10/05/07

What's Cooking, Karl?

After my final show this evening, I walked to the Printemps department store to buy a new pair of black tights. My only clean pair is now snagged, thanks to a run-in with a Chrome Hearts bracelet. Fashion foul! Since I was coming from the Tuileries gardens, I decided to take the rue Cambon, home of Chanel headquarters. Knowing that Karl Lagerfeld's show for Chanel happens to be tomorrow, the air felt heavy with anticipation. Well, to me at least. To the normal people walking down the street I imagine it felt muggy and a bit cool...

10/03/07

Givenchy Gets Dotty

Last season, Givenchy's chic, dark, romantic look seemed to be a harbinger for Mary Kate and Ashley—they went chic, dark, and romantic with their own look at around the same time.

So what could the show be telling us this time? When I saw the first model, I thought I had wandered into a Kate Spade show. Polka dots? Isn't that a bit preppy for Givenchy?

10/03/07

Get It While It's Hot: Andrew Gn, Costume National, Lacroix, and Wunderkind

A roundup of some favorite shows from yesterday and today

Andrew Gn
What smart designer isn't delving into the shoes and handbags these days? Gn's amazing jewel-toned heels had my full attention. The '60s-style ballgowns weren't bad either.

10/02/07

Stung!

A lot of Fashion Week-ers complain about the hot venues. You think, "Could it really be so bad?"—until you find yourself sitting inside a clear plastic tent in the middle of the day. Remember holding a piece of glass over ants to fry them with the sunlight? It's the same concept.

Which is why I wasn't surprised when I got a text from Stacey yesterday: "I'm at Dior, and it's sooo hot here!"

But she at least had something to distract her. Five minutes later she texts this: "Sting and Trudie are 4 rows in front of me! Trudie has on a very French beret!"...

10/02/07

Colette Party—How Do You Say 'Celeb' in French?

It turns out I had two misses last night: I did not get to meet The Sartorialist and give him my pitch on Chicago style,* and I did not get to see the Yohji show (no cabs, merci rainy Paris weather!).

It worked out okay, though. I still got to attend the coolest party of the week, at the coolest store in the world, Colette. The soirée was to fête street photographers and bloggers...

10/01/07

Kick Off! Bless Has Esprit de Corps, Colette Gets Ready to Party

The Berlin art collective Bless showed its Spring line in a warehouse in the northern part of Paris Sunday night. How's this for a presentation idea: the show was a soccer game! The models split into two teams and really had at it for about 15 minutes. I was in the front row and had a good laugh when the models kicked the ball to my shins...

10/01/07

Grease is the Word: On Motorcycle Jackets and Hedi Slimane

If you want to talk trends, here's the real scoop on what Parisians are wearing: the motorcycle jacket, or as the French say, "Le Perfecto." Biking around the Bastille area on Saturday (in Paris it's already cool, with highs around 60), I saw about two dozen women in cropped leather jackets. Where did this come from? I've got two guesses...

09/30/07

Seasonal Revolution

I just got off the phone with fashion director Stacey Jones, who arrived in Paris today via Milan. I asked her how she thought the season was looking so far.

"Before, I wanted to live in a Michael Kors world, but now, I want to live in a Versace world," she said...

09/25/07

Countdown to the Boondoggle

It's almost Paris Fashion Week (the kick-off is in five days), and I'll be blogging here every day from the shows. If you don't follow the fashion calendar (and trust me, I won't hold it against you), Milan is happening at this moment. Before that was London, and before that, New York. Since I wasn't in New York...