>> Christophe Decarnin has launched the fashion set into Balmania in just a few short seasons with his ripped jeans, strong shoulders, and trashy chic approach, and with Fall 2009, he's not ready to change the formula.  Apparently, the big shoulders were so prevalent in the front row that it caused a squishy situation — and on the runway, two models almost got gridlocked due to their hulking shoulder pads.  Christophe, who stopped by the Prada party last night, admitted he was "a bit nervous," and rightly so — all eyes are on him.

He worked with a simple color palette — black, silver, and white, with a few pops of electric blue — placing the attention on the short, short skirts and the rhinestoned everything. Erin Wasson, Angela Lindvall, and Carmen Kass all made appearances on the runway, and Giuseppe Zanotti did the shoes again, but was it enough?  I'm hearing a lot of disappointment and frustration with Decarnin's decision to stay so formulaic; as Suzy Menkes put it, the "show looked very familiar — not least because new ideas were as short as the models' brief, buttock-grazing hemlines. Since every other house copies his approach, Decarnin will have to find a way to move Balmain forward. But for now he remains, at this sobering-up moment, the last designer to leave the party."
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>> New York Fashion Week is known as the springboard for new faces every season, but for Fall 2009, it's become the springboard for comebacks — especially with models right around the 30-year-old mark.  This morning, Frankie Rayder (34), who hasn't hit a catwalk since the Fall 2004 with the exception of Spring 2009 Givenchy, walked Michael Kors.  The runways of Preen, Rodarte, Alexander Wang, and Marc Jacobs have been especially overrun with these mainly late-'90s, early-00's faces — from those who have hovered in and out the past few seasons: Anne Catherine Lacroix (29), Natasa Vojnovic (29), Caroline Ribeiro (29), Jamie Bochert (28), Christina Kruse (34), Carmen Kass (30), Colette Pechekhonova (28), Hannelore Knuts (31); to those who have exited the runway for a while — Tasha Tilberg (29), Kirsten Owen (38), Trish Goff (32) — all are booking some of the most coveted spots this season.  Kors, Behnaz Sarafpour, Staerk, VPL, and Diane von Furstenberg are feeling it too — the mature woman is back in New York.
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>> After weeks of speculation, we got our answers.  As rumored, Izabel Goulart is no longer a Victoria's Secret Angel — there is speculation that she broke her contract to work for Emporio Armani and Armani Exchange — but she, along with the Angels and 26 other non-Angel models, taped the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in Miami on Saturday.  There were a few casting surprises — no Asian models?; some disappointments — no Natasha Poly or Jessica Stam; and lots of newcomers — Arlenis Sosa Pena, Sarah Stephens, Abbey Lee Kershaw, Sessilee Lopez, Clara Alonso, Edita Vilkeviciute, Erin Heatherton, and even Lara Stone made it after all.  Broken glass catwalk aside, Maryna Linchuk had a stellar outing — many have their bets on a Angel contract for her in the future — and Doutzen Kroes cozied up to boyfriend DJ Ruckus at the after-party.  All in all, enough party to hold us over until the show airs Dec. 3.        
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