September 2006 Archives

Lesley at Fashiontribes rocks, she posted bloggers' reviews of every show. Does she ever sleep?

Girl A Whirl announced that Kate Moss, the most stylish chick in the world, is doing a line of clothes for TopShop? Where do we sign up?

Like'em or not, Style Bites tells us that celebs are here to stay at fashion shows.

Asthetics+Economics attends the most laid back show of fashion week - Vena Cava.

Have you seen the Gap commercial with Audrey Hepburn? Fashion Addict Diary read my mind. It's so awful, I want to cry.

Is winter coming already? I'm not ready for cold weather, I was born on a tropical island, I'm never ready for cold weather. For those not in denial, Fab Sugar has some cool winter boots.

Elke the Beauty newsletter found the answer to the lash-challenged.

eBeauty Daily featured a pink Tourmaline hair dryer - a portion of the proceeds goes toward breast cancer research. Good for my hair and for a good cause and pink? I am getting myself one of these. This is almost as good as if Ben & Jerry's ice cream made you skinny.

The Jewelry Weblog shows Michael Bruder jewelry designs for men, with men in mind. Do we really want men to be buying jewelry for themselves? Lucky for me, my husband won't wear anything flashy so you can try to corrupt him all you want (hey, more for me right?).

Ohhh, Beauty Addict has the best bath product - cake and bath all at once? Makes you clean and smell yummy!

Groovy Trashionista picks her faves from blogosphere.

Fashion maven Papierdoll shows us how to score major swag at Fashion Week. And we're not gonna lie, we're in it for the swag. Hook us up!

Lauren from Second City Style may never cross the Atlantic again after the garish showing of PUGH this week.

For you bag snobs who are also jewel snobs, here is the ultimate bag. edidi by Wendy Lau is a fabulous collection of jeweled bags (but not in the Judith Leiber old lady way!) handmade by master craftsmen and specialized technicians in New York using US patented production procedures. Every bag has an average of 2,000 diamond shaped crystals in addition to handwired semi-precious stones. What a great way bling out for special occasions! Contact edidi for stores.

I am going to be diplomatic here, cuz I do LOVE JPG for his whimsical sense of design and style. I own many of his gorgeous dresses and sharply cut jackets and think he's done a tremendous job hippifying Hermes since signing on as creative director. In fact, my favorite piece from him is a fitted trench coat dress from the spring '06 collection(shown below). It's the most fabulous staple a girl can have in her wardrobe. I wore it as an open trench coat with a turtleneck and jeans in New York last March and as a chic trench dress belted tightly with a big cuff to an art gallery opening in LA. I'm telling you, it's brilliant, he has completely revolutionized your father's boring trench coat. That said, it does not mean I want to buy a trench coat bag to match my favorite trench coat/dress. Look at this thing, I don't get it. What's the belt for? It looks so odd and out of place as there is nothing under it so it resembles those faceless mannequins at stores with only a torso and no legs (which by the way scares the hell out of my toddler son who hides behind me asking, "no face? no legs?" whenever he sees them). And the big button zipper pull is completely out of proportion. The fold over leather flaps have magnetic buttons to cover the long pocket which is kinda cool but it's so big and distracting to the simple lines of this potentially cute bag. My advice is to JPG is to lose the decorative belt, take the gigantic button zipper off, and trim the leather flaps to be more in proportion with the bag and you have a winner. $1295 at eLuxury.

Fashion Week is over and the anticipation and excitement and overload of goodness will have to wait another 2 weeks until Paris!!! And so for now..... back to bags! I've been excited about this little clutch from Fendi for a week now, it is so cute and interesting. All the little pleats add so much texture which is great for a small bag so it can be seen. Well, you know, other than rhinestones. This would be the perfect bag for daytime affairs that require dressing up, like special luncheons or showers. I'm always thrown off when someone wears something dainty and then slings a monster bag over her shoulder. It doesn't matter what fabulousness you're wearing girl, you just ruined it. Trust us, dressy daytime clutches are a necessity. Net A Porter sold out of this pretty quickly but we will give updates with other stores when available. There is a black version of this but there is way too much detail and randomly placed beading everywhere.

I am loving the influx of talented young Asian designers recently (and I'm not biased just cuz I'm Asian :). The favorites, Peter Som and Derek Lam, delivered strong collections with rave reviews. Their Park Avenue clients should find plenty to buy for luncheons and social galas next spring.

Peter Som

"I was thinking about pared-down luxury—not minimalism," the designer said. "My aim was to spin texture and tone with a light touch." Which he succeeded with this to die for collection of light palette colors ranging from dove gray to buttercream with shots of navy for evening. I love the juxtaposition of the floaty frocks mixed with jackets in jaquard and burlap fabrics, it gave the collection more depth and texture while retaining the lightness he strove for. Can I also say how cute Peter is with his cherub face and sweet smile?

Clockwise from top left: Carker blue mock croc $1006/Carker black patent $987/Prague clutch in light bronze $460/ Perroz in bronze $1120 (all prices in approximate USD)

Designer Anya Hindmarch (named after two cool streets in London) and her line of classic bags, shoes, and well tailored clothes have been sought after by style-philes worldwide since the first bag she designed for British Bazaar in 1991. I used to shop at her boutique on Robertson(one of four in the US) often when I lived in LA and would always score sumptuous sweaters and cute shoes. One of our favorite readers, furlagirl, recently acquired a fabulous mock croc Carker which she absolutely adores. The structured top handle Carker bag has clean lines and no fuss details, which makes it an instant classic. She knew her choice was right on when the editor of an esteemed publication assured her it was a very worthy investment. Classics are always a smart choice, timeless chic never goes out of style! Select styles at net-a-porter. Check Anya Hindmarch for a location near you.

Dear Bag Snob,

Love,
Stella Benett

Left- Marc Jacobs stam bag $1275 Right- Miu Miu coffer bag $1445

Dearest Stella,

Love,
The Bag Snob

In light of recent events - in particular, at the most recent New York Fashion
Shows for Spring 2007 - we feel it is in our best interest to dissolve our
relationship with Coutorture. We wish you the best of luck.

signed,

Aesthetics & Economics
Beauty Addict
Blogdorf Goodman
Ebeautydaily
Fashiontribes
Girlawhirl
Jewelry and Beading
The Jewelry Weblog
Nailtechsecrets
Second City Style
Style Bites
Trashionista
The Bag Snob
The Beauty Newsletter

So after a whole week of fashion reviews, you bag snobs out there must be craving bags so here is a rundown, with detailed love it or hate it chatter to come. Big bags are here to stay, along with the big belts. We are seeing metallic for Spring, which makes us happy because honestly, who doesn’t love shiny things?

The most anticipated bag designer of course is Marc Jacobs. We were harsh on him but he is good at coming back with what works, which makes it boring for us cuz now we have nothing new to say, but good for buyers who won’t have to use their brains. Yes, more quilted Chanel style chain bags. This cream with larger quilting will be something we will be seeing a lot of. He also had some largely embellished bags, which are super fab, but didn't Prada do that a while back? We do love the chunky blocky with giant flower accessories on the runway.

We are quite pleased with Oscar de la Renta’s relaxed tote. The blue is truly to die for and it is going to make me buy an entire closet of ice blue for Spring. This tote isn’t quite slouchy which we are tired of, the structured handles gives it the polish Snob girls look for. If the New York Times say designers are describing this season's look as “collapsed”, then I would call this the “collapsed” Birkin.

Michael Kors’ collection is not what critics are used to but I like it. Why can't he change it up a little? He's got a TV career now - he doesn't have all that time to tailor suits. It’s very 80’s; off the shoulder, layers, he still likes the leggings which I’m concerned about, but there were a few dresses that were cute enough to warrant an overall love it review. As for his bags, I’m only mentioning it because these are the kind of bags that everyone will be using but nobody talks about. It’s utilitarian with enough style to make it through the day, which says a lot if you are a regular person who just needs to carry stuff around.

I will start off by saying, the entire collection is not so bad but I have a huge problem with a few things that came down the runway. First of all, this layered mess reminds me of those mall stores in the 80's called Units, you know the solid color "modular" one size fits all knits that you mix and match in layers to create your own style and you wear the whole thing over black leggings. This picture is not a good representation of the kind of crazy tank dress over short sleeve T over long sleeve T - all in different colors - with yet another color sash that you tie all around you with a big knot, that was all the rage. If you don't remember, thank Marc for bringing it back.

Left: Marc Jacobs Spring 2007 Right: Phillip Lim Fall 2006

This ruffled tunic is super cute, only one problem - Phillip Lim already did it last season. Sorry, Marc. I was only kidding when I said you were going to cringe with insecurity seeing Phillip Lim's line, I didn't actually think you were already knocking off his stuff. Shame shame.