Posts with tag FashionShows

So we were at Fashion Forward on November 10, 2008, loving the heck out of everything Betsey Johnson sent down the runway (as detailed in our Betsey Johnson Totally Blew Our Minds post), when this happened (above). WTF, Betsey? We didn't know you were such a big fan of Red Lobster.

Tim Gunn is hosting a fashion show called Fashion Forward to benefit the Gay Men's Health Crisis (GMHC). Could he get any lovelier? We love you, Tim Gunn.

Fashion Forward will take place Monday, November 10, from 7-10pm at Skylight Studios in New York City.

The fashion community has always been a champion of HIV and AIDS research and support. Fashion Forward's hosts will include Tim Gunn, Betsey Johnson, Derek Lam, Italo Zucchelli, John Bartlett, and Michael Kors, and the designers will be Ports 1961 by Tia Cibani, Michael Bastian, Betsey Johnson, Charles Nolan, and John Varvatos. That's quite a lineup!

You can purchase tickets to the event online here. General admission is $100.00, reserved seating is $250.00, and the VIP front row is a $500.00 ticket. Go if you have the cash, it's for a great cause and promises to be star-studded and fashion-fabulous!

We've all seen the art inspired abstract prints that are a key trend this summer. What we bet you didn't know was that the look is also an easy DIY project. Instead of shelling out a cool thousand for a D & G dress, why not do one just as fabulous yourself?

Here's what to arm yourself with:

If you've ever thought to yourself "Man that Obama... he is one foxy guy," then you and Donatella Versace are on the same page.

Loden Dager is one of New York's smoothest up-and-coming menswear labels. A collective of four friends who design as a group, the collection is all about being clean, wearable and realistic for regular dudes.

Yup, it's a simple formula of updating classic pieces for today's audience. Far from a cliché, the Loden Dager spin is absolutely fresh and approachable.

Loden Dager's presentations over New York Fashion Week have been more like fun parties rather than traditional catwalk events. Now they're taking the formula to Paris with a spring/summer 2009 presentation, July 3–4, with some help from the group's showroom, Opening Ceremony.

The third day of LA Fashion Week featured collections by Gregory Parkinson, Jenny Han, Christian Audigier, Dina Bar-El, Grey Ant and Whitley Kros.

My favorite show of the day was Dina Bar-El. Last year, Bar-El came under heavy criticism for using child models in her show, so as you might expect, the show was juvey-free this time around. I do have one gripe for Ms. Bar-El: what's up with all the white girls? Come on, Dina, get with the program.

However, if you can overlook her homogeneous choice in models, Bar-El's clothes were wonderful. Her evening wear was particularly stunning this time around. I loved the silk gowns in rich jewel tones and her plucky cocktail dresses with striking necklines. The simple makeup and sleek hair was also right on target.

My least favorite show was without question Christian Audigier's presentation. The catwalk/stage was set for high drama -- there was even moody lighting and music to match. To tell you the truth, I kind of think that the combination of the busy clothes and overwhelming set left me agitated. Consequently, I've got no love for the clothes either.

I wasn't sure what the designer was hoping to create. Some of the clothes had a 1920s Jazz Age feel -- flapper dresses, feather boas, cropped hair -- and I liked that part. However, some outfits looked like they were Jodie Foster's castoffs from the set of the movie Taxi Driver. Trust me, underage prostitute is not a good look. I also hated Audigier's makeup: red lips and dark eyes. Most models can't handle dramatic eyes and lips, and they end up looking like tweaked-out trannies.

Adding all of this up, if you can image an underage, tweaked-out trannie prostitute in a feather boa, you basically get Christian Audigier's Spring/Summer 08 collection. You can also check out the woman pictured at right.

We've picked out some of our favorites and our, well, least favorites for the Styledash LA Fashion Week Gallery. Let us know what you think.

Here are a few shots to check out:

Don't think that Fashion Week begins and ends in big European cities like London, Milan, and Paris. New York leads the United States, and I'd like to think that LA makes a respectable showing. There are Fashion Weeks popping up in San Francisco, Seattle, and Dallas. But is the owrld ready for Fashion Week straight out of Columbus, Ohio?!?

I wasn't aware that Columbus had a big enough pool of designers to put together a Fashion Week, but apparently they do since they just closed their first Fashion Week last night. According to a quick interview on a video at lifestlye site The Palestra, Columbus is "ripe breeding ground to start turning a cowtown into a metropolitan."

While I doubt that Columbus will ever reach the same level as New York, I certainly give them credit for their effort.

[via: Pink Rock Candy]

It looks like the Decade of the Dominatrix is back.

At least, according to some designers who showed at Milan Fashion Week, namely Dolce and Gabbana, now cutely termed "Dominatrix and Gabbana." The backdrop for the D&G runway show was a silver sex parlor that extended out into a mirrored catwalk. Models, who formed a "chain gang" were dressed is studded stiletto heels, leather dresses, chastity belts, and carried metallic whips.

According to some, the show "stepped near the edge of taste and the dark pit of decadence," and was "discomforting - even distasteful - to women that these creatures of darkest male fantasies should be high fashion role models."

I think it's kind of fierce.

First we visited New York, then peeked in on London, Milan, and Paris, and now, since some of us actually live here, we'll be galloping around the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Los Angeles at Smashbox Studios in Culver City. The week doesn't officially kick off until Sunday, October 15, but the festivities (yes, with all those pretty clothes and beautiful people, I call them "festivities") started gearing up this past week.

We'll keep you posted as we go along, and if you are going to be there, maybe we'll run into you!