Cheryl Shops

The striped-top and peplum-skirt combos at Whit. photo by Mina Kim

The hair and makeup at Noon by Noor, easily the prettiest and most wearable I saw all week. photo by Mina Kim

That Mina got this photo of the Project Runway judges. (Side note: WHAT is Heidi wearing?!) photo by Mina Kim


Don't tell anyone, but Mina caught a model smiling at Monika Chiang. photo by Mina Kim


Fantastic-looking toggle coats at Rebecca Minkoff. Seriously, reserve one now.


The rainbow-haired Chloe Norgaard, back in action at Nicole Miller.



The clothes at Mara Hoffman were great, but what I really want is this ear-cuffs-and-chain headdress designed by Pamela Love. photo by Mina Kim


Christian Siriano knows how to stage a dramatic finale (and set—note the red curtain and chandeliers).


I loved Alexandre Herchcovitch's entire show—it was one of my favorites of the week—but particularly the upside-down, semi-undressed dresses that closed it.


The pearl sweater and lace-print skirt at Lela Rose. photo by Mina Kim


Thanks to Vivienne Tam, I'm now a trillionaire! photo by Mina Kim


Watching Bill Cunningham at work while waiting for Chado Ralph Rucci to begin.


The fact that this Chado Ralph Rucci coat exists.

That my seat at Reem Acra was close enough to the runway for photos like this.


Just when you're getting sick of looking at Eastern European teenage girls...hello, boys! (at Steven Alan)

And if the future of fashion is hologram leather, beam me up, Milly!

Catching up on a few shows from Sunday afternoon that didn't make it into an earlier post...

Custo Barcelona
 
There comes a point in every Fashion Week where one starts to lose it and, unfortunately for Mina, it happened during Custo Barcelona (mine came a few hours later, but more on that in a bit). Lovely Mina was once again crammed onto the photo riser with a bunch of sweaty, cranky photographers, in a situation one could easily describe as beauty and the beast, which—check out this transition!—was also the theme of Custo Barcelona's fall 2013 collection. There were some cute sweatshirt tops and embellished miniskirts that represented the former, but as the show went own, more and more tended to the latter. Here's what my notes read: "Sir Galahad. Old couch. Cosby sweater. Court jester." You get the point. I realize I'm probably not Custo Barcelona's typical customer, but when it comes to my own wardrobe, I certainly prefer beauty over beast.



Joanna Mastroianni
On a similar note, I attend many fashion shows for designers whose clothes I will likely never wear. This is kind of the point of Fashion Week, I suppose—to go out and see new things and expand one's horizons. I don't know whether my horizons were expanded at Joanna Mastroianni, except maybe for the fact that I learned that there are people who actually wear this stuff. Mastroianni—I'm going to call her JM for now, because that's a humdinger of a last name—is an eveningwear designer of the too-much-detail-is-never-enough vein: Think sequins, textured leather, goat hair, soutache, beading...sometimes all in one outfit! It's a lot of look, but the client-filled audience loved it—JM's final bow received one of the most enthusiastic responses I've seen thus far. As my mom says, there's a peg for every hole.


Vivienne Tam
 It's been awhile since I've covered a Vivienne Tam show, and Mina was very excited to shoot it, however considering the run-in I had with a certain power-tripping usher at this show (I speculated about the size of his manhood on Twitter, in case you missed it), I should be thankful I wasn't kicked out of the venue. (Remember what I said about losing it sometime Sunday afternoon? This was my breaking point.) I'm glad I stayed, because Tam presented a rather thought-provoking fall collection, one that I'm still processing. Known for her strong Asian-inspired designs, Tam turned to punk and pop art, but rendered in black, white, and red (a popular color palette this season), it had a severe look that, at times, seemed to be channeling, or at least commenting on, government propaganda in the face of revolution. Tam decorated dresses with a "Wan Sui" graffiti motif inspired by Chairman Mao's writings; when a black military coat with an arm patch came down the runway, audience members audibly gasped. Perhaps even more thought-provoking were her "pop culture Obama" prints that featured, yes, the President of the United States. Amidst the political commentary, however, were quiet bits of beauty: silk dresses with intricate back cutout details, kilt-like leather skirts, lovely minimal dresses with flattering A-line skirts, and a pretty badass-looking jumpsuit. Sadly, I'm not sure the attendees even registered any of it—in contrast to our previous show, this was the most quiet audience yet.

After a weekend in Fashion-Week Wonderland, real life interceded this week, and I managed to hit only a handful of shows in the last few days. Having missed it last season, I was glad to make it into Milly, which is always one of my favorites. The theme for fall was Illumination, specifically that of urban landscapes at night, and that came across in a somewhat futuristic way, with hologram effects on leathers and sculptural shapes. (Side note: Were Rebecca Minkoff, Nanette Lepore, and Milly's Michelle Smith listening to a lot of Bowie recently? All had distinct spaceman-like undercurrents to their collections.) Many of fall's emerging trends were on display—plaids, boxy outerwear, lots of black—but as you'd expect from Milly, it was all very wearable, in flirty full skirts, nubby-textured knits, great-looking leather-sleeve coats, and sporty-chic sweatshirts. The full midcalf skirts and high-waisted pleated pants might be a harder sell, but there was enough femininity in the collection to keep the Milly customer happy. It was enough to keep me happy too—I figured I might as well end Fashion Week on a high note, and thus decided to skip the rest of my shows this Fashion Week. Until next season, Lincoln Center...

After exhausting myself over the weekend* ("What's a weekend?" indeed!), I found myself, gladly, with a much lighter schedule for the final few days of Fashion Week. (I also had to skip quite a few shows due to work, but that's another story.) Here's what I was up to Monday and Tuesday.

Alice and Olivia

While I've rediscovered the joy of avant-garde this season, I certainly haven't lost my ability to shop a show, which is what I found myself doing at Stacey Bendet's Alice and Olivia presentation Monday evening. Granted, I am already an enthusiastic Alice and Olivia fan, but with a theme of Parisian "Fantasy Street Style," the fall collection might as well have been called "Stuff Cheryl Wants to Buy." There were flirty flared skirts, buttery leather motorcycle jackets, patchwork furs (a big trend this season), and lace, lace, lace. And then there were bags and shoes from the label's fairly recent expansion into accessories, and the boots were so fabulous, I found myself mentally clearing room in my closet for them: over-the-knee gray suede, quilted black pointy-toe with gold studs, pointy black haircalf, a black leather spat style...so many boots, so little time. And just when I thought things couldn't get any better, waiters waltzed by with trays of pink champagne and cake pops. Stacey, will you be my best friend?


Reem Acra

It's always interesting to see where I'm seated at a fashion show; usually it's toward the end of the runway with the press, so we have a longer look at each exit, but at Reem Acra, I was seated at the beginning of the runway—so close that I could see the models backstage before they came out onto the glossy black runway. I was also close enough to appreciate the intricate detail and craftsmanship in Acra's work (in fact, close enough that my zoom lens was too long, hence the less-than-stellar quality of my photography here), which for fall 2013 was inspired by travels to Japan and the photography of Daido Moriyama. Acra stuck to a simple palette of black, white, and red, the better to showcase her sexy fishnet-backed cutouts, which curved around the body in a very sensual way. That thought was echoed in her day dresses and coats, which draped low and gracefully across the hips to soft, flattering effect. But Acra's gowns stole the show as always, from embroidered second-skin illusion gowns to embroidered, frothy tulle confections. Look for them on the red carpet; stars would be remiss not to wear one.


Steven Alan

Runway shows are fabulous and exciting, but presentations have their place at Fashion Week, especially for designers like Steven Alan, whose quietly cool clothes would get lost under the lights and drama. Also, presentations are wonderful because you can be in and out in 10 minutes. That said, I wanted to linger over the fall collection, which had a very appealing tomboyish feel. You could say menswear is a trend for fall (although if you ask me, it's too much of a staple to be considered a trend), which puts Alan in the thick of things, but his take is subtle and even a bit androgynous—a boxy windowpane-plaid suit, oversized boyfriend shirts, cropped stovepipe pants, and updates on classics like cable-knit sweaters and chambray shirtdresses. I also found myself shopping this collection, but in a different way than Alice and Olivia above—that one is "I have to have that right now" while Steven Alan is "I will have this forever."


*A post on the rest of Sunday's shows is still forthcoming!

Lela Rose
I make the same joke every season on Twitter, which is basically that no one but Lela Rose can get me out of bed before noon on a Sunday. It might be a slight exaggeration, but her collections are always so beautiful, she makes the trek up to Lincoln Center completely worth it. For fall 2013, Rose was inspired by Brothers Grimm fairy tales, which if you've ever read the real thing, are actually quite dark, so I was prepared for moody atmospherics. Rose started with a series of textured, rusty-colored separates with a folksy bent, but after dabbling in some abstract plaids and dramatic jacquards, she focused on a series of day dresses, each more beautiful than the last. No one cuts a sheath dress like Lela Rose—her seams are strategically placed to shape the body, peplums became sculptural, and black lace detail along the sides of one dress was both breathtaking and ultra-flattering. When the sun set on Rose's fairy-tale world, the feathers, embroidery, lace, and pearls came out, swirling around the models and transforming them into princesses. Whatever fairy tale Lela Rose has been reading, I want to live in it.


Trina Turk

Trina Turk may be a California girl—and this was her first time showing in the Lincoln Center tents—but she sure knows how to make a good winter coat. There were solid-colored wool meltons, a curly lamb with rabbit sleeves (also in vest version), leather biker jackets, great colorblocked styles, and pleasantly boxy borrowed-from-the-boys styles. The outerwear was so fantastic, I confess not paying that much attention to what was underneath, however, except for some streamlined, flared-leg jumpsuits, sure to make converts out of jumpsuit naysayers. It was a little bit '70s, and perfectly California groovy.


Tracy Reese
While I was waiting to get into Trina Turk, I witnessed the worst thing that can happen to a fashion-show guest: Standing-room invitees weren't let into the venue due to over-capacity. This has happened to me several times in the past, hence why I'd stopped even bothering with Tracy Reese, in spite of the fact that I love her clothes. (Note to Tracy: Next season, book a bigger venue!) But Mina's beginner's luck continued and she secured a spot on the photo riser, albeit one where she was packed in like a sardine. It was worth it, though—inspired by New York City girls (ahem, the best girls in the world!), Reese mixed floral and animal prints in dresses for day and night, and even managed to send a cat down the runway. No wonder Michelle Obama loves her dresses—they're made for girls who run the world.



Chado Ralph Rucci

By the time the 8 p.m. show rolled around, I had been in the tents for nine hours straight and was ready to eat just about anything in my path. But before I could sink my teeth into a bacon cheeseburger, I had to make it through Chado Ralph Rucci, which, in a way, is more nourishing, at least to one's soul. For fall, Rucci, who perhaps loves neutrals more than the average designer, served up (okay, I'll stop with the food references) a primarily black palette with shocks of a royal purple and super-bright yellow, sometimes together. His familiar elements were in play—dresses and jackets spit apart, then reconstructed with horsehair backing, allowing the pieces to breathe at the seams—but he turned up the embellishment factor for evening, with feathers, pailettes, and the sexiest lace I've seen this season, coated in latex for a hint of danger. I always love Rucci's fall-winter shows for their copious amounts of fur, and while he went a bit easier on the pelts than in past years, there were a series of colored mink coats that came down the runway together—violet, nude, orange, pink, yellow—that I wanted to pop in my mouth like bits of candy. (Sorry, couldn't resist.) But Rucci's clothes aren't sugary-sweet quick hits—they're wearable works of art made even more beautiful by colors that seem to come straight from your dreams.





















Lela Rose and Tracy Reese photos by Mina Kim.