The Fashion Informer

Spring 2008 Preview: Isabel Toledo for Anne Klein

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Summer in the city all the way!!! Wall Street as a beachfront resort, stashing a super twisted silk dinner shirtdress in your handbag to change into after work for a date on the wooden Cyclone rollercoaster in Coney Island (where we used to live when we first got married), catching the breeze off the subway grating (a la Marilyn), picnics in the park for dinner with sandwiches and champagne.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
For me, it’s always clean and extreme. For the new Anne - especially for summer – cool, clean textures and fabrics with bold art attacks for good balance. Some great psychedelic color combos are like a shot of Vitamin C. And I’m loving super silky see-through onionskin drizzle slickers over everything from bikinis to evening dresses. It’s all very industrial glamour and organic ease at the same time. I want to dress the city girl in all the moods she craves during the summer - and make sure even if she is a Slave of New York and doesn’t get out much, she can feel like she is on a great big ocean-liner, which is what Manhattan is kind of turning in to these days.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
I love options and believe in woman doing their own thing, big time. If your legs are golden and non-stop, then the shorter the better. Sack-y dresses are great when it’s hot as hell and you want no fabric to come near you; you can just float inside a great big bubble and enjoy the breeze from below. I personally love long as it gives you freedom of movement and accentuates your body language.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
The entire world is game for my wandering eye. This season, Three Mile Island has become a summer clutch.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Me!

What trend are you loving at the moment, what trend are you over and what trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
So sorry, I can't answer these. Trends are for amateurs.

Isabel Toledo is scheduled to show her spring 2008 Anne Klein collection on Wednesday, September 12th at The Promenade in Bryant Park.

Photo of Isabel and Ruben Toledo © Karl Lagerfeld

Spring 2008 Preview: Peter Som

I know you're not unveiling your first Bill Blass collection until pre-fall 2008, but in general, what is the biggest difference between designing Blass and your own line?
It has been such a whirlwind past few weeks that right now I am just focusing on completing my own Spring 2008 Collection. On September 10th is when I will dive into Blass!

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
Cool, icy shades mixed with shots of hot colors. Fabrics are all about texture and structure. The waist is back with a sleeker, leaner silhouette.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
This Spring is all about a return to a sexier silhouette. The collection is based on crisp tailoring and a defined waist.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
Inspiration is found everywhere, anytime, anyplace - NYC is full of surprises!

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Stella Tennant.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
Bold, bright color!

What trend are you over?
Babydoll dresses. Women want to dress like women now.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
Trends aren’t planned - they just happen. Wishing for a trend to happen will most likely make it not come true. I just go with my gut.

Peter Som is scheduled to show on Sunday, September 9th in The Promenade at Bryant Park.

Spring 2008 Preview: Peter Ingwersen of NOIR.Illuminati II

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
The CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] term of transparency in every step of the process. NOIR has, for S/S08, been inspired by transparency in fabrics.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
You can expect to see black and white - the signature colors of NOIR, contrasted with pink and a shade band of muddy colors.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
NOIR is promoting the long and lean look for S/S08. It is stylish and takes its inspiration from iconic fashion moments. The air of the bubble/sack dresses have gone out. But because fashion is moving in full circles, expect the bubble/sack dresses to make a mark again in a season or two.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
At a tea party with little old ladies with lilac-dyed permed hair. The color of their hair made it almost through the collection.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
It would be Shalom Harlow or Erin O´Connor. The long and lean look of both of them is very inspiring to me, like a Giacometti sculpture.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
Love is forever, so I never use this word in the same sentence as the word "at the moment." But I am intrigued by the return of the carrot shape in pants.

What trend are you over?
Anything with a print.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
I hope to be inspiring other brands and consumers towards CSR.

NOIR.Illuminati II is scheduled to be shown on Saturday, September 8th at the Art Directors Club.

Spring 2008 Preview: Tia Cibani of Ports 1961

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
I found my inspiration in Tanzania, Africa. A joyous mass of people and, amongst them, a confidant woman.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
The colors are taken from the landscape and skies. Fabrics are humble in tie-dyes. Silhouettes are spontaneous in scrolled, wrapped and multi-layered effects keeping the bodies linear, tubular and cinched.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY Magazine and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
I feel that the obvious bubble shape is not important this season but what is a key shape for us is a lean, tubular body with scrolling and ruffling details focused at the neckline and sleeves.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
I’ve found inspiration in the children's storybook, The Cat in the Hat. The quirky whimsy of it has often found its way into my collection.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Siti binti Saad, a young peasant woman who was the first woman to sing Taarab in Swahili in the early 20th Century. Taarab inspired the music for our show this season. She changed history by singing about daily life and expressed many of the personal hopes and anxieties of impoverished townspeople and farmers.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
I love long gloves.

What trend are you over?
Bohemian.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
I’m picturing lean bodies with decadent interest around the neckline and sleeves.

Ports 1961 is scheduled to show on Friday, September 7th at The Salon in Bryant Park.

Spring 2008 Preview: Costello Tagliapietra

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Helene Schjerfbeck for her inventive usage of color. [She was] way ahead of her time, her reductive portraits and colors have a dark romanticism and a nostalgia that interested us.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
We also looked at the works of Ernst Dryden, loosely referencing the 1920’s with the cuts and silhouettes of the 1970's – and exploring the drape, sensuality and freedom of both periods. Colors are a bit brighter, with painterly hues that have layers of undercolor giving them the nostalgic quality we were looking for.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
We have always been proponents of a leaner silhouette. We love the sensuality of a woman's body and although sack dresses have their place, we think there is a return to women wanting to look more like women and less like children.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
We always look to unorthodox inspirations. For us, a painter's use of color, the mood of a poem or a novel can all serve as a muse for the collection.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Elizabeth Fraser from the Cocteau Twins. We listened to Gathering Dust/This Mortal Coil a million times [while designing] this collection.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
We love the grey thing that seems to be a common thread among designers. We always use grey; it compliments so many skin tones and feels very sophisticated and modern.

What trend are you over?
Cartoon-like clothing. It seems to resurface every few years but no one does it as brilliantly as Walter Van Beirendonck and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac!

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
We don't really set out to do this when we design a collection, for us it is more about creating a collection that looks great, feels great and that we’re proud of.

Costello Tagliapietra is scheduled to show on Friday, September 7th at the Prince George Ballroom.

It’s In the Mail: Best New York Fashion Week Invites

It’s that time of year again: NYC’s style tribes are gearing up for Fashion Week, which officially kicks off at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, September 5th with the Nautica show and ends at 5 p.m. on Wednesday, September 12th with the Dead Birds & Lionheart show, just before sundown on Rosh Hashanah (the shows, traditionally scheduled from Friday - Friday, were moved up two days so as not to conflict with the Jewish holiday).

For the past three weeks, our mailbox has been overflowing with invites to shows, presentations, parties and events – 83 at last count, with more expected next week (and The Fashion Informer only covers the NY shows, so we can only imagine what the inboxes of our European-bound colleagues look like).

Mixed in with the usual “just the facts, ma’am” invites were a few that really stood out, either because of their inventive presentation, clever graphic design or cool packaging, all of which usually referred back, in some way, to the theme of the designer’s spring ’08 collection.

Betsey Johnson sent along a “Prom Queen” booklet, complete with a hot pink balloon and black-and-white pictures from her own junior prom, c.1958 (we smell crinolines!), while Gemma Kahng kept things in the here-and-now with a wonderfully simple invite that pictured the designer herself on the front (her back to the camera, fitting a model) and a Xerox of the official Fashion Week schedule on the back, with the date and time of her presentation circled in pen.

Twelfth Street by Cynthia Vincent and Ports 1961 by Tia Cibani both opted for canvas, zip-topped “envelopes” for their respective invites (Vincent’s featured fuchsia metallic elements, and Cibani’s was jute woven in the shape of a nutshell, with an oval invite tucked inside – a far better choice than Ports fall ’07 invite, a dense grey felt square that smelled so strongly of chemicals we had to throw it out immediately for fear of getting brain damage if we kept it in our office). And Mary Ping, who designs an eponymous collection and the hipster line, Slow and Steady Wins the Race, used a canvas tote bag to announce the latter – the invite printed on the bag itself – and a palm-sized, paper-wrapped notebook for the former, the details printed discreetly on the inside flap of the wrapper next to a brief explanation of the name of her spring collection, “kairos and kronos.”

Phillip Lim is hewing to a travel theme this season, so his invite came in the form of a Passport, with show details and customs’ stamps on the inside page, alongside a lipstick-kissed smiley face in lieu of a photo. Miss Sixty went for a one-two-three punch, with a yellow floral-illustrated invite tucked inside a floral-bedecked greige envelope that was itself tucked inside a shiny UPS-brown box, while Development by Erica Davies’ invite took the form of one of those folded paper origami-like thingies we used to make back in junior high (they have a name, but we’re spacing on what it is), this one rendered in high-gloss white paper that opens to reveal a hot pink interior. (Come to think of it, we’re seeing a lot of hot pink and taxicab yellow on this season’s invites, so let’s see if those are signature colors in the spring collections, as well…)

Gwen Stefani’s invite for L.A.M.B. featured a bulls-eyed lamb in the shape of an lp (that’s short for long-playing vinyl record, for those of you who came up in the Digital Age), in a subtle nod to her other career.

And, finally, NY duo SANS followed up last season’s fashion interruptus invite - an illustration of a peeled, Velvet Underground-style banana that was dripping from the tip, making it look like a you-know-what, which some folks hated and others loved (yours truly was squarely in the latter camp) – with a stark photo of an orange plastic heart (or is it a kidney?), stuck with a trio of pins next to a sprig of parsley. Is it a voodoo or “Silence of the Lambs” reference? Will designers Alessandro DeVito and Lika Volkova be serving up a nice Chianti and fava beans at the show? We’ll just have to wait until Sunday to find out…

Photos © The Fashion Informer

Spring 2008 Preview: Rodarte

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Feminine abstraction and translucent layers.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
Organza, silk tulle, lame, duchess cotton, antique lace, laminated tulle, rubber and linen.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
We feel that design is best done without limitations. Shapes can always be interpreted and brought to life in a new and meaningful manner.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Chihiro from Hayao Miyazaki's movie, Spirited Away.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
Planting one's own vegetable garden.

What trend are you over?
Everyone having the same music taste.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
Individuality.

Rodarte is scheduled to show on Saturday, September 8th.

Spring 2008 Preview: Thakoon

What do you look for when choosing a show venue?
The show venue has to always reflect the attitude of the clothes. Though in my perfect world, we'd always have it at a dingy garage.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
I once found the broken piece of a gem on the street in Tokyo that turned into seaming ideas.

What do you look for when casting a model, and does it change from season to season?
The models change season to season, but what's constant is poise. It may sound corny, but there is definitely something that happens between the clothes on the right girls.

What other designer's show(s) are you looking forward to seeing?
I really want to see Marc Jacobs!

Thakoon is scheduled to show his collection on Friday, September 7th at Eyebeam.

Spring 2008 Preview: Sue Stemp

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
The collection is titled “Désordre Anglais," a phrase used by the French to describe the haphazard English chic. I was inspired by the eccentric oddball glamour of a quintessential London girl. She mixes references - vintage (think: early '70s, Mick and Bianca Jagger at the Hotel Byblos in Saint-Tropez where they were married) with something from her travels. I have just returned from India and picked up a lot of textile inspiration at the markets there - with something modern, cool and unexpected.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
The colors are bright fairy-light shades of cobalt, hot pink, jade and Sunkist yellow mixed with neutrals and highlighted with metallics. I love textiles and have collaborated again with artists Deanne Cheuk and Ben Copperwheat on prints, which include Paisley Rain, Monsoon and Feather Oasis. We’ve also hand-screened a foil print in my studio for a few showpieces, too, which was a first. The silhouette is slimmer and longer than previous seasons, but still relaxed and effortlessly glamorous.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
I do have a number of cool longer dresses in my spring collection and I think they’re really relevant again.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
The model Marie Helvin in the early '70s, at the time she was married to David Bailey.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
Headbands and playsuits.

What trend are you over?
Knockoffs.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
Feathers, braids and raffia details.

Sue Stemp is scheduled to show her spring 2008 collection on September 5th at the Maritime Hotel.

Spring 2008 Preview: Shelly Steffee

What was your inspiration for spring 2008? 

Purity of shape, of line - exact intention!

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
Colors: navy, pewter, leaf green, citron, skin and white. Fabrics: voile leather, girdle jersey, duchess satin, glazed poplin, glazed jersey, and liquid twill. Silhouette: a long lean cone shape, a nipped cone shape.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by NY mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
They’re over for now. The sack shape has been so oversaturated because it was so easy. I think closer to the body feels good right now.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?

Venom, a book of photos on snakes, spiders and jellyfish. It has been a constant inspiration for beading patterns, print patterns, colors and textures.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
The virgin from the book Perfume.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
The couture feeling. Highly stylized, well-crafted and executed pieces.

What trend are you over?
The skinny leg jean.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
Vitality and engineered graphics.

Spring 2008 Preview: Phillip Lim

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Spring 2008 is a reflection of journeys, travels, expeditions we all have/will take to locales across the world. Along the way, we encounter experiences, objects and influences that shape who we are and who we want to be from moment to moment, from space to place. I was looking at old photographs from the 60's and 70's of random people - celebrities, socialites and normal civilians - and these amazing images of them returning from their travels and departing an airport with really chic complete outfits of the time but accented with exotic objects, accessories and jewelry that they picked up from the excursion. I thought this was such an interesting juxtaposition - mixing the familiar with the unexpected/exotic. So the result is a colorful, dynamic and chic evolution of forward dressing.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
You can call it a Mixed Fruit Smoothie: A mixing of primary and secondary colors like citron, tangerine, cardinal, golden rod, poppy, cadet blue thrown together with neutrals such as cement, stone, bark, navy and gray. Fabrics are very natural and travel-friendly: Cottons - from fine to double-faced - silk blends, raffia, mohair-wool blends, and luxe leather and suede. Shapes are everything and anything. I feel this is more modern and fun then to just be limited/confined to the idea of what is ‘now in fashion.’

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by New York mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
It is case-by-case basis. See 'shapes' answer, above.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
Private moments in the restroom. It’s all about that intimacy that allows you to reflect.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
It would be a 34-year-old woman named Ingeborg Day. She is an office worker in midtown Manhattan and the mother of a 12-year-old girl, with a relatable allowance to spend on clothing - it’s all about CPW (cost-per-wear) - and she has a penchant for colorful tights.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
The idea that the word "trend" is so trendy!

What trend are you over?
The trend of having to have trends.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
The freedom to wear what you feel. A personal liberation.

Phillip Lim is scheduled to present his collection on Sunday, September 9tth at the New York Public Library, Celeste Bartos Forum.

Spring 2008 Preview: Rachel Roy

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
The inspiration for the Spring '08 collection is both Monet's Water Lilies - water and sky in one painting - and a Peter Lindbergh photograph.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
Moss/coppers/grays, dark orchid/lavenders, brilliant pink/whites. Shiny texture, controlled volume and easy structure.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by New York mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
Bubble dresses and skirts are not over if it is what a women loves and it's a signature piece for her. However, controlled structure is the modern take on volume.

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
There is actually no unlikely place to find inspiration as beauty can be found everywhere. I have been inspired by bark from a tree - the strength and grandeur inspired grainier fabrics, more rustic beauty, etc. The list goes on and on.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
The collection is many women. She is strong, hard working, sincere, purposeful, intelligent, easygoing, chic, professional, edgy, happy, a mother, a friend, a single woman, a hippie spirit. The collection is a balance of everything I strive to be and those are the qualities in woman that inspire the designs. Women have so many facets to them, it is impossible to name just one.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
I love the idea of dressing up and being a lady and love that more people are dressing up this fall season.

What trend are you over?
The idea that you have to wear something because it is a trend.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
The idea of glamour being what you make it and what works for you: a ball skirt to dinner just because, a knee length skirt and white blouse to the ballet because you want to be comfortable - yet all the time looking chic because you feel chic, not forced.

Rachel Roy is scheduled to present her spring 2008 collection on Wednesday, September 5th.

Spring 2008 Preview: Lela Rose

What was your inspiration for spring 2008?
Using a color palette inspired by the works of Matisse, the collection is blending the tailored, sharp sophisticated fashion sense of Katherine Hepburn with the more feminine Audrey Hepburn.

What colors, fabrics and silhouettes can we expect?
One of my favorites is a sporty taffeta anorak paired with a sweetheart dress made of guipure lace over burlap linen.

Are bubble/sack dresses really over, as claimed by New York mag and all the other proponents of the new long and lean look?
Sadly so...all things must come to an end!

What's the most unlikely place you've ever found creative inspiration, and how did it manifest itself in your collection?
From a homeless man on the subway. He had his pants hemmed with a funky color combination and I loved it.

If you had to choose a single woman, real of fictional, who best represented your spring 2008 collection, who would it be?
Katherine Audrey Hepburn.

What trend are you loving at the moment?
Sporty cocktail.

What trend are you over?
Spiky heels.

What trend are you hoping to ignite for spring 2008?
Colored plastic shoes and belts.

Lela Rose is scheduled to show her collection on Thursday, September 6th in the Salon at Bryant Park.