10/11/07

It Ain't Over 'Till the Rock B(r)and Sings

Paris Fashion Week is terminé. And while you're checking out the new talent in Chicago—and perhaps still trying to process the colorful surreality at Vuitton (I know I am)—I'd like to offer a postscript or two.

Rodnik
On Monday, I chatted with Rich and Phil, the guys behind the new label Rodnik. If the retailers picking them up are any indication (ikram and Barney's for this season), these guys have got chops. And also humor...

Posted at 03:21 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (3)

10/09/07

The Young Ones: Stella McCartney and Chloe

Stella McCartney keeps it real, and thus brings something very special to Paris Fashion Week. Her silly invitations make you smile (this year, it was a small magnetic board with six letters spelling out "STELLA"). It's admirable that she'll donate the huge wall of greenery which served as backdrop for her show to a housing project in Paris. And then there's the way she tells her models to smile. What fun...

Posted at 01:42 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/08/07

Nina Ricci! Lanvin! Louis Vuitton! A Major League Day

Today was wonderful. Big shows, and not a clunker in the bunch. I left Nina Ricci feeling like my feet couldn't touch the ground. Part of the uplift came from the purity of the staging. The models walked into the blackened tent from a sun-drenched crack at the far end, which opened onto the Tuileries gardens. The music was classical stringed instruments. The show felt pure and impassioned...

Posted at 02:37 AM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/07/07

Waiting for Lanvin

If France, you have to have a paper ticket to get into the shows. They arrive via messenger or post, often the day before the event (because the PR people need to scramble to make sure the front row ranks are just right). All of this means you may not know if you're invited until the last minute.

Sometimes the tickets just never come, and it's a sad, Waiting-for-Godot situation. I had a scare regarding Chanel (it arrived eventually, after some phone calls), and wasn't invited to Dior, Valentino, or Dries Van Noten this season...

Posted at 02:09 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/06/07

Very Chicago: Giambattista Valli, Martin Grant

After the Chloe show today, we headed to one of Stacey's and my favorite shows of the week: Martin Grant. It's a low-key affair. No Kanye West, no Courtney Love—just people who work in fashion and a socialite or two (Lee Radziwell is always there)...

Posted at 09:24 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (0)

10/06/07

Loving Soko: A Three-Step Program

Watching the work of your fashion heroes during this week is fun, but even more fun is discovering new people who inspire. Here's a look back at the three steps it took for me to fall in love with the so-new-she's-still-unsigned French singer Soko.

STEP 1: Tuesday night, I took my friend Sened to the Jeremy Scott/Colette party at Elysée Montmartre...

Posted at 04:45 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (1)

10/05/07

The Sartorialist Likes Kanye; Kanye Likes Gum

When I saw Scott Shuman of The Sartorialist outside of Chanel this morning, I promptly ambushed him with my Chicago fashion question.

First off, he had to give love to the city by saying that he remembers getting really excited to check out Ultimo when he visited in the '80s (Scott's from Indianapolis). As far as shooting street style, he thinks there are neighborhoods that are good, but so many Chicagoans drive, which makes it hard...

Posted at 05:00 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (2)

10/05/07

Chanel Shows Its Stars and Stripes

Ah, Chanel. You could never mistake it for any other show, even if Karl Lagerfeld incorporates other trends that are in vogue.

Just pick any of this season's nouveautés and it will be there, but looking very Chanel, of course. Romper onesie? Check. Transparency? Check. '90s Nirvana plaid, wide legged denim, black and white graphics? Check, check, check...

Posted at 01:27 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (0)

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...

Posted at 12:15 AM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (3)

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?

Posted at 09:31 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (2)

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.

Posted at 08:26 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (1)

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!"...

Posted at 09:09 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (1)

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...

Posted at 05:01 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (2)

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...

Posted at 01:06 PM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (1)

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...

Posted at 10:45 AM in Fashion Week Blog | Permalink | Comments (3)