>> Designers may be pulling their belt tighter this Fashion Week, but hardly any are pulling out of the rat race altogether — the attention is too valuable. "You kill a thousand birds with one stone, because you get that many people there in an hour and you're getting one message across to them," says Scott Sternberg of Boy and Band of Outsiders. "They're writers and photographers and culturally indulgent people with loud mouths."
Instead, designers are saving by hosting presentations instead of runway shows (Monique Lhuillier, Temperley London, and Carmen Marc Valvo), inviting fewer guests (Marc Jacobs and DKNY, who's slicing her usual 1,000 down to 400), sending email invites instead of by mail (nearly everyone), or showing fewer looks to save on fabric and sample-making costs.
Jenni Kayne
Fall 2009 Fashion Week: Still Necessary, Just with Less of Everything
Jenni Kayne Spring 2009: Missing the Designer, But Not the Clothes
>> Jenni Kayne may be eight months pregnant and unable to travel from her LA homebase, but that didn't keep her Spring 2009 collection from making the cross-country flight in time for Fashion Week.
In the past, Jenni's gone for the models-as-still-life presentation approach, but since she couldn't be at today's presentation, the 31 looks were styled on clean, white mannequins in one big U-shape. Such minimalism kept the focus on the clothes — the simple, effortlessly cool pieces that Jenni has made a name on. Her trademark ensemble — slouchy tank paired with long, floor-grazing skirt — was intact, but there were plenty of new additions as well — the watercolor floral print especially caught my eye.
*image: source
Kate Moss Covered, Mario Sorrenti Uncovered for Purple Fall 2008
»Mario Sorrenti returns to his modeling days, Kate Moss days for the cover of Purple Fall 2008 [FAD]
»Jenni Kayne is pregnant, will be missing her Spring 2009 presentation [FabSugar]
»Anna Sui, staunchly anti-Forever 21 though she is, seems to have copied a vintage bag for production [Fashionista]
»Calvin Klein launches e-commerce [FWD]
»Who's more expensive: September Vogue or September Elle [Jezebel]
»Designers are increasingly using embellishments and high-tech fabrics to ward off knockoffs [The Cut]
»American Apparel to do shoes? [Fashionista]
»Avion Feminin launches lingerie [Style File]
»Kate Moss has backyard teepees that are causing problems [Daily Mail]
»More Spring 2009 show packages: DNA, 1 Model Management, Women, Trump [Of the Minute]
Ali Stephens Can Run, Not Walk, a Mile in 5:31
»Ali Stephens demonstrates her runway walk, superior cross-country talents [The Cut]
»Lane Crawford enlisted 12 designers, including Alexander McQueen and Rick Owens, to create Olympic-inspired looks [FWD]
»Lily Cole was spotted in New York [Fashionista]
» . . . while Irina Lazareanu has been in San Francisco [Style File]
»Helena Christensen reads Dazed & Confused poolside in Miami [Egotastic!]
»Is Tory Burch trying to up her cred by partnering with Surface 2 Air? [Nylon]
»Previews of the Jenni Kayne, Yoehlee, and Richard Chai Resort 2009 collections [Style.com, WWD, WWD]
Labour Of Love
Malene Birger
Marni