Summoned to a palatial Soho loft, guests admired previews from eight fabulous Japanese designers between sips of wine and nibbles of hors d’oevres. Aptform fuses Greek and Japanese aesthetics for a unique menswear collection, rich with layers of gray and black knit, intended wrinkled fabric and a male version of the ever-popular harem pants. Launched in 2008, CHALOU lab previewed its most recent womenswear collection flush with texture in neutral tones. Showing in Paris, Tokyo and Milan, the design collaborative, Mikio Sakabe, dressed its female models in pointed businessmen shoes, graphic prints on solid shades of purple, black and blue, donning tall, black and revamped updates on Prada’s S/S ’07 turban.
Naoshi Swayanagi‘s collection is rooted in traditional Japanese design techniques, capturing a goddess-like quality in its amalgamation of solid tans and whites accented with silver scales, bare skin and a nude makeup palette. SHIDA TATSUYA limited his preview to varying fur bolero-wraps, while The Dress Co. displayed romantic pirate-inspired looks. Tinydinosaur integrated a cohesive and tailored aesthetic into one collection conducive to both men and women in achromatic colors. Finally, Yu’s looks upstaged last falls men’s for women’s fashion, displaying sharp angles and fitted business suits on his models with mod-cropped hairstyles.
Just a few weeks ago I wrote about the Sonia Rykiel for H&M launch party and finally got to see (and purchase!) the collection in-person yesterday. Although there wasn’t the usual crowd that is anticipated for these launches, I was quite relieved to be surrounded by major fans of the designer at the 51st and 5th Avenue flagship this past Saturday, February 20th. Only Rykiel could get me to rise out of bed early the weekend after a rigorous fashion week, and I’m so glad to have been one of the first to meander around the store picking up the coveted items I had seen at the press preview/launch party. It was Rykiel at it’s best, with signature knitwear in stripes, inside-out seaming, bows, sequins, and bright colors. The most expensive items seemed to be priced around $50 – the striped dress (pictured above) and the looped cotton vest (below), but a lot of the sweaters were in the $30-$35 range – quite average for H&M prices. What sold the fastest? This hot pink and black striped bow sweater with a sweet scoopneck — I scavanged the dressing room racks and managed to pick up the last one in my size – score!
The childrens clothes were absolutely gorgeous, with most items priced at a very reasonable $10 each. The Sonia Rykiel dolls were $25, which would make a nice doll for a child, however the collection is hard to find — in New York it seemed that there were just a few H&M’s in the city carrying the collection, so I can immagine it may be difficult to find it elsewhere. When I walked out at 11am the dressing room lines were starting to swell, and the sizes were starting to have gaps in them — I give it a week before it’s completely gone, and highly recommend you making the trek to an H&M carrying the collection or scouring online for it — there’s already plenty of pieces up on ebay. If you love fashion and appreciate good design at amazing prices, take advantage of the iconic pieces Rykiel has become known for over her decades in fashion before they’re gone forever!
[Here’s my items from the Sonia Rykiel Pour H&M collection]
Back Stage Beauty at William Rast with Charlotte Willer of Maybelline and Thomas Dunkin of Sebastian
The look to accompany William Rast’s Fall 2010 collection was beautiful clean skin with a pretty highlighted cheekbone, a full Bridgette Bardot inspired lash and the perfect nude pucker. The hair was a new take on the oh-so-popular beach wave meets fluffy hippy-chic.
Charlotte Willer, key makeup artist for Maybelline, demo’ed the look on one of Rast’s models. The look can be worn by “any woman of any age,” she said (see the clip above). The makeup was sexy, but fresh and modern at the same time. To get the look at home:
– Use your fingers to apply Maybelline Dream Liquid Mousse Foundation for flawless looking skin
– Define your brows using Maybelline Define a Brow pencil in a shade close to, or just slightly lighter than your own brow hairs
– Layer lots and lots of Colossal Volume Mascara in Glam Black to create a dramatically defined eye.
– Use your fingers to apply Maybelline Color Sensational Lip Color in “Barely There” (backstage they were still calling this color “backstage #5). The color was created by Willer and Maybelline especially for the Rast Fall 10 collection. If you’ve been looking for the perfect nude and are nearing throwing your hands up in frustration, this is the color for you! Regardless of gender and race, all models at the William Rast show sported the perfect nude lip down the runway.
– The look can be finished off using various loose powders in small amounts from the Maybelline Mineral Power collection just to give the look a very luminous fresh feel
Two tips for at-home makeup application by Charlotte are:
1. Use your hands to apply everything, the warmth from your body will give products a natural and seamless feel.
2. To test out what color would look nude on your lips without actually testing the lipstick on your lips, smudge a bit of lipstick on your inner middle finger. The color of the skin in this spot is close to your natural lip color!
To get the perfect beachy meets hippy chic voluminous and soft looking hair, Thomas Dunkin and his team of stylists used Sebastian Volupt spray and a blow dryer. For replicating the look at home, take small to medium sections of hair and use the Volupt spray to twist and scrunch using the blow dryer to set the hair and dry the product. Continue in small to medium sections around the head until all hair has been set and scrunched using Volupt. Finish with Sebastian Craft Clay or Molding Mud at the ends of the hair to create piecey-ness and to complete the look. Dunkin was definitely a fan of the Volupt spray, he noted that it gave the hair a lot of “scrunched” texture without making it look crunchy – think a new take on “scrunched” hair.
[Image via Style.com]
Overall at William Rast the look was biker-chic meets vintage American. More leather than denim was seen this time around as the line is aiming to expand it’s reach with fringe, fur, Native American inspired patterns, new cotton and jersey knits, shiny cargos and tailored menswear. The completed look with hair, makeup and the clothes is definitely a must-see, as I’ve already tried the makeup look for myself and am a huge fan! Try it out and go get inspired! For the complete line visit Style.com or view our finale video here!
Clad in a Gorilla costume, Phillipe Blond uncorked the collection by creeping down the runway until, in step with the soundtrack, she shed the beast and stomped down the catwalk in a gold-studded mini dress. With that, the tone was set and extravagant creations flooded the runway, each look outdoing its forerunner with lavish fur boas, uber tight corsets and sparkling jewels. The designer duo of David and Phillipe clearly knows how to put on a show, and their collection is not for the timid or conservative kind. Fabric accented the ornate gems adorning waist-clasping girdles in honor of the sensual female form. Guests, too, paraded around the venue in confident attire – killer male legs rocked tight leather leggings and stilettos, threatening to upstage the hauntingly stylish females in the audience. Don’t believe us? Check out the daring fashions here or view The Blonds collection here.
