Cheryl Shops

Olympus New York Fashion Week: Tuesday
I heard rumblings Monday at the tents that some of the shows weren't filled to capacity, so Tuesday I decided to try my luck and get into shows I wasn't invited to. Figuring Tuesday morning would be a bit slow--Monday night was the Marc Jacobs show and after-party, of course--I headed to the tents nice and early, armed with my press pass, a smile, and good manners. Lo and behold, it worked. I scored a standing-room spot at TIBI, which, to my delight, turned into a front-row seat when the PR people told us to fill any empty seats. (The name on my seat belonged to Nole Marin, the former America's Next Top Model judge!) Now, TIBI may not appear on the pages of Vogue and W, but it's carried in major department stores like Bloomingdale's, and judging by the runway appearances of current supes Jessica Stam, Freja Beha, and Coco Rocha, it's popular with the models (or perhaps TIBI can just afford the big guns). Regardless, this was the first truly "wearable" collection I saw, and I saw not only a ton of supercute clothes but some of next spring's emerging trends as well. For example, eyelet looks like a must-have for spring, and here's a strapless dress in a white floral eyelet. The dress has a total '70s silhouette--I remember my mom owning something very similiar when I was a child--which was clearly an inspiration for this collection.


Marimekko-inspired prints are also a big trend thus far. I love this botanical one, and while there's definitely a voluminous shape to this dress, the belt prevents it from overwhelming one's figure.


This trapeze dress is more typical of the silhouette of dresses on the spring runways. While the shape is nice and easygoing for summer--plus, you can pretty much eat whatever you want while wearing it--it helps to be tall and thin to pull off this much volume. Granted, it looks amazing on Jessica Stam.


Like I said in yesterday's post, safari jackets tend to pop up every few years for spring, and usually I'm somewhat bored by them. However, I love a great jumpsuit. It's totally '70s, yes, but it was well tailored, and I think it looks fresh and chic.


This was my favorite dress of the collection, because the detail was beautiful--pintucking in the bodice with border embroidery at the hem. The shape is full, but the dress is short and youthful and supercute.


And, by the way, TIBI had the best music I've heard thus far: the Scissor Sisters' new song and "Don't Bring Me Down" by ELO. I'm sure I looked like a huge dork, tapping my toes with a huge grin on my face, but TIBI's show was an awesome way to start my morning.

I decided to press my luck in the afternoon at Malo, and I could barely hide my shock when the PR girl gave me a standing invite without as much as asking me who I was. Fabulous! As soon as I walked into the tent, I realized that this was no ordinary fashion show--the whole venue was transformed, with canvas covers on all the wooden folding chairs, a cool mod white backdrop, and, mon dieu, an actual raised runway. Now, from what I can remember, Malo is usually a sparsely-populated store stocking expensive cashmere sweaters in upscale malls, but obviously they are trying to change that image and replace it with a high-fashion one. They are certainly trying--famed Vogue stylist Camilla Nickerson styled the show (which I'm assuming would account for Anna Wintour's presence in the front row, my first Anna sighting of the week), and the clothes were, in a word, gorgeous. Of course, I doubt they're any more affordable than Malo's famed sweaters, but this is Fashion Week, so who's worrying about prices? This beautiful dress, on Freja (yep, the supes were out in full force for this show as well), was made of cashmere, the ultimate luxe rendering of the trapeze dress.


Here's another take on volume, with a trapeze top over a skinny pant (it appears skinny pants will still be around for spring). Note the jewels all over the top.


The jewels then turned up on skirts and shorts, which, while it looked cool, can't be very comfortable for sitting. That would push this outfit into the "unwearable" category, but I think the jacket is very interesting nonetheless, and the full shape is going to be a must-have for spring.


Prints turned up here too, with a straight-up Marimekko reference in the program notes. This was one of my favorite looks in the collection--I love the shape of the dress, and the print is indeed gorgeous.


I've been noticing a lot of one-piece dressing on the runways--not just dresses, but jumpsuits and now playsuits (or rompers, if you will). I think we all love a little nostalgia--I lived in rompers as a child--and this silk interpretation is youthful but chic, and far more elegant than terrycloth or jersey.


Since Malo is known for its cashmere sweaters, they did send a few down the runway. I absolutely love this belted sweater--it's hard to tell from the photograph, but it had sparkly metallic trim and an interesting square pattern to the knit. I'm sure it costs a fortune, but like I said, we're not worrying about prices here.


My only criticism of the Malo show was for the footwear: ridiculously clunky black and white patent leather sandals that, while they fit with the mood of the clothing, really aren't going to do any favors for the average woman's legs. But the show was so well done, I'm willing to look past it--the irony being that since the runway was raised, this was one of the few shows where I got a good look at the shoes!

I actually had an invitation for the Nanette Lepore show, which I parlayed into a third-row seat, and thus I got a lovely little gift: a black, white, and yellow silk twill scarf with a handwriting print--so cute! This show also brought some of my best celebrity sightings to date: Marissa Cooper (a.k.a. Mischa Barton) in the front row, and I was sitting just behind one of my favorite gay celebrity couples, Simon Doonan and Jonathan Adler. And it's too bad Marissa is dead on The O.C., because I could totally see her wearing a lot of the looks from the collection (although I can see Mischa wearing them too), which was inspired by Venice and had a lovely, if moody, color palette. More spring trends popped up here too, like the aforementioned one-piece dressing. This was an adorable romper with one of Nanette's fun, colorful prints.


Eyelet turned up again, here in this fun babydoll dress. I love the huge buttons, and I think this dress would look great paired with black opaque tights, fashion editor-style.


This was one of my favorite looks in the show--another great print (animal prints have been appearing here and there throughout the week), and high-waisted skirts are being slowly reintroduced. The little black top was cute too.


I love sweater dresses, and I love the kind of mod look of this one. Obviously you have to wear something underneath this one. I think this model is adorable too--I dig her pixie cut.


This was another one of my favorite looks--the caviar beading on the top looks like palm trees, and the swingy shape looks good with short shorts (as here) or with skinny pants.


This coat is a shape we're going to be seeing all over the place next spring--oversized buttons, three-quarter sleeves, trapeze shape. My one major criticism of the show, however, was this color, which Nanette used quite a bit. Chartreuse looks good on about 10% of the population--which, sadly, does not include this model.


So as much as I can get into the whole fantasy aspect of Fashion week--the Brazilian swimsuits, the glamorous eveningwear--I think I enjoy the shows even more when there are actual wearable clothes, and even more so when they're lines I can actually afford, like TIBI and Nanette Lepore. I've never shopped on a runway before, but there's a first time for everything. After all, this blog is called Cheryl Shops because that's what I do.