#TBT NYFW SS17

Honest hour: The month of September was horrible for me. Not sure if it was mercury in retrograde (or what that means), an overwhelming sense of being 10 steps behind on literally everything, or if my beloved Ferocious the cat was diagnosted with a terminal illness. One highlight: #NYFW SS17 shows and presentations. The week is always hectic, but it reminded me what I do what I do in the first place: this stuff is dope. 

Entrance to the New York Fashion Week Shows, held at Lincoln Center.

Inside New York Fashion Week.

Stunning gold gown by Oday Shakar, from his Fashion Week debut.

A gold Oday Shakar gown from the back.

Gorgeous Oday Shakar top in this year's It Color, Rose Quarts, and white pants.

Menswear from the Tom Ford Collection.

A collection of men and womenswear from Tom Ford.

Models from the Tom Ford presentation.

Modelinia Launch Event

Veronica Webb, Mayor Bloomberg, Coco Rocha, and Rachel Roy. All gorgeous in person at the Modelinia event, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

Tonight (Wednesday 2/10) was Modelinia's launch event for their NYFW limited edition MODELINIA Magazine and daily Fashion Week TV. Veronica Webb and Coco Rocha, the hosts of the new show, brought some glamour to the event, and Mayor Bloomberg stopped by to remind us of the importance of why we do this crazy fashion life. Style File had the opportunity to interview Rachel Roy to see how the recession has affected her business.

Even though the U.S. unemployment rate is 9.7%, Rachel Roy stated that "we're headed out of the recession". While we agree with her statement that "you can't stop creating new ideas and new silhouettes," her affinity for Alaia and Margiela may be an unlikely dream for many hit harder by the downtrodden economy. Ah, if only all of us could make our own shoes, dresses, and jewelry, then perhaps we wouldn't look so shabby. But, then again, aren't the consumers who cannot create their own wardrobes the ones whom the industry needs the most?

Shipley and Halmos leather for FW10

Shipley and Halmos leather for Fall 10, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

While I was working on doing another Style File Report and research for my book, the rest of The Style File Group (aka Megan and Natalie) spent a few minutes with Sam from Shipley and Halmos talking about the Autumn/Winter 2010 Collection. Certain designers invite the press to see the collection and ask questions before it hits the runway. Here is Megan's (a senior at Parsons School of Design and my assistant) interview:

The Style File Group: What is the focus of this collection?
Sam:The collection is mainly about outerwear and prints. We have some chunky alpaca knit sweaters that we had made in Peru and some hand designed abstract prints throughout the collection. But our outerwear is the focus especially with leathers, lambs skin and fur coats. Fur is doing well right now, it seems to be in reaction to the past few seasons.

The Style File Group: What is your background in design?
Sam:I went to college in Colorado where I grew up and studied fine arts/painting. There I met my partner, Jeff Halmos. He has a financial background. Together years later, we wanted to develop a brand that was really involved in craft and doing what we loved, which is fashion.

The Style File Group:Did you teach yourself to design, drape and sew?
Sam:Yes, We learned as we came up with the ideas, we are mostly self-taught.

The Style File Group: Was it hard to get your brand started?
Sam:No. Not at all. Easy in fact. You just have to be very driven and devote your time to getting things accomplished. I already had a background in art. Once we got past the hurdle of backing our work financially, it came pretty naturally.

Thanks Harrison and Shriftman for sending the BlackBerrys!

Thanks Harrison and Shriftman for the Blackberrys!, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

YAY we (team Style File Media) love our new Storm2 as well! I've never used a touch screen phone so I might have Emma Goldstein (back to intern with us for FW10) test drive it! PS, we wanted to give a special shout out to the ladies at Harrison and Shriftman for messengering over the BlackBerrys so we didn't have to send out a poor intern (Natalie or Emma) in the cold to go retrive them! Thank you!

And our BlackBerry Tour and Storm2 just arrived...

And our Blackberry Tour and Storm2 just arrived!, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

In addition to Flip Video letting us use their awesome devices to document our Mercedes Benz fashion week lives, BlackBerry also lent us a Tour and a Storm2 to blog/Flickr/Facebook/Twitter with. This is the what the new Tour came in. Yes that would be a leather case with compartments for covers, a charger AND a wireless music player. How cool is this phone??

The PANTONE 15-5519 turquoise one is Megan's!

The PANTONE 15-5519 turquoise one is Megan's!, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

The color isn't as vibrant as we had hoped but you get the picture. I love how all of our names are on it too. Just in case we get confused or something...

So excited to use our SFG flip cams for FW10

So excited to use our SFG flip cams for FW10, originally uploaded by Style File Group.

Since I started blogging I've tried to come up with new and fun ways to document my life. That's why when someone put a Flip Mino HD in my hand a year ago I was DYING. My friends and I marveled at the resolution of the picture and the size of the device. Being video journalists we were so used to lugging around huge cameras-- this fit right in our handbags! For Mercedes Benz Fashion Week FW10, the nice people at Flip video let us design our own Mino HDs (notice the Style File Group logo on the camera and in Pantone color violet for SS10) to record our lives. To create your own go to www.theflip.com.

FW10 meeting in full effect with Baked By Melissa cupcakes....

FW10 meeting in full effect with Baked By Melissa cupcakes. Awesome.

Fashion Goes Live on Line - ABC News (It's about time!)

Fashion Goes Live on Line - ABC News (It's about time!):

Hi-fi shoes: What fashion week was REALLY about

An $850 million acquisition of online retailer Zappos.com by Amazon. The Sex and the City sequel where extras are clamouring for Carrie Bradshaw's shoes. Children's footwear posting an 11.8% dollar volume in sales increase. While the retail industry in almost all areas is experiencing one of the worst economic downturns in recent history, the shoe industry in the last three months has proven to be a bright light at the end of a very dark, damp, dismal, depressing tunnel. “When the product is right and offers multiple reasons for wear, the purchases will come,” according to Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst for The NPD Group in an interview done by just-style.com.

“Consumers are showing they want footwear and are willing to show their passion on their feet rather than on their backs.”

Cohen's sentiments could not be more true considering what I saw Mercedes- Benz fashion week. While the most of the collections had buyers barely raising an eyebrow, the shoes on the runway caught everyone's attention. here are some of my favorites:

Check out these Giuseppe Zanotti for Balmain animal print boots. Yes they are priced at over $1,000 but guess what? People are buying them like crazy. Why? Because this country's mantra when it comes to spending is "where there's a will, there's a way." We'll discuss that later.

Another Giuseppe Zanotti for Balmain boot. Awesome right?

These are my FAVORITE.

Again, another crazy pair of shoes from Giuseppe Zanotti. What would you wear these with?

I think Rhianna was eyeing these...

While it's not really my thing to a) spend upwards of $300 on a pair of shoes and b) purchase anything at full retail price, these shoes were worth talking about because they are metallic. I have several pairs of metallic shoes and they are the best accessories in my closet!

J. Mendel: accessories

I've talked a lot about the dresses and how this company is doing over all, BUT I didn't point out the incredible accessories which adorned the models. Check out these dazzlers:

GOD this is my kind of necklace! What I love most- you can wear it with a gorgeous gown (pictured here) or with a pair of jeans and a t-shirt!

Again- wearable art! Just awesome.

J. Mendel: a few of my favorite things

Five things I LOVE about MB fashion week:1) The big post summer reunion with all of my fashion friends 2) Wearing all of my new fall clothes (MB Fashion Week = back to school for fashion peeps) 3) Spending so much time in Bryant Park 4) Watching the new assistants throw around 'tude to make themselves seem more important 5) THE J. MENDEL PRESENTATION

Yes, Giles Mendel creates pieces that are unbelievebly out of my budget (an average dress costs upwards of $1500- fur coats starting price $5000), but what I love most about this brand is that it does not deviate from their core audience- wealthy women (read: NOT ME) who, despite a horrible recession and cutting back still indulge in a little slice of luxury. What I love even more is this brand has turned a profit (sales up 20%) over the last year while most luxury companies are experiencing sinking revenues. Also the CEO is amazing. Susan Sokol is the former president of Vera Wang, a cancer survivor and all around power woman.

This picture does not do this dress justice- WAY more gorgeous in person!

The signature J. Mendel fur.

I love the back of this dress.

The front of the dress is incredible too!

More gorgeous floor length gowns.

Cocktail dresses!!

This is wearable art.

Rachel Roy- more wearable looks

This look makes me happy.

So does this one. Most of Rachel's pieces sell in stores like Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus. (*Note NMGA's same store sales were down by 27.3 % in July. I know- Yikes.)

Rachel Roy- wrap dress or wearable bath robes?

Rachel told me her way of dealing with the recession was to self edit more and put looks down the runway that would a) resonate with the consumer and b) sell at retail. Hmm. This look kinda reminds me of a bathrobe my mother used to wear back in the early 80s. Not sure how well that's gonna sell since I don't see bathrobes being a staple on the red carpet.

More from day #1 MBFW: Backstage with Elie Tahari

There are two constant truths in my life: 1) I am ALWAYS running late. 2) I tend to find myself in some pretty unbelieveable situations. Usually those truths never collide into a serendipitous moment, but on Thursday that's EXACTLY what happened when I missed Elie Tahari's presentation (by about half an hour because the Mara Hoffman/Nicholas K/Whitney Eve presentations went over) then RAN INTO Elie Tahari in the hall way of his show room! We talked about Fashion's Night Out which was happening that night (video TK) and his take on it. This is what he said:

"I really think if anyone is going to shop tonight it might be the fashion people. I doubt the general public will come out."

Where I have yet to see the numbers from Fashion's Night Out, Tahari, who told Fashion Wire Daily they have been responding to the market downturn by reducing price points and producing clothes in color palates like beige and sand, expects this collection to retail in 300 locations.

Hitha Prabhakar @ Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek - Elie Tahari from Hitha Prabhakar on Vimeo.

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Day #1: Lunch

Hitha Prabhakar @ Mercedes-Benz FashionWeek - Lunch from Hitha Prabhakar on Vimeo.

It's been an INSANE 48 hours as you can see from my previous posts. And while I could probably tell you details about all the clothes I saw down the runway, give you my opinion (btw, I not a fashion critic), I am gonna go ahead and give you an insider's look as to how we eat during Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Basically whatever we can get...

Get your fash-on.

Amidst all of FashionRocks insanity, I almost forgot about fashion week. Just kidding! But seriously folks, it definitely feels like fashion week started days ago when really today was the first day. Since I was caught up making sure the Pussy Cat Dolls looked fantastic down the red carpet, Emma graciously went to Erin Fetherston for me. This is what she had to say: "Even though I was sitting behind a man with a straw fedora at the Erin Fetherston show, I still got glimpses of each outfit that was coming down the runway...hits of lime, lavender, sequins and gathered ivory skirts that looked like whip cream. I was sort of dissapointed that the man in the fedora didn't block my whole view. The collection was called, "East of the Sun and West of the Moon." It SHOULD have been called "25 going on 5." Though Fetherston is known for her designs as being feminine to the max, her Spring 2009 collection looked like it was taken from a 5 year old's closet and made into a woman's size 0.

The final dress was called "Sunset Ombre Flowing Cloud Gown" - and it looked exactly like that... but what's next? A model riding a unicorn down the runway or butterflies and bubbles flying out to the photographers at the end of catwalk? My wish to Fetherston is that she'd keep her femininity because that is what she is known for, but mature the collection so it would relate better to her audience."

Whoa Emma. Harsh but in a great way! If you were at the show, what do you YOU think??

Fashion Week in Cleveland...

OK before everyone starts to freak about "yet another fashion week in a small city," here me out.  I am in love with the little city of Cleveland. Last year I went for a weekend and it was fabulous.  The Indians were playing the gross Red Sox, the people were seriously lovely (even though their team lost), the food was great and I was actually a little sad to be coming back to New York.  With that said, I wasn't really sure what they meant by "fashion week in Cleveland" when I came across this article on cleveland.com.  This piece outlined a talk given by Megan Spagnolo, costume curator at the Western Reserve Historical Society about the history of children's clothes.  How cute, right?? Did you know the color "pink" was orginally meant for boys because red was seen as a masculine color? Did you also know boys and girls used to wear dresses? Why is Cleveland so damn wholesome?? Ooh I just want to give it a good squeeze!!

Portland Fashion Week: Is this a joke?

I realize it is April 2nd, but this came across my e-mail yesterday. LA fashion week is bad enough. Now Portland? Why? Why, why, why???

India: the fashion hot spot.

And I'm not just saying that because that's the motherland for me. Women's Wear Daily is reporting an influx of overseas buyers at Lakme Fashion Week, which started today. I predict in the next five years, more western designers are going to be showing there, making it just as large at NY Fashion Week.