26.Feb.2010 Suno F/W 2010

Bits of the Fall/Winter 2010 collection from Suno. Quite delightful!

23.Feb.2010 The Oxford Chronicles: Jay Kos X Bass Spring ‘10

Pale green! Rich eggplant! The perfect shade of suede gray! Orange! White!

The contrast provided by the leather piping and the laces = swoon. I’m in love.

Available at JayKos. Photos via Hypebeast.

* I reserve the right to consider the Derby to be the cousin of the Oxford and will include it in the Chronicles as I see fit.

21.Feb.2010 Apocalypse Now: Miharayasuhiro F/W10

Miharayasuhiro F/W 2009 advertisement

In August, I posted about Mihara Yasuhiro and how much I love his design aesthetic; he makes clothing that any stylish adventurer would be proud to wear. If I had the body of a long&lean man and an impressive discretionary income, I would insist on buying a trench and boots from Miharayasuhiro every season. I would also become a jet pilot.

Yasuhiro is known for designing collections that are meant for the “post-apocalyptic urban nomad”and that idea definitely comes across in his F/W 2010 effort. Only it seems as though The Nomad now has business meetings to attend and possibly an after-work rock concert. Personally, I think that’s pretty awesome. I’d even like to believe that even after the apocalypse, and it’s coming ya’ll, there will still be plenty of ways to express our personal style through our clothing. Perhaps with a bit of sophistication too.

CUFFS & SHADES OF GRAY:

Putting aside the slimming effects of black, the color of choice for Yasuhiro’s Spring 2010 collection, gray is my favorite neutral. For whatever reason it just looks modern, and perhaps even a little futuristic, in a way that other shades don’t to me. I’m starting to have a preference for blue-grays, which look new for Fall 2010. A note on styling – I love how the pants were not uniformly rolled/cuffed and instead ranged from neat hems to pegged ankle cuffs and the more extreme tall cuff seen on the left. Each style has its own charm.

PRINTS & TEXTURE:

Lord knows that I love to see mixed prints. Yasuhiro has taken plaid and applied gradient techniques to make the print appear more graphic than lumberjack; this is nice to see because if the plaid trend is still going strong, we should at should at least be creative about it. I like that Yasuhiro is simultaneously playing with color, print, and texture in a way that he hasn’t for the the last couple of seasons.

DENIM:

I have vowed never to wear light wash denim on my lower half ever again. It’s a personal choice that I felt good about making until I remembered denim skirts. So I made an amendment about that. I’ll never wear light wash denim on my lower half, ever again, unless it’s skirt. But- Yasuhiro tempts me. Maybe in the post-apocalyptic age, I won’t mind if light wash denim makes my thighs look bigger, I’ll just be glad to have pants. Pants that remind me of Will Smith in Independence Day; you know… the scene where he’s walking through the desert, with his jumpsuit tied off around his waist, dragging an alien behind him in a parachute. Yeah…

Also, how cool does that denim shirt look tucked into those suit pants?

I’ll be trying that very soon.

Runway photos via NYMAG

19.Feb.2010 Neck Fur

Last night while riding the L-train, I saw a woman wearing a wonderful vintage coat with a fur stole  pinned around her neck, a little like the Ralph Lauren look (left). I found myself starring at her and contemplating whether or not I could reasonably work a fur stole [vintage or faux - of course] into my wardrobe. The stole seems like it could be a bit cumbersome – it would drive me wild if the thing didn’t sit perfectly. A compromise, if it needs to be called such, seems to be lapels covered in fur.

Oscar de la Renta had a wonderful series of  colorful coats for F/W 2010. I think the unnaturally dyed fur makes the look come across as playful and not so stuffy. After all, what do you really think of when you imagine a fur stole – I’m guessing an older white woman from the UES, yeah? Band of Outsiders had a quirkier version of this trend with a fur trimmed blazer that upon further consideration makes the model look like she has a fox draped over her shoulders (kind of awesome if it’s faux…but it isn’t, so maybe that’s kind of creepy). And finally there is 3.1 Phillip Lim which went for the casual “sheerling lined” look;  I’ve already seen a bit of this style in the city and it’s pretty good looking.

Photos via NYMag

18.Feb.2010 i want your ugly

Oh hey… it’s my friend, David, and he’s singing Lady Gaga.

And it’s pretty excellent.

And hilarious…. in a melodious way, of course.

Also excellent: David singing + a rabbit!

Susan Cianciolo F/W 2010

I had the pleasure of meeting Mairim Gersholowitz from Fashion POV at the IFB Conference on Monday and she was kind enough to invite me and some other bloggers to Susan Cianciolo’s FW2010 presentation, “Underneath The Sea, Inside A Mountain”. I’ll go ahead and award Cianciolo with the dreamiest presentation title of the week.

I arrived later than I had intended and had to leave early so I didn’t get as much time as I would have liked to learn about the collection– but I was able to snap a bunch of pictures, chat with some lovely bloggers (more on that later), and drink a couple of delicious cocktails. Another award for having the best drinks of the week.

Blue was everywhere this week. A strong color for FW2010. This was a great example.

The piece on the right was my favorite. It also helped that the model was absolutely stunning.

This was my favorite necklace – geode inspired jewelry is another strong trend.

The quality of these photos does not do the color palette any justice. I was really intrigued by the colors and the dyeing method used on the clothing,  some of which looked like they had been made from re-purposed materials. [Personal Side Note - learning about dye was one of my favorite parts of taking a textiles course at FIT.]

As I was leaving, I thought to myself that this presentation blends really well with

14.Feb.2010 Why I love Band of Outsiders

Two days ago, a friend asked me why I love Band of Outsiders so much. He complained that the line is too preppy. Well, yes, I agreed. It is preppy and that’s the point. There are some of us out there who still love American classics and appreciate quirky reinterpretations of them.

Everyone knows that I love a good blazer; there are 8 (black) blazers in my closet right now. For the record, each of them is a different cut. What I love about these jackets from BOO is that they cut away at the waist. Thank goodness too – because as much as I love the blazer trend, I’ll enjoy having a clearly defined waist once again.

Navy outerwear! Shades of blue carried the collection and I loved that yellow was a powerful accent color. It’s a cheerful combination. Exposed zippers are nothing new but extreme toggles are a reason to get excited. There were hints of the toggle trend last season but I hope it takes off this year. I love a good toggle just as much as I love a good exposed ankle.

On several occasions, I have remarked that I would wear my track spikes out and about  if it wouldn’t ruin my legs and floor surfaces.

Finally, what I love about Band of Outsiders and designer Scott Sternberg is the elaborate set design/ attention to detail used when styling the BOO presentations. This year Sternberg was said to be inspired by Joan Didion amd REI hiking socks – that’s pretty much the coolest inspiration ever. The set also featured a Jaguar that Sternberg rented from a woman via Craigslist as well as models suspended from the ceiling.

Photos via NYMAG & Nylon