This week Tracy Reese showed her Fall 2014 Collection full of feathers, sequins, fuzzy fabric and chunky sweaters. It was my kind of comfortable clothing collection. The move to comfort is here to stay in fashion guys. I don’t know if it’s the horrible winter weather we’ve experienced or what but relaxed clothing with a bit of shimmer is what to wear for the winter. Hey, like Marc Jacobs says, happy days are here again.
See more backstage photos including Daisy Lewellyn from the Bravo TV show Blood, Sweat and Heels below!
The Superbowl is coming to New York! And what better way to mix fashion with football than with some completely fabulous helmets! If my Patriots had won yesterday, I might’ve been a bit more enthused to grab one of these lovely helmets but hey if you’re a Seahawks or Broncos fan, you might want this as the perfect accessory for the Superbowl. Hell, after Richard Sherman’s “we the best” rant, I might be excited enough to try one. What’s your favorite?
Yesterday, Jay-Z was a work of art. Performance art, that is. He performed Picasso Baby and interacted with the crowd for six hours at the Pace Gallery.
Jay-Z raps about his appreciation for the art world. Here’s a snippet of the lyrics;
Sleeping every night next to Mona Lisa The modern-day version With better features Yellow Basquiat in my kitchen corner Go ahead lean on that **** Blue You own it
Talk about street art. This past weekend I stopped by the Absolut Vodka Open Canvas Event in Williamsburg, Brooklyn where artists Olek, Katsu and others transformed a whole street into an art display. Ice sculptures, knitted bikes, and graffiti filled the street and it was kind of amazing.
It was also really hot outside! Summer finally hit New York and I stayed cool in a white bustier, a white lace skirt and jewelry from various places including I-Ella’s Listand Lea Jefferson. Absolut Vodka stirred up some great cocktails and I was able to meet Olek and her friend, the first person I’ve ever spotted wearing the new Google glasses! Check out more photos from the event below.
I was looking at some old Instagram photos of an amazing time I had on the beach last Memorial Day Weekend and decided to share a few. I just can’t wait for the weather to fully warm up in New York City and for a few Hamptons weekends. As an original native of Florida, I live for the beach (only the good ones though) and I adore cute summer sandals, hats, bikinis, maxi dresses and jumpers. As I finalize my summer plans and get out of these final exams at FIT, I am absolutely looking forward to summer this year!
Here’s an old painting of a beach wave that I did some time ago but I’m challenging myself to do better than that and get a bit more depth and contour in the wave and ocean water. As I said before, all of my artwork should be up on the blog before the summer is over.
Anyway, I love a good maxi dress for the summer and spotted some new ones recently that seem great for that Florida or Hamptons summer vacation weekend. Check out a few below from Tibi, Roberto Cavalli, andDiane von Furstenberg. See even more summer wear here.
This weekend I attended a discussion moderated by stylist David Zyla on Eila Mell’s new bookProject Runway: The Show That Changed Fashionat the National Arts Club in Gramercy. Her new book about the Project Runway show talks about how the show started, developed and what the designers are doing now. Project Runway contestants Andrae Gonzalo, ESosa and Viktor Luna joined them to talk about their experiences on the show, after the show and in the fashion world in general. Eila is the New York editor and on-air correspondent of fashionWATCH Canada and has written several other fashion books including New York Fashion Week: The Designers, the Models the Fashions of the Bryant Park Era.
ESosa said that the biggest thing he learned from the show was to “follow his guts” and Viktor shared that he learned a lot about gossip in that “…whatever we put into the work is what we get back.” He continued saying that it was like the “real world…you don’t rest..[and]…you are always comparing yourself to them but you stay true to yourself.” They also shared how they are not able to keep or sell any of their creations on the show and that they are also not allowed to speak with family or friends unless it’s on speaker phone and on camera. Andrae shared that he had to ‘talk to’ the producer and throw a fit just to talk to his boyfriend.
Eila and Viktor have collaborated on a new reality tv show called “No Wire Hangers” where Viktor gives fashion and tailoring tips to “…some really great people on the show.” They said that they hope to have a pilot by the end of the summer. ESosa received a 2012 Best Costumes TONY Award nomination for his work on Broadway’s The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, and received the 2012 Lucille Lortel Award for By the Way, meet Vera Stark. He is currently designing Motown: The Musical and when asked about the difference between fashion and costume, ESosa said that “the biggest difference is that a costume is worn eight times a week and so it has to have longevity, but I still want my actors to look as good as my private clients.”
After the discussion, we had some amazing gourmet cocktails from Pamela Wiznitzer, President of the National Bartender Association, Chef Alan Rodriguez who just opened Los Americanos and other mixologists. Best drink in my opinion was a berry tasting drink from Chef Rodriguez that featured egg whites!
This week I attended Harlem Fashion Row’s sixth annual Fall/Winter Fashion Show at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. Well, it was quite the event with everyone from Nana Meriweather, Tatijiana Shoan, editor-in-chief of As If Magazine, Bevy Smith, Tyson Beckford and more in attendance. Above looks from designers Chantell Walters and Kimberly Goldson, finalist from Project Runway.
For those that don’t knowHarlem Fashion Row is a company that supports emerging African-American designers and perhaps me sometime soon. This was their very first Fall/Winter show and I applaud Brandice Henderson and the designers for their hard work.
My favorite collection is kind of a toss between the first and the last. The first collection by Deidre Jefferies featured great ready to wear in mostly black, grey or bright yellow. It was funny to see because that’s exactly what I was wearing; a bright yellow dress, black blazer and grey coat. Even though black is New York’s most chic color, I am definitely not afraid of color in the winter.
The last collection by Kimberly Goldson featured some amazing, unique and beautiful pieces. She is a former Project Runway star and said she was inspired by Michelle Obama. Wanted for all of us to “see ourselves in the clothes.” Well, I did Kimberly, and I am leaning towards being most excited about your collection.
The show also featured a menswear line by Sandro Romans with very interesting headwear. One of the models told me that they actually wore a scarf around their head with a hat pinned to the top. Creative, I thought.
So, last week I attended AS by DF Fashion Presentation featuring some new Fall 2013 designs from Denise Focil who is doing a relaunch. She’s done work for J. Lo and others and is mostly based out of Los Angeles but is trying to get her stuff out here to New York. Leather is her thing and I liked some of the leather pieces that she had.
Denise wore a dress from her new collection with some great leather striped detail featuring see through fabric. I’ve noticed this seems to definitely be a trend this year.
Her ASTARS Line, a lower price point collection, evidently might be at Intermix stores this Fall. There was a dress that I absolutely adored with very soft fabric and stretchy vegan leather sleeves that will be retailing for about $90. I was impressed.
Tyson Beckford and Melyssa Ford came by to view the collection as well. Good stuff Denise, looking forward to seeing your stuff in New York.
Part of being an artist is seeing beauty in the unconventional just like Alexander McQueen says in his quote. For those of you who have just started following, I am beginning to develop concepts for my own fashion brand inspired by my artwork. Eventually I’ll have all of my artwork up here for you to view, but in the meantime you can view a partial showing of one of my pieces here.
In any case, I am annoyed that I am back in New York early from Thanksgiving (because of class and work) and not in Florida. But, like I said a few weeks ago, if you can, get down to Miami this weekend for Art Basel!
Charlotte Olympia has teamed with contemporary artist Boyardeto hand-paint shoes that feature famous works of art from artists such as Mondrian, Pollock, Picasso and more. She will be debuting the heels this weekend at Art Basel Miami and the limited-edition heels will only be available for sale at Neiman Marcus in Bal Harbor, FL. Check out a few of them below.