Are you ready for the country?

Honestly, I have to say I feel so much more inspired by Fall/Winter fashion week than Spring/Summer.  I can't help it - it's the Norsk blood in me.  These are the last teetering few of my favorites from Fashion Week F/W 2011 (though, I keep pulling out more "last" favorites all the time):

Chris Benz.  CONSISTANTLY one of my favorites for the last 5 or 6 seasons.  Free flowing 70's silhouettes, styles and layering are back in a big way.  I'm this close to sprinting out to buy some platforms. Real talk.

Golden age Project Runway star Daniel Vosovic's third runway show was inspired by what can be described best as Sexy Quakers.  Goody Proctor never looked so good...

Anna Sui has become one of my favorites in the last few seasons.  Maybe because her looks are so on point right now?  Her prints are also always genius.  The real star of her show was her amaze-ballz selection of dye-cut tights featured throughout.  Check out more here.

Next to MJ, the cutest boys in fashion right now.  This season's Proenza Schouler was really hit and miss for me.  There would be looks that would come down the runway that were almost there and then the next one would scream: NAILED IT!

Elie Tahari and Marc by Marc Jacobs respectively.  So Jane Fonda and So loving it!

See more fashion week coverage here at New York Magazine.  Despite the ad's, they have my favorite Fashion Week reports.

Love you, mean it

Emily

Seamless

It looks cold outside, put on a sweater...

Remember when it actually wasn't really that cold outside and your mom made you bring a jacket anyway? What did you do with said jacket when it became abundantly clear that it was an unnecessary part of your wardrobe that day? You tied it around your waist. Mind you, this was years ago and we have since brought bags to place those jackets in or we simply just carry them and save ourselves the embarrassment of a tied-round-the-waist look. Or do we?

Today Proenza Schouler brought. it. back.

I first learned of Proenza Schouler from a 2005 documentary called Seamless. "A look at what it takes for young designers to make it in the fashion world" (imdb). Basically, before there was Project Runway there was Seamless. The documentary took a handful of budding designers and followed them through a competition put on by Anna Wintour (Editor-In-Chief of Vogue). The winner of this competition recieved a prize of $200,000 and a mentorship with an industry executive. Sound familiar minus one Mister Gunn? Thought so...

Proenza Schouler is run by "dorks" Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough. The pair met in design school and worked on their graduation show together culminating in Proenza Schouler. Since their graduation they have worked with names like Michael Kors and Marc Jacobs. "Their greatest strength is their appreciation of the construction of clothes: the tailoring, the linings, the seams—all are done perfectly, and that's what makes them great" (André Leon Talley).

Their show today deconstructed the dress shirt. Tied it round the waist, broke it into pieces and covered it in scales (like a lizard or Mystique).

Love you, mean it

Emily

And the Winner is....

The CFDA awards were last night.   No, not the Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance.   The CFDA I am referring to is the Council of Fashion Designers of America.  Rodarte designers Kate and Laura Mulleavy took home the Womenswear Designer of the Year.  The Menswear award was tied between Band of Outsiders, Calvin Klein Collection and Proenza Schouler.  But who cares, RODARTE.  I actually don't think I've ever NOT liked anything they've ever done.  I know, I know strong words.  But I think, 99% sure, I'm serious.

Rodarte, founded by the aforementioned Mulleavy sisters in the fall of 2005.  Kate and Laura graduated locally from U of C Berkeley.  Since the creation of the label they have won numerous fashion awards and have been praised by the likes of Anna Wintour. [Wikipedia]

“At Rodarte, stiffer fabrics in brocades and metallics are invested with movement and swing, and the house’s favored organzas and chiffons are painstakingly worked to emphasize their fluttering ethereality. A Rodarte gown, therefore, is not only beautiful in the long view of the red carpet but also in circumstances of greater intimacy. The seduction of their craft is in the lightness of their touch” (The Metropolitan Museum of Art).

I recently took a trip to Barney's where I touched my first Rodarte.  It was pretty magical.  Let me tell you.

Love you, mean it

Emily