Diary of an SF Girl at New York Fashion Week (Pt. 2)

In which our intrepid contributor Michelle infiltrates New York Fashion Week and lives to tell.

Sunday, Feb. 14, at Bryant Park — by SF Indie Fashion Contributor Michelle Ruiz

It’s Valentine’s day and, lucky for me, love (ok sparkly runway clothing) is sitting waiting in the Bryant Park tents. After some shopping in SOHO this afternoon, I am trying to find my way back to 42nd and 6th and having a difficult time at that. A twinge of guilt tickles my hands holding a Madewell as I think maybe I didn’t have time to shop during Fashion Week. Nonsense, it’s 4:30 p.m., and I can make it to that 5:00 p.m. Tony Cohen show.

5:15 pm: At the tents, no more room at Tony Cohen even with my invitation in hand. Drats!!!! All of that rushing from SOHO (no cabs around, it is Valentine’s Day, after all), first taking the 3 in the wrong direction, then the 6, finally to arrive on the F.  Subways, they are not a girl’s best friend.

5:45 pm: I try to find the right people to see if I can snag standing room for Custo Barcelona. I get an email from Jenn, (she has a Valentine’s dinner date) and passes along her invite. Score!!! The show starts at 8 p.m., and if I go to it, I will certainly not be able to get in line for Vassilios Kostetsos at 9. Decision time. I chose Vassilios.

6:00 pm: I decide to take up date offer from boy I met last night at Rachel Zoe party. He is nice, not in fashion, a medical resident. It’s a nice change of pace. We go to a place called Jacks, and it is yummy.

7:30 pm: I’m back inside the Bryant Park tents with my Vassilios invite. The show starts at 9 p.m., so I hit up the “Rum of Puerto Rico” counter for some kind of rum strawberry mixture that tastes like sugar. It’s free. No food at NYFW, but tons of free alcohol. Hmmmm.

8:00 pm: I  meet a photographer. He encourages me to join him in the media pit. I do not have a pass, but he says they will not notice, and it’s the best seat in the house, he says. I am scared, but have made friends with many of the security guards anyway, so I doubt they will club me if found.

8:15-8:45pm: In the photographer line outside the Salon where Vassilios show will be. All of the photographers look absolutely exhausted and are living off of Power Bars, speaking different languages and barely notice me. It’s roped off in the section right outside the tents, not where the public waits in line. The photographers get in first.

8:45-9:15 pm: I am in the media pit. Rad. We are at the end of the runway on risers. I’m on the second step. I’m a little scared with all of the big cameras surrounding me, accents, Red Bull cans. I see the whole tent before the audience is being let in. They start letting the important people like Anna Wintour in, and she’s sitting front row center. Everyone is so well-dressed. Lots of fur coats. My stuff is being stepped on but I don’t care because the show is about to start.

9:20 pm: The show starts, the lights go on, the music is very much like I’m in a European club, the whole thing feels very foreign, but Vassilios is from Greece. The models start to head out one at a time. They are all so tall. Something about them feels retro, but the clothes are very reminiscent of that film the Fifth Element. Men in red leather jackets, women in sparkly numbers with Princess Leia hair. A very interesting sight to see, especially with my little point and shoot, and the clothes two feet away from me. I get smiles from the photographer to my left. He’s from Argentina, and shows me his last shot of the shoes. I’m still stuck on the runway that slowly begins to turn dark after all of the models do their second walk and head back behind where we can’t see. Vassilios steps out briefly and then is flooded with press headed back stage. I fall over.

[Photo by Michelle Ruiz]

Read part 1 of Michelle’s adventures here…

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Diary of an SF Girl at New York Fashion Week (Pt. 1)

In which our intrepid contributor Michelle infiltrates New York Fashion Week and lives to tell.

Day One At Bryant Park — by SF Indie Fashion Contributor Michelle Ruiz

Today I am going to see two shows at New York Fashion Week and am excited to spend all day in the tents, even with nine shows going on and only two invites! I still can’t believe I have been invited but, it just goes to show you, writing a nice article makes the right PR people think of you and, a couple of months  later, you are inside the tents at Bryant Park. I wonder who I will see.

10:30 am: I enter into the tents showing my Georges Chakra invitation on my iPhone  to the security guard. I’m let right in — hmmm easy enough.

10:35 am: I head to a folding table labeled  “Georges Chakra” in the middle of the foyer and show them my invitation for standing room.

10:39 am: I am given a white postcard with an “S” on it and shoved to wait in a long, long line. I see Tim from Project Runway talking with some designers (I can’t make out which ones) and would feel too much like a stalker to take photos, so I just watch from the line.

10:45 am: We are let into the Promenade Tent. I am standing with some other girls who are not celebrities, most likely assistants to PR people or something like that. I tell the lady usher that if a seat should become available, I would be so grateful to get one!

10:50am: Score! I’m sitting in the fifth row, section C, next to a blond girl who looks like she’s from Laguna Beach. I ask her. She is  not. She’s a writer from HollywoodLife.com named Jenn. She asks me if I see any famous people. We become friends.

11:20 am: The show starts, and I am trying to see over everyone’s heads. I have a pretty good view of the runway and think the clothes are beautiful, but more in an artsy way, not in an everyday wear kind of way.

11:25 am: I love that they list all of the names of the pieces! Brilliant so I know what they are called, and what they are made of. My favorite is “look21” Black Crepe Cocktail Dress with laser cut ruffles.

11:35 am: The show ends and everyone rushes to the runway and backstage to see the designer, but I am still with my new friend Jenn, and we walk outside the Promenade Tent to the hallway to see if we can get any pictures of famous people.

12:15 pm: Jenn invites me to be her guest at The Academy of Art University show at 3! Yay! We take a break to go outside and see all of the people walking in and out of the tents.

2:30 pm: Jenn and I are in line for one of the smaller venues simply called “The Tent.” We have seats and still have to wait in a long, long line to be let in. She is snapping photos left and right, asking me if I see any celebrities. I do not.

2:50 pm: We are let into the tent and seated in second row, section A. Great seats!

3:10 pm: The show begins, and it is far different than the Georges Chakra show. There are a lot of long coats, sweaters, grays, blues and the fabrics drape to the floor. The music is much artsier, like the kind you would hear at an art exhibit. A little distracting.

3:30 pm: The show ends, and I loose my program with all of my notes and the names of the looks. Damn. Everyone rushes out of the tent. Maybe they are going to the next show, maybe they are going to the front area to mix and mingle.

3:45 pm: We go to the bar inside the foyer and get two free cosmopolitan-type concoctions. They don’t card us. Hmmm, I have seen some 14-year-olds running around, but most are escorted by their parents.

4 pm:  I meet a writer who is not given a press pass because of her age. She’s 14. Her name is Maggie, and she writes and produces her own zine in Pennsylvania called Maggie-zine. Age-ism? Maggie feels lucky to be there after befriending Fern (creator of MBFW) last year outside the tents. She doesn’t appreciate Fern’s harsh criticism of her zine, though.

5 pm: I go to check in for the Twinkle show, and it’s packed. I am carrying my coat around because a coat check is out of the question unless you are Mena Suvari or Julia Stiles.

5:30 pm: Still waiting in line for Twinkle and can’t wait to be let in!

5:45 pm: Finally let into Twinkle and am sitting in row four, section A.

6:00 pm: The show starts on time. I love every single look that comes out, particularly look 34, the “Everglade long-sleeved dress with lace yoke in mustard.” I love that all of the models are petite and look to be in their teens.

6:20 pm: The show ends, and I head out to the foyer. I go back to my friend’s apartment and then return at 9:30 pm for the QVC Rachel Zoe  party. I haven’t been invited, but decide to go anyway.

[Photo by Michelle Ruiz]

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Links à la Mode: This Week’s Edition

Style vs Fashion

Edited by Retro Chick

With the Fashion Week season in full swing and Fashion Pulse Daily live blogging from the IFB conference it can be easy to forget that there are other things going on in the world, where real women are shopping and dressing for real occasions.

There were actually surprisingly few Fashion Week oriented posts submitted this week. Possibly the Fashion Week attendees are still too busy to partake in Links á la Mode, but what I did find was a lot of posts focused on fashion, style and image in the real world. A Typical Atypical calls for a low fashion revolution and Idiosyncratic Style urges you to bring out your cocktail frocks for every day. Meanwhile, in the body image arena Intrinsically Florrie learns to love her specs, Sugar & Spice discusses tanning and Mariels Castle weighs in (see what I did there?) on the body size debate.

It would be impossible to leave this weeks links without mentioning the untimely and incredibly sad death of Alexander McQueen. There were posts submitted on this issue but I made the decision not to include them, not because they were bad, but because I felt that if I included one persons post I would need to include them all. There has been so much personal reflection on the life and designs of this amazing man in the fashion blogging world that to choose a small selection seemed impossible. If you would like to read these posts then, as ever, the full list of submissions is available in the forums.

Links à la Mode: February 18th

• A Typical Atypical – What girls really want to read about, and why fashion bloggers are changing the face of fashion
• Bonne Vie – Cultural Appropriation vs Cultural Inspiration: What you borrow from another culture when it comes to wardrobe should be thoughtful
• Confessions of a Fashion Editor – Dear New Look; it’s over!
• Eternal Masquerade – Covering the Parallels Between Our Current Winter Wonderland and Under the Sea Fashions
• Fashion Pulse Daily – Fashion Pulse Daily blogs live from the Future of Fashion Blogging panel during IFB’s Evolving influence conference this week!
• Hot Beauty Health – Ready for Spring? Here are 9 Big Beauty Trends for Spring 2010!
• Idiosyncratic Style – Fashion Dare – Let your party frocks come out and play!
• Intrinsically Florrie – Making a spectacle of oneself: learning to love glasses and finding the right pair
• Mariels Castle – It’s not about been skinny or fat its about being healthy!
• Retro Chick – Love, Lust & Burlesque with the Bridewell Collective
• SF Indie Fashion – Spring comes early to Golden Gate Park. Showcase of spring 2010 looks from San Francisco designers.
• Stacie Blair – Show your Olympic spirit with fashionable gear from Aritzia!
• Style Eyes – The dilemma of a fashion blogger and why I’m taking Dame Vivienne Westwoods advice to stop shopping
• Style Symmetry – Fashion Blogger Interview Kingdom of Style’s Queen Michelle
• Sugar and spice and all things nice – Discussing the dangers of tanning and why the only safe tan is one from a bottle!!
• The Clothing Menu – interview with independent jewelry and clothing designer, Norwegian Wood
• The Fashion Planner – The Fashion Planner is hosting an eUndies.com Giveaway!
• The Very Subjective – very subjective (and therefore – very true) observations about style do’s and do not’s.
• Thread Style – Heel-wearing fashionistas also can be feminists.
• twentyteneightyfour – My thoughts on style vs fashion and how our appetite for fashion blogs is part of our quest for style
• ventures of jenn – The Great Vintage Debate: the ‘price’ of vintage both within and outside of the western world and what it really means.

For more fabulous fashion blogs, visit the Independent Fashion Bloggers.

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Go See: Designers on Jewelry

We’ll give anything with more-than-meets-the-eye sensibilities a second look, so you can believe our peepers were locked on the 80+ pieces on display in the latest the San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design exhibition, Designers on Jewelry: 12 Years of Jewelry Production by Chi ha paura…?

First, what on earth is Chi ha paura…? Literally translated from Italian, it means who’s afraid of…? But it’s also the name of a foundation from jewelry and product designer Gijs Bakker (who also happens to be the founder of Droog Design) that challenges artists and industrial designers to create contemporary jewelry rich in ideas, rather than bling.

We stopped by a preview of the new exhibit last week to find numerous pieces that impressed with their provocative messages, clever use of unconventional materials and curious twists on the traditional.

Among our favorites were a gold cross pendant comprised of hundreds of tiny brand names, a pair of gold sunglasses meant to be worn in the hair instead of over the eyes, a chunky silver ring that doubles a safety whistle and a ring that presses a message into the wearer’s skin (gently, of course).

Along with being fun to look at, the exhibition makes plain contemporary fashion’s often-elusive serious side with works that are just as focused on rich ideas as they are on outward-facing ornamentation.

On view through May 16, 2010 at San Francisco Museum of Craft + Design, 550 Sutter St., www.sfmcd.org.

Read more…

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News: Anti-Tuna on a Plane Campaign, So Stylish Bowling, Oxford Adventures and more…

Very official newsflash: tuna fish is not an appropriate snack to bring on an airplane. It just isn’t. Giving it to a smear-happy toddler as an in-flight pacification tool is borderline criminal. In other news…

The crew from new-ish Mission vintage go-to Bianca Starr dressed up to knock ‘em down during a recent bowling tourney. Have you ever seen such swish style at the lanes?

Bare magazine’s blog stirs controversy by questioning V magazine’s recent photo spread featuring larger-than-usual models. Is curvy becoming synonymous with overweight? Should it? Should plumpness be praised or is it just as potentially dangerous to one’s health as being too skinny? All these questions pop up in the debate playing out over at this UC Berkeley blog.

The Seventh Heart is in lurve with long johns.

Vanessa Bruno bags have arrived at Metier.

Late Afternoon gets perfectly disheveled, and we think it’s lovely.

There’s a nice, big, cozy winter sale on at Acrimony right now. Save up to 70 percent online and in the Hayes Valley store.

In the mood to fancy up your flat footwear? Black glitter Toms should be arriving at Azalea “any day now.”

For another kind of flirtation with flats, we turn to Jennie Going West, who was able to pounce on the perfect pair of Oxfords and style them, we think, with enviable results.

Coquette is predicting we’ll all be roping things in come spring.

Gama-Go recently debuted five new t-shirts for women.

Belljar is having a sale-y sale. Fall and holiday collections are marked down, while Christmas items are 50 percent off – and there’s a clearance rack offering deeper discounts to boot.

Fans of coveted designer labels, head to Carrots in Jackson Square for the ongoing winter sale. We hear fall RTW collections and shoes are now 60 percent off.

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