>> 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.

>> 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.
*image: source, source, source