Cheryl Shops

Fashion Week update
New York Fashion Week ended on Friday, and I believe London Fashion Week should be starting any day now (if it hasn't already). In the meantime, here's what happened the second half of last week: Cathy Horyn juxtaposes the very '80s Proenza Schouler with the extremely talented Maria Cornejo; after championing Francisco Costa at Calvin Klein for so many seasons, she knocks him, Vera Wang, and, as usual, Zac Posen; and, most importantly, quietly raves over Karl Lagerfeld (for the record, I thought his collection was gorgeous, and I'm all for the dark, post-Goth look that's developing thus far for fall).

So, the show that I was lucky enough to go to (thanks, PB and Alex) was Manuel, who, suprisingly, got a lot of press before but not after his show (click here to read an article from the L.A. Times). Anyway, even though Manuel is no Marc Jacobs, the show was super-fun. We got to go backstage beforehand, so we saw all the models in their "street clothes" and getting their makeup done; we also ate some of the fancy catered food from davidburke&donatella (I figured none of the models would be eating the pasta salad, so I might as well); sadly, no cigarettes or champagne running rampant, but this was the last morning of Fashion Week, and like I said, it wasn't exactly Marc Jacobs. Anyway, once we were ushered to our seats, we waited a long time for the show to begin; I spent it pointing out fashion critics to PB and trying to figure out who all of the Manuel-clothed country stars were in the front row (we still have no idea). The clothes were definitely more rock and roll than country--lots of rhinestones, but also some exquisite tailoring. I was rather amused by the choice of models: slightly past-their-prime girls like Erin O'Connor and Eve (yes, she's still modeling). Still, I decided I really liked the experience of going to shows and need to do it more often. Come September, I'll see what I can do.