>> 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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>> There are always a couple of things you can expect from John Whitledge at Trovata: blazers, and plenty of Ivy League appeal. For Spring 2009, both expectations were met — a solid palette of navy and white kept the East Coast aesthetic going, but there were plenty of unexpected elements, too — the derriere-skimming white double-breasted jacket and sequin hot pants come to mind.

Guests entered through an old white school bus that John converted to run off vegetable oil — and will be "hitting the road" with: "Details to come." Models dipped the soles of their crisp white Keds in paint before stepping on the runway, providing a varicolored collage of footsteps on the white canvas catwalk as they walked. But in the end, it always comes down to the clothes — and those long, sheer shirtdresses were looking pretty good.
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