Backstage at Donna Karan

Donna Karan's 30th anniversary collection down on Wall Street for Fall 2014.

New York, New York…

~From the New York Fashion Week Archive~

The city pulsed in every beat at the 30th anniversary Donna Karan show. And why shouldn’t it? New York City has always been the heart of Donna Karan’s work, and this season it serves as the main inspiration. Set in a building along the New York Stock Exchange, the city’s ceaseless motion, glistening lights, and sleek skyline were all captured in the simply luxurious pieces that came down the runway.

These pieces only further served what we all already know – that Donna Karan may be inspired by the city, but she designs for the women in it. “Thirty years later, I see style as an evolution, a unique reflection of who you are, where you’ve been and where you are going,” she said.

In New York City or out of it, we’ll be going with you, Donna…congratulations on 30 wonderful years…

 Donna Karan's 30th anniversary collection down on Wall Street for Fall 2014. Donna Karan's 30th anniversary collection down on Wall Street for Fall 2014. Donna Karan's 30th anniversary collection down on Wall Street for Fall 2014. Continue reading “Backstage at Donna Karan”

Hampden Clothing

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Being in New York City, especially now that the studio is so close to SoHo, we are very aware of all the amazing boutiques the city has to offer…almost to the point of being overwhelmed!

I’d been putting off buying a garden wedding dress for months. I didn’t want to spend a day going from store to store, but I also wanted to have more of an experience buying such a special piece than sitting all alone in my PJ’s on a Saturday morning and ordering online. I think there is a time to buy something quickly online and then there is a time to make it an experience.

When I was down in Charleston with Tibi for their pre-fall runway show, we stopped in to the boutique Hampden Clothing where creator and owner Stacy Smallwood has turned an historic King Street storefront into a little curated slice of SoHo heaven. I walked in, I said I was looking for a garden party wedding dress, and in 15mins it was done. It felt like I was finding something insanely special without having to do all the work. They carried everything from Alexander Wang to Rag & Bone, Tibi to KENZO and more. It was fabulous.

So what’s the point of covering a store? The point is, Stacy brought New York fashion -avant garde silhouettes, crazy patterns and pieces so chic they look like something a princess would wear – into Charleston South Carolina, a town of 400,000 people, and never looked back. She doesn’t sell beach flip flops or mass-produced product that’s here today, gone tomorrow; she respects her customer’s intelligence, sophistication and style. She created a space where you can love fashion but not have to know anything about it and still be taken care of. She has wound back the clock to an era of shopping where the store was specially curated for you, where shopkeepers knew your name and what you liked, pulled for you from designers when she is on buying trips to New York or Paris, and makes sure you feel as good as you look. In a time where the Internet makes us all so anonymous, it’s a modern day luxury to have someone like Stacy who KNOWS you.

I sat down with Stacy in her store to hear how she created her own fashion universe in the middle of the South.

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How did you get into fashion?

I was recruited by Neiman Marcus at Vanderbilt to go straight into their buying program, and it was the best decision I ever made. I moved to Dallas and I was with Neiman Marcus for five years as an assistant buyer and designer in sportswear, and department manager in ladies shoes at the flagship store.

Why do you say it’s the best thing that ever happened to you?

It taught me a work ethic and gave me a bigger picture of the fashion industry that I wouldn’t have gotten. My buyer taught me to – she worked equally as hard if not harder, and she taught me to never ask anybody to do anything you wouldn’t do.

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NOVIS

NOVIS__01This week, we’ve been talking to the three winning designers of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award, exploring various fashion ideas from just hanging out with friends with Timo Weiland to the extremes of nature and knitwear with DEGEN.

All of these designers have been wonderful, but one of them captured our hearts right off the bat with her traditional silhouettes and re-interpreted vintage prints: Jordana Warmflash of NOVIS.

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What is your favorite piece that you’ve designed?

There are different aspects to each piece that I love. Right now I’m really into this blue coat that’s going to come out in fall 2014. It’s fairly simple but the fit is amazing…it’s a great piece.

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DEGEN

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Yesterday we had the chance to hang out with the designers behind Timo Weiland, and today we venture further into the world of knits with fellow Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award winner, Lindsay Degen of DEGEN.

Lindsay admitted to us that she was thrilled and surprised by the call that she had won, as her aesthetic is “kind of crazy”…working solely in knitwear, her past collections have explored and delved into various topics surrounding the body, ranging from cultural anxieties to microscopic views of DNA and bacteria.

Her presentation this season featured live knitters in addition to male and female models, Crocs, and LED lights as well as various new materials knitted into the funky pieces she is known for.

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To start off…how excited are you to be a winner of the Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation award?

I’m super excited about it. I thought there was no way I would ever get it, because – if you look at the list of designers, they’re all incredible well-known designers, and none of them really have a really crazy, out-there aesthetic. They all look different, but my line aesthetically doesn’t really fit in with the bunch. So I was super excited that they chose me, because it’s a real honor to be lumped in with those other designers. Additionally there’s only one other knitwear designer – Tom Scott – who has won it, and while he has mostly knitwear he also has some woven, so I was really glad to hold down the knitwear niche.

[The grant money] is allowing me to make a 20-foot interactive LED rainbow for my presentation. I really wanted to do it this season anyway, but it allowed me to do it in a less makeshift way. It looks so good, I can’t wait.

A 20 foot rainbow??

This collection, I’m introducing some bizarre things, including fishing line and reflective yarn…because I was inspired by all these materials I’d never used before, I was having all these moments of “Wow, I’ve never had these moments before, I never knew knitting could be like this.” I wanted the viewers to have a similar experience, but they wouldn’t have that by watching someone knit. I thought, “What makes people go wow, what are we amazed by as children?” And the answer was rainbows. It’s the craziest thing nature does.

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Jenny Packham

Jenny Packham's fall/winter 2014 collection at NYFW

Jenny Packham‘s Fall 2014 collection was inspired by Bianca Jagger, the dark-haired beauty and 1970s fashion muse. The show was full of sleek silhouettes, full-length skirts, and intricate beading all with a laid back attitude and hands-in-your-gown-pockets-ease. If last season Jenny took us frolicking through the countryside fields, this time our muse has gone to the city and she is looking for a great night out on the town…

Jenny Packham's fall/winter 2014 collection at NYFW

Jenny Packham's fall/winter 2014 collection at NYFW

Jenny Packham's fall/winter 2014 collection at NYFW

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Monique Lhuillier

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Monique Lhuillier always takes us on a enchanting, feminine adventure, but this season had a darker feel…like a forbidden romantic tryst at midnight; meeting a modern, glamorous woman in the alleyways of Paris…and you know how I love love in Paris

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Carolina Herrera

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Carolina Herrera 

Though the runway was filled with geometric shapes, funky prints, and fez-like headpieces, the feel was still of simple opulence. Fur-lined sleeves and delicate beaded embellishments took certain pieces to a whole new level of luxury. Carolina always has this amazing way of bringing classic, ladylike silhouettes into our modern day world. With this collection, which I loved so much, I felt as if I was transported into the world of a film heroine, a glamorous adventure where we ride in convertibles in Monaco and take private planes from work in Manhattan to our country estates…

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Jason Wu

New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection

Powerful and sleek, the Jason Wu woman doesn’t walk down the runway – she owns it.

In a muted palette of blacks, beiges, and burgundies, she is Katharine Hepburn meets Sharon Stone, she is 90s heroin chic meets CEOs. You watch as luxury is visually defined via the ripple of plum velvet over her legs as she walks right by you. She borrows her husband’s oversize coat and pairs it with her slinky, sexy second skin of a gown. You watch in awe as she passes by, head held high.

Whoever this woman is, you can’t afford her…because she’s above your paygrade.

New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection  New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection New York fashion designer Jason Wu shows his fall / winter 2014 collection

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Peter Som

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If you could marry elegant and sleek lines to quirky prints and bright colors, you’d be close to achieving the Peter Som look. But you’d still need his effortless California vibe and a dash of relaxed sophistication before you’d reach the perfect mix that is his signature.

While I had photographed some of Som’s pieces before, I loved the feeling evoked on the runway of laid-back luxury, like seeing behind the scenes at what the ladies-who-lunch wear when feeling casual and a little unconventional.

A designer who can make nonchalance this lavish makes me think of the iconic nature of Wes Anderson characters and well… that is just plain COOL.

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One Night Only

For one night only

On that night, we celebrated Giorgio Armani and his special relationship with the city of New York – one that spans several years of creativity, economy, and philanthropy.

In addition to the exhibition Eccentrico, to celebrate this great fashion legend models graced the catwalk  wearing pieces from the Giorgio Armani Privé collections running from 2005 to present day, fashion in the utmost of glamour. Hosted at SuperPier, which had been partially custom-designed just for the event, the show was breathtaking and such an inspiring reminder of the talent we were honoring.

Giorgio Armani said, “A great show presenting my Haute Couture collections to the American public for the first time is my way of saying thank you. I’m looking forward to spending a memorable evening surrounded by the many friends I have made there over the years.”

And what a wonderful night it was…

  

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