Quote du Jour

"A beautiful woman is a beautiful woman,
but a beautiful woman with a brain is an absolutely lethal combination."
-Prabal Gurung

That Girl.

I am frequently attracted to a sparkling bracelet, brave new nail color, exciting hemline, and resplendent tresses.

In New York everyone lives out loud, and the opportunities abound to encounter exceptional sartorial choices.

But amidst this jungle of beautiful animals, sometimes you pass someone and feel the presence of a person fully imbued with that certain je ne sais quoi.
They are more than the sum of their parts.
I call these people--for they are almost always females who catch my attention--"That Girl."
(Note: "That Girl" is not to be confused with an "It Girl." They are almost always polar opposites in their approach.)

Here are a few recent photos taken by The Sartorialist and Tommy Ton of Those Girls traipsing around--showcasing their nonpareil charm--in my own city:







With all the people I see lingering around certain sections of New York just hoping for The Sartorialist or Garance Dore to spot them and shoot them (and honestly, it's so formulaic that Refinery29 created a guide for achieving just that: HERE), it's lovely to see exceptional people simply living their lives...and, by chance, once in awhile a camera fleetingly captures the beauty of their existence.

"When a girl feels that she's perfectly groomed and dressed she can forget that part of her.
That's charm.
The more parts of yourself you can afford to forget, the more charm you have."
(F. Scott Fitzgerald, "Bernice Bobs Her Hair" via Women's Wardrobe)

To the effortless charm of That Girl,
Cxx.

Great Ideas in Cloth and Writing

I love everything about the opening and closing paragraphs of Tim Blanks' review for Style.com of the S/S 11 Jil Sander show:

"The way Raf Simons tells it, he was sitting around with his team discussing the new minimalism and that got him thinking about its inverse, maximalism, which led him instantly to haute couture. That presented an implicit challenge to the very essence of the Jil Sander woman, and it must have excited Simons, because it inspired a standout collection that looked to have revived his commitment to the label. For a designer who is as mesmerized by line and proportion as he is, there can ultimately be no more seductive métier than couture—but where traditional couturiers have been paying lip service to the modernizing possibilities of the T-shirt-and-ball-gown combo for a dog's age, he made it a walking, talking proposition with his opening passage of major skirts and minor tops...

If the show had a hell-bent-for-leather verve about it, Simons really had no choice. There is no way you could make this kind of statement in a half-hearted way. But among the grand gestures, the collection could be broken down into a slew of want-ables: the parkas, for one thing; the stripes; all the tailoring. Still, in an ideal world, it would be those huge, glorious skirts that would be sweeping all before them down your local high street."






(All images from Style.com)

There are so many things I've loved on the S/S 10 runways so far, but time's always the thing. Somehow I couldn't resist posting this review.
To Maximalism,
Cxx.

Food for (My) Thought

After recently proclaiming to friends, family and, more importantly, to MYSELF, that I would no longer entertain thoughts of working in the fashion industry, New York Fashion Week has arrived and revved me up to go running to shows, reading Style.com runway reviews and analyzing collection photos, and reading show recaps on Twitter and various blogs. Fast forward to tonight. This scene unfolds in the living room of yours truly:

Bunny: "Hey, Christine?"

Me: "Yes, Steven?"

Bunny: "Why don't you just do something in fashion. You spend all your time looking at sites about shoes and clothes. It's what you love. Just do something in that field. Right? Just do something in fashion, for God's sake. I mean, you REALLY love it, and spend alllllll your time with it. If you spent all your time looking at sites about art, then I'd say you should go into art, but you don't."

Me (a little dumbfounded): "Uhh...."

Bunny: "I'm just trying to help. But I mean...REALLY. It's totally true, though."

THE SAGA CONTINUES....

Democracy in Fashion--Fashion's Night Out: The Show

I think it's fair to say that fashion has never been more democratic than it is at this moment.

Much of that equalizing can and should be attributed to an unusual suspect: Anna Wintour.
Defamed as "Nuclear Wintour," this woman is blessed with incredible foresight and an imaginative vision for what New York's fashion industry should be, and what it must be to guarantee its survival, especially in a post-9/11 world.
If you need proof, skip "The September Issue," a great film that unfortunately perpetuates the legend of her enigmatic and aloof qualities, for another great documentary, "Seamless," that may well confirm for you--as it did for me--that Anna is the best woman to be calling the major shots in fashion.
(And did I ever tell you that she frequents my neighborhood Starbucks? She gets her coffee BY herself and FOR herself. Stars! Just like us...)

The success last year of her brain child, the inaugural Fashion's Night Out, paved the way for the event I attended this past Tuesday:
The Fashion's Night Out: The Show.

I snagged two tickets and MVG and I headed to Lincoln Center (Bryant Park tents no more!) for the christening of S/S 2011 Mercedes Benz Fashion Week.

The fountain in the center of Lincoln Center's plaza was the perfect set piece.

The show, which seated nearly 2,000 guests (making it the largest runway show in NYC history), was comprised of 171 looks from the Autumn/Winter 2010 collections, divided into categories (e.g. Jazz Age). Each look was assembled using pieces from various designers, as well as some high-low mixing, like the Monique Lhullier skirt with Payless shoes ensemble modeled by Gisele.

As one of my favorite models, Jacquelyn Jablonski, demonstrates (in Versus) above, red is BIG for Autumn 2010, and fittingly I wore my red Miu Mius to the show:


CBS filmed and fed a livecast of the show to their website (an edited version will broadcast on CBS proper next Tuesday, September 14th). MVG and I were fortuitously seated in a camera-heavy section of the plaza. Here are some snippets from the broadcast in which you can spot us (thanks to my red shoes!):




I admit that I have some minor complaints about the show, but none of them really matter.
Yes, it was overwhelming to see 171 looks in 20 minutes, and to see 171 models simultaneously rather than staggered.
But you know what?
It was unbelievable to be sharing in this extraordinary moment with Anna Wintour, the world's top models (Gisele, Naomi Campbell, Karolina Kurkova, Chanel Iman, Coco Rocha, Karlie Kloss, etc.), the glitterati (surprise musical guest Pharrell, Roger Federer, Michael Kors, Harvey Weinstein the cast of Gossip Girl, New York socialites, etc.).

An event that was created to benefit a single industry in a single city has spread to several continents and hundreds of cities in a year's time.
From top designers and editors to kids like me and MVG, everyone's welcomed to have a good time.

Vive the democracy!
And vive Anna!
Cxx.