Camilla Norrback Lookbook Preview

Linda styled the shoot 

A few weeks ago we shot the second part of the Camilla Norrback lookbook at our offices. Playing on classic themes of Nature vs. Culture, the new Autumn 2012 collection juxtaposes modern forms and structures while natural themes.  The petrol colors and structural silhouettes reflect the industrial aspects of our society, while the earthy tones and animal prints evoke a back-to-the-land sensibility.  Here's a sneak peek of the new collection, I'll post the lookbook when it is finished!

The Autumn 2012 inspiration board.
  I'm obsessed with this faux broadtail gilet

The team

Camilla styles a dress. 

-Tiffany

Dolly Girl

A doll wearing a floral gown inspired by Alexander McQueen's Spring 2007 collection. The dress took Andrew sixty hours to hand embroider with all the fabric flowers!

After two months of planning on meeting up, I finally stopped by my dear friend Andrew Yang's new Williamsburg studio, which is home to his quickly growing collection of couture dolls, The Koukalitas. You might remember them from their high-fashion debut in last month's issue of The Block Magazine, which stunned fashion-freaks and doll-lovers alike, in addition to sparking the interest of many high-profile stores and magazines. I'm going to have to keep mum on the upcoming projects, but let's just say that they're about as exciting as it can get. Remember when I wrote about my friend Joseph Altuzarra during his first season? I have a feeling that Andrew's dolls will be receiving a similarly warm reception from the fashion industry (I already heard that Michele Lamy posted a picture of the Rick Owen's doll in their home office).

I actually didn't just stop by to ogle what he's working on, but to talk about helping out with making jewelry and accessories for his upcoming massive orders, as well as hang out and help stuff some dollies. I got a first hand look at how each doll is meticulously, painstakingly constructed, and even brainstormed with Andrew and his lovely business partner Jen a little on transmogrifying all the crazy runway looks into miniature versions. While some looks are easy for Andrew to whip out on the sewing machine (an Alexander Wang Wallstreet inspired look, slinky black jersey pieces from the Row, a fishnet dress from Y-3), some looks will really challenge his creativity, like a fully bead-embroidered multi-colored look from Manish Arora, and a Mary Katrantzou dress featuring one of her wildly complicated digital prints. Another mystery: dolly-sized platform shoes and fashion heels---anyone got any brilliant ideas? It would be so much easier if he had one of those shrinking machines that Rick Moranis had in Honey I Shrunk The Kids.

Anyway, here are some behind-the-scene photos of the magnificent studio, which rival's Santa's workshop for general magicalness. I can't show too much though--you'll have to wait to see the fully realized dolls at The Koukalita's debut during the next Fashion's Night Out in September!

Andrew and his partner Jen in the studio

The office mascot, Andrew's cyclops doll, Ingrid St. Clare!

Jen stuffing the leg of a doll--not as easy as it looks, especially when you're making a couple hundred of them!

Embroidered swatches for future projects

The wig wall, along with plus-sized doll, Beth Gouddard

Mini dolls!!! These little ladies are about 1/3 of the size of their larger counterparts.

Name that look! These are the fifty looks from the Fall 2010 collections that Andrew will be recreating for a very large order!

Doll bodies and parts on their way to being hand stitched together

-Tiffany

E.M. Eternal

Spikey earrings, rings and necklaces from the new Spring collection

I spent yesterday and today working the Designers & Agents tradeshow with one of my favorite jewelry lines, E.M.. In spite of the grueling schedule, I actually really enjoy working most of the shows, since it gives me a good chance to preview a lot of the Spring collections in person. While most of the designers at D&A aren't my style (I noticed a bunch of booths showcasing what I can only describe as slutty hippy chic, like Britney Spears attempting boho), there were definitely a few standouts (which I will write about another time).

One more observation: did you know that they've actually started to manufacture pre-shredded fabric and making entire clothing lines out of it? While the garments don't bear the signature irregularities that most home-shredded tees do, I'm sure that once they're worn a couple of times they'll look identical to the originals. They were actually quite beautiful, but I have a feeling that if they're being mass produced, they're quickly on their way into "victim" territory, along with the many other trends that I have once loved, but which I now see in the window display at Strawberry.

Anyway, I'm heading over to work at Coterie tomorrow, but I thought I would share some pictures of E.M.'s Spring Collection, which features tons of spikes mixed with swags of chains. The designers never cease to impress me with their almost magical level of technical skill and attention to detail. I could go blind trying to figure out how they do exactly what they do.

These shoulder-dusting fringe earrings and spikey starbursts were a favorite amongst buyers

I loved the rings in the center, which featured piles of cubic zirconia stones stacked on top of each other

A draping fringe necklace, and a fringed two-finger ring!

Some pieces from the MEHEM collection, which has plenty of stacking rings

-Tiffany

More Mardahl!

Lovely Helle herself, wearing a stack of her incredible foam stuffed bangles.  Nicollette and I were dying over her plastic beret, but she didn't remember where it came from!

Here are some more photos I took during the Helle Mardahl opening last night at LaViola Bank. I unfortunately didn't get many pictures of the afterparty at Broadway East, or our DJs, Andrew Andrew wearing their Henrik Vibskov suits, but trust me, they looked amazing.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by, and Lauri and Shaun at Broadway East for making everything run so smoothly.  The best part of doing event like one is getting to work with your old friends, while making new ones.  Helle and Jesper (who styled all of the costumes) were so inspiring, and I really hope to see them out more often!

The Ego Queen Statue

The Elephant, an incredible installation that Helle set up at the back of the gallery.

During the opening, a musician performed on the drums in the backyard of the gallery.

The Helle Mardahl wedding cake, a dizzying spiral of black and white

Guests examining the complexities of The Maid.

The LaViola Bank interns, clad in head-to-toe Henrik Vibskov!  Our DJs, Andrew Andrew, wore the same white suits to the afterparty.

Standing in front of The Elephant installation

This "chicken feet" necklace that Jesper made never made it into any of the costumes, but was too good not to photograph!

Houman provided the all-black contrast to our all-white outfits!  Also, check out all of his incredible rings.

-Tiffany

Behind The Scenes DIY: Helle's Hand Painted Dress

Wearing our Helle Mardahl hand painted dresses and stuffed bracelets at the opening last night.

Before Helle Mardahl's gallery opening last night, we were all slightly in a panic, because the amazing Henrik Vibskov suits that Helle had originally ordered for us to wear were way too large. While we were quite disappointed that we didn't get to wear of the amazing Vibskov pieces that the rest of the staff were dressed in, we ended up getting something much better---Helle took the time to design matching outfits for each of us.

The process is actually really simple, and would make for a great DIY. She simply used black permanent marker to draw a picture based on one of her paintings on top of a store bought American Apparel dress, while we were wearing them. It's such a simple, easy to execute idea, I'm sure we will be drawing on many garments in the next few months! In addition, Helle and her stylist, Jesper, made us bracelets from the stuffed soft scraps that Helle uses to make many of her sculptures. While we got to keep the dresses, we unfortunately had to give back the bracelets for Helle to reuse, but trust us, it's such a good idea that Jesper suggested we do it ourselves, and we will probably try!

Frankly, this is probably one of the most treasured items in my wardrobe now, and I'm torn between wearing it out a million times, or hanging it on my wall and never touching it again for fear of ruining it.  I love Helle's work, and hopefully I can actually save up enough money to buy a real piece!  Anyway, I will be posting more pictures from the actual event later this afternoon, but here's how our outfits came together.

Helle based the design on the front of the dress on her painting, The Turbaned Bitch.

Helle drawing on my dress while looking at her painting.

Helle's assistant Isabel drew Christina's dress, also following Helle's painting.

Nicollette putting on makeup backstage.

Christina's dress and stuffed bracelet.

-Tiffany

The Benjamin Liu Files: Part I

Benjamin Liu and Victor Hugo, shot by Andy Warhol at the Montauk Estate in the Summer of 1982. Image courtesy of the Yale University Art Gallery.

Benjamin Liu's name has always been circulated in art and fashion circles as one of those much revered living legends, who was part of the epicenter of downtown New York in the 80's, and somehow managed to survive to tell about it. Since moving to the city from San Francisco almost over twenty-five years ago, he has spent summers living with Halston in Montauk, worked as an assistant to Andy Warhol, and currently runs a business as a special event and fashion show planner, with a client list that includes Thom Browne, Nom de Guerre, United Bamboo, and Doo.Ri.

To us though, Benny has always been a Fairy-Godfather of sorts (with Laura Wills of Screaming Mimi's being our Fairy-Godmother, naturally), hiring us to help on shows and presentations during fashion week, giving us emergency event-planning advice, and generally being the avuncular bon-vivant uncle we always wished we had. As serious a professional as Benjamin is, we can always rely on him to jokingly flirt with our husbands/boyfriends at dinner parties, fete us with industry gossip over drinks, and cheerlead our every endeavor, as puny as it might be.

Christina and I asked him to sit down with us for coffee, and tell us about his life in New York and his career in the fashion industry. We originally planned on only having one session, but after an hour and a half, we realized that we could probably talk to Benny about his incredible life for days on end. Here is part one, leading up to how he ended up working for Warhol, with more installments to come.

Moving to New York, Meeting Andy Warhol

It all started with a serendipitous phone call. Benny, who was living in San Francisco at the time, had read an article on the New York artist and window dresser, Victor Hugo, and decided to give him a call to inquire about his work. When Hugo returned Benny's phone call, they ended up having a long conversation, which ended with Hugo promising to visit Benny in San Francisco, and Benny saying, "Be my guest!"

What Benny didn't know at the time was that Hugo was Halston's boyfriend and live-in companion, and that six months later, true to his word, he would show up in San Francisco at Benny's door, arriving in a limo packed with a full set of Louis Vuitton luggage, and dressed in head-to-toe Halston. Naturally, the two "just clicked" and six months later, Benny returned the visit to Hugo in New York, staying with Hugo's assistant, Lorenzo Velasquez.

The trip was life changing. During the week long visit, Hugo took Benny all around the city, introducing him to his famous friends, including Liza Minnelli and Bianca Jagger. He took Benny to meet Andy Warhol at the Factory, where Hugo was helping Andy find subjects for his Torso Series. Warhol was looking for people with attractive bodies, and when Benny arrived, he found himself in a room full of porn stars, "famous porn stars, the ones who are on the video covers!" He was almost as in awe of meeting the porn stars as he was of Warhol. He spent his downtime with Hugo at Halston's house, where Hugo showed him Halston's garage full of abandoned treasures, including two of Bianca Jagger's discarded suitcases, which were both packed with Manolo heels. Benny describes the experience as "All luck, pure luck, it just kinda happened."

Within six months of his first visit, Benny moved permanently to New York, "without looking back or knowing what I was pursuing." By the time he moved, Hugo had broken up with Halston, moved to a loft on Fifth Avenue and 19th Street, and Benny became his house guest and took a job as his assistant. Halston and Hugo remained close, and while Benny spent those first two years in New York running around, the summers were spent at Halston's Montauk estate, which the designer would rent from Warhol. Benny and Hugo would pick up Halston at his studio at Olympic Tower, jump into a limo, go to the airport, and take Halston's private plane out to Montauk. Benny's room was sandwiched between Hugo's and Halstons, but Benny quips, "there was no sex going on between us!"

"Here's the photo by Victor Hugo in the Montauk estate main house kitchen, wearing a Halston silkscreened white dove / black turtleneck, that H gave me the night before."

On major holidays, Halston would invite their landlord, Warhol, up for the weekend, and during these visits, Benny got to know the artist on a more personal basis. Warhol was anemic to the sun, and often carried an umbrella outside, as well as a backpack full of cameras and film to shoot with. One day Benny offered to carry his umbrella for him while he took pictures, and eventually the two developed a friendship, and Warhol offered Benny a job as his assistant. Benny refused the initial offer, thinking that Warhol's world wasn't nearly as glamorous as Halston's. "I was so stupid!" Benny says of the moment, with a laugh. Eventually, Steve Rubell of Studio 54 convinced Benny of his mistake, saying "Halston's world is this big, while Warhol's world is this big," while making a grand gesture of his arms to suggest the enormity of Warhol's sphere of influence. Benny ended up taking the job with Warhol, but only after laying out his terms, and demanding a set salary.

-Tiffany

The Source of The Source

The Fashion Center booth, on the corner of 39th St. and 7th Avenue.

I can't tell you how many times I've walked by the Claes-Oldenberg-style giant button and needle that constitute The Fashion Center, and wondered, what is that all about?  I've worked in this industry for four years now, gotten an Associates Degree in Jewelry Design at F.I.T., and never once have I thought to stop by this booth or actually look into it for any sort of information. In all honesty, I've always assumed it was some sort of tourist guidance hut, since it is rife with irrelevant pamphlets featuring maps of the district and guides to neighborhood restaurants.

Well, Christina and I were doing the rounds of the district for work today, and as we were passing by The Fashion Center, I said, "Why don't we stop in there and see if they have anything we need."  The booth is staffed by a nice lady who simply asked us if she could help us with anything.  I asked her if she could give us a list of stone suppliers, and like a magic genie, within 30 seconds, she printed out a 2 page list of relevant businesses within the neighborhood.  Just so you know, as a designer, it can take years to compile a list of good industry sources.  Often, it feels taboo to ask your fellow designers, even if they are your friends, what their sources are since copying is so rampant.  Designers can be very protective about this information, and often, it's acquired through work experience combined with lots of hunting, to find just the right sources for the kind of labor and material that you require.

While the lists that she gave us was hardly precise, and limited entirely to businesses within the Garment District, it's an incredible starting point if you are drawing a blank, and say, normal Google searches aren't helping you (a lot of these places don't have websites and aren't particularly tech savvy).  Apparently, this fashion database will soon be searchable online, but in the meantime you can email your queries to info@fashioncenter.com, or stop by the booth in person for a printed listing.  Honestly, I can't believe both Christina and I have overlooked this source for so long, considering it's not exactly a secret.

Now I'm super exhausted from running around all day.  Here's what we wore.

Christina wears a vintage dress, a Forever 21 cardigan, Marc x Marc Jacobs boots, Gerard Yosca cuff, and a w29 Showroom tote.

Viktor & Rolf for H&M blouse, Kate Moss for Topshop leather jacket, Zara pants, Alexander McQueen scarf, Miu Miu bag, Rachel Comey boots, Devaki floppy hat, Antti Asplund cross necklaces.

-Tiffany

Margarita Saplala Shoot!

Inside the studio, one of the REAL models getting shot for the lookbook.

Yesterday afternoon, we did a shoot for the invite to the party we are throwing for Margarita Saplala, one of the many talented designers on the W29 Showroom roster.  We've been talking about collaborating with W29 for a long time (check out their new blog, both Lulu and I make a guest appearance!), since we love Shelley and Susanne, so we're very excited to be working with them on this party.  We got up extra early for the 10AM call time, even though it turned out we weren't going to be shot until 3 PM.  Nonetheless, we had a great time watching the shoot, hanging out with the most amazing make-up artist, Emily, eating tons of gourmet pizza from Waldy's, and dressing up in Margarita's Fall 09 creations.  Plus, in return, we got to walk away with some amazing full length black silk evening gowns from Margarita's Spring 09 collection.  We'll work for clothes any day!  You will have to wait till it's closer to the party to see the actual images from the shoot and the outfits that we wore, but in the meantime, here are some backstage shots.

One of the lookbook models wearing a dress featuring Margarita's custom designed silk fabric prints.

Margarita styling one of the printed T-shirts.

A few pieces of the crazy crochet and rhinestone jewelry from the Accessories table.  All of the accessories were made by another W29 showroom designer, P.Y.T.

Emily, our makeup artist, was a true genius.  A former editor at the now defunct CosmoGirl, she was one of the few people I gave over full control to (I'm a control freak and usually bring my own foundation cause I don't trust most makeup artists!), and she gave us a lot of useful tips.  She decided to give us a slightly imperfect version of our usual black eye, since she didn't want it to look too pretty.  Here she starts with a dark black eyeliner for Christina.

Emily's assistant, who worked on Nicollette, put a paper towel under the eye as she applied the eyeshadow, to prevent the pesky black flakes of shadow from dropping on an already made-up face.

Emily smudged black eyeshadow both on the upper lid, and right under the lower lashline.  She said that after a night out, your eyemakeup always ends up under your eyes anyways, so you may as well put it there and do it right! 

-Tiffany