Fashion News

Brian Cashman's alleged stalker tells of Yankee GM's sexual prowess

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:33:51 PST

Brian Cashman is a slugger in the sack. Alleged stalker Louise Meanwell told The Post in a jailhouse interview that the Yankees’ general manager may look like a nerd, but he’s a skilled swordsman who bedded her on their very first date last April. “Surprisingly, yes, he was a...

Giants’ Cruz salsas his way into book deal

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:22:48 PST

The New York Giants’ Super Bowl win last Sunday was one for the ages — and wide receiver Victor Cruz appears to be the first who will write about it. The salsa-dancing standout player, who is repped by IMG for non-play-related activities, is said to be closing in on a book...

Obama to announce compromise on contraception rule

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:18:01 PST

WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama, hoping to quell an intensifying political backlash, on Friday will announce a new policy that no longer requires a broad swath of religious organizations to provide employees with contraception coverage in health-insurance plans. Under the new policy, insurance companies will be required to offer free...

Brothers in arms, yo!

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:09:20 PST

This is what happens when you dive out of the way of too many Hollywood explosions. Silver-screen action hero Arnold Schwarzenegger posted a photo online yesterday of him and fellow Tinseltown tough guy Sylvester Stallone recuperating in an LA hospital Tuesday. Both actors, who are set to co-star in “The...

Kelly visits granny hit by stray bullet

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:05:18 PST

Police Commissioner Ray Kelly made a hospital-bedside visit yesterday to a Brooklyn grandma who took a stray bullet to the cheek while sitting down to dinner in her East New York apartment. Agripina Camacho, 81, whose grandson Louis Camacho is a detective assigned to Kelly’s security detail, was in...

Greg Kelly returns to "Good Day New York"

NY Post: News — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:04:27 PST

Greg Kelly returned to his post next to Rosanna Scotto anchoring Fox 5's "Good Day New York" this morning, thanking viewers for their support over the past two weeks. It was Kelly's first broadcast since he was accused of rape by paralegal Maria Di Toro more than two...

M.Patmos

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:14 PST

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Libertine

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:13 PST

When Johnson Hartig relaunched Libertine a year ago, he did it with a bang: That Fall '11 collection had real finesse, with the screen-printing and embellishment Hartig applied to his vintage finds expressing a clear, poetic vision (at least with regard to the womenswear.) Then, last season, he returned with a collection that felt disappointingly dashed-off. The Fall '12 clothes Hartig showed this evening fell somewhere in the middle of that range: On the one hand, a lot of work went into this season's heavy hand-beading and -studding, and there were some stunning pieces on the runway; on the other hand, this collection was pretty much just the sum of its parts. And for every dazzling item—like the full, Alaïa-esque knit skirt with blue metallic paillettes woven through, or the show-opening black cape gleaming with studs—there was another look that came off belabored and literally heavy. All in all, a mixed bag. A very disco mixed bag, with a lot of cool floral dresses and A-line check coats redolent of heyday Blass.

On the men's end of things, it's fair to wonder how seriously Hartig takes the clothes on his catwalk. This reviewer's guess: not that seriously. Sometimes Hartig's playfulness works, as in motorcycle and varsity jackets bedazzled with punchy messages and skulls and crossbones on the back. Mostly, though, the menswear came over as an afterthought.
—Maya Singer

Libertine

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:12 PST

Cynthia Rowley

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:11 PST

Car trouble? Cynthia Rowley can help. Coveting the ease of a coverall, the designer looked to mechanics and their workwear for Fall. "I liked that you could put one piece on and have barely anything else and look tough and sexy," she said backstage before her show. That said, Rowley couldn't resist a little bit of layering—or a smattering of embellishments.

Sleek turtlenecks were slipped under almost everything; they provided a clean finishing touch and a sweet contrast to the kaleidoscope tortoiseshell prints that were splashed across shirtdresses. A few of the turtlenecks boasted bejeweled necks, courtesy of the Dannijo girls, and a cozy, oversize black sweatshirt was dotted with clusters of baubles. A denim dress in a dark, subtle plaid looked smart under a matching engineer's coat lined in shearling. Sure, it was two pieces, but it married a garage worker's pragmatism with a fashionista's spirit.
—Alison Baenen

Kelly Wearstler

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:10 PST

Kelly Wearstler has a new book coming out this summer featuring seven recent interiors projects. But at a presentation of her Fall ready-to-wear line, she admitted that she's scaled back her decorating work somewhat. Fashion, as any designer will tell you, is a full-time job.

Wearstler's collection just turned one, so it's no surprise that she is still defining her niche. Prints, colors, and textures have counted for a lot since the beginning, but the sweet sensibility that characterized her debut a year ago has for the most part been replaced by eccentricity, edginess, and more than a twinge of nostalgia for the eighties. Wearstler launched denim this season, but you won't find basic blue jeans at her Melrose Avenue shop. Instead, think acid wash in six different colors. Knits are new for Fall, too, and, again, the same rule applies. There were yarn-fringed shoulders and a blue and black pattern inspired by a vintage tapestry she owns. Even an otherwise plain cashmere V-neck came in searing yellow.

In a savvy bit of timing with the upcoming Costume Institute show dedicated in part to Elsa Schiaparelli, Wearstler inserted some surreal motifs into the lineup. A burnout sweatshirt in an abstracted lip pattern might've been the simplest, easiest thing about the collection. It was also the best.
—Nicole Phelps

TSE

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:09 PST

Brian Reyes got off to a strong start as the creative consultant to TSE with his inventive and sophisticated line-up for pre-fall. That collection hit all the right notes: The clothes were clean and urbane with a flirty kick, and Reyes was gently pushing TSE's cashmere knits in an interesting, architectural direction. This season, though, the designer appears to have felt some pressure to make a statement, and his ambition occasionally threatened to get the better of him.

Reyes' modus operandi at TSE, he explained today, is to treat knit material the same way he would a woven, thus freeing himself to play with pattern and tailored or sculptural silhouettes; more specifically, this season Reyes was exploring layering and glasslike textures. All of that is to the good, and the strategy resulted in some singular fabrications, such as a knit jacquard that came off like chiffon-appliquéd tulle, and a technical knit that looked as though it were covered in paillettes. But the tiered silhouettes, with long narrow skirts girding almost every look, were a touch awkward. And the two structured faille gowns he showed had you wondering why? It's possible to imagine a woman coming to TSE for more formal looks, like the Lurex-threaded bouclé cashmere pieces shown today, but there isn't exactly a void in the ball-gown market, never mind one that needs to be filled by a brand known for cashmere knit sportswear.

Reyes gets the sense of ease that women look to TSE to provide—his pre-fall collection proved that. Going forward, he'd do well to remain focused on the brand's core identity as he looks for ways to develop his own take on it.
—Maya Singer

Creatures of the Wind

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:08 PST

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Richard Chai Love

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:07 PST

During a preview, Richard Chai was straightforward about a desire for the straightforward. "It's not about tricks for the show," he said. "I want it to be clean and crisp, accessible and believable." That read as self-admonishment for experiments past, but hey, what would fashion be without a gamble here and there?

Inspired by a Bruce Davidson subway photograph of "a fragile-looking man" wearing a sturdy chesterfield coat, Chai's mantra was "handsome femininity." That's certainly a return to roots, as mens-for-women—or boys-for-girls, depending on your view— is a longtime fascination of his. Sure enough, the collection's biggest impact was sartorial—a great-looking navy and charcoal striped tweed, which he developed with an Italian mill. It fell prey to awkward proportions in the suit that was the first look out, but was a smart and polished winner in nearly every other iteration. Even as that crispness intentionally gave way to the abstraction of Chai's signature prints and a Lurex striped wool, the sense of believability didn't flag. Instead the designer concentrated on refinement, with details like the very flattering waist-defining suede yokes and the taffeta banding that finished skirts and dresses. And he kept his penchant for complex layers in check.

Chai's big news of late is that he's the new creative director of venerable outdoor-gear label Filson, whom he had approached in order to collaborate on men's outerwear. There was a woodsy element to the womenswear, but it was in the men's that it really took shape. For that matter, the menswear also seemed to soak up most of the melancholy of the soundtrack's "How Soon is Now?" by the Smiths. In their gawky cropped pants, rubber-soled Palladium high-tops, and city/country hybrids like a funnel-neck nylon windbreaker under a checked suit, the boys looked like young runaways trying to hitch a ride out of the provinces to spite the world. Goodness knows that oversize Filson duffel backpack, (surely destined for a men's magazine near you) is tailor-made for such a venture.
—Meenal Mistry

Chadwick Bell

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:06 PST

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Costello Tagliapietra

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:05 PST

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Jenni Kayne

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:04 PST

A "proper English gentleman's hunting wardrobe" was the inspiration behind Jenni Kayne's latest collection for cool, classy girls. If that makes you think of Downton Abbey's Cousin Matthew, you're on the right track, but Kayne's embrace of a theme is always gentle. Classic British fabrics like tweed and herringbone made appearances, but Fall was as influenced by Kayne's favorite decade, the nineties, as it was by manor living, so a digitized Prince of Wales check in burnt orange and blue was a cheeky modern update of an old trope. If that print, on a sheer blouse and slim matching pants, looked a little like Tetris (in a good way), a purple and pale chartreuse floral print was all girly garden party. The blooms came on a long, navy, bias-cut skirt and sheer, sexily slouchy top that, worn together, passed for a dress. The idea of matching sets carried over to cocktails, a reflection of Kayne's personal preference. "I'm totally into separates for evening," she said. "I like the idea of offering something chic that's not a dress." A to-the-floor black skirt, sheer but for a mini, curve-hugging underlay, came paired with an artfully revealing black tuxedo top, sleeves rolled to the elbow. That was alluring, but the conversation pieces were two skirts—one black, one white—made from a pouf of feathers. The model in the white one wore hers with a white mohair sweater; she looked entirely at home in the tony library of the Chatwal Hotel, lounging by the couch. "I call that my Clueless sweater," Kayne said, confirming it was mohair. "In a good way."
—Alison Baenen

Tadashi Shoji

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:03 PST

Tadashi Shoji's name was on a lot of people's lips following the Golden Globes and the SAG Awards, where best supporting actress winner Octavia Spencer turned heads in pastel gowns from the designer's Spring 2012 collection. But if Spencer plans to make this label her red carpet go-to, she may have to commit to a less soft-hued look, as Shoji has moved on from last season's tulip inspiration.

The mood of today's collection was a more somber one. As the designer put it himself a few days before his show, "The feeling is ominous, as if something is coming." Shoji, who was born and raised in Japan, drew inspiration from another corner of the Far East, specifically the Golden Age of Shanghai. Standouts included a black gown of Chantilly and Venetian lace with a high neckline, which the designer deemed "covered up but still sexy," as well as a series of drop-waist dresses done in digital floral prints taken from a Chinese painting. Julia Nobis closed the show in a striking black velvet number with beaded lace embroidery at the neck, a reminder of Shoji's knack for detail. Scalloped sequins and chiffon "shutters" lent the dresses a couture hand.

Overall, the collection, which was styled by Tina Chai, proved a bit more cohesive than the last. Still, Shoji continues to offer his audience a wide variety of colors and silhouettes, which is presumably important when catering to an international customer base that spans Russia, Poland, Brazil, and now China. (Shoji will be opening stores in Beijing and Shanghai come spring.) There is no denying that the designer has his feet in the right places when it comes to retail support (Neiman Marcus' Ken Downing was in the front row). And with the Oscars less than three weeks away, the dresses he showed today should put him in position to score another red-carpet coup.
—Jessica Minkoff

Kimberly Ovitz

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:02 PST

Our review will be posted shortly. See the complete collection by clicking the image at left.

Juan Carlos Obando

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:01 PST

Resort was a game changer for Juan Carlos Obando, whose shockingly bright silk dresses—much like the "Miami" pink one Viola Davis wore earlier this week at the Academy Awards Nominations Luncheon—nearly sold out at Barneys across the country. "It's nice to have your bread and butter find you," said Obando in reference to his successful electric color palette. The designer has capitalized on the moment and started selling Fall in L.A. before today's show in order to accommodate the ongoing awards season. This move seems to have worked out, as today's finale number has reportedly been tapped for the Oscars.

Naturally, those blockbuster brights showed up on the runway, but they shared space with more experimental pieces. These were inspired by motocross daredevils in the arid Salton Sea area of California, who rage to the Chemical Brothers while riding out over the dunes, and "combine the natural with the artificial," according to Obando. The designer aimed to re-create that balance here with a brocade skirtsuit etched in neon lime on a sand-colored background, as well as brocade wrap skirts and biker jackets. On another synthetic note, Obando created faux pieces like a full-on "mink" coat that looked like real fur and will set you back a comparatively reasonable $1,200. Other looks ventured too far into the test kitchen, with melted industrial Swarovski paillettes and shredded tulle. But overall, this lineup was a step forward for Obando. He beamed, "I feel like I'm riding a wave right now." Surf's up, JC.
—Brittany Adams

Richard Chai Love

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:53:00 PST

During a preview, Richard Chai was straightforward about a desire for the straightforward. "It's not about tricks for the show," he said. "I want it to be clean and crisp, accessible and believable." That read as self-admonishment for experiments past, but hey, what would fashion be without a gamble here and there?

Inspired by a Bruce Davidson subway photograph of "a fragile-looking man" wearing a sturdy chesterfield coat, Chai's mantra was "handsome femininity." That's certainly a return to roots, as mens-for-women—or boys-for-girls, depending on your view— is a longtime fascination of his. Sure enough, the collection's biggest impact was sartorial—a great-looking navy and charcoal striped tweed, which he developed with an Italian mill. It fell prey to awkward proportions in the suit that was the first look out, but was a smart and polished winner in nearly every other iteration. Even as that crispness intentionally gave way to the abstraction of Chai's signature prints and a Lurex striped wool, the sense of believability didn't flag. Instead the designer concentrated on refinement, with details like the very flattering waist-defining suede yokes and the taffeta banding that finished skirts and dresses. And he kept his penchant for complex layers in check.

Chai's big news of late is that he's the new creative director of venerable outdoor gear label Filson, whom he had approached in order to collaborate on men's outerwear. There was a woodsy element to the womenswear, but it was in the men's that it really took shape. For that matter, the menswear also seemed to soak up most of the melancholy of the soundtrack's "How Soon is Now?" by the Smiths. In their gawky cropped pants, rubber-soled Palladium high-tops, and city/country hybrids like a funnel-neck nylon windbreaker under a checked suit, the boys looked like young runaways trying to hitch a ride out of the provinces to spite the world. Goodness knows that oversize Filson duffel backpack, (surely destined for a men's magazine near you) is tailor-made for such a venture.
—Meenal Mistry

Duckie Brown

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:52:59 PST

Last season was produced under the shadow of family tragedy, so it was understandably a somber collection from Duckie Brown, but Steven Cox found the downbeat mood persisted when he started work on Fall. Everything was still black. But black took him to a lush barathea, the fabric from which tuxedos are cut, and Cox began to feel better. Then a book about ballet renegade Michael Clark got him thinking about the avant-garde sportiness of Clark and his buddies from Body Map in London in the mid-eighties. By which time Cox was feeling much better.

It showed on the catwalk, where Cox and partner Daniel Silver's off-kilter design signature—serious substance and irreverent style comfortably coexisting—was in full effect. A country squire might have recognized the classic herringbones, tweeds, and tartans, but he'd have been flummoxed by the silhouettes, either tailored to unyielding trimness, or exploding into extreme volumes, usually in the same outfit. The Duckie duo are past masters of disorientation. Here, the languor of floppy pants, the literal twists of bias, and circular cutting evoked the don't-give-a-damn dressiness of the homme fatal. A particularly chiseled model casting helped. So did the Grey Gardens headgear.

It's too easy to attach the androgyny label—and Cox is too in thrall to the English lad culture of his youth for it to stick—but the typically odd echoes in this collection did strike the hybrid note that makes Duckie Brown so unique in New York. Cox acknowledged it with his own label: "hiking evening." And maybe it was just the soundtrack that sparked another hybrid association, but if anyone is going to put rave couture on a catwalk, it'll surely be Cox and Silver, which makes the challenge of their new gig at Perry Ellis all the more intriguing. Remember what Perry did for the man called Marc.
—Tim Blanks

Nicholas K

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:52:58 PST

With Georgia O'Keeffe on her mind this time around, designer Nicholas Kunz painted a promising picture of Nicholas K's evolution. While keeping her line's cool, utilitarian signatures—a desert palette, outerwear focus, draped knits and jerseys, heavy layering—on display, Kunz pushed her men's and women's clothes in a more geometric direction, and went some distance toward elevating the tone of the 9-year-old brand.

Kunz's inspiration for the season was the Taos artists of the twenties and thirties, and it proved to be a smart one. It related easily to Nicholas K's desert fixation, and it hewed the collections, slightly, to the larger Depression-era narrative shaping up for Fall. Kunz has sometimes found it a challenge to integrate current trends, but the Taos theme allowed her to add to her brand's vocabulary, pulling in both western and Deco references. One of Kunz's most interesting ideas was to tie the two together through the use of fringe; the western part of that worked, resulting in easy, fringed dresses with crochet detailing and sharply cut leather jackets jangling with fringe. The more evening-oriented beaded, flapper-ish stuff, meanwhile, felt a little forced. Kunz had more success with her lightly printed silks, iterated as clean and sexy bias-cut dresses and tops.

The menswear collection made its own move into more formal territory, notably with the inclusion of soft, oatmeal-colored suiting pieces. (In general, the tailoring for both men and women looked good and relevant—more of that, please.) Kunz also nicely worked the western theme into the men's clothes, especially with her application of horsehair to jackets and parkas.

A last word re: parkas. At a time when many fashion houses have gone parka-crazy, it bears mentioning that Nicholas K has been turning out excellent versions of the hooded jacket for a while now, and there were more expert examples on the runway this morning. Together with Kunz's razored leather jackets, the parkas proved that outerwear is this brand's enduring strength.
—Maya Singer

Nicholas K

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:52:57 PST

BCBG Max Azria

Style.com: Daily Fashion Show Pictures — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:52:56 PST

The show notes at BCBG Max Azria cited the geometric abstraction of the Bauhaus, but that only told you half the story—that of the surface. The shapes that underpinned the collection relied heavily on the loose-limbed look of seventies American sportswear. There were belted trenches, languid wide-leg jersey trousers, and loads of midi-length color-blocked and paneled dresses, either flaring with pleats or cut straight like a long T-shirt and slit up the sides. In fact, as has been the case for several seasons, Max and Lubov Azria placed most of their chips on the frock sector. Practice makes perfect; there were many here that will appeal to their customer. The sporty color-blocking is a trend the Azrias have been riffing on for a few seasons, and here it was given depth by colorful contrasting pleats, though the new direction didn't feel as identifiably their own.

Whether intentional or not, the dress-centric nature of this collection cast other categories into supporting roles. But the smattering of outerwear made up for its rarity by really laying on the luxury. And who needs a sweater (there were none here) when you've got coats with leather and fur sleeves? BCBG has vowed to weather a pair of recent credit downgrades, and here was evidence of heads held high.
—Meenal Mistry