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| by Ellin Saltzman Day 2: Friday, September 6 What a beautiful morning. Time to wear a jacket and jeans. My favorite vintage Armani is perfect but the shoulders are deliciously round, making the hips look slimmer. Did I stand out as much as the ladies with the over-collagen fish lips at the shows? Speaking of which ... there was a famous lady at the Federer tennis match on Monday with fish lips, too! Why?
I am camping out at a diner on 14th and 9th as I write this. They are very pleasant and have a clean rest room, A rating, good bacon and eggs, and are nice enough to let me sit and work. It is called The Diner. PETER SOM The show was classy. KCD does a brilliant job. I had a front row seat as I had worked with Peter early on and he has memories. Thanks God. Adding to the classiness were the white rows of benches filled with ZOYA nail polish boxes and smart water under every seat. I was seated next to a Saks' buyer who is going through times of unease and unknowing; and Joe Zee, who is writing and doing and traveling and will have three columns out this weekend. |
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| The clothes were happy, clean, never boring, and colorful. I say colorful although white predominated. Of course, my favorite look was a white cotton jean jacket and caddy slouch pants, reminding me of Som at Blass or Michael, but this was not the meat of the collection. The best pieces were neoprene cobalt, white eyelet dresses and skirts and Bermudas. There were great blue and white wave prints, wrap dresses and sarong skirts, coats, jackets ... a classy with a twist group to wear from Spring thru Summer 2014. His shoes by Louboutin for him were either strappy with clunky heels or great oxfords in leopard. Which strangely worked. Bravo Peter. Bravo KCD. |
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Thank goodness I got my Nike fuel band replaced. I could no longer press the button to get the read-outs (steps, calories, time, fuel). If I had not been wearing it, I would have hailed a taxi to go from 9th Avenue and 14 Street to 82 Mercer Street for the JASON WU show.
JASON WU's collection was gilded and glamorous and sporty. He called it a "dialogue between construction and ease." He opened with a bias cut halter dress, gold embroidered; followed by a great beige cropped utility trench coat over a dove grey knit tank with a gold metallic embroidered bias cut chiffon skirt, which is a great tough and sexy look! While much of the collection was ivory, beige, pale grey, he also had a great group of navies and blacks. He used chiffon, tweed, silk gauze, suede, metallics. There were jump suits, caftans, pin tuck dresses, wrap skirts, short shorts. Many of the tops were tailored with back lace-up corset. Outstanding to me was the pale sage corset back jacket over Bermuda shorts for day and all the bias cut beaded chiffons for night, with Amanda in 41 (black satin motorcycle jacket over black satin bra, with bias cut ivory embroidered skirt). His handbags were great as well; clutches and weekenders. All I can say is Woo Woo Jason Wu! |
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| Day 3: Saturday, September 7 Confess to missing some shows but catching up on my thoughts and watching some tennis too!
2. JOE FRESH is another love. I was walking home from dinner Wednesday evening and Paul Sinclair, a long-time fashion friend, was taking Marjorie Gubelmann home. He introduced me to Joe. I was like a kid and kissed him and told him what a fan I was! Seriously ladies, if you go to Florida or a warm climate frequently over the winter, go to Joe Fresh first. They have the very best lightweight packable parkas. Brilliant. Buy at least one or three in lots of colors. This is not extravagant. They are probably $50 at the most! 3. REBECCA MINKOFF ... I forgot to mention the great looking back packs in yellow, red, black. Do not have to be worn as a back pack. 4. SHOWS that deserve mentioning: Band of Outsiders, BCBG, Rag and Bone. Hopefully I will be able to see next season. Just names to know. 5. NEW YORK TIMES reviews. I give up. They are so down. Cannot believe them. Designers need a break. So does business! 6. FORGOT to tell you. That collection called DESIGUAL was designed by a Monsieur LaCroix! They are not allowed to use his full name. No wonder it was so cute and colorful. So is Christian and so were all his designs. He is a joy and I personally miss his collections and his personality in my life. 7. MISSED three collections today that I regret not seeing: PRABAL GURUNG, whose presentation seemed tight and precise and clean and sophisticated. It had, for me, one big problem. Everything was way below the knees. Very 1950s. And thus I see it as aging. SON YUNG WAN. A small collection that looked to me like a knockout. Glorious gilded beaded dresses, dramatic bias cuts. I confess to being guilty of overlooking the invite and not putting it on my calendar. Sorry Deborah. Sorry Son Yung. I would like to meet you! ALEXANDER WANG. Modern fun and clean. Short skirts (mini cheerleaders), laser cut leathers and jumpers, and a great group of clothes in menswear blue and white or pink and white shirtings. 8. TREATED myself to a pedicure this afternoon. Three young 20-somethings (two men and their lady pal) all sat opposite me, also having pedis. I realize this is no longer just a lady thing. It was perfectly normal! But what really got me was the lady next to me and the 20-somethings opening up their mini iPads. All confessed to owning the larger one which I swear by ... but all carry around the mini! Ah ha ... guess who is buying one tomorrow in between shows at Lincoln Center? iPad mini here I come! |
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| Day 4: Sunday, September 8 When I fell asleep with late news on I swear they were telling me it was going to be rainy this morning! Well, aren't we lucky? No such thing. I also thought they said chilly so I dressed in my Sunday style: my favorite DL jeans and black Christopher Fisher cable sweater and Jodhpur boots. Wow, was I wrong! and I will tell you why after a bit of my meanderings.
I think he is fine and dandy in every way. 2 mugs of coffee and a hard boiled egg (yes I am trying once again to follow Dr. Dukan diet) and a nice leisurely shower and then to get organized. But OMG my iPhone was gone ... gone ... gone ... and I could not call it as I never used it as a phone! I just use it for mail and pictures and Words With Friends, thus had no idea of what the number was and no idea of where it was. One hour of panic and plans of how to attack ... I had searched and searched the two jacket pockets and the three different bags, purses, and clutches ... under the bed, in the fridge, in the bed, between the covers, in the closets ... it was gone! Heavy hearted I set off, realizing that my hoped for purchase of the mini iPad would be a negotiation for a replacement iPhone, number unknown. Hopped into a cab. Told him 475 Tenth Avenue (the Sean Kelly Studio) for the DEREK LAM show) hoping he could fly because we had 12 minutes to make it! He was wonderful and so was the Sunday traffic and he made it! He also got a very generous tip as when in his lucky passenger seat I felt the lining of my duffle bag and guess what ... under that lining lay my iPhone!!! So, Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'!
Cathy Horyn was in denim cut-offs with a white shirt and black jacket (her column in the New York Times style section today was good so I forgive her for Thursday's); Linda Wells, EIC of Allure, was in a sheer white shirt, black trousers and black bra. Not sure how I feel about that black bra, but I love her. Nina Garcia was in a white-dotted sweater and black trousers wearing her Google Glass and laughing about them. Two other very young daddy long-legged ladies with 4.5 inch heels were wearing white oversized men's shirts and short, short shorts and looked divine ... but they were young, young, young and I think assistants as they were second rowers! DEREK LAM Another super KCD production. I know I rave about them all the time but they deserve the highest praise. I wish they were running the whole Fashion Week organization. They get it!!!! The show had 30 pieces. It was clean and neat. It was clear checked plaids in black and white, white leather, white poplin, white lace (that did not look like lace), navy, and yellow. It was, in this season for Spring Summer 2014, one of the few collections that had a "spring coat or topper." |
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| Derek also had sleeves on many of his clothes for all those women of a certain age who say, "I won't wear sleeveless," and then ask me where to get clothes with sleeves. May I present Derek Lam! Bravo Derek for providing clothes for all ages, as long as the folks buying them feel confident and have kept in shape!!!! |
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| VICTORIA BECKHAM A collection I wish I had seen even though she is quite frankly not a designer, but a name. After looking at the pictures of her collection today I should have my mouth washed out with soap (do mothers still do that?) I was wrong. Her clothes are clean (the operative look this season ... yahoo!), neat, and happy. They are in white, in black, in black and white, and then in fuchsia or neon pink with white or with black or with black and white. Her lengths go from below knee, mid calf as in her finale pants to short mini kilts, with various stages in between. Congratulations Victoria! |
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| ALTUZARRA A name we should all know and a designer whose clothes we should all purchase! His firm was recently purchased by Kering (not to be confused with Keurig, my coffee maker!). It is either the Pinault organization or the Arnault one, newly named. Joseph Altuzarra's collection is beautiful. It is all based on striped men's shirting and simple shirt and skirt shapes with slits allowing for movement. Here, the below-the -knee lengths do not bother. They look right as you can see skin. Joseph has it right!!! Bravo to you for all great things. I hope to meet you as well! |
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| Click here for Ellin's Fashion Diary, Part 1 |
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Photographs by Giovanni Giannoni. | Contact DPC here. |