Cheryl Shops

Misha Nonoo (pronounced no-NEW) recently won the Fashion Group International's Rising Star Award for Women's Ready-to-Wear, and based on the super-polished yet totally accessible collection she showed on Friday, it's an honor well deserved. The looks, inspired by French actress Anouk Aimee, were refined, with ladylike peplums and godet skirts, embellished with fur, lace, and beading. There were also perfect-looking ankle-length pants and maxi dresses that looked anything but sloppy. I think this is exactly how a lot of women want to dress: pretty and pulled-together, but not too precious.

Alice and Olivia's Stacey Bendet declared 2012 the year of the dinner party, so she invited us all to a loft in Chelsea where...there were free drinks! (Hey, it's Fashion Week! Who eats?!) That said, she turned up the mega-glam for fall with sequins galore, jewel tones, graphic prints, and fun party frocks of all shapes (fall marks the launch of the brand's Gown collection), many paired appealingly with bomber jackets and blazers. Daytime looks stood next to evening looks in one big, fun, bright mishmash—in real life, not all these girls would be going to the same party, but at Alice and Olivia, all are welcome.

"Walter girls are the coolest in the room, and they're always happy," designer Walter Baker told me tonight at his presentation at the Empire Hotel (side note: having been here twice this week, I can report it looks nothing like it does on Gossip Girl). It's a bold statement, and while purchasing one of his delicious-looking coats may not make me the coolest girl in the room, it would definitely make me happy. There was a leather blazer with knit sleeves, a buttery leather vest, several belted jacquard trench coats, a cropped shearling motorcycle (that one might just be my favorite), and a bright red number that put a smile on my face. There were great dresses and separates too, as well as a new line of bags, but the outerwear stole my heart. And, perhaps, my credit card. Whatever makes you happy, right, Walter?

Negarin is a British contemporary line making its U.S. debut. Geometric pieced dresses with flattering detail at the waist, kurta-inspired tops, and belted jackets appeared to be mainstays of this collection geared toward modern working women. Everything looked very well made, if a bit too generously cut for the models (then again, isn't everything?); I got incredibly excited about the shoes until I discovered they were provided by Nicholas Kirkwood, designer of my shoe dreams. As the Rolling Stones say, you can't always get what you want.

I wish all fashion shows were like Libertine: guests were given free drinks, everyone had an unassigned front-row seat, and the models got to totally camp it up on the runway—they smiled, they danced, they pretended to drink and smoke. It was the most fun I'd had at a show in awhile (and will likely be the most fun I have all week). As for the clothes, whereas last season designer Johnson Hartig embraced all manner of wacky color, this season he went for a primarily black-and-white palette, though still with a madcap mishmash of prints. Like the models, he seems to be having a great time, and such enthusiasm is contagious.

I was really excited to be invited to Gwen Stefani's L.A.M.B. for the first time—until, that is, I saw the line to get in (one guest likened it to 'Nam). And considering Stefani wasn't present (she was reportedly in California, recording), I'm not sure what all the fuss was about. The collection read like Gwen's greatest hits: cargo jumpsuits, ikat-print maxi dresses, stripes, menswear-inspired shorts. The shoes and bags, however—bright, strappy platforms for the former, colorblocked totes and clutches for the latter—looked, as Stefani would say, hella good.


Callula Lillibelle is a line that's been around for a few seasons, but, to me, hasn't had a very strong identity until now. Originally launched as a work-friendly line, designer William Calvert seems to be having much more fun now, perhaps targeting a more fashion-friendly customer. The spring line carried a slight 1950s Elizabeth Taylor vibe, with innocent polka-dots mingling with slim-fitting sheath dresses, sexy lace tops, and brocade separates. It was put together in a fresh way, with modern neon accents and a refreshing mix of prints. It was all very wearable (in fact, even moreso than before), proving that it's not enough to give women what they need—you have to give them what they want as well.

Walter Baker presented his spring collection on the rooftop of the Empire Hotel, which, if you watch Gossip Girl, is where Chuck Bass resides and presides. I really like Walter—I find it just edgy enough to still be widely appealing, but I felt sad for the clothes, which seemed like a total afterthought to the utter chaos (earpiece-wielding doormen, open bar, reality TV cameras, party crashers) surrounding them. My favorite pieces were a series of sheer dresses and tops, some layered with snug jackets in leather or tweed. Then again, I'm not sure I even saw the whole collection—the crowd had swallowed all the run-of-show sheets by the time I arrived, and I wasn't about to fight for one. Sometimes, as the song goes, you got to know when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, know when to walk away, know when to run. And run I did.

At some point every Fashion Week, usually on Sunday, I hit a low. The weekend shows are generally a debacle, with crashers galore, and people start drinking early in the afternoon in the tents, which tends to magnify bad behavior. Then between the rain and a rather rude email I got from a publicist who shall remain unnamed, I did not arrive at the Walter show at the Style 360 venue in good spirits. That all changed when I found out I had backstage access (which, if I had known about, I would've arrived way earlier); this was completely unexpected, but I decided to roll with it.


By the time I got backstage, all of the models were already made up and dressed, but since shows never start on time, I got to witness their pre-game rituals. This included dancing.


I then walked around snapping all the fun stuff backstage, like extra hair extensions, the run of show, and the stage direction.






Soon the models were all lined up and ready to start the show.


After assessing the situation outside, I decided to try something new and watch the entire show from backstage. Here's what it looked like.








And then it was all over! Granted, I didn't pay as much attention to the clothes as I normally do, but as we all know, Walter makes trend-conscious contemporary clothes at great prices, and from what I saw of the spring collection, it looked like a winner to me. As for being backstage, it was so much fun, I wondered why I hadn't done it before, and I'm definitely going to try to do it as much as possible next season!