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 Fashion Week for those of us who are not in the business
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Lee Pace, Jared Leto, Chace Crawford, Ryan Phillippe, Kellan Lutz, and Mechad Brooks at CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION Men's Fall 2010 Runway Show. |
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Fashion Week for those of us who are not in the business or even especially interested in fashion, is nevertheless basically theater, even street theater, New York style, and in one way or another fascinating to at least observe. Go down to the Tents on any given morning or afternoon and there it is. Mobs of fashionistas, matrons (what’s left of them) boys all duded up, models modeling, and industry people schlepping. Life is happening.
Where there is room – in the big tent for example – there are a lot of spectators whose connection to the designer at hand, or the industry itself, is remote. A lot of the celebrities you see on the first row of the runways are put there by their PR people. It’s exposure and the paparazzi is covering. Click-click-flash-flash.
In her “autobiography,” The Allure of Chanel (written by Paul Morand) Pushkin Press, Coco Chanel talks (and always with certainty) about fashion at the turn of the (19th to the 20th) century in the years leading up to the First World War.
In one passage, she talks about going to the races in Deauville where her lover Boy Capel kept a string of thoroughbreds. She makes an observation that was both prescient and decisive for her own (business) future as a designer:
The enclosure before 1914! When I went to the races, I would never have thought that I was witnessing the death of luxury, the passing of the nineteenth century, the end of an era. An age of magnificence, but of decadence, the last reflections of a baroque style in which the ornate had killed off the figure, in which over-embellishment had stifled the body’s architecture, just as parasites smother trees in tropical forests. Woman was no more than a pretext for riches, for lace, for sable, for chinchilla, for materials that were too precious, Complicated patterns, an excess of lace, of embroidery of gauze, of flounces and over-layers had transformed what women wore into a monument of belated and flamboyant art. The trains of dresses swept up the dust, all the pastel shades reflected every colour in the rainbow in a thousand tint with a subtlety that faded into insipidness. There were parasols, aviaries and greenhouses in gardens. The uncommon had become the normal; wealth was as ordinary as poverty.
Ten years into a century later, Chanel’s words resonate, although differently. For we are at the End of an Era, whatever that may be and even the commonly used financial word “recovery” anticipates something better than where we are now. Is today’s fashion in any way mirroring the times of Coco? Look what we’re wearing. Everything. Including that which the cat dragged in. Up, down, dark, bright, high, low, shiny, tweedy. And, it should be said, a lot of it looks great to the contemporary eye. But, is it as it was back when the lady was about to break out and become legend? Are we in the throes of revolutionary change in our wardrobe, our basic sensibilities, keeping it simple, simple, simple, and possibly elegant?
There are so many collections showing right now in New York, only a fashion marathoner can keep up with most of it. However, there is always Patrick McMullan and his merry band of photographers who are on the town, all over the town and seemingly at all the shows and all the parties. The following are just a small taste of the PMcM portfolio which you can also find (and buy) at www.patrickmcmullan.com. |
| BETSEY JOHNSON Fall 2010 Collection ... |
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Betsey Johnson |
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Kelly Osbourne |
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Jeremy Kost |
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| BILLY REID Mens' Fall 2010 Presentation ... |
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Billy Reid |
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Allison Myers, Paul Underwood, and Jonathan Skagfield |
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Alex Howard and Victoria Barabas |
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| BUTT MAGAZINE's Valentine's Day Party Hosted by LORENZO MARTONE ... |
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Lorenzo Martone |
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Mark Krayenhoff and AA Bronson |
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Hamish Bowles |
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Alexis Smagula and Alice Shay |
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Dan Stowell and Jordan Hruska |
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Leo Vergara and Seth Embery |
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Nicole Lopez and JR Celio |
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| CALVIN KLEIN COLLECTION Men's Fall 2010 Runway Show ... |
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Christopher and Amanda Brooks |
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Cecilia Dean |
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Italo Zucchelli |
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| DIANE von FURSTENBERG Fall 2010 Collection ... |
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Ahn Duong |
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Diane von Furstenberg |
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Fran Lebowitz |
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Lee Radziwill and Andre Leon Talley |
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Marisa Berenson and Starlite Randall |
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Kelly Killoren Bensimon |
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Hilary Rhoda |
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Molly Sims |
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| MICHAEL BASTIAN Fall 2010 Collection ... |
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Michael Bastian and Eugenia Gonzalez |
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Peter Davis and Luigi Tadini |
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Hamish Bowles and John Malkovich |
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Jim Moore and Carlos Souza |
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| RACHEL ROY Fall 2010 Collection ... |
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Axi Mines and Annette Vass |
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Andre Royo, Patrick McMullan, and Andre Harrell |
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Andre Royo |
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Ataaui Trump and Ajak Denge |
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Olivia Palermo |
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Poppy Delevigne and Virginia Smith |
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Irinia Pantaeva and Christian Freedom |
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Rachel Roy |
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| THAKOON Fall 2010 Collection ... |
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| Runway rehearsal |
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Anna Wintour and Grace Coddington from the back |
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Anna Wintour |
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Thakoon |
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Grace Coddington |
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| Photographs by PatrickMcMullan.com
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Musings from Jill Lynne: Fashion season Spring 2010 officially began under a pall. Not only was there that degree of sentimentality associated with this being the last time the shows would be held at Bryant Park — a historical event of some significance — but most stunning: that morning we all awakened to the news that Alexander McQueen had died. At the peak of his career, on the eve of his presentation, spokespeople announced, he allegedly hung himself.
Which brings to mind, the question of how well we ever know anybody? Amidst the crowds of thousands of fashionistas with whom we have cordial social relationships – how little we truly know of their intimate lives.
Unofficially Fashion week(s) had begun with the launch of “Kell On Earth” — the new BRAVO reality show featuring Kelly Cutrone. As she and her staff ready themselves last-minute, for the forthcoming fashion shows — she as a hard-working, super-tough, controlling Diva-Mom, orchestrates while her anxious, exhausted staff tries to do her bidding. Perhaps a more appropriate name would be “Kell In Hell”!
Then Monday Fashion Stylist, Agent, and Commentator, the ever-popular Robert Verdi premiered his new reality show “The Robert Verdi Show,” starring, but of course, himself. Similar to Kell we view Robert and his staff prepping for various projects. The difference being, that Robert outrageously spoofs himself, and is hilarious. “One of the funniest I’ve seen! ” noted Sandra Bernhard post-screening.
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| Robert Verdi at the Premiere of "The Robert Verdi Show." |
Andrew and Andrew. |
| Actress/Comedienne Sandra Bernhard. |
Actor William H Macy. |
| Designer Adrienne Landau (who's show was postponed due to the snow). |
Lynn Yaeger, Fashion Writer. |
| CNNs George Whipple. |
Chinese LifeStyle reporter Jeffrey Ying. |
| Ports 1961 was interesting, although the atmospheric dry-ice opening made one’s eyes tear, so one viewed the collection through a double-blinder. The bold geometric shapes of their outerwear as well as their special choice of unique fabrics, excelled. |
| PORTS 1961 Collection through haze. |
| Unreserved presented new Native American Fashion and Accessories. Of special note the exquisite jewelry by Veronica Poblano (Zuni) fabricating traditional iconography into new, colorful work and the beautiful first couture collection of Designer Patricia Michaels (Taos Pueblo). |
| Zuni Jewelry Designer Veronica Paoblano. |
Designer Patricia Michaels' (Taos Pueblo) Native American Couture. |
| Filmmaker Anna Fischer, Founder UnReserved Gail Bruce, and Steve Goodman. |
And once again “The Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection 2010” brought down the house! Celebs and VIPS strutted those designer dresses as the crowds cheered.
I was happily seated adjacent to the fine Actor William H. Macy who commented to me on how far fewer Studio films were being produced, how Indies were most impacted by the economy, and that only half the number of films were submitted to the Sundance Film Festival this year.
Most sweet, was when his wife, Felicity Huffman (of “Desperate Housewives”), walked down the runway, he audibly mouthed “I love you,” and she left that catwalk to plant a big kiss on his lips.
All this on Valentine's Day week ... toujours l’amour.
— JillLynne.com |
| Robin Roberts. |
Felicity Huffman. |
Elisabeth Hasselbeck. |
| The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection 2010 Celebrities in Designer Red Dresses: (not in order) Bethenny Frankel ( in Isabel Oliver) Elisabeth Hasselbeck (in Donna Karen), Felicity Huffman (in Oscar De La Renta), Dara tprres (in Rachel Roy), Estelle (in Zac Posen), Heidi Klum (in John Galliano). Joan Collins (in Stephanie rolland), Jordin Sparks (in Badgley Mischka), Kim Kardashian (in Marchesa), Kimora Lee (in Kouture by Kimora), Kristen Chenoweth (in Daniel Swarovski), Mamie Gummer (in Michael Kors), Pauley Perrette (in Rebecca Taylor), Raven-Simone(in Tadashi Shoji), Regina King 9in Tracy Reese). Rpbin Roberts (in J. Crew), Valerie Harper (in Pamela Roland). |
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