I wore my Catherine Malandrino leather pants (similar below), a Club Monaco sweater and my Steve Madden sneaker heels. The show was in a parking garage and featured designs from House of Roxy B., Over a Trillion Served and more. They also had wine and pies from Pink Pie available at the show as well.
This weekend I attended the Samantha Black Spring 2014 Show at Holy Apostles which was sponsored by DivaGalsDaily. Samantha Black was recently on Project Runway and I met her backstage along with a few of the models. I also ran into Basketball Wives star Jennifer Williams who walked in the show, Tami Roman and Elise Neal. Other reality stars such as Emily B. and Ariane Davis came to support as well. See more photos of the fashion show below!
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.
Espion Atelier by Deidre Jefferies
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.
I recently attended the Struts Miami Fashion Show by DezignNation (founded by Aguy Smith) and was completely blown away by Project Runway finalist Laurence Basse’s designs as well as a few other local designers. I had never been to a ‘drive-in’ fashion show but it was actually kind of convenient because it was cool in Florida that night.
