Love Indie Shoe Designer: 80%20

I've been a big fan of 80%20 ever since I met super-cute designer Ce Ce Chin at a shoe show. I started my affair with a pair of hidden wedge booties with fringe (wore them through rain and snow and they're still perfect). Infatuation turned to love when I got my hidden wedge sneakers trimmed in metallic (they made my legs looks svelte in shorts all summer). Now I'm trying to decide on a new pair.

Maybe these hot retro 80's boots (top) or some patent wedge booties to get me through another long NYC winter (bottom).






















Check out how cute Katie White, the lead singer of the Ting Tings, looks in hers. She even tells Elle UK that 80%20 is her favorite shoe designer. (photo, The Independent)

Express Yourself

I don't have a poker face, I often wear my heart on my sleeve, but I don't express my political views through my clothes. Apparently others do and some design companies have created some fashionable goods to help you let everyone know where you stand. Here are some election worthy goods from silly to the high fashion. Act now, this is one short season!

Top to bottom:

Hotflops- Obama and McCain flip flops.

Kid Robot- KidObama tee

Sonia Rykiel- Obama knit dress from her Spring '09 Collection

Come on Get Happy

We've only had a nip of Fall but the recent balmy weather made me think of blooms. I went back through Spring 09 RTW and pulled some favorites. These collections make me happy. After this I'm walking to the flower market and buying something colorful. You should too.

Basso & Brooke
I love the massive bobby pin hair pieces, carved platforms and sculptural obi belts. When you have so much going on, it helps to accentuate the waist. A belt does the job but so does a visual trick like the diagonal line created by contrasting colors/prints (top right). I also love a sleek, colorful one-piece with a great belt... classic.


























Erdem
Painted fabrics... these remind of me of the oily stickers I collected as a little girl... and my favorite picture books The Fisherman and the Sea, The Twelve Dancing Princesses, Where the Wild Things Are... all romance and nostalgia.
























House of Holland
The polka dots, the bike shorts under jean shorts, the little hat worn back on the head, the cuffed jeans, the sport bra, the matching mini skirt and denim jacket... Henry Holland loves the 80's. I threw in the bloomer onesie becasue I love bloomers, and onesies.

Sonia Rykiel: Style Inspiration

I was recently inspired by an interview WWD did with Sonia Rykiel (my favorite parts are excerpted below). I've always felt women should dress for themselves, for who they are at their best. I argue that women should know their bodies, and finding your own style is directly related to that knowledge. And I've said since I was a teenager that most fashion dictates are bogus. There's no way I can say it better than Rykiel, so read on.

The heavy-banged fiery redhead is such a style icon that 30 designers created homage dresses for her Paris show, which also celebrates her label's 40th anniversary. Rykiel's influence even seemed to reach beyond her show. From the runway at Christian Lacroix to the new Alexander McQueen ads, flaming red hair sets the mood.

Looks by Jean-Charles de Castelbajac, Maison Martin Margiela, and Jean Paul Gaultier.

Model at Christian Lacroix, Alexander McQueen fall ad.













Excerpted from WWD Q&A 10/01/08 (my favorite quotes are in bold):

WWD: Your designs were always linked to St. Germain and the Left Bank.
S.R.: Maybe. I don’t think I’m a designer for St. Germain. I think of myself as a designer for women everywhere. I’m more interested in a certain ethic for women, a certain sculpture for women, a certain attitude. Women who interest me are politicians or writers. Women who love life, who love to eat, who love children. That’s what interests me. Where is the woman of St. Germain in that? She belongs there because that’s the culture of St. Germain. It’s a question of appetite. The women of St. Germain are voracious. They love literature, cinema, to look at the vitrines, to shop for antiques.

WWD: That’s the type of woman you like to dress?
S.R.: I’ve never been interested in dressing one women. What’s interested me was to have a philosophy. It hasn’t been important to put a woman in a blue dress. I wanted to dress women who wanted to look at themselves. To stand out. To be women who were not part of the crowd. A woman who fights and advances.

WWD: That brings up the late Sixties, when you started. It was a time of social upheaval, especially for women. Do you think women have come out of that era with more liberty now?
S.R.: Not really. I think women today don’t have an attitude of liberty. There are so few women today who look at themselves truthfully in the mirror, during a day, a week, a month, a year, to know what they need to show and what they need to hide. Women learn to cook and read, and they work. They don’t learn how to dress. They are always with a saleswoman in the store whom they ask what they should wear. I don’t believe in that at all. Women should look at themselves and decide for themselves what color or length they should wear.

WWD: You suggest that they find their own personality through clothes?
S.R.: Yes. I wrote a book on the subject when I started urging women to learn how to find their own fashion. Not to follow the dictates of Saint Laurent or Rykiel or any other designer. It’s very important.

WWD: You’ve never been interested in following rules.
S.R.: I never went to fashion school. That’s why I sewed things inside out and did superpositions. I did everything people told me I couldn’t do. People said making clothes inside out was not proper. I disagreed because clothes that are inside out are as beautiful as a cathedral. There’s symbolism in putting on a sweater inside out. One says that if one puts on a sweater on inside out, one will receive a gift. I played with that.

WWD: You’ve always held that clothes aren’t what make a woman interesting or seductive.
S.R.: Not at all. No, no. A dress will never make a woman sexy, fatale, magnificent, mysterious. It’s a way of walking, of standing, or existing, the way you give your hand or your regard. That’s what makes the dress. A woman and a dress, very often, fight against each other because they are not at the same place. Sometimes you see the woman moving the belt around. She is making the robe her own. She needs that. Otherwise the dress doesn’t exist.

Thanks WWD for the interview/photos and Refinery29 for the Lacroix model photo.

Mandate of Heaven Spring 09 Runway Show

We’ve always been in love with Mandate of Heaven’s fairy tale inspired looks. Their Spring '09 Through the Looking Glass collection did not disappoint. Alice, Red, Bo Peep and representations of their forest friends--both flora and fauna--strutted the runway during Brooklyn Fashion Week. Fairy princesses and wicked witches (albeit hot ones) were escorted by man-servants in long underwear. The collection centered around Mandate’s signature daring hot pants and back-baring playsuits.


Love the look? Visit Mandate’s Williamsburg shop at 406 Lorimer St, 3^rd Floor. Hours: Tue, Thu & Fri: 4-8ish; Sat: 1-6.

More from the show:

Under $100

It is the last day of the Phyl Couture Trunk Show and there are many fantastic new Fall items for under $100! I love the Kara french terry pencil skirt shown here with the Jordan vest.

Kara pencil skirt- $92

Jordan Vest-$76

Trunk Show ends today!

Milan; My Lady

Here are some lady like looks from the Spring 2009 Milan runways. From left to right: Marni, Gianfranco Ferre, Pollini.

[photos courtesy of nymag.com]

Get Your Phyl: Online Trunk Show Oct. 1-7

Bright and Bold on the Runways

A noticeable trend on the runways for Spring ’09 was the bright pops of color across the board. Déjà vu. I looked back in my “inspirations” folder and found photos of women sporting the look this past spring in NYC. Glad to see stylish women always ahead of the trends!

Spring '09 on the runway (left to right: Ely Kishimoto, Devi Kroell, Josh Goot, Alexander Wang)

Spring '08 on stylish women about town

(Photos from Style.com)

More Store Openings in the News

Two new indie designer stores are opening on the lower east side in New York City. Lois Eastlund will open her new shop at 153 Ludlow St. in mid- October. She will be carrying her eponymous line of dresses, tunics, and mini-skirts as well as jewelry and handbags from other indie designers. Yumi Kim has officially opened her flagship at 105 Stanton St. today. Her pretty and feminine collection hangs with vintage in a soft setting.

[photo courtesy of nymag.com]

Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation

Follow in the footsteps of past recipiants, Zac Posen, Rodarte, Erin Featherston, and Alexander Wang with the 2009 Ecco Domani Fashion Foundation Contest. Ecco Domani Wines created the Fashion Foundation to support the talents of emerging (or Unsung as we like to call them) designers. Each year 7 designers are chosen to showcase their collections during New York's Fall Fashion Week. A grant of $25,000 is awarded to help produce the show. Click here to discover more about this generous foundation and to learn more about the contest criteria. Hurry! The deadline is Oct. 3, 2008!


[ Photo: Alexander Wang Fall '08. Courtesy of eccodomani.com]

September 25, 2008Sohung Designs Boutique Opens Today

We've always been a fan of Sohung. We remember when he was at the Young Designers Market. Now he's got his own place in the East Village. They grow up so fast.

Today is opening day and you can save 20% from noon-10pm.

Sohung Designs Boutique
312 E. 9th Street b/t 1st & 2nd Aves.
info: 347-564-3551

Loud Looks From London

London fashion week is always full of wow! The Spring '09 collections did not disappoint. Here is a small sampling of some loud looks from London. Left to right clockwise: Christopher Kane, House of Holland, Temperley, and Nathan Jenden.

[photos: nymag.com]