Fashion Watch

If I Were A Buyer

After a hiatus of a couple of years, my desire to post pretty fashion pictures has overcome my lack of time.  But I'm keeping it super simple, so head over to my new fashion blog: If I Were A Buyer.

New York Fashion Week - September 2007 - Part 2

If time and space were to align so that I had the budget, figure and occasion - i.e. in an alternate universe - I would be wearing the following next Spring/Summer (in no particular order):

Sari Gueron

Oscar de la Renta

Thakoon

3.1 Philip Lim

Marc Jacobs

Marc by Marc Jacobs

Donna Karan

L'Wren Scott

Vera Wang

Zac Posen

Peter Som

Proenza Schouler

Narciso Rodriguez

Monique Lhuillier

New York Fashion Week - September 2007 - Part 1

As you may have gathered from the relative silence around here, these days I don't have nearly as much time to trawl through the celebrity photos and designer look books as a used too. It's not for want of interest, simply from want of time. I've been busy. Shopping. And traveling a lot. And running a business.

But that doesn't mean I'm not eagerly hunting down the latest from New York Fashion Week. It just means I don't have time to post in such detail. My early trawls through the so far not entirely inspiring looks for Spring 2008 does have me thrilled about at least one thing though: the presence of many waists. Sack dresses begone!

Oscars 2007 - Part 1

At this year’s Oscars there was more stylish creativity than I have seen for some time.

Not all of it worked, of course, but there was very little that seemed boring whether because of colour or detail.

Blue was most definitely the hue of the night though, especially the darker tones. Witness:

Maggie Gyllenhaal in Proenza Schouler

Reese Witherspoon in Nina Ricci

Emily Blunt looking too skinny but still quite stylish in Calvin Klein

Jodie Foster’s hair was awful, but her Vera Wang gown was lovely

Less successful style-wise but still great in terms of colour, Portia de Rossi, in Zac Posen

Moving on to the more neutral tones, there were some winners and some losers.

Helen Mirren’s dainty, pretty and yet wholly age-appropriate and flattering Lacroix gown was definitely a winner

And Penelope Cruz’s Versace gown may have been huge, but it really worked rather than looking like a marsh-mellow

Jennifer Lopez also looked great in Marchesa, though is she pregnant and I missed it? Because if she’s not, then this cut was perhaps not the best choice no matter how lovely the gown.

More meh for me on the neutral front were Kate Winslett (Valentino) and Beyonce (Armani). Nothing at all wrong with the dresses, they just got a little upstaged on the night.

And then there was Eva Green who went one half neutral and the other half Elvira

Oscars 2007 - Part 2

When things went metallic, results were also mixed. For example, Cate Blanchett’s Armani Prive gown would have been lovely, if only it appeared that she could actually breathe.

I preferred Rachel Weisz’s silver gown on the TV to in the photos, it just seemed to wash her out a bit even though the Vera Wang dress itself is lovely.

Meanwhile Jada Pinkett Smith looked a little too much like the Oscar statue itself in gold Carolina Herrera.

As for Kirsten Dunst, I really actually like the feathered hem, it’s the top half that confounds me. (Chanel)

Appearing to suffer a bit too much from uncomfortable pushed up boobs, pregnant or not, were two of our local girls, Naomi Watts (Escada) and Isla Fisher (Monique Lhuillier - if you scroll down you'll see I liked this dress on the less-busty runway a couple of weeks ago, it just needed slightly less vavoom here.)

In the bright colours that didn’t quite work stakes, Jessica Biel’s Oscar de la Renta was just a little too bubble-gum for my taste.

While I have decided that I don’t mind the bow on Nicole Kidman’s Balenciaga so much as it seems just the wrong shade of tomato, which is highly pedantic of me, I readily admit.

Some people didn’t seem to like Gwyneth Paltrow’s Zac Posen dress, but I absolutely loved it and thought her hair and make-up just topped it off. Though it was one of the real winners of the night – especially in comparison to some of her previous outings.

On a night when black was unusually rare, Rinko Kikuchi also gets points for learning from previous mistakes by keeping it simple and detailed at the same time. (Chanel, of course)

But on a night where things were generally diverse and stylish, the time comes when we must go to those who crashed and burned.

First, Jennifer Hudson, who had been on such a great streak, but for some reason went with an Oscar de la Renta outfit that was part last year’s pockets phase and part Flash Gordon.

Next, Anne Hathaway who really should have learned considerably more on the fashionably dressed set of The Devil Wears Prada and not opted for this vested/bowed Valentino disaster.

Celine Dion wore a colour that didn’t suit her, in a cut oddly reminiscent of that backwards suit she once wore, and hair that looks like it was done by, well, not done at all.

And finally, Ms Rolled Out Of Bed herself, Cameron Diaz. Hard edges don’t work for her, and her hair and make-up look like she rolled out of bed even if it is Valentino - who was not having a good night. I know she’s had a hard year, but really, this is not good (and I’m one of the few who like her floral dress with necklace-belt of a few years ago).

Oscars 2007 Teaser

Oscars coverage will come shortly, but the preview is:

Overall Winner for Best Performance on the Red Carpet: the colour blue, particularly in midnight-y shades

Overall Loser for The Fastest Fall From Fashion Grace: Jennifer “did she take her hands out of those pockets to accept the Oscar” Hudson

More to come when the work day is done.

New York Fashion Week - February 2007 - Part 5

Let’s Go Skiing on the Moon

Luca Luca

This Dead Animal is Ruining My Otherwise Attractive Outfit

Oscar de la Renta

Isaac Mizrahi

Proenza Schouler

Proenza Schouler

80s Formal

Luella Bartley

Diane Von Furstenberg

Marchesa

Coats, coats, beautiful coats

Ruffian

Thakoon

Badgley Mischka

Apparently there’s something pillowy going on Down Under that I wasn’t aware of

Sass & Bide

Toni Maticevski

Toni Maticevski

And to finish where we started, If I had a red carpet to walk I would wear this (the colour edition)

Monique Lhuillier

Zac Posen

Zac Posen

I would have had a category for silliest hat but they seemed to permeate every collection so we would have been here forever.

New York Fashion Week - February 2007 - Part 4

Simple, so often, wins the day

Sari Gueron

Narciso Rodriguez

Ruffian

Badgley Mischka

Calvin Klein

Vera Wang, whose dark collection pleased me more than others, and felt rather Prada-esque

Vera Wang

Maths class: for better or (mainly) worse, geometry is back

Betsey Johnson

Diane Von Furstenberg

Marc Jacobs

Philosophy de Alberta Ferretti

Vera Wang

Ugly Fur Contest

Tuleh

Caroline Herrera

Chaiken

Oscar de la Renta

Toni Maticevski

J Mendel

Inspiration: Cher

Matthew Williamson

New York Fashion Week - February 2007 - Part 3

I would (and could) wear this

Tuleh

Sari Gueron

Badgley Mischka

Zac Posen

Oh, for a life on the cocktail party circuit (and the legs) to allow me to wear this

Matthew Williamson

Diane Von Furstenberg

Monique Lhuillier

Rodarte

Temperley London

Proenza Schouler

Vera Wang

Eat my shorts - nope, they’re not going away

Matthew Williamson

Luella Bartley

Luca Luca

New York Fashion Week - February 2007 - Part 2

You may think that sack dresses work for everyone, but really they just make everyone look pregnant, meaning they are fabulous for pregnant women and no one else…

3.1 Phillip Lim

Reyes

Luca Luca

…but those are just sack dresses, these are SACK Dresses

Matthew Williamson

Alexandre Herchovitch

Max Azria

Brian Reyes

Brian Reyes

Rejected costume designs for Ice Castles 3

Isaac Mizrahi

Crap, high waisted pants are definitely back. My take on the place pants should sit is on the hips, not super low and not super high, just in between. And I refuse to move from that flattering position.

Matthew Williamson

Tuleh