Cacophony of Colors

One of the first things you learn in fashion school is to design a collection with such a strong and cohesive story that the customer is compelled to buy the entire look--or better yet, the entire collection. Suno certainly succeeds in doing this, for every girl knows that it wouldn't be good enough to simply have one beautifully printed Suno top. You need the mismatched skirt, the printed shoes, and the piles of of jewelry to go with it in order to achieve the perfectly clashing cacophony of colors and prints that are essential in composing the Suno look. Even though wearing a full runway look head-to-toe is normally frowned upon, I wouldn't mind lifting most of these looks off the runway styled as is. In fact, the Suno show was one of my favorites this season, and even though I later found out that half of the people I know were also at the show (including childhood friends, siblings of childhood friends, etc), I was so absorbed in the wave of vibrant prints that I didn't notice a single one of them (sorry to be so rude). Here are just a few of my favorite looks, and a peek at the much-blogged-about shoes from the Suno and Loeffler Randall collaboration.

-Tiffany

Camilla!

Wearing the Camilla Norrback recycled vintage polyester lace gown and waist cincher at D&A.

As soon as New York Fashion Week ends, Market Week begins, with barely any room for a breather. This past week, in addition to showing Triskaidekaphobia at the Ace Hotel, I worked the Designers & Agents tradeshow, representing Swedish eco-luxury line Camilla Norrback in the Scandinavian Focus room. Back in August, I got to see the Camilla Norrback show at Stockholm Fashion Week, so by the end of D&A, I felt like I was an expert on the Spring 2011 collection (go ahead, ask me a question!).

While I love the idea of eco-friendly and green fashion, quite often I find that it veers towards apres-yoga wear or granola mom. Still, environmentalism is gradually embedding itself into our collective consciousness and the way we live our everyday lives, and I believe that eco-fashion is simultaneously evolving. I can think of a good number of eco-designers now who create lines that are just as fashion-forward as their non-green peers, and Camilla Norrback is no exception. All of her clothes are constructed from organic cotton, bamboo, and wool, or recycled vintage polyester, but still have a soft, luxurious hand-feel, and conform with a sense of high design standards.

This season Norrback was inspired by her childhood summers at a country house in Finland, and imagining the lives of the people who lived there at the turn of the century. She incorporated Victorian style puff sleeves, and chose a mostly faded color palette for the collection, to recall past feelings and memories from another time. Many of the pieces from the collection reminded me of updated versions of the costumes worn in the country house scenes in Ingmar Bergman's Fanny and Alexander (my favorite Bergman film). However, the piece that I was drawn to the most was the least country-style of all--a full length black lace evening gown made out of recycled vintage polyester lace, which was definitely made for a night out in the city.


The rotating display rack I put together at D&A: the skyberry print dress, a cozy grandpa sweater from the men's collection, and a tee with a picture of the famous country house in Finland.

A picture of the back of the lace dress that I took at Stockholm Fashion Week.

A full length view of the dress. All following photos by Kristian Loveborg, courtesy of Berns Salonger.

-Tiffany

Don't be a jerk Johnny, and other unfashionable stories...

John and Jimmy reunited at last. When he got back, we had a big party for him at Emily's apartment.

I'm really backlogged in posting from from Fashion Week, but I need a tiny breather from all the Rachel Zoe talk. Here are some unfashionable iPhone photos from the last month, which has been awesome, albeit a bit stressful. John and Jacob came back to town for a ten day break between The Drums nonstop tour schedule, Christina and my niece Emma both celebrated their birthdays, and Life Curated finally opened in Williamsburg. Oh, and we finally shot our lookbook, with the wonderful Mallory June and our friend Dom (real photos to come). Here are the not-very-good photos documenting it all. And make sure to watch the new Drums video for "Down By the Water" below, which was inspired by an old Shangri-las video.

After John's party, we went to Cameo in Williamsburg to see Eric from the Tough Alliance DJ. It's a really cute little place hidden in the back of Lovin' Cup, and I would probably go there all the time if I hung out in Brooklyn.

For Christina's birthday, I bought her Chikalicious cupcakes, and Adam bought her a tub of Hanna beads from Ikea. We spent half the night doing kids crafts before going to Morrissey night at Sway. Adam made the Pacman ghost, and I made the Pacman, the Comme des Garcons heart, and the rainbow heart.

My niece Emma also celebrated her fifth birthday with a Hello Kitty themed birthday party (i.e., the party of my dreams). Here she is, about to bash in the face of her Hello Kitty pinata.

We finally got around to shooting our Triskaidekaphobia lookbook! Mallory June was such an amazing model, and Dom is always so great to work with.

Life: Curated opened. They have an incredible rope installation running across their entire ceiling.



The Drums video for "Down by the Water"

-Tiffany

Moon Phases

All photos by Jessy Price

When I went to see the Frank Tell presentation at Milk Studios, the crowd was so densely packed I could barely see the models, much less get a blurry photograph in. What I did see though was something that always piques my interests: tons of loose hand knits that beg to be touched. As I've mentioned before, last winter I started out on my own Rodarte-inspired knit sweater, and I would say it's 95% complete. I had to put down the needles when summer came, cause I just hate the feel of thick wool when it's hot outside, but now that the cooler weather is coming, I'll pick up my latchhook again. Anyway, Tell's knits have added more fuel to the inspirational fire. He himself was inspired by living moss walls, and texturally the pieces bear a striking resemblance to the rugged half-alien terrain of Icelandic countryside. The fell-from-the-moon look was completed with space-age hairdos and Raphael Young's sleek and forward-looking boots. It was a beautiful collection, and I have to give a special congratulations to my friend Hector, who is one of the founding partners of the company (and who sent me these photographs, which are far better than my own).

-Tiffany

Tom Binns Earring Giveaway!

I almost never do contests and giveaways because I think they're pretty corny, but Tom Binns is one of my favorite jewelry designers, and I thought you guys might actually appreciate getting your hands on some of his jewelry. Designer Apparel is giving away a pair of his silver zipper earrings away to one reader. DesignerApparel.com is a shopping search engine that carries hundreds of popular brands like Proenza Schouler, Jil Sander, and Derek Lam. Their retail partners include Shopbop, Bloomingdales, and Net-A-Porter, and they offer tools for price comparison and sales notifications.

Rather than make you all jump through tons of hoops, I thought I would make it extra easy to enter. Just leave a comment with your email address in this format: janedoe_at_gmail.com (so all those nasty spambots don't pick it up). You have until next 12PM on Sunday, October 3rd to enter, when I will pick the winner using a random number generator. One entry per person please. Unfortunately, the contest is only open to U.S. and Canadian residents. Good luck!

EDIT: The contest is over, congratulations to the winner, Cristine Navarro!

-Tiffany

Portrait of the Artist

Closeup of the pink brushstroke dress. All photos by Peggy Ann McDonnell.

Jonathan Cohen was the first person to send me an invite to his show this season, adding a personal note telling me he was a longtime reader of the blog. Even though I skipped a lot of shows and events this season, I couldn't say no to a blog reader, and found myself scurrying from work to catch the last five minutes of his presentation. I'm so happy that I got to view the collection in person, which was inspired by the artist's paintbrush, and full of intricate details that photographs cannot capture.

The paintbrush itself appeared literally emblazoned on the most show-stopping piece of the collection, dashing a hot-pink brushstroke made out of dyed horsehair across the blank canvas of a white dress. Vivid brushstrokes appeared elsewhere in the collection, mainly in Cohen's swirling custom prints. I do not believe that fashion is art, but I do appreciate the artistry inherent in good design, and think that it is fully manifested in the inspired collection. I love how the running theme of the show glorified the process of creation, without using the overly self-referential fashion design tropes that many designers fall into. At the same time, Cohen never loses sight of the fact that real women are meant to wear the clothes, and they are constructed to flatter, and to move. Certainly an auspicious beginning for the young designer.

-Tiffany

Black is the New Black

Riccardo Tisci created this dress with overlapping 'bondage' straps

As someone who really doesn't like crowds (being extra short usually guarantees I'll have my face jammed up next to someone's armpit or the like), Fashion Week has put me in a lot more squishy situations than I'd normally choose to participate in. Monday night was no exception. Swarovski elements commissioned twenty-two designers, including Lanvin, Givenchy, Fendi, Marios Schwab, and Boudicca to create their own versions of the classic Little Black Dress, incorporating Swarovski stones. It was really fantastic to see how each designer interpreted the classic, and a few even dared to diverge from the monochromatic palette with bits of gold mesh and the occasional flashes of color. The dresses were auctioned off that night to benefit the American Cancer Society, and New York's finest and fanciest ladies, including Halle Berry and Julianna Margulies, turned up to bid for the one-of-a-kind designer gems. While I wasn't amongst the select few who went home with a dress--the prices were just a tad bit out of my price range--they did give every guest a nice hard-covered auction catalog to take home as a wee consolation prize. Here are a few of my favorite gems of the evening.

My personal favorite--Martin Grant created a faded ombre pattern out of the crystals

Lanvin dress with Swarovski necklace detail

Phillip Lim was inspired by Picasso's cubist collages

Alexis Mabille covered his dress in stones to create crystal scales

Sonia Rykiel's "Tete d'Affiche" or "Top Billing" dress

Gaspard Yurkievich created this armor like piece out of crystal mesh

Valentino dress with crystal-embellished flange

Missoni's dress featured it's signature knit encrusted with thousands of crystals

-Tiffany