I’m more than a little stoked for this shopping event being held by New York Mag. 15 to 65% off retail items are an absolute must when I am working on a shoe string budget for fashion and pretty much everything else. I also won’t feel so selfish knowing that a portion of the proceeds go to the fund for Public Schools.

Here’s a taste of some of the names in fashion being featured: Armand Diradourian, Hyde, Lacoste, Lilla P, Roberta Freymann
Sean. There will also be top accessory, beauty, home and kids brands featured. You’re welcome.

Details:

When: Tuesday October 3, 2006
Where: The Altman Building, 135 West 18th Street

Click here for more info and tickets

As I look for challenges within my writing career, the powers that be here at Papierdoll are never in short supply. Down from the mountain it came: London Fashion week: on a budget and in a nutshell. Since this encompasses a whole week’s work in one blog entry, I decided to challenge myself, limiting my analysis to a brief descript or one word!

So pour yourself a spot of tea, put on the Petshop Boys, and grab a map of the tube… London here we bloody come!

Monday:

Noir: classic structure featuring crisp white fabrics as the standout

Peter Jensen: Safari, old Banana catalog

Gharani Strok: hated at first sight, but the coolness had me reconsidering… made me wish I was a spy on the coast of a Riviera

John Rocha: Romantic Grunge!

Tuesday:

Unconditional: a line for men and women, the colors were muted and the genre was punk….that is unconditional

Ben De Lsi: casually sensual

Preen by Thorton Bregazzi: the appearance seemingly misshapes curves of the female body, but the math of the design compliments… a little paradoxical

Gareth Pugh: In a word: Highlight… scroll down to the end of the recap for more…

Wednesday:

Biba: Kat Hepburn cool

Jasper Conran: BEAUTIFUL

Christopher Kane: the mini…well, at least Paris has something to wear

Giles: chain me up in shackles

Thursday:

Ashley Isham: for the bitch you love or love to hate… really… where did she get those heels?

Fashion Fringe (a.k.a. the “Fab Four Designers”):

Antonio Santana: comfortable

6 7/8 (six and seven eighths): Cruella de Vil

Stephen Harper: everything I wish would fit my bum

Gavin Douglas: oh, the drama

Nicole Farhi: single handily trying to bring back the polka dot

And there you have it, a week’s synopsis, quick and dirty.

If you would like to see it in pictures, head over to www.londonfashionweek.co.uk, and compare for yourself.

In conclusion, I would like to back track to Gareth Pugh: Every once in a great while, someone creates something that is more than just fashion–it is the dream of fashion. Gareth achieved this through checkered black and white dresses and the dramatics of black masked faces. A transformer-type dress cut from quilted patent leather created a space-like silhouette. The black and white mini was made from inflatable plastic, like the floats you wore as a child. All of these designs barreled down a floating catwalk, created when air was pumped through a long white cloth. Gareth Pugh’s line makes any narrator seem insane–it truly must be seen with your own eyes. It could have been a mockery, warning those who take all of this too seriously. Maybe it was the brilliant vision of one madman. In the end I took it as an inspiration, and a reminder of what fashion, the look, and the “it,” is all about.

Lesley at FashionTribes has made a valiant effort of rounding up the blogger reviews of New York’s Spring 2007 Fashion Week. Fashion blogs and e-zines offer two things that the mainstream media often lacks: 1) coverage and critique of up and coming and lesser known designers, 2) refreshing honesty about the shows. Read reviews that you won’t find anywhere else.

As for runway eye candy, we love our own galleries, but for the shows that we didn’t cover, check out New York Magazine. Not only do they have photos for all the major shows, they also allow you to create a personal album so that you can save your favorite runway looks for future reference… you can share albums and browse Tim Gunn’s (where is the love for Jay McCarroll?!) or Ali Manning’s (hey, that’s me!) favorite runway looks.

New York Magazine also has a “cheat sheet” which features reviews from a mix on online e-zines (Papierdoll included!) and glossy websties like Style.com.

This week’s Carnivale of Couture is hosted by Omiru, and it is the perfect topic for post-fashion week reflecting:

What’s your favorite fashion trend from the Spring 2007 runway?

Pleating!

(Michon Schur… pleating applied to the neckline for volume)

I’ve always associated pleats with unflattering, fusty country club trousers or Catholic schoolgirl uniforms, but after Spring 2007 fashion week, I’ve seen all the potential that pleats have to offer. They can give just the right amount of swing to a skirt, flair to a silhoutte, or definition to a bodice.

Dragana Ognjenovic applied pleats to everything, heightening the sophistication of her designs through intricate pleating, and being playful in how she applied them.

Jason Wu gave body and form to his chiffon dresses with pleated waistlines.

Costello Tagliapietra, who’ve made a name for themselves with their draping, used pleats to give added depth to the busts and waistlines of their dresses (applied here to the bodice of a strapless dress).

Pleats make a great trend because they can be applied so diversely and serve many different functions for various styles of clothing–so it’s less likely that the trend will become tiring or overdone.

UPDATE: The entire Carnivale has been posted at Omiru.

So, another fashion week, another swag post. In keeping with the tradition of spring being the lesser important of the fashion weeks, the swag count this cycle was a little less than last time (at least, we hope that’s because of the seasonality), and the press bag was much less exciting than last season (what was up with the sexual stimulation lotion in this year’s bag?). Still, our (well, my) estimated swag grab is just above $450, making all that waiting in line worth while.

How to Score Swag…

If you are just in it for the swag (or if the swag will be the deciding factor in which shows you attend), here’s the lowdown on picking the shows where you’ll score the best goods:

Find out who is sponsoring the show

Smaller names=bigger gift bags

Park your ass in a seat

Leftovers are for the taking, but please have some swag dignity

So, what’s in our swag bag?

Also… lots of Altoid gum and mints, gourmet popcorn and several nail polishes from People’s Revolution shows… it was pretty funny to see people at these shows scooping up extra bags just to realize all they got was popcorn and a Budweiser pamphlet.

And that is how we do it.

ALI MANNING