Rebekah Wing
Jess A
Samantha Mariko
Mirka Germanova
Austin Levine
On the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, it's only appropriate that the Council of Fashion Designers of America should turn its attention to the environment. At a New York luncheon yesterday, the CFDA and Lexus announced the winners of the Eco-Fashion Challenge—an annual event that rewards designers for their environmentally responsible fashion. "It's only the tip of the iceberg," said Amber Valletta, who, wearing a Daniel Silverstain dress cut from zero waste, predicted that there will be a major shift in eco-friendly design in another five years. "It's necessary, responsible, and economical. Luxury is about being thoughtful and sustainable from the beginning."
Guests including Coco Rocha, Steven Sebring, Maria Cornejo, and Steven Kolb filed into ABC Kitchen for the affair. Over shared plates of locally sourced crab toast and braised mushroom, they applauded top winner Natalie "Alabama" Chanin for her organic, handcrafted wares. "Hand embroidery is very engrained in rural communities in America," Chanin said. She pointed to the hand-sewn skirt from her namesake label that she was wearing, explaining how she sources the organic cotton from Texas, then has it processed and dyed in North Carolina before it's sewn by Alabama artisans.
The selection committee, which included Valletta, fashion consultant Julie Gilhart, and CFDA's Lisa Smilor, among others, also gave awards to Mark Davis for his jewelry, and SVILU's Britt Cosgrove and Marina Polo for their environmentally sound, understated womenswear.
There's no questioning Asia's importance in the fashion market, and Western brands have more than taken note. This month in Hong Kong alone, Tory Burch, Kenzo, Moncler, and Calvin Klein all hosted events within days of each other. And at Singapore's FIDe fashion week (FIDe is an organization that aims to promote regional and international designers in Singapore), European brands like Pierre Balmain and American ones like Burkman Bros and Ari Dein similarly made the trek eastward to show their collections. "It was the first time both brands participated in a full-length fashion show," Steven Kolb, the CEO of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, said of the latter two. "Fashion is no longer defined by borders, and the more we can nurture global relations, the greater the success for our designers."
But the region is also increasingly interested in holding its own in global fashion, and the eleven-day event in Singapore, which typically features several days of presentations by French haute couturiers and Asian couturiers, included the latest step in that direction: the founding of the Asian Couture Federation (ACF). Now, the Asian couturiers (dubbed by the ACF as "Asian Couturier Extraordinaires") will have a support system of their own. Its inception was an act that won FIDé executive chairman and ACF founder Frank Cintamani (below, left) France's esteemed Chevalier des Arts et des Lettres honor. Even Shinzo Abe, the Prime Minister of Japan, offered Cintamani a pat on the back, calling the Federation's establishment "a significant event for all of Asia," at a time "when we consider that fashion until recently was generally seen as the domain of Europe and the United States."
Happy National Cat Day! When it comes to domestic pets, kittens are clearly the fashion set’s best friends. For proof, look no further than Choupette Lagerfeld (who starred on her first German Vogue cover this summer and currently has over 34,000 Twitter followers) and the annual United Bamboo cat calendar. To boot, brands including Markus Lupfer, Miu Miu, and Vivienne Westwood expressed their feline appreciation for Spring ’14 by featuring novelty puss prints on shifts, coats, and sweatshirts, respectively. Warning: These pieces may cause a cute attack.
Nothing glams up an outfit like a little crystal. We saw plenty of bejeweled looks during the Spring '14 shows—at Prada, for instance, sporty dresses and sandals were studded with candy-colored stones, and Tom Ford whipped up minidresses and jumpsuits with flashy mosaics. For Fall, however, designers focused on simple, clear stones to add a hint of glimmer. A scattering of sparkle is just the thing to add a touch of opulence to your Fall wardrobe, but we wouldn't stop you from piling it on, either. Shop our favorite crystalized pieces from Valentino, Miu Miu, and more, below.
News broke late last week that photographer Deborah Turbeville died in Manhattan on Thursday from lung cancer at the age of 81. Having served as a fit model for Claire McCardell and an editor at Harper's Bazaar early in her career, Turbeville introduced a personal, heady, and refreshingly feminine aesthetic to the world of fashion photography when, with the support of Richard Avedon, she began seriously taking pictures in the 1970s. "My photographs are extremely feminine," she said in an interview with Style.com last year. "But it doesn't have to do with any kind of conviction on my part. It's all instinctive and spontaneous with me. There is a certain approach that women have. They do get into some kind of inner thing more than the male photographers do."
That approach landed her editorials in publications like Vogue, W, and The New York Times. She worked alongside icons such as Diane Arbus, Polly Mellen, and Isabella Blow and even got arrested with Bob Richardson during a shoot for Harper's Bazaar in Texas. Her legacy will live on through her moody, sometimes controversial images, which have been inspiring editors, stylists, and fellow photographers for decades. Here, a look back at the legendary lenswoman's most memorable shots.
Just when you thought that the peak season for air kisses and fashion chitchat had passed, wham!—along comes one of those New York City weeks that's chockablock with events. Time to get your nice clothes back from the cleaner, where they've been sitting since your return from Paris, and refresh ye olde manicure.
Monday-night festivities included a dinner on the terrace of the Gramercy Park Hotel celebrating Charlotte Ronson's collaboration with Vogue Eyewear, hosted by Eva Mendes.
Tuesday night found London-based Isa Arfen designer Serafina Sama throwing her first-ever Stateside bash at hot spot Omar's. She drew quite a photogenic crowd, including her stylist, Valentine Fillol-Cordier, who flew in for the occasion; model/activist Kyleigh Kuhn; and host Kate Foley. Later that evening, action moved to the Fat Radish, where Antwerp-based designer (and Woolmark Prize-winner) Christian Wijnants presided over a family-style meal of celery pot pie and monkfish curry. (Just the hearty thing for the start of a cold snap.)
Family-style was the name of the game again on Wednesday night, which saw Assembly New York serving up farro and roast chicken at the fantastic new restaurant Dimes, on Division Street. Assembly ringleader Greg Armas and dinner hosts Ana Kras and Devendra Banhart mixed it up with the crowd. Meanwhile, down the road on Canal Street, Sea designers Monica Paolini and Sean Monahan were hosting at home and had cooked dinner themselves. The potatoes were particularly delicious: onion, rosemary, and lots and lots butter did the trick, according to Paolini. Worth getting the clothes back from the cleaner for.
Last night in L.A., some of the biggest names in fashion, music, film, and food came together at the inaugural gala and auction for Wolfgang and Gelila Puck's Dream for Future Africa Foundation. Gelila, who was born in Ethiopia, founded the organization in 2010 in order to help the children of Africa. Indeed, it's a good cause—one that drew everyone from Karolina Kurkova, Angela Lindvall, and Dita Von Teese to Quincy Jones, Smokey Robinson, and Reed Krakoff. "Tonight as I was getting ready, standing in my closet, this white gown called out to me,"the hostess said of her Deco dress. "I chose to wear white to represent our organic spirit in honor of our mission." As guests including Ali Larter, Maria Sharapova, Devon Aoki, and Rachel Zoe mingled, a newly engaged Kanye West and Kim Kardashian arrived just in time to greet the evening's honoree, Vogue Italia editor in chief Franca Sozzani. "I doubt Franca knows this, but my first modeling job was with Vogue Italia,"said Amber Valletta while introducing Sozzani to the crowd. She later added that the editor changed the course of her career. Taking the stage to accept her accolade, Sozzani coined the night's catchphrase: "Giving back is the new luxury."
From galas to premieres, the celebrity set had plenty of reasons to dress up this week. At the 2013 Whitney gala in New York on Wednesday, all-black Louis Vuitton frocks were a favorite, with Dianna Agron and Michelle Williams wearing crystal- or bow-embellished iterations, respectively. Earlier in the week, red-carpet regulars Marion Cotillard and Natalie Portman selected floral looks from Christian Dior’s Spring ’14 runway. The former wore a strapless silver jacquard number to Elle‘s 20th Annual Women in Hollywood celebration on Monday, while the latter paired a black cashmere top with a floor-grazing skirt for the world premiere of her film Thor: The Dark World on Tuesday in London.
On Friday evening, Lupita Nyong’o took to the red carpet in a black Resort ’14 Christopher Kane dress at premiere of her film 12 Years a Slave during the 57th BFI London Film Festival. A rising star (in the sartorial and silver-screen sense), Nyong’o has a commanding presence. And, judging by her recent sartorial winning streak (last week’s Miu Miu look was quite a stunner), we have a feeling that this newcomer will soon be a fixture on many a best-dressed list.
Here, more of this week’s red-carpet highlights.
When we first heard that Kate Moss and Johnny Depp would reunite for Sir Paul McCartney's music video for the single "Queenie Eye," we knew it was going to be something special. But the flick, which features McCartney jamming on the piano while wearing Birkenstocks, surprised us with a slew of star-studded cameos. Meryl Streep, Jude Law, Lily Cole, and even Tom Ford are just a few of the familiar names that rocked out to McCartney's new hit. Our only question is—where was our invite?
Having previously collaborated with Ralph Gibson, Collier Schorr, and Tina Barney, it's no surprise that Bottega Veneta designer Tomas Maier has tapped another famed portrait photographer, David Armstrong, to shoot both the men's and women's Resort '14 ad campaigns. Featuring Laura Love and Lucas Mascarini, Armstrong's naturally lit photos highlight the collections' ease, craftsmanship, and relaxed elegance. Take a first look at the snaps here, exclusively on Style.com.
