>> New York Fashion Week is a little more than a week away, and the tidbits are flowing freely — a compilation of the highlights from the past few days:
Launches
>> Fashion Continues to Invade TV on the CW's Gossip Girl, The Beautiful Life —Zac Posen has staked out a position in the series premiere of the CW's model-centric drama The Beautiful Life and Nina Garcia just filmed for the show recently, but they're not the only familiar guest stars that are slated to appear: Matthew Williamson, Erin Fetherston, and Jessica Stam have all been booked and Versace and Calvin Klein are also somehow involved. As for Georgina Chapman and Tory Burch's mysterious Gossip Girl cameos, they begin in the upcoming season's first episode by hooking up with Blake Lively's character Serena, and according to the show's executive producer have to do with Serena's “decision [in terms of college] and what happens to her in the first couple of episodes.” [E! Online, People]
>> Marchesa's Georgina Chapman, Tory Burch To Appear on Gossip Girl —Michael Kors filmed a cameo for Gossip Girl last season, and this week, Georgina Chapman and Tory Burch put in some time filming for the show. The designers did separate scenes for the episode airing Oct. 5; no details were released about their roles, but part of the set was made to look like Burch's office (left). [WWD]
>> The first official look at how Spring 2010 New York Fashion Week is shaping up will come Friday, when the first edition of the Fashion Calendar ships, but until then, we've got a few hints.
“There will be a lot more shows than last year," according to The Calendar's Ruth Finley, which means Anna Wintour won't be pleased. Last season, Anna said that "a lot of people before were having shows that simply shouldn’t have been having them," adding: "It’s much better to see them in the showroom or more of a low-key presentation. It’s more realistic." It seems like a number of designers didn't heed her advice — Finley says that this upcoming season, "There are a lot of new people [showing] you have never heard of."
And some you have heard of that are returning to the Tents »
>> INSIDER WIRE —Georgina Chapman, who has been married to Harvey Weinstein since December 2007, only recently got her honeymoon, which spanned 10 days: "We went to Hong Kong for business, Vietnam for business, Cambodia for one day and then Thailand for three days, during the state of emergency. I think the most relaxing time was the 16-hour flight from New York." Weinstein countered: "Every day with me is a honeymoon . . . Traveling with Georgina — are you kidding me? That’s why you don’t want to go on a honeymoon — there are like seven bags filled with Marchesa dresses. You have to be Samson and Hercules to carry that stuff." [Telegraph, The Cut]
>> Marchesa's bread and butter is gowns, so even when some designers are shying away from them this season, Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have to go ahead full-force. The inspiration for Fall 2009? A whimsical fairy tale involving girls walking through the woods in ballgowns, resulting in a tulle-d, lace-d, sequined, and beribboned collection — sometimes overwrought, but always red carpet-ready — the shredded candy pink cocktail dress and two sparkly black tulle dresses, as well as the navy one-shouldered dress with cut-out waist, if turned into a gown, will do swimmingly. The real problem was how much the high-heeled toe shoes caused discomfort for the models — one's feet were going purple, another had to sit down, and some were leaning against the wall. Brings the fairy tale back to reality, no?
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>> INSIDER WIRE —Now that the New York Fashion Week dates have been pushed back to Feb. 13-20, the London Fashion Week organizers aren't the only ones feeling the time crunch. With the Academy Awards just two days after the conclusion of Fashion Week on Feb. 22, red carpet-friendly designers like J.Mendel, Oscar de la Renta, Marchesa, Proenza Schouler, Vera Wang, Calvin Klein, Zac Posen, L'Wren Scott, and Ralph Lauren — all of whom show on the last three days of Fashion Week — are going to have a doozy of a time getting samples from runway to red carpet for the big night. [FWD]
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>> Now that Georgina Chapman has officially realigned herself as the designer of Marchesa, leaving Keren Craig, former co-designer, to the more business side of things, she's branching out beyond Marchesa.
Garrard, the British jewelry brand that supplied Princess Diana's engagement ring, is seeking a creative director since Jade Jagger left the post in 2007, and in the meantime, they've asked Georgina to be a guest designer. The Georgina Chapman for Garrard collection is to be unveiled next September during New York Fashion Week — no doubt accessorizing the Spring 2010 Marchesa collection — and prices are expected to run in the $10,000 to $15,000 range.
It's interesting that the collection is called "Georgina Chapman for Garrard" rather than "Marchesa for Garrard," don't you think? Especially when the company is looking for a new creative director and Garrard's CEO says Georgina's line is expected to be "a significant part of the Garrard business." Not that Georgina would leave Marchesa behind for jewelry — but it does seem like she's trying to do things more on her own without Keren.
*image: source
>> 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
Tory Burch
Labour Of Love
L'Wren Scott