins of Everythingshewants.net that the only way she and her friends were able to stay inside until the 9:00p.m. doors open time was by convincing the security guys who were manning the Libertine show was to let them stay in the building thus avoiding the Studio54-esque lines that extended way past Jeffrey’s.
A cab ride later we entered one of our favorite venues, the ski lodge like atmosphere of the Bowery Hotel’s private party space complete with roaring fire, medieval tapestries, and moroccan tiled floor. The only fly in the ointment was that it was a cash bar but that was offset by the complimentary bobble water bottles.We even posed for them and the bobble is in our bags now at all times.
As far as the clothes – a pleasant surprise; the more we looked the more we liked. The first impression is how wonderfully the clothes fit with the atmosphere of the venue ie: a perfect presentation. On the way back to the Club, we reflected how these wonderfully constructed clothes would not have have fared as well on a traditional runway. These clothes needed to be examined close-up in order to fully appreciate the detail.
My Contributor, Laura Wood, and Ellen Sears, AAU Online Director of the Fashion School all loved and agreed we would wear the black knit sweater dress. This dress takes into account the idea of season-less dressing which is particularly relevant these days as the weather is so unpredictable. Paired with a a long sleeve top and with a coat, its good to go for a cold 30F day like today. It works just as well in 40-60 degree weather worn on its own with little ballet flats or high sandals.
There were several pieces with hoods for men and women that had were reminiscent of the hooded cloaks worn in Medieval times. A cloak seems like a fresh alternative to a coat. The most spectacular piece was two piece ensemble combined hard and soft. The breast plate-like shell top was intricately worked leather. The more you looked the more of the design you noticed, just as you would a finely carved sword handle. It may be highly “editorial” [translation - not for everyday] but we wanted it anyhow.
Last but not least, we stopped on the way out to admire the art house photogpraphs, especially the one of the fierce guy wearing a ball-gown skirt.
Note to Designers for next season – we’ll go to see anyone who shows here!
Samantha Pleet – a Brooklyn Family Affair- one to watch
Text, Laura Wood & Vivian Kelly
“When you put it [a SP dress] on, it drapes and conforms to your body. It’s all about the designs conforming to peoples’ bodies and working with their figures.”
- Designer Samantha Pleet -
We obtained the above quote after Laura attended Ms. Pleet’s s/s2012 NYFW event; a cross between a show and a presentation in a loft space. The models came out and posed on cubes for a while to be replaced by a new group for the crowd to study and snap some pics.
From a human-interest angle, we loved the “family affair” aspect of this collection. The designer’s Father enthusiastically greeted guests. It was obvious that this young designer has her Dad’s unconditional support. That, paired with the flowing champagne gave the whole thing a fun, bubbly upbeat vibe, which suits the clothes we saw to a T. The family theme goes further. Samantha’s husband designed the fabrics, all of these original prints are exclusive to the Samantha Pleet line. Our favorites were pieces that used the unique prints with traditional silhouettes.
The trompe d’oeil prints made the already small model’s waist look as if it were two inches wide in the “feather suit” – a stylish one piece maillot. Other favorite were the sleeveless fly away dress, immortal dress, shadow cape and the chronical blazer and novel shorts. The overall effect was eye-catching without being costume-y.
Shortly after NYFW, we walked the Capsule Trade Show and got to meet Samantha, who was showing the collection to an enthusiastic crowd of buyers. Despite the non-stop pace she’s been keeping over the past few months, she took some time out to talk to us one on one about her design aesthetic and unique fashions.
Click on the Video below to hear our interview.
For more information on this exciting new designer and her designs, visit her stylishly indie website, Samantha Pleet.
You say “Tomatoe” I say “Tomahto”. The same goes with the shoe brand name, SEBAGO. No matter which way you elect to pronounce it, Sebago is a great brand. Sometime during NYFW, I fell into a huge clothing rut – I no longer knew what I wanted to wear, and despite a stuffed walk-in closet at home, nothing looked right. As I sat in Robert Verdi’s Luxe Laboratory, looking at the Sebago display, the answer came to me- preppy dressing.
By this, I mean how we used to dress in the late Seventies in Middle School and at Greenwich High. There was a uniform and it transitioned me into my freshman year at Duke. The early Eighties were a throwback period to conservatism. Ronald Reagan had just been elected President, and it was good to look WASP, ie: subtly rich. At this same time, Lisa Birnbach’s Preppy Handbook came out and served as the how-to get the look of affluence.
Key to the look is the boat shoe and the penny loafer. Anyone in Middle School who didn’t have Dock or Top Siders was a social outcast. One had a rounded toe, the other a square toe, and either was acceptable, as long as they were by Sperry. Only those most tuned into fashion back then knew that the ORIGINAL boat shoe was actually manufactured by SEBAGO, in 1946. Friend, R. Scott French, fashion designer and co-owner of The Fashion List, was one of the few who KNEW. Little good this did him as his less enlightened Baltimore classmates kept insisting that his Sebago docks were “wrong” and their Sperrys were “right”.
Once at Duke, I swapped my topsiders for penny loafers in cordovan and wore them with jeans and some of my Mother’s tweed blazers and a prize Diana Vreeland red tweed blazer [with suede elbow patches]through fall and early winter.
Years later, I remembered my beloved topsiders and loafers while flipping through the September 2011 People’s Special Fashion Issue, with the blaring headline, “Kate’s Style Secrets!”. On p. 51 lay the answer to my “Whatever Do I Wear?” crisis. There, at the top of the page, were a pair of Sebago “Bala” mocassins, with an oily wax finish that looked great with Kate’s J Brand jeans and a simple button down shirt.
Years later, at the Luxe Lab, I learned from Tracee Yang, Harrison & Shriftman’s PR Rep, that today’s Sebagos are all hand made in the Dominican Republic. They’ve kept the original designs we love but they’ve added some great fashion twists, by collaborating with artists such as Stash, an innovator in urban design who exhibited alongside the late Keith Haring, when he was 17 years old. Since then, he’s added a commercial aspect to his work, by collaborating with Nike and A Bathing Ape. We loved his short moc/boot that laces up and has a bit of spatter treatment to toughen up this beloved preppy staple.
Another noteworthy collaboration is with the Filson, a “better outdoor clothing company” that was established in 1897 in Seattle, by C.C. Filson, a former railroad conductor. His fledgling outdoor clothing store took off thanks to the Great Klondike Gold Rush [1897-9].
Sebago has mixed Filson’s oil tint cloths with Sebago leathers, most notably in a ruggedly handsome bag that’s also very practical. The bags are available exclusively in Bloomingdales’ selected NYC, Santa Monica, LA, and 59th Street.
Sure to be an editorial success are the women’s collection with Kimmie Smith, who’s known for her “nuvo glam style”. She’s already done a small collection for fall that’s being well received, but lookout for the spring collection, which will be available online in February and March. You’ll have to wait until then to pickup her irresistible colorful docksides.
For now, if you’re a guy, or shopping for one, you’re in luck. There’s a nice assortment of styles at the Sebago popup store at Saks 5th Ave. on the 7th floor. The salesmen there couldn’t be nicer. Seeing I was near tears after slogging through the rain to discover Saks isn’t yet carrying the Plaza and Bala Sebagos I wanted, they directed me to East 34th Street. It was there, thanks to them, that I finally scored, at Orva Shoes, just like they said, at 34 West 34th Street.
Now, I just have to wait until late October, for my pair of “Balas” to come in. I’ve just put in my order for the first tall boot I’ve bought in years – the Saranac, which has a stylish tweed panel offsetting the rich light brown leather and a practical lug sole.
Text, Vivian Kelly and Laura Wood
One of the reasons we love Costello Tagliapietra is for their consistency. That may sound boring, but far from it. You know that when you go to one of Jeffrey and Robert’s shows you will see beautiful easy clothes in sumptuous fabrics that are meant for a woman, not a girl. That is not say that the clothes are by any means matronly. The designs are sexy but in subtle way, thanks to the fit. Take the flutter sleeve orange dress with a Japanese cherry blossom print on it.
Unlike so many things that hit the runway, you can see yourself wearing this. In fact, we we sat there watching and wondering, ”Why AREN’T we wearing these dresses right NOW? The dresses [ a favorite with Vogue] hit right above the knee, which is part of the new non-slut look – a backwash against an avalanche of short rompers that most real women can never wear unless they happen to enjoy being ridiculed.
Costello is known for their great dresses, but don’t ignore the few pants that they do offer. We’re in love with the orange cherry blossom wrap front top and matching loose pants. The pants are something new onto themselves – they’ve got the chicness of a capri and the comfort of a harem pant.
Yes, the prints are floral, but because the backdrop is muted, you could wear them in both summer AND fall. The collection has the added bonus of not being overtly spring or fall and works well for women who travel year-round in different climates. You can wear these pieces in New York in spring and in a Southern climate in the late fall months. Props to these designers for understanding that they are designing for real women who want great clothes but don’t want to switch-out their wardrobe and start from scratch each and every season.
Text, Vivian Kelly
It was early in the morning, mid-way through NYFW, and in the dash from our West 56th Street hotel to the Lincoln Center tents to go backstage for Callula Lillibelle, no time for some sorely needed coffee. The lobby at Lincoln Center was weirdly empty, but Neiman Marcus’ Fashion Director, Ken Downing was there, Starbucks in hand, and we stopped by to chat and to get a bead on what one of fashion’s sharpest forcasters thought of the New York s/s2012 season so far. I mentioned we were on our way to chat with William Calvert, backstage at Callula Lillibele.
“Is it Neiman’s?” Ken asked us as Mark [Behnke, of Fashion Tribes],whiled- away those few pleasant moments before hitting backstage.
Good question. I replied, “Hm, well there was a great coat I saw last time.”
“Honey, it takes more than one coat to be in Neiman Marcus” he joked. It struck me then, how hard his job is. I kept that question in mind a few minutes later, as I watched the models get into their looks and pose on the white backdrop backstage, presumably for the lookbook that would be in stores for spring.
I finally actually “met” the designer, William Calvert, after an aborted attempt to record our phone conversation a few months earlier, in which he told me that C.L. had a few winning silhouettes that worked well from size 2-12 and that he worked on tweaking the winning formula each season. I botched that interview, but this describes Callula’s mission – to make women look good and to as the French so aptly put it, “look comfortable in their skin”, and to be proud of their curves.
During our backstage interview, that took place in front of the scrim where the models were posting for the look book, William said “Callula Lillibelle is primarily a dress collection” and in answer to our other question, “it sells at Saks”. Unsurprisingly, the strongest looks were dresses such as the lemon/silver stretch tweed boatneck one that would look as good on a curvy woman as on the size zero models posing in the Box presentation.Best in show was the white “Penelope Cruz” – that had a beautiful wrap front bodice, that was both glamorous and practical.
While pointing to the models posing in front of him , he told us that he was inspired by strong curvy fashion icons such as Sofia Lauren, Penelope Cruz, Beyonce and Rihanna. Clients and fans include curvy ladies such as Oprah and Gayle King.
There were though, non-dress looks that stood-out, such as the right-on-trend pink jacquard jacket over an ivory dot lace tank and ivory pin dot slouchy shorts. It seems that grown women really WILL be wearing shorts to work, after all. Both looked great with a pair of chic Stuart Weitzman pumps.
To answer Ken’s question, ["Is it Neiman's?"], we concurred that Callula is a solid collection that is perfectly placed at Saks, rather than Neiman’s which houses cutting edge design and where shoppers go to find what they expect to see on the pages of US Vogue. The Neiman’s woman is one who counts fashion and her wardrobe in her top three life priorities. Neiman’s top customers have Ken on speed dial.
By contrast, Saks and Callula are more mellow in their approach to fashion. This brand offers an excellent fit and the fact that the designs do not vary radically from season to season is reassuring to women who want some style but who don’t want a whole new wardrobe each and every season. This collection fits her lifestyle, as while she enjoys her fashion, she doesn’t want [or need] it delivered at warp speed. She paces herself with easy to wear fashions such as Callula. Fashion and her wardrobe are important but rank lower on the priority list, and like Saks, there is a sense of decorum in her attitude. Despite the year-round throng of tourists and buzz, the Saks Fifth Avenue flagship continues to maintain the air of stately dignity when well-to-do ladies shopped there on their way to lunch and their choice of gloves was an important matter. Similarly, Callula also possesses that gracious sensibility but there’s no better way to experience it than to slip on one of William’s dresses and to see for yourself.
Text, Carey Reed Zamarriego
Images of Front Row and two Runway Looks, CRZ
Individual Runway Looks, from Vogue UK
“I think women should dress in a way that’s effortless but never lazy,” Amy Smilovic, the American designer behind the Tibi label has said. Naming the ladies of Charlie’s Angels as the epitome of chic style, Tibi strives to provide pieces that take the effort out of creating laidback, modern looks. A feat that’s easier said, than done. I know I toiled away in front of the mirror the morning of the show agonizing over my outfit and trying to piece together an effortless, yet contemporary. In the end, I settled on a billowy red and white striped tank, navy boyfriend cardigan, gray skinny jeans and black booties. However, when placed under the bright lights of the runway show, my cool, collected appearance quickly began to melt.
Diagonally across from me though, were three ladies who seemed to beam in the heat of the show lights and represented the crisp, effortless modern style of Tibi to a T.
Socialite and part-time reality TV star, Olivia Palermo sat flanked by a male companion on one side and TV actress Sophia Bush (One Tree Hill). On the other side of Bush was Emma Roberts, tween actress (Nancy Drew) Julia Roberts’ niece. Olivia looked fresh and classic in an oversized gauzy cream blouse, a skirt so short it disappeared when she was seated, and animal-print pumps. Sofia opted for a strapless rouge leather dress, paired with a python clutch and Emma was decked out in a deep shade of plum.
The show began with a series of shorts, pants and tops in cream and pale hues of pink, green and blue, exuding Tibi’s effortless chicness. Next, there were pops of color with mustard and outfits pairing royal blue and black. Different textiles played off one another, some more successful than others. I didn’t really care for the short-sleeved leather tops, which awkwardly flared out at the models’ waists. There were several textured pieces: an eyelet black ‘nude-illusions’ dress and shorts, and several dresses that looked like they had been pressed with prints. Well-constructed, wide legged trousers and long cargo skirts were paired with sleek, feminine tops and represented Smilovic’s desire that “a woman should dress in contradictions – youthful and sophisticated, masculine and feminine, bold and muted colors.”
The show closed with a series of tops, shorts; and my personal favorite, a strapless, pocketed genie jumpsuit, which all had the same delicate white Asian flower print atop an emerald green and black background. The look was possibly inspired by Smilovic’s time spent living in Hong Kong. My other favorites included a strapless dress in mustard and Tibi’s gauzy halter neck dresses in baby blue and cream, all of which would easily roll up and travel nicely in a bag to the island for a day on the beach and transition, with heels, for an evening out.
Trends for spring/summer:
Return to long, cargo-style skirts
Wide-legged trousers
Royal blue and black; mustard and cream; slate blue and blush
Trends for fall (as seen in the crowd):
60’s styles a-la Mad Men
70’s boho chic: large, floppy velvety hats, oversized clutches, bellbottoms and hair left long, wavy and parted in the center.
80’s preppie style a-la any John Hughes film from the time
To view the collection and for more information on the Tibi brand, visit www.tibi.com
If you’re in NYC, drop into their SoHo Location, at 120 Wooster Street, to browse.
Carey is the Editorial Director for (W)anderlust Writing. To see more of her work and current project, visit:
Text, Vivian Kelly
This collection’s floral theme was in evidence before the show even started. I had enough time pre-show to inspect the head of the runway, which usually just has the designer’s name and/or logo projected onto it. That’s basic but a bit ho-hum after about 10 shows, so it was refreshing to see the green sprig and floral backdrop, which had us thinking, “spring, flowers”.
From the preview, I already knew that the tulip was a focal point of inspiration, but the preview sketch didn’t prepare me for how beautiful the tie dye short sleeve bellskirted dresses would be and how the colors so closely mimicked the pigmentation of an actual tulip bloom.
This was the strongest grouping, but there was a lot more for both day and evening dressing that was also noteworthy. The multiple tiered chiffon and tulle dresses were simple, beautiful, and simply beautiful. Next came dresses in marigold yellow, carnation, peony pin and one sublime print – a kind of broken-up floral. Designers such as Shoji, Mara Hoffman and Custo Dalmau have been using these digitized prints for a while now to create prints that suggest a specific flower or object and make an interesting alternative to a straight-forward print. It’s no wonder that young stylish celebs such as Blake Lively wear Tadashi Shoji to events where they know they’ll be photographed from every possible angle and have to look perfect. I’d like to see her in this yellow one-shoulder dress.
Touches such as ruffled necklines that imitated crushed flowers further attested to the Mr. Shoji’s creative prowess and technical skills. There were one shoulder designs that were both pretty and refined and not the least bit Eighties retro. The designer departed from floral at the end and showed gown after gown in the season’s nude for evening, which demonstrated his shirring and draping technical skill, as they defined the models’ busts and waists in the most flattering way possible.
The finale floral gown though, took the cake. It was a combination of everything that was right with this collection: the floral print. draping, ruching, one-shoulder and flowing fabric that looked as light as air. Thanks to this collection, spring/summer 2012 NY is a season that I won’t be forgetting any time soon.
