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Fashion Speaks at Princeton University

blendnewyork — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 02:25:20 +0000

COME CHECK US OUT @ FASHION SPEAKS

Saturday, April 21st 8pm and 10:30pm shows
Mathey Common Room

Service in Style is a student organization at Princeton University. The organization orchestrates and hosts an annual professional-quality fashion show to raise autism awareness and to fundraise for The Eden Institute. This show, called Fashion Speaks, is one of the largest single annual fundraisers at the University.

Watch what blendnewyork boutique has to show at this great event!

Way Off the Runway: Live Streaming of Fashion Week

blendnewyork — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:33:15 +0000

If you don’t have a golden ticket to sit with the insiders at New York Fashion Week, fortunately you can now watch live streaming shows thanks to the growing number of individual designers and fashion sites that have been offering web users a front-row seat.

For the first time, the organizers of Fashion Week are streaming more than 30 Lincoln Center shows — including those of Diane Von Furstenberg, Narciso Rodriguez and Carolina Herrera — on one website at YouTube.com/liverunway, in a partnership with YouTube and Maybelline New York. Also for the first time, the shows will be streamed live on your smartphone at m.youtube.com/liverunway.

“Fashion has become much more democratic in the last decade and certainly in the last five years,” said Judy Licht, creator of the television program “Full Frontal Fashion,” which once again plans to stream more than two dozen shows live during New York Fashion Week, including Calvin Klein and Donna Karan.

The live stream provides exciting real-time access to an insider experience that’s normally restricted to buyers, editors, and fashion insiders.

Check it out!

Alexis Mabille Spring 2012 RTW

blendnewyork — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 17:59:56 +0000

There was something decidedly less precious about Alexis Mabille’s girl this season. His show notes described a girl who’s in touch with her masculine side yet sticks to her womanly ways. That dose of sartorial testosterone seemed to be just the thing to temper Mabille’s saccharine leanings. Banker stripes merged surprisingly well with white lace as trim on sweet little shirtdresses, and even better when inset in the sleeves of a crisp button-down. One of Mabille’s twists was the shirt formed into a bustier, its sleeves knotted into a bow. One slip and it could have felt gimmicky, but he got it right, particularly on two evening looks near the end of the show. In fact, the best things skewed very XY, like another evening option of an hourglass-shaped waistcoat and sleek, toreador-style pants with the tiniest flourish of a Mabille bow at the calf. Inspired by the cinematography of the film The Garden of the Finzi-Continis, the show was staged in a picture-perfect greenhouse at the Jardin des Serres d’Auteuil. That gave Mabille full rein with the Laura Ashley florals in the middle of the show, which, when combined with tasseled fringe and lace, recalled a little girl’s ticky-tacky bedroom circa 1984. And in that vein, we can excuse it as a passing phase. (by Meenal Mistry style.com)

Akris Spring 2012 RTW

blendnewyork — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 06:26:59 +0000

Like Miuccia Prada, Akris’ Albert Kriemler got turned on by cars this season. Kriemler specifically referenced John Frankenheimer’s 1966 film Grand Prix, set in Monaco and other pit stops from motor racing’s golden age. Still, the two collections were as night and day as you’d expect; where Prada was cheeky, Akris was sleek. Kriemler devoted a large part of the collection to the photoprints that have become a house signature. A shot of the Hotel de l’Hermitage on racing day and another of spectators gathered on top of a large rectangular viewing structure were bold. More clever, if not necessarily more subtle, were the tiny speedometer print and a graphic horizontal stripe made from manipulating the image of a car. Speed was the organizing metaphor here: Shifts were aerodynamic and A-line, while jackets and pants with racing stripes looked inspired by uniforms. Sport has been a persistent trend this season, and this collection puts Kriemler and co. in the center of it. (by Nicole Phelps style.com)

Zac Posen Spring 2012 RTW

blendnewyork — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 06:00:29 +0000

The terrace of Avery Fisher Hall as dusk descended over Lincoln Center was the grand setting Zac Posen chose for his return to New York fashion week. The designer famously left his hometown for the City of Light a year ago, declaring, in so many words, that a Paris audience would understand his clothes better. That turned out not to be the case. But this prodigal-son story has a happy ending. He neither overplayed nor tempered his creative instincts, as he had in his first and second seasons, respectively, in Paris. On the contrary: The well-executed dresses and gowns he put on his runway reminded some in the audience of the designer’s early-aughts glory days. Posen focused on cut and fit—the more precise, the better. If corsets aren’t your friends, ladies, this designer is not the man for you. With the accent firmly on the waist, he paired narrow, elongated jackets with high armholes with pencil skirts, and whipped up party dresses with flaring, knee-length hems. Among the mermaid gowns, a midnight blue cord-embroidered sleeveless top and matching evening skirt stood out for the way the look said, “I’m an ingenue,” rather than, “I’m a diva.” We all know Posen can bring the drama; insouciance could turn out to be a growth market for him. (by Nicole Phelps – style.com)

Helmut Lang Spring 2012 Ready-to-Wear

blendnewyork — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 09:00:40 +0000

Five years into their career at Helmut Lang, Nicole and Michael Colovos put their collection on the runway for the first time. Other designers in their situation might’ve felt obliged to add a few bells and whistles, but not this husband-and-wife team. They’ve built a real business on the consistency of their clothes’ cool, urban vibe—lots of black, lots of leather, a sharply cut blazer for every slouchy T-shirt. And they didn’t veer from the course with their solid Spring collection. The jackets were cropped and cut away high in back; the pants had the easy sensibility of sweats; the tees (and there were plenty of them) were asymmetric, drapey, and layered. For their prints, the Colovoses always riff on the work of a contemporary artist. This time it was Richard Serra. The oversize brushstrokes added the only note of color in the collection: sunshine yellow. The bra tops were something new (ditto the bared midriffs), but their customers will likely be happy to see them—try finding an edgy bra at Victoria’s Secret. The closing looks, with their collages of sequins, leather cording, and embroideries, were a step in a crafty-couture direction the Colovoses hadn’t explored before. But don’t call them showpieces. “We’d never put something on the runway that we didn’t believe in for sales,” Michael said. Now that’s a novelty.
(by Nicole Phelps style.com)

Christian Siriano Spring 2012 Ready-to-Wear

blendnewyork — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 09:00:40 +0000

Christian Siriano has won many hearts and minds, and in such a way that the bodies attached to them unabashedly stand and cheer at the end of his show, while those with money go to Neiman Marcus and buy his eveningwear. Still, his quest to be taken seriously continues. Today marked his second season working with stylist Danielle Nachmani—a girl trusted by the Olsen twins to find something to wear for the Met Gala. Backstage, Siriano cited Katharine Hepburn as inspiration—an unexpected reference. (Certainly she could be described as fierce, but not the way he means it.) The first half of the show reflected that no-nonsense glamour in simple shapes like T-shirts belted into lean bias skirts, and crisp white shirting with paper-bagged palazzo pants, hopped up by acid hues. Nothing groundbreaking, but nothing offensive either. And suddenly, it seemed as though Siriano couldn’t bear the restraint anymore, and in rolled a storm of flocked tulle and organza, capped off by a dramatic finish of dimmed lights and streaming models. The crowd ate it up. It’s what they were waiting for. But it didn’t exactly help his case. Getting the respect that Siriano wants will require more than heeding a cool stylist. But you have to ask the question: Does he need it? In fashion’s new landscape, editors and designers are scrambling for the reality-TV stardom that Siriano already has in spades. Perhaps all he needs is a change of perspective. (by Meenal Mistry style.com)

John Galliano Fall 2011 RTW

blendnewyork — Mon, 02 May 2011 08:00:20 +0000

A Galliano show is usually an excuse for a fashion bacchanal, the clothes just one component of a son et lumière spectacular. Now the mighty have fallen. This outting consisted of 20 looks presented in a salon on Avenue Foch. But what better testament could there be to the genius of their creator than that there was scarcely any sense of diminishment? In fact, attendees with memories unimpaired by the poisons that have been addling Galliano’s own brain were irresistibly drawn back to his epochal March 1994 presentation in the hôtel particulier of patron Sao Schlumberger. That was a beginning, this was an end, but there was the same essence of Dietrich glamour, untrammeled imagination, beauty out of time, presented in an intimate, inescapable way. The thirties line that Galliano always loved was revisited in the rigorous tailoring he excelled at, but it was wickedly updated. The hand of Galliano the master seducer was obvious in a silk jacket in a dégradé plaid, which was belted over a slipdress. Another slipdress was worn under a latex-yoke organza coat. A clutch of the bias-cut beauties that were the designer’s original calling card were preceded by Kloss in a breathtaking full-skirted, halter-neck gown with an arrowhead motif. If it couldn’t distract from the ugliness of recent events, it also underlined the loss. Likewise, the classically draped one-shoulder closer, which was gathered at the back with pink ribbons. They were the sort of dresses you could imagine in a once entirely justifiable museum retrospective of Galliano’s work. But could such a thing even happen now? (by Tim Blanks – style.com)

Emilio Pucci Fall 2011 RTW

blendnewyork — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 06:00:22 +0000

Peter Dundas gave the hippie-deluxe look he’s made his signature during his two years at Emilio Pucci the old heave-ho tonight. Call it a case of quitting while you’re ahead: Sales for Spring and orders for pre-fall are way, way up. But the designer has already moved on to new inspirations. For Fall he’s thinking along more refined yet altogether decadent lines. Before the show he rattled off a list of reference points: hunters; Tyrolea; winter palaces; Romy Schneider as Sissi; Victoire de Castellane, the designer of Dior’s haute joaillerie; and a Parisian figure known for flaunting her very belle poitrine. That’s right, a bare leg may have reigned supreme at this Florence house since Dundas’ arrival, but no longer. This season, the bust is it. He framed it with corseted hourglass dresses that had long sleeves and a little collar or a bow, and sometimes both, at the neckline—one part temptress, the other part decorous. These came in all manner of materials, from practically humble loden wool to positively sumptuous black velvet embellished with crystals arrayed in diamond patterns, as well as in the familiar Pucci prints. Well, make that not so familiar. To emphasize the rustic, raw part of the story, he reintepreted the prints in hand-painted renderings. As for all those sharp-shouldered, double-breasted Pucci blazers in the front row? There were still some rigorously tailored examples on today’s runway, but they were part of the capsule collection for men that Dundas was debuting alongside his womenswear. His female fashion fans, on the other hand, will have to do some updating before next season. His new jackets come with a little puff at the shoulders. A suede version with leather appliqués worn with matching knickers edged into costume territory, but it was a rare misstep in a terrific collection. The Hollywood set that’s gone gaga for Dundas will be looking for red carpets to wear his dresses on all year long.
(by Nicole Phelps – style.com)

Service in Style presents FASHION SPEAKS for the 2nd year running…

blendnewyork — Fri, 01 Apr 2011 02:30:01 +0000

Check out BlendNewYork’s newest fashion at Princeton University’s charity benefitting Autism Speaks. This year our boutique will feature designers: Analili, Alternation Clothing, A.D.O. (Anjelika Dreams Organic) & Voom by Joy Han

L.A.M.B. Fall 2011 Ready-to-Wear

blendnewyork — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 09:00:37 +0000

L.A.M.B. closed out New York fashion week (only a small Finnish label followed it), and the show suggested that there was some poetic justice in that: Gwen Stefani’s collection cycled its way back through not only the trends of the season, but of past seasons, too. The show was divided into six groups, each with its own look, its own soundtrack, and its own models (often, a little oddly, grouped by race). The “Soldier Girls” wore military looks. The Rasta “Ragga Muffins,” Navajo print. Some “London Girls” had menswear-inspired suiting, and Malcolm McLaren-style “Buffalo Girls” were outfitted with outdoorsy blanket plaids. The “Mod Girls” wore leopard, stripes, and dots, and the “Glamour Girls” who closed—all Stefani-blonde—had seventies jumpsuits and halters in basic black. It’s a worthy validation of the concept that fashion should be fun to suggest, as L.A.M.B. does, that there’s no need to lock yourself into one specific look. Try boho one day, Charlie Girl the next. For any and all, L.A.M.B. is there. (by Matthew Schneier – style.com)

Proenza Schouler Fall 2011 Ready-To-Wear

blendnewyork — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 08:00:25 +0000

Once upon a time, not all that long ago, there was one thing you could be sure of at a Proenza Schouler show, and that thing was cool. Now, there are two things: cool and craft. Last season, designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez obsessed over Japanese shibori dyeing techniques and the process of making guipure lace. For Fall, inspired by a road trip they took to Santa Fe, where they were hipped to the beauty of Native American blankets, they hit the computer to design their own prints. And if that doesn’t sound crafty, wait till you hear what happened next. “Then we exploded them and we pixelated them,” McCollough said backstage, pointing out the geometric embroideries of a long-sleeved jacquard sheath and the hand-painted panne velvet of other dresses. Jack and Lazaro weren’t the only designers turned on by textiles and tribes this season (see Thakoon, for one), and yet the kaleidoscopic results look unmistakably theirs. Chalk that up to the slouchy cut of their pants, the undone way the ragged back hem of a black suede camp shirt was shown untucked over a slim pencil skirt, or how a party dress with an asymmetric neckline was layered over a black tee. In a word: cool. Not everything will be quite as palatable to their fans. We’re talking here about the overwrought trio of densely patterned leather and viscose knit sweaters and pants. On the other hand, the glazed silk blanket-stripe cocktail dresses look destined for a red carpet near you. Amid all the clashing prints were a pair of comparatively understated dresses with bias cuts that spiraled up the body like a double helix. In fashion parlance, that’s apparently called an “easy sew, tricky pattern.” Whatever you call it, the results were impressive. (by Nicole Phelps – style.com)

Marchesa Fall 2011 RTW

blendnewyork — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 08:00:44 +0000

Considering they’re English girls with highly romantic sensibilities, it’s surprising that Marchesa’s Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have never considered a real moment of Victoriana until today. But Chapman, during a bout of insomnia, caught David Lean’s Great Expectations on TV one night, and Miss Havisham it was for Fall. “I love the decaying opulence,” Chapman said. “We just thought, It’s so Marchesa.”

Opulence, yes, but decay not as much. For that reason, the first thing you noticed was a touch of deconstruction in draped duchesse dresses with pinked edges that dripped pieces of slightly destroyed silk tulle. But a lace motif was really the most overarching statement here, down to the socks worn with needle-heeled Louboutin Mary Janes. And it’s where Chapman and Craig flexed their couturier muscles. For the most part, they didn’t use actual lace, instead opting to exquisitely (and expensively) embroider the floral pattern in twinkling crystal, jet, and seed pearls onto tulle. One dress had leather cut into lace, and on another the lace beading was inserted with wire and sat like fantastical metallic flowers on a bodice. Chapman and Craig love the drama of volume, but thankfully they jettisoned their sculptural origami experiments with horsehair. Instead, it was channeled into the goth-y mutton-chop sleeves of a lipstick red trench and black Victorian riding jacket.

For the past couple of seasons, the collection, though beautiful, has seemed to stand still. That’s certainly been no deterrent for Marchesa’s vast A-list clientele, but it was nice to see new energy today. And while the designers may be sharing the perennial fashion reference of Miss Havisham this week with Prabal Gurung, the sense of darkness and decay lent some welcome bite. (by Meenal Mistry style.com)