Carpe Diem (alice + olivia Fall 2013)

Stacey Bendet named her Fall 2013 collection "Fantasy Street Style," describing her ideal alice + olivia girl as a "cool, clever free-spirit wandering the streets of Paris." If all goes well, that should be me in five to seven years. That's not to say I intend to become an alice + olivia model, but based on how rad the Fall collection was, I'd be down with walking around in some of Bendet's designs. 

The designer used the burgeoning concept of street style as inspiration for this season's clothing. As I've said before, as Suzy Menkes has said before, as a million people have said before, street style is becoming more of a spectacle than an honest representation of peoples' everyday ensembles. That idea fits hand in hand with Bendet's more is more tactic that she uses consistently in every collection. Why the hell not, amirite? If more makes the outfit work, do as Tim Gunn says and make it work. 

I can understand how someone might think that being a maximalist is exactly the opposite of what needs to be done right now, what with our unstable economy, rapidly deteriorating environment, and global social unrest. What we really need to do, one might say, is give up our consumerist and capitalist ways and go back to basics. There are two approaches to this situation. Either to live simplistically and attempt to make peace with the world that we've so mercilessly harmed, or we can enjoy the way we live now for as long as we can because time is obviously running out. I personally would choose the former option, but that's just me. Stacey Bendet, no doubt, would choose the latter. She might even say, in the spirit of my generation, carpe diem! (As you can see I'm doing everything I can to avoid using that dreadful acronym.)

[Photos by me.]

Stacey Bendet is successfully supporting the return of Puritanical necklines.

Are they looking at each other? Are they just stretching their necks?

A motorcyclist in a tiara. That's something new. 

I'd willingly let Stacey Bendet furnish my apartment.

Also, brocade. I love brocade. I made a pair of shoes out of it for my colonial shoemaking project in middle school, and I just bought a pair of Victorian-esque brocade heels. Fun facts of the day. 

Flower crowns are becoming less of a Coachella thing and more of a cool chick thing. Elly wore one the other day to school, but hers was woven into her hair. 

This may have been my absolute favorite of all of the looks in the collection. 

REDredredred. I want to be red.

Note the brass instruments hanging in the background. 

When I showed my mom this picture, her response was, "What nice hose!" If you say it out loud, it takes on a whole new meaning. 

Sparkles on leather on fur. 

Shirts on shirts on sexy.

Black lace shoulders are another Victorian detail.

PLAID shoes. How about that? 

I loved this whole display. Every garment was beautiful, the setting was interesting, and the models rocked. Plus it photographed wonderfully. 

AnnaSophia Robb, munchin' on a cake pop. 

Victoria Justice, who was mega sweet, especially when I referenced her "Zoey 101" days. 

The alice + olivia show was easily one of the most exciting events I've ever been to. The second I walked in the door at the location in the Meatpacking District, I saw Zanna Roberts Rossi and engaged her in conversation. She was so nice, and even claimed to remember me from when I met her at the ADAM show a few season ago. I ran into a few of the resident New York City bloggers (Natalie Suarez, Claire Geist), and saw my fair share of celebrities (the two laydeez above, Katherine McPhee, and several others; Vanessa Hudgens was there but I didn't see her). I even saw two girls from my school, funnily enough. I drank some bubbly beverages, ate some macarons, and spent the full two hours looking at the beautiful clothing, talking to some people, and chasing down anyone that looked like they had cake pops.

Anyone else feeling like listening to a lot of French music?

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The Slowdown

[Photo by me.]

It was the first tense I learned in French: the present. Even when it was first taught to me in fifth grade, I had trouble using it. I couldn't quite figure out how to describe things that were currently happening because that wasn't how my mind worked. I could write "je chante," but it's a lie. I am not singing. And if I were, it wouldn't ever occur to me that I should or could talk about it (partly because I can't talk and sing simultaneously, and if you can, then I applaud you). If you think about it, the present tense is quite confusing. I could say that I am typing, which is true. But while I was doing that, I was focusing on the end of the sentence, my goal in the near future. Once I was done with that phrase, it was over. My act of typing became a thing of the past. It works that way for everything. That's why the right-this-moment does not exist for me. I guess you could say that that's very fitting for someone semi-involved in the fashion world, and in theory it is. Designers and stylists and editors are always referencing bygone time periods and thinking about what's next. The past and the future. It all worked very well until the present caught up with me and caused a major traffic jam. The passé-composé-présent-futur-simple all in one. You could never conjugate a verb like that. You can never live a life like that, especially not one in the fashion industry. Before you have time to separate the different phases, everyone else has moved on.

I was always terrified of that. I look at every show on Style.com for every major season so that I'm never far behind. Is it necessary to know what 230 designers did for their fall collection? Not at all. It wouldn't even be obligatory if I worked at a magazine, or if I were a designer myself. We all know that fashion moves quickly. It's in the same category as journalism in that every second is precious, but not because it's happening. It's because each moment could be fodder for a new trend, a new design, a new story. "New" is based around the concept of the future, the same way "old" is based around the past. Fashion likes to combine the two and create what embodies the "now," the present. When the now exists, the past and future cease to. It's like when you complete the equation two plus two is four. Now all you have is four. The twos are gone. The inverse of that operation yields the same results. Cut four in half, and you've got two twos. You can't have all three at once. Fashion focuses on the four, I focus on the twos. It has recently come to my attention that I have to choose one or the other (at least at this juncture of my life). As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. (I've always wondered who gets to eat the cake, though, if I don't get to. Does it just sit around forever and get all moldy and nasty?)

For the past three seasons, I went to as many shows as I could during Fashion Week. It's an exhilarating experience, albeit a highly stressful one. I plan my year around New York Fashion Week. The truth is, before I had begun to attend shows, I still enjoyed fashion. This blog was around for months prior to that first ADAM show on September 10th, 2011. Participating in that seven-day-long whirlwind of awesomeness has changed a lot of things in my life, but I often forget that it's just that: seven days. A mere week out of the fifty-two in a year, which is then only one out of--hopefully--eighty more. It's a tiny, itsy-bitsy, baby-sized piece in the proverbial puzzle.

I've been worrying about the fact that I won't be able to participate in Fashion Week this coming season as much as I'd like to. It feels as though I'll lose my already unstable footholds in the industry if I so much as miss a few shows. Will I disappoint my readers? Will I disappoint myself? Maybe all of those things will happen, or perhaps none of them will. I'm slowly realizing that it's okay to not be at the forefront all the time. It really isn't so terrible to not know what people will be wearing in six months at the same exact moment that everyone else finds out. I won't spontaneously combust if I'm not sitting third row at a show, getting photographs of so-and-so's garments as soon as the model steps onto the runway. Sure, it's absolutely amazing to be able to do that, but sometimes it just can't happen. Every so often I will spontaneously combust if I am right in the thick of things. I suppose it really boils down to whether or not I would like to explode whilst in a huge crowd of fancily-dressed people, or be at home all in one piece.

This February, I'm going to take it slow. Fashion Week is a single week, and I'd like to make it out alive.

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ADAM: Live Coverage (And Some Minimal Coverage As Well)

As you all know, this Saturday at 2 pm, I went to the ADAM fashion show at Merecedes-Benz Fashion Week. 

Being my typiqual self, I was of course a few minutes late, and once I got inside the tent and to the runway, I was just standing around like I had no idea what I was doing, which I didn't. I finally asked someone if I had a seat assigned or if I had to stand, and they told me to go back out and get my ticket, and then come back and get a seat assignment. I did so, and after talking to several PR women, I got a seat in the 5th row, on the aisle. 

Once I was situated in said seat (A531-A, I believe? Something like that), I looked across the aisle and saw none other than...

 

Zanna Roberts Rassi herself: Senior Fashion Editor at Marie Claire magazine. I tentatively approached her and asked for a picture, because she was tweeting or texting or something on her iPhone. I was tempted to give her a business card, but I didn't. She looked busy. I continued to walk down the front row, until I spotted...

Hanneli Mustaparta (I'd seen her the other night at Coach, but hadn't known it was her then, or even at this point--I realized afterward) and asked the same. I kept walking and saw who I was sure was...

Derek Blasberg, Editor at Large of Harper's Bazaar, my favorite magazine, but I sure as hell wasn't going to ask, "Excuse me, but are you Derek Blasberg?" I took his picture and give him my card. He really liked the name--SCORE!!! 

Then the show started. On the sheet of paper awaiting me at my seat, it said that Adam Lippes was inspired by the High Line in Chelsea, in New York City. The show started off with a lot of sheers in pastels. I love sheer clothing. I think it's about a million times sexier than body-con dresses and push-up bras. This could turn into a whole "body image" thing, I'm sure you've all heard the spiel a billion times, so I'll just get back to the show. Literally. 

Then he started incorporating some light florals, which turned into dark florals paired with greys to balance out the contrast. From there, he moved into black with black and white polka-dots (Marc Jacobs-esque, some might say), and then wound its way back to the florals and the light colors and sparkling whites (and I mean literally sparkling; there were definitely some sequins involved.). 

The trends covered in this show: sheers, big floral prints, pastels, neutral separates, polka-dots, statement jackets. 

As for hair and make-up: both were minimal, most models had the front pieces of their hair brought to the back, a look that I loved when I had long hair, and still love on other people. The make-up was fairly minimal--that is to say, nothing drastic. 

My camera didn't take the best pictures seeing as I've never shot a runway show before, but here's what I've got: (Keep in mind that this is not the whole collection. View the whole collection HERE.)

All photos that are otherwise stated were taken by me: 

 Papa-paparazzi!

My photo

What it really looks like

My photo

What it really looked like

This week is unbelievably hectic what with it being the first full week of school and fashion week all in one, so don't hate me if I end up being behind on blogging. I'll be back asap, I promise!

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My First Fashion Week: Tales Of A Young Blogger

As all of you know, I am bouncing up and down in my seat, just waiting for Fashion Week to come. Well, not literally, I'm too tired for that. Plus, my scraped up knees allow for only minimal movement at the moment (alliteration FTW). 

Here's my NYFW schedule as of now:
September 7th: Independent Fashion Blogger's Conference
September 8th: Fashion's Night Out with the Man Repeller and the Glamourai
September 9th: After school, Lincoln Center
September 10th (and here's the really exciting news that I'll elaborate more on in just a minute): ADAM Spring/Summer 2012 Fashion Show at Lincoln Center
September 11th: Possibly at the Marc Jacobs boutique on Mercer Street for the launch of his new perfume, Oh, Lola! because Dakota Fanning will be there? Or else I'll be chillin' at Lincoln Center
September 12th-15th: After school, Lincoln Center

Okay, here's the MOST exciting news. I'm going to a legitimate fashion show. With a ticket and everything. HOW FREAKING EXCITING IS THAT??? I literally screamed and ran and accidentally tripped over a dog (this seriously happened) when I got the email from ADAM's public relations woman yesterday evening, telling me that she could get me a ticket to the S/S 2012 show, and that I will receive my ticket soon.

Wanna know how I did it? Welllllllll, last week I sent out emails to about 15 different designers saying things like, "I'm a fashion blogger and aspiring designer who wants to make connections in the business..." blahditty blahblah, and I asked all of them if they would be willing to let me into their show to cover it as a blogger and do a feature on my blog for the brand. I sent this email out to the PR people at these brands: Ruffian, Vivienne Tam, HONOR, Rafael Cennamo, Derek Lam, L.A.M.B., Charlotte Ronson, Guishem, Yeohlee, Norman Ambrose, Naeem Khan, Cynthia Rowley, Joy Cioci, Lela Rose and Katya Leonovich. That's....exactly 15. I just guessed before. I should enter one of those contests where you guess how many jellybeans are in the jar! Actually, that would be incredibly lame, and I'd be ridiculed as much as I am for being a Hufflepuff.

Anywhoozles (haven't said that in a while), I got one "sorry, we can't accomodate you," a few automatic responses and one yes, from ADAM. And I'm so glad it was from a name I know. I discovered ADAM within the past few months because the Glamourai did a post about his F/W 2011 collection. I liked what I saw, so I popped on over to style.com and looked at the rest of the collection, and I took the photos I liked and put them in the "f/w 2011" folder in my "adam" folder, which is in my "designers" folder in my "inspiration" folder in my "fashion" folder, which is in my "just for funzees" folder, which is on my desktop. (By the way, I spent the car ride back from Boston the other day organizing every photograph, document, screenshot and everything else into folders. It's wonderful.)

Here are my favorites from his F/W 2011 collection:

How wonderful was that? They didn't ask me to do a feature on last season's stuff, but I'm doing it anyway because I liked it. How incredible was that styling? The hipstah glasses and the cute little booties with the socks? That's my style. Well, not the glasses, because I never wear glasses, not even sunglasses, really. But I like them anyway.

I was superduperüberextra excited to tell somebody about this. My friends didn't seem as excited as me, for some reason...

Remember to follow my blog! I left that friendly little post about how to do it right up there yesterday. If you have any questions, comments or concerns, any at all,  either leave it in the comments or shoot me an email at youreatulle@gmail.com.