FASHION

A pants party exploded within the Bryant Park tent last week with trends running the gamut from graffiti to soft velor. The similarity they shared? Their statements but of course. In case you need to get a head start on next fall’s shopping, we’ve highlighted our favorites.

Diesel Black Gold went platinum with dark ruby crush velvet trousers. Rodarte mirrored the Old World feel with their own ruby red version complete with satin paneling and a similarly slim fit. Rodarte also decorated model’s legs with bloused Old World lace. Slim fit, tapered and gathered pants won the all-around style award. Rodarte used large flowers in an artistically elongated smash print while Tory Burch, Proenza Schouler and Twenty8Twelve designed more overtly graffiti-for-bottom prints.

               
The bottom line – you’re bottoms half has a wild side and a future where anything goes. So when you’re shopping last season’s sales and traveling during the summer, remember come fall it will be time to decorate thy deriere.

Emma Dinzebach

I love Fall 2010 runway shows and I cannot put my finger on what exactly it is. I think it’s part the Bensoni inspiration – a girl going through her grandmother’s closet, draping herself with jewels and fur reminiscent of a stoic Brooke Astor. Part Alexander Wang and Catherine Maladrino – who ease our anxiety over being devotional slaves to death’s favorite color and provided furry outerwear. And part Elise Øverland’s reliably goth urban warrior who for Fall 2010 took a walk through the jungle. Stacey Bendet mirrored that effect with her glam goes wild party cocktail dresses complete with feather shoulders, fur stoles and varying hemlines.

But what I most adore thus far about Fall 2010 were the fur, leather and shiny draping noir. Yes, as in black.
When you have a closet full of black, you know everything matches and that on the rare occasion you feel like buying a color, you’ll have a top and bottom to go with it. Black is the best color to compliment denim and the hottest accompaniment to graffiti-inspired prints like those seen in Gary Graham and Generra. (And for the record, while I’ll lean rock ‘n roll, I still covet Generra’s short chiffon skirts.)

Plus with a rack full of gothic black, I don’t feel clunky or awkward wearing six inch heels or mile high lace up motorcycle booties. Matched with noir tights, black shoes make many a woman feel taller and leaner. And at 5’3, I need all the height I can get.

Emma Dinzebach

Sundance is over. There was something about a football game. We are officially over winter and ready for skirts, dresses and the ability to freely wear heels without worrying about scary ice patches. Our body’s are craving a mid-winter dress and warmth.

All hail the winter piece that keeps on giving! We found – or are reporting on – yet another way to way your still bitchin’ fur vest. And your light weight, warmer weather appropriate leather bomber for that matter. Celebs, models and beautiful French women roaming the streets of Paris pair their fancy – see also: staple – dresses with their faux animal top pieces for both style and warmth.The infinite amount of looks you can create will give your sluggish winter brain a refreshing shot of creativity as you can use just about any winter-appropriate dress in your closet. Use your cotton dresses for a more casual look and your fancy frocks with fur for a night on the town. Jason Wu paired his faux fur with a navy band aid dress during Fall 2009 ready-to-wear collection and celebs like Olivia Palermo, Kate Moss, Blake Lively and so on and so forth. Just remember, to choose a less restrictive piece of outerwear to accommodate your frock and faux underneath.

Emma Dinzebach

Every week our Weekly Shop Report runs through the a week’s worth of stock winners and losers. The same names (Bon Ton, Joe’s Jeans, Phoenix Footwear, French Connection) fly high or sink low. Having recently emerged from retail’s notoriously slowest month, we’re feeling tired of the same ‘ol routine. Anna Wintour tried to spice up the month by proposing a Fashion’s Night Out reality show – posing the ode to retail as some kind of charity. Sundance then Paris Fashion Week held out interest for five seconds before we sank into our stuck-on-this-island-in-the-middle-of-winter depression. Mocking our island misery, NBC aired the premiere of the last season of Lost.

That was a good hour.
Rather than run through the same spiel, we decided to discuss the sad, lonely and struggling life of luxury. While we love websites like Gilt, Rue La La and ideeli, we cannot help but wonder: Is all of the accessible designer wear making it feel a little less…well, designer? Luxury forefathers are feeling the same way, and to combat the mundane direction of luxury are turning back the hands of time. The grand daddy’s – Louis Vuitton, Hermes, Dior, and Prada – strategically plan to pump prestige into their label by focusing on their heritage. In spring, Dior will re-market their 1950’s perfumes. Hermes is planning a competitive equestrian extravaganza for April, and Prada recently published a 700-something page ode to their birth story. Old is the new new.

If you have money to travel in twenty ten (and you will, if you date a Goldman banker), make your purchases wisely because the take home message here is that you can’t mess with tradition. Do you really want to pass down to your grandchildren a graffiti print L.A.M.B. shoulder bag? No, no you don’t.

Emma Dinzebach