Twice each year, editors, bloggers and buyers alike flock to New York City the second week of September for New York Fashion Week, the kick off to what some call fashion month. The month consists of four fashion meccas (New York, London, Milan and Paris) hosting everyone who is anyone in the fashion industry to prepare for the next six months of style. Editors and bloggers attend runway shows and presentations so they can begin to plan what trends will surface in high style glossies and on the web while buyers from major international department stores and boutiques take more than a stroll through the coterie so they can buy those looks that just adorned the runway.
Milly at the Tents
Michelle Smith’s SS’13 line for Milly NY was presented on September 12 at 3 p.m. on the stage at Lincoln Center as part of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. MBFW is the largest corporate sponsored runway event during New York Fashion Week and is organized by IMG.
Smith’s 13th collection continued the evolution of the Milly brand with an emphasis on sportswear, a far cry from the prepster looks of seasons past. Smith traded in tailored blazers and structured skirts for over-sized tweed hoodies and clingy scuba dresses. The collection stayed true to the color story that was started last February and is on store shelves now. Hints of cobalt and chartreuse peeked out in various pieces while the introduction of watermelon pinks and metallic gunmetal tones helped to keep the collections continuity in tact. Smith played with smokey photosynthetic prints on a several sundresses, added laser cut mesh to a few demure tops and cut out the sides of more than one piece. Smith clearly infused some of what she saw as a teen in the 80s into the collection that is sure to shock some fans of the Madison Avenue-based brand while it attracts a younger, bolder base with memorable pieces like an Aztec printed jumpsuit.
Front Row, Offsite for Soojin-Lee
Soojin-Lee made her American debut off-site as the headliner of iFashion Week. The show was more intimate than most, capping admission around 150 people. Lee pulled inspiration from the Byzantine era for the collection that centered around uber-feminine mini shift dresses, semi-avant-garde tops and lots of floral lace. Soojin-Lee’s chose a color palette of barbie pink, tangerine, metallic gold, teal and cobalt against a bright white base. Overlaid on several dresses was a fabric printed with fleur-de-lys, glittered quatrefoils atop printed sunbursts. This was Lee’s fifth independent collection, her previous four collections showed in London where the designer is based.
Dressed Up, Downtown and Surrounded by Shoes
NYFW allows many opportunities for underground designers and showroom owners to host events and get their name out there. Pamela Quinzi is one such designer. The Italian native turned Manhattan-ite promoted her new shoe line, Kilame, by hosting a party and fashion show at Parlor with Giuseppe Conte. The cocktail affair started with a red carpet, moved on to drinks at the bar and an opportunity to shop Quinzi’s designs and ended with her SS”13 collection. The event allowed attendees to get up close with the Italian’s designs and get to know Quinzi a little bit better.
Editors Note: Morgan serves as a Milly Brand Ambassador and received tickets to the designer’s Spring/Summer 2013 collection show after being named Ambassador of the Month. She also writes for iFashion Network and received front row tickets to the Soojin-Lee show. After making connections in the fashion kingdom Morgan will be sure to have more reviews coming.