Backstage with Twinkle's designer, WENLAN CHIA

TEXT, VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN
TIME & PLACE: Saturday, February 13, at 6:00p.m.
Backstage Images: Mark Behnke
Collection Images: Courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, the fall 2010 Collections

There are certain designers we make a point of interviewing season after season. One of them is Wenlan Chia- the designer behind the Twinkle label. It all started eight years ago. The Twinkle label started with a handful of colorful, chunky knit sweaters are now "signature Twinkle". In February 2002, Twinkle by Wenlan made its runway debut at the Gen Art Fresh Faces Fashion Show. Since then, the brand has grown, and includes ready to wear, accessories, jewelry, home furnishings, a book series and yarn collection.

Like fellow designer, Michael Kors, Wenlan knows how to spin a story to go with her collection. [To date, our favorite Michael reference has got to be "Palm Bitch"].
For the spring 2010 collection Wenlan came up with, "Blondie meets Yoko Ono".

Six months later, we came back for more and spoke with the designer pre-show to find-out about her latest inspirations.
An hour prior to her fall 2010 show, Wenlan appeared zen, and as relaxed as if she were on her way to Sunday brunch rather than about to put on a fashion show at Mercedes-Benz NY Fashion Week.


The Fashion Examiner: We loved the Blondie reference last season! What do you have for us now?

WENLAN: A haunted romance, like the Bronte sisters but with some whimsy thrown into it.

TheFE: How are you getting the theme across?

WENLAN: Through the jewelry I created for this collection.

TheFE: We're going to drag-out the same annoying question we asked you last time - What of the recession? How's business?

WENLAN: the recession has been very tough but there are some bright spots. Our dresses continue to do well.
TheFE: What do you love about this collection?

WENLAN: The olive shade and green.

ENDNOTE: Green, while not as prominent as black + gray is making a strong showing for fall. So far, we've seen it at: Custo Barcelona, Prabal Gurung, Barbara Tfank.

Alien Resurrection - The Bora Aksu AW10 Show London Fashion Week

TEXT: SOFIA SHERSHONOVICH, London & LA Correspondent
EDITED BY: VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN

When: 3.45pm 19th February 2010
Where: British Fashion Council tent, Somerset House, London WC2R 1LA

"Get away from her you bitch!" Is what I was thinking while Bora Aksu clad models were catwalking past me. I have to say however, that thing Ripley killed never looked so stylish! Although not receiving much love from the crowd I questioned after the show, I applaud the collection. This four-time NEWGEN grant winner is extremely imaginative, the mixed-textile layering is a huge emerging trend, and his is very complex. Off-colours made an appearance again, from pale greys to peachy beige paired with intricate black leggings. Snake skin and metallic detailing added even more flair to already complicated knits and oversized hips.

Bora Aksu AW10 Trends: Alien, pale off-colours, oversized hips, extreme knits.

Images, from www.londonfashionweek.com

THE CHIC SUITE: Oakland, CA's VERRIERS + SAKO

TEXT: LIZA MULVENNA ARGUE
EDITED BY: VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN
IMAGES: Courtesy of Verriers+Sako

WHEN & WHERE: New York Fashion Week, The Chic Suite Trunk Show at the Flatotel February 23-24, 2010

Situated high in a lofty yet welcoming suite on the 41st floor of New York City's Flatotel in Midtown, the Chic Suite Trunk Show offered an eclectic mix of fabrics, classic silhouettes, and modern aspiration from a group of promising independent designers. The designers are represented by several retailers, in common are Legends (Nantucket), Nikki Laura (NYC), and America Rag (Los Angeles) among many other boutiques across the US and internationally.

Verrieres + Sako

Made for the contemporary woman who must seamlessly transition from the daily work world to an evening of adventure at a moment's notice, the new fall 2010 Verrieres - Sako merges classic & modern silhouettes with tailored details and ruching. Stephanie Verrieres and Kimie Sako gained recognition for their rendition of a flattering pencil skirt featured in Instyle magazine a few seasons ago that continues to fly out of stores.

A favorite for fall 2010 was a basic sleeveless shift dress, accented with strategically placed grommets and tie drawstring at the waist, with a slight v-cut back. Worn under a jacket or light sweater during the day, the dress carries very well into cocktail hour. We also adored the lovely Dior inspired houndstooth tailored jacket (with double lapelled collar, fitted waist with peplum and oversized wrist cuffs), and skirt in matching fabric with black and piping art deco details that catch & lead the eye around figure flattering lines.

Verrieres - Sako are also known for their couture hand sewn ruching technique on luxurious gowns that capture silver screen glamour, and were seen at several red carpet events from the Academy Awards (Oscars) to the Obama Inauguration.
One gorgeous silk taffeta number boasts over 5,000 hand tacks and over 25 yards of fabric. THe story behind this stunning purple gown was reported on by The San Francisco Gate in their Jan. 28th edition.
The SF publication reported that " this hand-ruched purple strapless gown was floating on the dance floor at one of the presidential inauguration balls; the next evening, it was worn to the San Francisco's Ballet opening night gala by guest Jenny Georges. The gown was designed and made by Oakland's up-and-coming Verrieres & Sako label. The taffeta creation was first worn by Alejandra Campoverdi, who is dating President Obama's speechwriter, Jon Favreau. Jenny Georges, a good friend of designer Stephanie Verrieres,needed a gown in a hurry, and presto, she had it in hand the next evening for her big night out."

The duo also used this ruching technique on the waistband of a winter white knee length coat, and the collar of a cropped black bolero jacket. Both are highly wearable wool and lycra pieces featured in their RTW fall 2010 collection.

For more information about the collection check out their website www.verriers-sako.com

*In our next two reports on The Chic Suite, NYC; Another Important Culture (A.I.C), Katharine Kidd, and Anjali Kumar.

The BOUDOIR D'HUITRES "Queen of the Night" fall 2010 Colllection

TEXT: VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN + MARK BEHNKE

The raw space, thrumming music, and red light lent a clublike feeling to the proceedings in the downtown space way out in outer Chelsea's Forbidden Zone.
The show kicked off with an aria of genius Mozart"s Magic Flute by a soprano from the NYCity opera dressed in a black period gown.
What a welcome change that was, but it still doesn't make us want to drag over to the new Lincoln Center venue in Sept.

We loved the staging and the opening looks which featured red and black python inserts in a dress and skinny trousers. From there one of the unfortunate trends we noticed during this fashion week was that many designers felt the need to overuse lace in their collections. The only designer who REALLY gets lace right is Oscar de la Renta, and this collection was no exception to that rule. Chantilly lace is big this season, but they were most decidedly not the stronger pieces in Mimi's collection.

We were however inspired by the opening #, a blk crewneck dress w/ python snakeskin piecing. The red organic cork pants were a fun departure from jeans. A fun and original touch were the brass knuckles decorated w/ red silk roses. While we liked the concept of a Cleopatra style bib necklace, it didn't really work when it was composed of shiny red buttons.
POST-SHOW, BACKSTAGE with designer Mimi Plange -

Said Mimi, "I have a classical music background. I'm incorporating the Queen of the night rolled together w/ Cleopatra + my Victorian take."


Images Credits
Posed Images, Courtesy of Edite, Inc.
Backstage Images, VGK-VZ + MB

Mara Hoffman's Groovy fall 2010 Collection

TEXT, LAURA WOOD + VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN
EDITED BY: VK-VZ
Images of the fall 2010 collection courtesy of People's Revolution

WHEN + WHERE: New York Fashion Week, at Open
House Gallery (201 Mulberry Street between Kenmare and Spring).

Welcome back to the late sixties and early seventies a la Marianne
Faithfull. We love Mara's fabric selection of washed silks, printed chiffons,
and velvet chiffon burnout. There were interesting silhouettes, abstract prints, and detailed designs with a span of
dark and soft colors, and bold prints in darker tones lightened-up with pops of red, green, blue and purple.

Ms. Hoffman's artsy way of presenting included showing an original film, a collage-like dream setting following witches as they fall into “Hysterical Levitation”, starring Isabelle McNally and styled by Masha Orlov, which reminded us of one of our favorite shows, the sixties' classic, "Dark Shadows".

While enjoying the music and the clothes, we wondered if this was a tribute to the old hippies as they sprayed the very young models' hair white, but only in the root area.


The music by LIVING SACRIFICE also went a long way towards setting the tone-groovy and cool, dudes!

Christian Cota's fall 2010 collection styled by Vogue's Lauren Santo Domingo

TEXT, VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN

WHEN & WHERE
We arrived into Mr. Cota's usual presentation space which was MUCH fuller than seasons past. Right off the bat we were distracted by the vision on the platform of a dozen Anna Wintours posing in a variety of sparkly red and black, and black and teal geometric patterned dresses. On closer inspection, the "Anna's were actually models styled in Anna Wintour bob wigs. There were 20 Annas up on stage.
The fact that Vogue's Lauren Santo Domingo styled the show ensured the presence of fashion heavyweights such as Candy Pratts Price, the longtime Accessories Director of US Vogue, and part of Anna's inner circle. Anna herself showed up - a first time for Cota presentation.

As for the clothes, our initial reaction was, "Not so much", but after mulling it over and having a look at the pics we took, we grew to like it more and more. The sparkly dresses were a welcome change from the overly blinged-out pieces weighed down by Swarovski quite a few designers still insist on doing. Perhaps this is due to the collaborations Nadja Swarovski has arranged with an astonishing number of designers, including Peter Som, and Yigal Azrouel.
We're glad Mr. Cota has chosen to move forward and keeps "doing his own thing". The geometric pattern worked well in the cocktail dress when the black accent stripe was less pronounced. The wide black band on the longer version seemed a bit off, or at least, was distracting. Overall, the collection had a sophisticated yet arty tone, and more than one of the pieces on the podium is sure to make it into the pages of Vogue.

Images of Event, VGK-VZ and Mark Behnke
Image of black and blue sheath, courtesy of Christian Cota
Image of L. Santo Domingo and C. Cota - from www.style.com

Backstage with AMY SMILOVIC at the TIBI fall 2010 show

TEXT, VIVIAN G. KELLY-VAN ZUTPHEN
Runway Images: courtesy of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Fall 2010
[Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz)
Backstage Images: VGK-VZ & Mark Behnke

BACKSTAGE WITH DESIGNER, AMY SMILOVIC PRE-SHOW

A few hours before the show, while waiting to speak with Amy Smilovic, we fell in love with a little pleated burgundy cocktail dress that had a metallic jacquard top. Glitter has replaced ostentatious blinged-out pieces weighed-down by chunky Swarovski crystals, for the most part. This piece was in the same vein as many of the pieces in CHRISTIAN COTA'S COLLECTION.

Backstage, Amy said, "This collection looks like me". She continued, "I'm trying to take it more about what I want. The biggest compliment was when my Production Director whose been with me since 2002 said, "Everyone looks like Amy on this collection's boards."

THE FE: You have a lot of clients from wealthy enclaves such as Greenwich, CT. I'm amazed at some of the outfits the women wear while out - Merrells, sweats, Uggs..."

AMY: Yes! When you go out you should dress. I think A LOT about how I'm getting dressed every morning. I try to lead by example, I don't want my staff coming into work in just a tee shirt and jeans."

THE fall 2010 SHOW

The slender blondes striding down the runway had Amy's insousciant cool woman -[ not girl] style. Being dressed and looking like a woman does NOT mean you have to have frumpy Congressman's wife style. We're not talking about matchy-matchy suits, and panty hose or a throw-back to Babe Paley either.
Instead, Amy accessorized the collection with berry and burgundy tights paired with platform stilettos that will keep you warm sexy looking. There's a long purple grape wool jersey dress for cold days and a silk splatter paint gown that's just right for an art opening. For the big museum or Red Cross gala, wear the ballerina pink gown and little black faux fur short sleeve jacket.
Ladies, take a page from Ms. Smilovic, take some pleasure in getting dressed in the morning, and PLEASE, lose the Merrels, save those for making snowmen w/ your kids.