>> He showed for the first time ever at New York Fashion Week — by appointment only — and already he's getting major buzz.

As Mickey Boardman at Paper put it, "The name all those in-the-know were dropping was Joseph Altuzarra. French Vogue . . . told Paper that Altuzarra, who worked previously at Proenza Schouler and Givenchy, is the one [to] watch from New York Fashion Week." Stores are vying for exclusives on his first collection — and he's got a lookbook model in Vanessa Traina, who chipped in her two cents: "The right magazines came to see his stuff, the right stores want to buy it—which means, personally, it’s been a pretty good week for the guy."  And Julia Restoin-Roitfeld already wore one of his dresses to the Calvin Klein 40th Anniversary party last week.

But the part that really sticks with me is Vanessa Traina being in the lookbook — seems like Joseph is just where Alexander Wang was a couple of years ago, when he was just starting out and had Vanessa modeling in his lookbook.
*image: source, source, source