fashionologie

socialista disease

>> Socialista may have been a fashion week hot spot earlier this month, but something not so hot went down.  Turns out one of the bartenders was infected with Hepatitis A, and health officials are warning anyone who visited the establishment Feb. 7, 8, or 11 — i.e. right at the tail end of fashion week — to get vaccinated. 

Those who attended fashion week events at Socialista early on in the week — Nicole Miller (Feb. 1), Miss Sixty dinner party (Feb. 3), Betsey Johnson (Feb. 4), Matthew Williamson (Feb. 5), or the Phillip Lim party (Feb. 6) lucked out — but those who attended the Tony Melillo showing on Feb. 8 are not so lucky.  Roberto Cavalli and Francois-Henri Pinault, head of the Gucci Group, who both attended Ashton Kutcher's birthday celebration at Socialista on Feb. 7, also not so lucky.

This is one fashion trend that I hope doesn't catch on . . .

*image: wireimage

happy black history month

>> Jourdan Dunn walked the Prada catwalk earlier today.  The last photographic evidence I can find online of a woman of color walking in a Prada show is over ten years ago: Naomi Campbell in the Fall 1997 season.  Wow, it's been a while.

Naomi was in the Prada print ads along with Christy Turlington back in 1994 . . . maybe it's time for Sasha to have a new partner?

*image: vogue.it

shake it like a polaroid picture

>> Potential fashion crisis in the making: Polaroid will cease to produce its instant photo film by the beginning of next year. 

Casting directors who take endless Polaroids of models to shop around to their clients, photographers looking to test the lighting, stylists who Polaroid every complete look during runway show fittings . . . everyone in the fashion industry who kept Polaroid alive for this long needs to pray that someone will take over the technology and keep producing it.  That, or stock up now.

What will happen to Jeremy Kost?

*image: wireimage

art imitating life

>> Although Sasha Pivovarova only walked in one show — Anna Sui — last week, she had another, more personal show on her mind.  On Friday, Sasha hosted "I Spy" in New York, her first ever photography and drawing exhibition.  Her artwork has been published in Vogue, Teen Vogue, and Vogue Paris before, and she works with mediums as farfetched as wine and coffee.  Yes, that's right, models do have lives other than getting their hair, nails, and makeup done 1,343,234 times a day . . . and, from what I can gather, Sasha likes self-portraits.
*images: wireimage, getty

falling for zac

>> Karen Elson had a little bit of an "Oops!" moment at Zac Posen tonight — and Sean Combs, who backs Posen's label, got out of the front row to help her up!
*image: getty

you say tomato, i say tomato

>>  I'm not sure if it's just me or not, but when I first saw this look from the Ruffian Fall 2008 collection (L), I immediately thought of the Balenciaga Spring 2006 collection (R).  The fitted jacket with skinny black lapels, the stiff brocade material, the black belt with gold embellished buckle, the cropped fitted pants . . . they're all very similar to my eye.

'allo, ginger

>> She's been a brunette, and a blonde, but now Julia Dunstall has pulled a reverse-Stam on us, and gone from blonde to red.  The new color first showed up at Miss Sixty a couple of days ago, and it's not just a one-show fluke — it's since been spotted at Thakoon and Karen Walker.  The brilliant shade definitely gives her an edge; I'll be glad to see an auburn head bobbing along among the sea of less vivid hair colors.

Before: Elie Saab Spring 2008; After: Miss Sixty Fall 2008
*images: getty, wireimage

dance of the sugar plum punk

>> At Rodarte, Laura and Kate Mulleavy riffed on "Japanese horror films" with agressively studded Louboutin shoes, deathly pale faces, and plenty of blood red.

I admit, before seeing Rodarte in motion — and in person — I was a little confused about the hype surrounding the label.  But after seeing the loosely-woven tights, the angora dresses, the punky sugar plum fairies zig zag past, I am converted.

Not many designers can take two such contrasting looks — pretty, pretty princess and Sid Vicious — and make them mesh so well together.  It was clear that the girls were still exploring a few elements from Spring: the Degas-esque tutu dresses, the studded shoes, the draped and pleated chiffon dresses, the metallic fitted pants; when I asked Kate about it, she told me they "were just trying to find [their] thing." But by no means were they mired in a past collection — and I look forward to seeing where the whimsical Mulleavy girls go from here.

*image: getty

creature of habit

>> When Anna Wintour finds something she likes, she really sticks with it . . .

Top Row: In the same Prada dress this morning at Peter Som, and at Armani Prive Jan. 21.
Bottom Row: In the same Prada dress at Rag & Bone Feb. 1, and at Herve Leger Feb. 3.
*images: wireimage, getty

preen yourself

>>  There's no doubt about it, the British duo behind Preen is still obsessed with satin jumpsuits, sheer lace, and the color blue: all three carried over from their Spring collection.  The label's second New York outing brought early nineties grunge with a hint of glam, and the result had its hits (the jumpsuits, most of the dresses) and its misses (the dated-looking plastic belt loops, highwaisted pleated pants, the scrunched thick socks).

I would pass on some of the more grungified plaid and shearling looks, but the strapless sequin dress, Karlie Kloss' asymmetrical one-sleeved dress, and the belted black sleeveless trench dress I'm game for.  Meanwhile, Catherine McNeil's cocoon coat and croc-imprint leggings ensemble, plus all the jumpsuits, bring to mind Stella McCartney wear — an interesting turn of events from the label whose staple used to be brightly colored minidresses . . .

Also, one noticeable absence on the runway: Aggy Deyn, whose shock of bleached hair graced the runway in Spring, and who has been known to wear Preen in real life.

*images: getty