NYFW Goes Out With Falls, Spills and Cries of Outrage

The Made in Africa: By Arise Magazine Spring 2012 edition showcases work of seven designers from the Continent. Photos by Mark Von Holden/Getty Images.

HEAD’S UP: I repeat, it is officially a tradition at VEVLYN’S PEN. The plan each day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is to give a roundup of the best (and worse where applicable) and most interesting Yours Truly witnesses, from shows to trends to sightings to the rather unusual/bizarre. It should go without saying, but it shan’t – this won’t be a comprehensive list simply because a body can’t be everywhere. But, of course, depend on one’s best effort. Drum roll, please …

Day 8, last day
(SOME of the players at the tents and elsewhere): Bill Blass, Calvin Klein Collection, Elene Cassis, Guli, Isaac Mizrahi, L’Wren Scott, Made in Africa: By Arise Magazine, Marc Jacobs, Naeem Khan, Sergio Davila, Stephen Burrows, Threeasfour, Vassilios Kostetsos

THE final day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York Spring 2012 was marked by rain, wind, falling temps, a plunging designer and protests.

The latter first. Protests are nothing new at Fashion Week. For years, PETA was a fixture at Dennis Basso or the show of any designer using real fur. But in what has to be a first, Human Rights Watch and others, including children, were assembled outside Cipriani 42nd Street in time for the Guli show to bring attention to human rights abuses in the Central Asian country of Uzbekistan.



What gives? Here’s the deal: Guli designer Gulnara Karimova is the daughter of Uzbek ruler Islam Karimov. IK, who has been in power for some 32 years, is accused by groups who monitor such events of blocking democracy and child labor abuses, among other outrages. Normally, someone like GK would be given a pass because of her accident of birth.

But her case is different because in addition to her talents as a designer, she is also the Uzbekistani ambassador to Spain at the United Nations in New York and the ambassador for her country at the United Nations in Geneva. In this role, the perception is that she supports her father’s policies. While GK is not new to Fashion Week, her pedigree and employment situation are, hence the hue and cry.

The show was initially scheduled for the Studio tent at Lincoln Center. However, whether bowing to pressure from HRW&Co. or not wishing to see unfold even more of a circus atmosphere outside of the tents, Fashion Week sponsor IMG cancelled the show.

“… In light of safety and security concerns due to the heightened security threats in New York City this weekend, IMG and GULI decided that it would be in the best interests of the safety of guests for the GULI show not to proceed as planned at the Lincoln Center,” a spokesperson said in a press statement. “GULI will proceed with the show at a location to be communicated to the invitees ...”

Naturally, the show of 30 ensembles, featuring fabrics native to Uzbekistan, went on. (See snippets in video above.)

The Spring 2012 Sergio Davila collection is informed by a few seminal moments in the Americas. Photo by Cindy Ord/Getty Images.

In other developments on the last day of Fashion Week, Bill Blass, Calvin Klein, Isaac Mizrahi, Marc Jacobs, Ralph Lauren and Stephen Burrows put some clothes on the runway outside of Lincoln Center by choice. Made in Africa: By Arise Magazine showed on site at Avery Fisher Hall in what has become one of the most anticipated shows of the week in only its fourth season. Yesterday, Arise's late start probably caused many to miss Elene Cassis in the Studio tent. Arise gets a notice for Most Important Acknowledgment for its series of shows dedicated to clean water, a commodity that is in very short supply on the Continent.

In what could have easily been a tragic moment during Fashion Week and which earns the distinction, Breathing a Sigh of Relief, Lanre Da Silva Ajayi fell through an opening on stage-left inside the theater at Avery Fisher Hall as she was making her way out to take a bow after presenting the strongest of the seven Arise shows. Several people managed to fish her out of the maw. Mortified and embarrassed, but thankfully in one piece, the Nigerian designer was able to take her turn on the A-shaped runway to deserving praise.

More shortly from Day 8, last day, including Best Overall Show.For now enjoy photos from some of the day’s shows.

Calvin Klein
Photos by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

Elene Cassis
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Marc Jacobs
Photos by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

Naeem Khan
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Ralph Lauren
Photos by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

Next Stop on the Fashion Express – London!
For Spring 2012, designer Paul Costelloe is inspired by a classic Hollywood film. Photo courtesy of Catwalking.

JUST as the lights go down on Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York, they rise today on London Fashion Week.

First up is Irish designer Paul Costelloe who has shown in London the last six or seven seasons. He's gotten good notices, not so surprising considering that he cut his teeth at La Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Of course, this is the outfit that decides who shows at the couture shows in Paris.

For Spring 2012, PC is channeling the Bette Davis-Joan Crawford film, "Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?"

London Fashion Week shutters on 21 Sept. with Savile Row's venerable Hardy Amies, which is thriving under award-winning (E.Tautz) designer Claire Malcolm. She is presenting her third collection for the label.

Visit http://www.londonfashionweek.co.uk/ to learn more about London Fashion Week.

Day 7: A Masterly Demo of How It's Done

The Spring 2012 Chado Ralph Rucci show was very educational. Look (at snippets) and learn by watching the video below. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

HEAD’S UP: I repeat, it is officially a tradition at VEVLYN’S PEN. The plan each day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is to give a roundup of the best (and worse where applicable) and most interesting Yours Truly witnesses, from shows to trends to sightings to the rather unusual/bizarre. It should go without saying, but it shan’t – this won’t be a comprehensive list simply because a body can’t be everywhere. But, of course, depend on one’s best effort. Drum roll, please …

Day 7
(SOME of the players at the tents and elsewhere): 3.1 Phillip Lim, Anna Sui, B Michael America, Chado Ralph Rucci, Dennis Basso, Douglas Hannant, Elie Tahari, Francesc by Frank Tell, Focus Taiwan, Gap, Hemma Collection, J. Mendel, Jeremy Scott, Josie Natori, Juan Carlos Obando, Julian Louie, Michael Kors, Milly by Michelle Smith, Nanette Lepore, Nomia, Norma Kamali, Philosophy, Ports 1961, Proenza Schouler, Reed Krakoff, Rochambeau, Shamask, Wayne

CHADO Ralph Rucci presented a master class yesterday in how to design a collection.

In fact Ralph Rucci's Spring 2012 collection is masterful, marvelous, magnificent. Any other superlative that suggests greatness would be appropriate. Those who did not fill some of the empty seats in the Theatre tent at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York missed a very important teachable moment.



Two of the simplest pieces – A-line dresses, one in white (with tulle detail resembling the Eiffel Tower) the other in nude (with an embossed fabric on the yoke) – in what is easily the Best Overall Show of the day are inspired.

The most basic pant, dress or gown can have showstopper appeal if superbly constructed from the best fabrics, when no detail is too small to address, when not even a hint of a pucker is present. As CRR’s program notes inform, designer RR has been doing this for 30 years.

“Rucci believes he was born to create his chosen métier and continually strives to inspire all who seek refinement, beauty and tranquility in the world of fashion,” the notes state. “He will always cherish experimentation in cut, proportion and construction …”

One in attendance expressed boredom with the over reliance on Maurice Ravel’s “Bolero,” a muscial composition many artists use to suggest importance. It is appropriate here. The series of white ensembles (with two peeps of engaging gray python) that opened the collection signaled that CRR means business.

The Milly by Michelle Smith Spring 2012 collection takes as a reference point an artist who favored bold colors and geometric shapes. Photo by Ileana Garcia Jacolow/ASJAIS Images.

Throughout the show the models walked slowly, allowing those close enough to see details. The wave on the wool crepe jacket in nude, the tulle and plastic inset resembling a zipper on the black wool crepe dress and shrug combo and the feathers on a nude-colored tunic shown with a beaded catsuit. This latter is one of several that won cheers.

The intermittent use of plastic cutouts, except on the smart raincoat tunic, is incongruous. And while the nude cigalline/horsehair flounce dress is beautiful, it is also bulky and won’t flatter most figures. These anomalies, not withstanding, there is much to swoon over in this collection. Surely, the well-deserved standing ovation at the end of the show is proof of this.

BEST INTERPRETATION OF A VISION – Following Chado Ralph Rucci is much like following Aretha Franklin. To her credit Michelle Smith, who designs the Milly line, does a lot of print work so the eye won't be too burdened by such business as cut, proportion and construction. That is not to say that they are lacking, they are simply not in the rarefied air of CRR. MS, however, is a master-craftswoman-in-the-making. She managed to hold her own in a collection that pays homage to the artist Sonia Delaunay, who is noted for her bold colors and geometric shapes. MS doesn’t copy SD color for color or shape for shape, instead paraphrasing nicely. The result is a feminine, clever, bookish collection that combines in delightfully engaging tableaux prints&prints, prints&solids, prints&stripes, stripes&solids, prints&stripes&solids. Part of the scheme, too, are the fetching Milly by Michelle Smith handbags in bold, complementary colors.

An ensemble from the Spring 2012 Anna Sui collection. Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Of particular note is the azure Milano stitch sweater-jacket w/stripped lapel and azure cotton pique shell print dress combo. The dress (azure/white print) and scarf (azure/brown/blue print) mesh extremely well. The people from Bloomingdale’s sitting nearby were singling out the cobalt stitch cardigan/geometric long dress combination, one in a series of 10 cobalt-themed ensembles that opened the proceedings.

More details shortly from Day 7, including observations about Anna Sui, Michael Kors and Nanette Lepore.

On deck today, last day (Day 8) : Ralph Lauren, Guli, Sergio Davila, Calvin Klein Collection, Naeem Khan, Made in Africa: By Arise Magazine, Elene Cassis, Vassilios Kostetsos

Visit http://www.mbfashionweek.com/ and to learn more about Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York and to see live and taped streams of the shows.

Day 6 NYFW: Masterworks, Messes & Kirstie Alley

The Zang Toi Spring 2012 show had drama and Kirstie Alley (pictured at right with the designer). Photos by Mike Coppola/Getty Images.

HEAD’S UP: I repeat, it is officially a tradition at VEVLYN’S PEN. The plan each day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is to give a roundup of the best (and worse where applicable) and most interesting Yours Truly witnesses, from shows to trends to sightings to the rather unusual/bizarre. It should go without saying, but it shan’t – this won’t be a comprehensive list simply because a body can’t be everywhere. But, of course, depend on one’s best effort. Drum roll, please …

Day 6
(SOME of the players at the tents and elsewhere): A Détacher, Argentine Designers, Badgley Mischka, Bibhu Mohapatra, Chadwick Bell, Diesel Black Gold, Hervé Léger by Max Azria, Improvd, J.Crew, Karen Walker, Malan Breton, Marchesa, Michael Angel, Narciso Rodriguez, Oscar de la Renta, RAD by Rad Hourani, Rodarte, Sophie Theallet, Theyskens' Theory, Tory Burch, Tibi, Vera Wang, Zang Toi

WORD is that the Oscar de la Renta show was an even harder ticket this season, what with the move to his new 42nd street digs. The lucky few who made the cut got an extra closeup look. The runway so narrow, the seats so close.

In what was the Best Overall Show of the day at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York Spring 2012, OdlR employed various masterstrokes into his handywork – brilliant colors, lush fabrics, impeccable stitching and crocheting, inspired folding. The result is a sexy, classy, sophisticated, lush, hip-ish collection that will please his longtime clients and win a few others, especially among the young get.



Meanwhile, Narciso Rodriguez gets the Best Interpretation of a Vision prize for his ruminations on the artist Kim Joon. The designer uses color blocking and prints to cleverly evoke KJ’s computer-generated graphic designs laid over nude bodies (See YouTube video above). Over at Herve Leger by Max Azria, an Honorable Mention is earned for what can fairly be described as a warrior woman collection, right down to the gladiator sandals.

In the category of Best Runway Voguing, Zang Toi take a bow. His models, including star dancer Kirstie Alley, turned out in grand evening gowns, let it rip to the great glee of the audience. Alas, under the rubric of Sideshow, not Fashion Show is Popluxe by Ritchie Rich. Recall that the Heatherette designer and party boy gave Yours Truly to know on Day 2 of fashion week that he'd decided that very day to have a fashion show a few days later at the Italian supper club, Lavo. (http://www.bit.ly/n5Qys5)

Herve Leger by Max Azria is in a warlike mood for Spring 2012. Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

“I love Ritchie, but he needs to stop drinking,” opined one supporter who paused before issuing this statement. He was referring to the designer’s persistent and well-publicized heavy drinking/drugging/partying, which no doubt helped spawn the disaster that went down in the basement of Lavo. While a precious few of the club wear/gay-bar clothes in RR's young Popluxe line – if they can be called that – look to have the beginnings of the makings of something, most are rags drunk-stitched together (awesome jewelry, though). Even RR muse, Coco, who may or may not have had a massive wardrobe malfunction, couldn't save the day.

Interestingly enough, the mind was thinking Halloween costume as the models strolled and preened about the small, roundish space in front of Ice T, Kirstie Alley and other VIPs. SVEDKA Vodka, a sponsor of the show, commissioned RR to design a Halloween costume for its SVEDKA GRL, which was unveiled during the show. Perhaps this business informed the spectacle. Like their creator, sadly, the threads are a train wreck ... Wishing RR the best in pulling it back together.

More details shortly from Day 6. For now enjoy photos from some of the day’s shows.

Vera Wang
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Tory Burch
Photos by Fernanda Calfat/Getty Images.

Michael Angel
Photos by Earl Gibson III/Getty Images.

Malan Breton
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

J.Crew
Photos by Mike Coppola/Getty Images.

Bibhu Mohapatra
Photos by Dario Cantatore/Getty Images.

Diesel Black Gold
Photos by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images.

Badgley Mischka
Photos by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

On deck today, Day 7 : Norma Kamali, Rochambeau, Michael Kors, Nanette Lepore, J. Mendel, Nomia, Chado Ralph Rucci, Milly by Michelle Smith, Shamask, Anna Sui, Hemma Collection, Juan Carlos Obando, Ellie Tahari, B Michael America, Focus Taiwan

Visit http://www.mbfashionweek.com/ and to learn more about Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York and to see live and taped streams of the shows.

Day 5 NYFW: Retiring Collection From Retiring Lady?

For Spring 2011, Betsey Johnson goes burlesque and more demure. Betsey Johnson photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

HEAD’S UP: I repeat, it is officially a tradition at VEVLYN’S PEN. The plan each day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week is to give a roundup of the best (and worse where applicable) and most interesting Yours Truly witnesses, from shows to trends to sightings to the rather unusual/bizarre. It should go without saying, but it shan’t – this won’t be a comprehensive list simply because a body can’t be everywhere. But, of course, depend on one’s best effort. Drum roll, please …

Day 5
(SOME of the players at the tents and elsewhere):
Alexandre Herchcovitch, Alexandre Plokhov, Araks, Bebe, Betsey Johnson, Callula Lilibelle, Carlos Miele, Carolina Herrera, Chris Benz, Creatures of the Wind, Donna Karan New York, Edite Showroom designers, Jad Ghandour, Jenny Packman, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Norman Ambrose, Ohne Titel, Pamella Roland, Perry Ellis, Rachel Roy, Rachel Zoe, Rebecca Minkoff, Reem Acra, Thom Browne, Victoria by Victoria Beckham, Vlov_ Qingqing Wu, Yeohlee, Zero + Maria Cornejo


BOY, were tongues awagging after the Betsey Johnson show yesterday. Hardcore fans loved it. Some thought it boring, while others observed that she had the prettiest models.

A goodly number declared it the most accessible show BJ has staged in some time.
“Who wears those clothes,” one wag grunted, referring to the BJ of most seasons past. “I can see someone buying these.”

Amongst the scuttlebutt, too, is the sinister notion that BJ has gone totally commercial. “She has all of these tie-ins because she’s planning her retirement,” sniffed a wag who knows such things. “Those weren’t clothes, it was all lingerie!”

Actually, BJ does have a licensing deal with Intimates Carole Hochmann Design Group, and the company is listed as one of the licensees in her program. Further, Betsey Johnson LLC has more than a dozen licencing agreements. This comprises legwear, jewelry, swimwear, timepieces, outerwear and signature fragrance. All were on the runway or in the swag bag.


Regardless of the view one takes, Spring 2012 is one of BJ’s most subdued and approachable collections. Ironically, it takes a lot of inspiration from burlesque, yet it is quite chaste and often enough cleverly so. BJ put a tight reign on herself, to use a phrase. Did she do it to keep the cops from the door or to get customers into the door?

More shortly on the BJ saga and the rest of goings-on, including “best overall show,” from day 5 of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York Spring 2012. For now enjoy photos of some of the day’s offerings.

Yeohlee
Photos by Joe Kohen/Getty Images.

Perry Ellis
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Jenny Packham
Photos by Peter Michael Dills/Getty Images.

Norman Ambrose
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Donna Karan New York
Photos by Mike Coppola/Getty Images.

Carolina Herrera
Photos by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images.

Carlos Miele
Photos by Ileana Garcia Jacolow/ASJAIS Images.

On deck today, Day 6: Michael Angel, Tory Burch, J.Crew, Badgley Mischka, Vera Wang, Zang Toi, Diesel Black Gold, Bibhu Mohapatra, Herve Leger by Max Azria, Argentine Designers, Improvd, Tibi, Narciso Rodriguez, Heatherette, Malan Breton

Visit http://www.mbfashionweek.com/ to learn more about Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week New York and to see live and taped streams of the shows.