Bespoken’s Natural Charm

The best thing about fashion week, like Christmas, sex, and vacations (or any combination thereof) is the surprises, and I could not have been more pleasantly surprised to stumble upon Bespoken’s Spring/Summer 2011 collection, creatively presented in the yard next to the Soho Grand.

Sam Fayed has designed a collection for “a chap on the road,” and this is a chap you’ll want as a traveling companion.

This chap is probably the son of a land-rich, cash-poor lord, a naughty, well-reared gentleman, getting out of London for a spell before he takes a job at a bank, and real life begins. Whether he’s sitting next to you in coach, ordering champagne for the both of you, or leading you by the hand into the oldest church in Tuscany; he’s a young man with a plan, and you’re just happy to ride along on his traditional British coat tails.

Speaking of coats, there are some great ones here, like Fayed’s contrast trim blazer and his smoking jacket, both reeking of elegance, and neither looking out of place in your cottage garden or a downtown discotheque. And I love it that they included pajamas (maybe a few too many details, but that’s a minor cavil).

Fayed hasn’t reinvented the wheel here, but using some of the finest wools, fabrics, and milliners that the UK has to offer, he’s playing with tradition in all the right ways. I was bowled over by the collection’s cheeky elegance, and modern take on Nicholas Nickleby, the haughty, scrappy, well-educated “son of a country gentleman.”

Bespoken has, in other words, charmed my pants off.

Carine Snubs Posh for Tom?

A source just tipped us off that Carine Roitfeld skipped out on Victoria Beckham‘s presentation yesterday morning, claiming she was too busy preparing for Tom Ford‘s top-secret show to attend.

Which makes total sense–Ford’s presentation was a huge undertaking. But what’s maybe more interesting is that the formatting of the shows was nearly identical, says our source.

We love Tom and we love VB, and of course we love Carine, so we’re not about to get in the middle of this. But it is an interesting thought–remember what happened last Paris Fashion Week?

Fashion News Roundup: Lady Gaga Loves Meat, Rebecca Minkoff Likes Fashion Toast & Alexander Wang Killed A Cockroach

McQueen’s Final Collection now in New York: Three pieces from Alexander McQueen’s final collection–his Fall/Winter 2010 collection–have made their way to windows of the late designer’s Meatpacking District store. {Racked}

Lady Gaga and Her Meat Dress: Last night was the MTV’s Video Music Awards. While accepting her award for Video of the Year, Lady Gaga came up on stage sporting a wacky meat dress. She also had a matching clutch and and platform shoes that were actually made of real meat. PETA, where are you? {JustJared}

Rebecca Minkoff Likes Bloggers: Rumi Neely of Fashion Toast was noticeably present at Rebeca Minkoff’s S/S 2011 presentation. However, she wasn’t there observing, she was actually one of the models. {Fashion Indie}

Alex Wang Killed A Cockroach: According to The Cut, Agyness Deyn wasn’t planning on walking any shows this season. However, that all changed at the Coachella Music Festival where Alex Wang saved the day when no one else wanted to kill a pesky cockroach in Deyn’s house. According to a friend, she owed him one and therefor walked his show. {The Cut}

Judith Leiber Shops For Her Own Bags: Judith Leiber–the designer best known for her iconic jeweled up clutches–has opened up The Leiber Museum in the Hamptons. While the museum already has 900 handbags on display, the designer says that is not enough. That’s why she has been searching eBay and other places in order to find the rest of the 3,500 styles she has created. {Wall Street Journal}

Porter Grey’s Pretty Pop

Porter Grey’s spring 2011 collection is one for a girl’s girl. Feminine blouses, skirts, and frock–the muse seemed to be that perfect girl that everyone wants to be best friends with in high school. Presented in the High Line room at The Standard Hotel, guests were greeted by gentlemen divvying out free champagne. Indeed, the preview felt more like a party with friends than a serious fashion gathering, as the models on the platform swayed back and forth to a musical mix of girlish songs like The Tom Tom Club’s “Genius of Love” and Prince’s “Kiss.”

As for the clothes, there were loads of pleated skirts, both maxi and knee-length, in flowing chiffons and even one in gray leather, which seemed to have the whole crowd a-buzz. Easy and comfortable separates to accompany a handful of standout dresses–most with cutouts in the back–the collection is something you could stock your closet with and not ever have to worry about lacking something to wear. With flat leather sandals and not a single accessory in sight, each look was effortlessly cool and flattering to the figure.

What’s more, the nail polish choice–a bright orange hue–really popped against the more neutral looks. It left me dying to know…where can I get that color?

William Tempest’s Siren Song Works Its Spell

If you don’t know William Tempest, you soon will. He’s a baby-faced 24-year-old Englishman with an amazing pedigree (stints at Giles Deacon and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac) who already counts Emma Watson, Kate Moss, and Victoria Beckham as fans. After his first collection debuted three seasons ago, he was compared to a young McQueen.

This is his first season showing in New York. I asked him what he found different about showing in New York vs. London and he told me, “The energy’s just really different. I was excited to do a presentation here so that I could actually meet editors and buyers in person.” He’ll also be showing in Milan this season. His clothes are clearly ready for their international close-up.

Tempest’s spring collection was inspired by the sirens, mythical half women/half sea creatures who supposedly lured sailors, and caused shipwrecks. The whole theme was pitch perfect, from the sandy and coral colors, right down to the names of the garments. The Oyster Dress (pic at left, with the designer) was causing a sensation when I was there.

Tempest designs sophisticated party and evening wear. His last few collections were more structured and body conscious. Here, corseting was still present, but it was tempered with lots of floaty chiffon and easy draping. The colors were stunning. The requisite nudes were there, with pops of raspberry, coral, and lemon sneaking in. There was a recurring velvet devoré pattern rendered in neutrals and raspberry that looked like writhing, swimming nymphs.

The shoes, a collaboration with Mechanté of London, were also gorgeous. The chunky platform sandals came in a variety of colors from nude to two-toned and complemented the collections perfectly. Coral and gray ones were swoon-worthy.

I’m expecting that many women stateside will long to be one of William Tempest’s sirens.

Tailor Made at Preen

Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi played with tailoring for their Spring/Summer 2010 collection. Sure, they sent down some straightforward ’70s-style menswear-inspired pants suits, but they also took the waistbands of those pants, exaggerated them, and slapped them on dresses and skirts. Mod-ish shift dresses were cut out in the back and a-line skirts had bold pleats on the front.

Preen had fun with texture too, adding volume to skirts with neoprene (neoPreen?), honeycomb pleats to silk tops, and eyelet to blouses and the tops of skirts. What with all the deconstructed tailoring and mix of textures, Thornton and Bregazzi decided to keep it simple and muted when it came to their color palette. Looks were pale grey-blue or putty so as not to compete with all that inventive tailoring.

Click through for more looks from Preen’s Spring/Summer 2010 collection.

Derek Lam: Art and Luxury

In college, my best friend interned at Derek Lam, where her bosses would let her borrow from the closet for special events.

I hated them for it.

She always looked amazing, and I couldn’t compete. Derek Lam reads luxury even to those so removed from fashion they can’t tell an Alaia from an A-what-a. While he doesn’t scream in blinged out crystals and lames, Lam definitely whispers wealth, in quietly perfect cuts and politely rich fabrics. But the result is the same: clothes that are expensive, and look like it.

On Sunday, as Lam sent yet another collection of luxe looks down the runway, I found myself selfishly relieved that my best friend’s no longer able to pilfer that closet. Seeing my BFF in Lam’s swoon-worthy LBD would honestly just make me jealous. So too would standing next to her in any of the gorgeous trench coats, which like the LBD, were flanked with peplums that added rich volume to an otherwise traditional silhouette.

Missteps did walk down the runway –in fact, they clunked– in the form of Japanese Geta style platforms, whose lack of arch would lengthen any foot’s appearance (perhaps not ideal for those of us who wear over a size 7). But Lam more than atoned for that with another shoe success: simple gladiator sandals in nudes and blacks, which lent a refined flavor to a shoe that has become more Kate Moss at Glastonbury as of late. The same goes for the denim looks that opened the show: this was denim that would look more at home at a ladies’ luncheon than a downtown party. In fact, it even looked luxurious for a luncheon.

Citing his inspiration in a New Yorker article about California minimalist art, Lam clipped hundreds of words from Peter Schjeldahl’s piece for his audience to read. It was too much for this writer to entirely process without an espresso, but a few words glared at me, most notably Schjeldahl’s assertion that “there’s no crime in art looking like a luxury.”

Let’s hope not, for Lam’s sake.

Timo Weiland Just Keeps Getting Better

When I visited Timo Weiland’s studio to interview them for How I’m Making It, they told me of their Spring ’11 collection, “You know how in the ‘90s, the ‘70s came back for a little bit? It’s like that.” I thought that was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever heard and the end result, presented yesterday at The Box at Lincoln Center, was ten times better than I could have imagined.

First of all, they didn’t entirely play it safe (as many designers have this season). There were bright colors, unusual prints and more quirk than ever, but the shapes were classic and there were a ton of separates that would fit seamlessly into any girl’s wardrobe.



We saw berets with pinstriped bell-bottoms, chic button-downs in candy colors, lace with fringe, socks with sandals, color blocking, garden prints, and prints that hinted at camouflage but in a very non-literal way. The standout piece – for both men and women – was this great nautical-inspired rain coat, done in a variety of prints and colors, all in the same classic shape with the perfect length.

Above the models, a short film played (something the designers have done for each of their collections) that featured models dancing on a rooftop in Timo’s colorful wears. Towards the end of the presentation, “Alright” by Supergrass (that really good song from Clueless) came on and it fit perfectly with the whole vibe of the presentation, which was fun, bright and optimistic.

Twelve hours later, the fun continued at Ohm, where we co-hosted Timo Weiland’s official after party. The Samurai sake was delicious, the crowd was beautiful and Timo and Alan, despite exhaustion, looked amazing in their own designs – Timo in a tomato red jacket and Alan in pinstripes. They had a lot to celebrate and we hope they’re as proud of themselves as we are of them!