>> Jen Kao, known for her hard-edged, heavily black palette and her downtown cred — Julia Restoin-Roitfeld fluttered around and Lauren Santo Domingo rushed in, personally escorted by Milk's Mazdack Rassi — took things to a lighter place for Spring 2010.  Her collection was entirely in nude, bone, slate . . . but her favorite triangular lines and sharp edges remained — even in the runway pattern.  Kao's go-to team (and couple) Keegan Singh and Eddie Borgo styled and contributed jewelry, respectively; Borgo's dangling, structured earrings and necklaces, as always, were standout.  And Tania Spinelli contributed the "flutter chain" heels which bounced as the models walked.

But the change in direction was striking — especially because it produced an uncharacteristically tailored white suit, a long nude jersey gown, and another beaded gown that jingled as Myf Shepherd walked.

>> The third issue of Dossier with Lou Doillon on the cover doesn't launch until April 12 — launch party tomorrow night — but in the meantime, co-founder Skye Parrott passed along a peek at the innards: an editorial featuring Vanessa Traina in "the best menswear of the season," photographed by Paul Maffi and styled by Keegan Singh, who was just named one of Paper's Beautiful People for 2009 along with Kate Lanphear (who also styled for this issue of Dossier) — apparently they would only consent to do Paper as a duo, featured in the same picture.

The Dossier spread features Eddie Borgo jewelry, which seems to be a trend in Singh-styled editorials — and no wonder, since they live together — Borgo is his boyfriend.  Other contents to look forward to within the upcoming Dossier: jewelry designer Pamela Love takes a turn as editorial stylist, and Valentine Fillol-Cordier interviews Charles Anastase.

>> Fall 2009 is jewelry's time to shine, judging by all of the collaborations debuting during Fashion Week.  Besides Alexander Wang working with Paris Kain of AbraxasRex on "industrial," "animalistic" pieces, Bensoni commissioned Bing Bang's Anna Sheffield to do candy heart necklaces with pyramid pendants, Jason Wu enlisted Philip Crangi to add a "tough element" to his collection, Gilles Mendel and Subversive's Justin Giunta teamed up for chains and jewels to will appear on and worked into the J.Mendel collection, Eddie Borgo channeled his triangle obsession for Jen Kao, producing a sharp set of baubles — and he also working with Joseph Altuzarra.  Not to mention a variety of other partners in jeweldom: Hervé Van der Straeten and Ruffian, Thakoon and Fenton's Dana Lorenz, DanniJo and Trovata, Roxanne Assouline and Brian Reyes . . .

Needless to say, the bijoux will be aplenty this season — especially because those partnerships are a good way to for jewelry designers get pieces out there without spending money — "You'll see a lot of collaborations going on with designers — like Irene Neuwirth is doing jewelry for Richard Chai — so you can see the talent at the same time," says CFDA executive director Steven Kolb.
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>> When Fashion Week comes a-knockin', we all get caught up in the parade of clothes, shoes, and handbags . . . but sometimes we forget to keep an eye on the jewelry, too. It's important to note — especially this season, when the bigger the jewelry, the better — and two fledgling designers have really emerged as ones to watch: Eddie Borgo, 30, and Pamela Love, 26.

They're both well-connected: Eddie dates stylist Keegan Singh, Pamela shares a workspace with Julia Restoin-Roitfeld.  Pamela is best known for her clawed cuffs that ended up in the Fall 2008 Gap ads, while Eddie just two weeks ago announced his namesake line.  The two were tapped to collaborate on pieces for Marchesa's Spring 2009 collection, and were snapped together last week at 3.1 Phillip Lim, for which Eddie created stained glass stunners.  For the record, he also worked with Jen Kao, Staerk, and Frank Tell on their Spring 2009 collections — but what a pair, these two.
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>> Phillip Lim created the mascot skirt of Fashion Week earlier this year — not kidding, I've seen it on at least one person every day this week — and if the attendance to his newest collection's presentation is any indication, Spring 2009 will be smooth sailing for 3.1 Phillip Lim — the Tent was packed to the gills with fans, including friends Richard Chai and Irina Lazareanu, both sitting front row.

Christian Louboutin designed ruffled heels for the collection, eliciting covetousness in many — in fact, the whole Spring 2009 season is about ruffles for Phillip.  The treatment in some of the dresses and skirts reminded me of a tamed version of Marc Jacobs's Spring 2007 ruffles, but among the hazy smoke that hovered on the runway, the real standouts emerged — the stiff, open-edged zipper pieces, and the jewelry Eddie Borgo made for the occasion.
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