Category — Fashion Week

Yesterday marked the beginning of New York Fashion Week and, lucky for us, we were able to attend the the BCBGMAXAZRIA show! Definitely a Shop It To Me favorite, and we know we’re not alone. The colors were magic – jewel tones galore…but gorgeous cuts on the various dresses we watched spill down the runway are what really had us smitten.

images via style.com

Notice a trend here? Midis for days! And this got us thinking…when it comes to length, what exactly is it that women look for when dress shopping online?

Let’s face it, most of us aren’t models. 6 ft. tall is a ways off, and the length of our legs is closer to hours than days.  So how do you know what measurements are right for you when you see a dress you want to buy online? Ladies, help us out!

We kicked off New York Fashion Week by celebrating BNO with some of our favorite bloggers from across the country! The event was a huge success and we were beyond impressed by the gals who made it all happen (pictured below). Additionally we got to do a fun style contest, where attendees tweeted pictures of what they were wearing. Some serious style, these bloggers have!

The amazing BNO team! Caitlin, Marissa, Ericka, Kendall, Lynzy and Christine

Jules, Camila and Susan

Christina, Christina and a friend

(above photos by Jason Howard Photography)

BNO host Lynzy with a couple lovely ladies

(photo by Alexandra Frumberg)

Kristy, Christina and a friend

Jenni, Laura, Andrea and Tieka

BNO hosts, Marissa, Ericka and Kendall

(above photos by Ryan of Fashables)

Our winning look was sported by the lovely Andrea from Blonde Bedhead, though it was certainly a tough decision. Stay tuned for more on this fabulous style blogger — including the super cute item she chose via Shop It To Me and her fun feature in Salemail!

It was so wonderful seeing familiar faces and making new friends. We can’t think of a better way to have kicked off NYFW than by spending an evening with these stylish, inspiring and friendly fashion-lovers! Being involved was quite a treat.

*photo credits Jason Howard Photography, Alexandra Frumberg, Fashables

The crowd around Beyonce and Jay Z

The one and only Jay-Z with Annie’s friend Steve Gold, model and real estate agent

Annie’s favorite looks from the Tory Burch Spring/Summer 2012 runway show

I made a mad dash out the door to J.Crew to see my friend Somsack Sikhounmuong, the Women’s head designer.   I caught a quick peek of one of my favorite retailers’ collection until the crowd went wild.  Beyonce and Solange Knowles had entered the building.

Friend and J.Crew Designer Somsack Sikhounmuong

J.Crew Spring/Summer 2012 Collection

With all the Missoni mayhem going on—we cozied up to our data team’s cubes to see what the story is with non-capsule collection sales.  Sure, these guys weren’t the ones crashing Target’s site—but they’re pretty good at helping us make quick sense of the numbers:

According to Shop It To Me’s data, more than 1000 Missoni items and nearly 800 M Missoni items were on sale online over the course of the past year (July 2010-July 2011)*

• The average discount on Missoni was 54%, with the average original price being $1,331 and the average sale price being $546.  The average # of days on sale was 29.
• The average discount on M Missoni was 47.5%, with the average original price being $521 and the average sale price being $263. The average # of days on sale was 16.
• Retailers with the greatest number of Missoni items on sale last year were Yoox.com, TheOutnet.com, Netaporter.com and Saks.com
• On average, women’s sale items were 43% off, so these Missoni discounts were steeper than the norm.

*Shop It To Me analyzed more than 375,000 new markdowns from more than 100 online retailers.

It may not be the Zig-Zag bike that Jessicas Alba and Simpson have been tweeting, but our PR rep says this 70%-off bargain beauty will be hers before the day is out!

And, a few of our other favorite picks, available in Salemail or on Search today:

Embellished Printed Swimsuit (70% off)

Embellished Crochet Knit Dress (75% off)

Missoni Zig Zag scarf (47% off)

We’re in the thick of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week here in New York City, which means the worldwide fun for Spring/Summer 2012 collections is just beginning.

To keep up with all of the coverage, we’ve created Twitter lists compiling the designers showing in each city. We’ve found this to be a useful way to monitor coverage throughout NYFW, and are happy to share our leg work with you.

Follow these Twitter lists to stay up-to-date on the latest happenings, straight from the designers’ mouths:

New York Fashion Week: Sept 8-15

London Fashion Week: Sept 16-21

Milan Fashion Week: Sept 21-27

Paris Fashion Week: Sept 27-Oct 5

And then there are times when we are able to run backstage.

Preen!  one of my favorite London based designers shows in NY now.

When I was in college I crashed their show during London Fashion week.  After college, a friend ended up doing their PR.

Kaitlyn Nagy (on the left side of Justin and Thea) studied Advertising and Communications at FIT with me.

The thrill and energy backstage is always well contained at shows.  It’s always great to see the fun chaos after a show, and congratulate the content and relieved designers.

After a long hard and exhausting week I finally got down to business.  It is fashion week after all, and I’m out to support my friends as much as possible.

Sunday, I made it out to my friend Tawfik Mounayer’s presentation for Tribune Standard.  I love a presentation as much as a fashion show.  You get a broader window of time to come in and out as you please without the pressure of missing a show.  I have in my days missed a show by a millisecond, and a presentation leaves little room for that.

Tawfik’s line had a number of carpet worthy dresses as well as editorial pieces to be used in a great fashion shoot.  I look for all of this when I’m viewing a collection at fashion week.  Sometimes a look as cool  and graphic as it is just won’t work on the red carpet and therefore I have to keep my eye out for both.

I view a collection with a different eye. My job as an editorial and celebrity stylist is to seek out amazing wearable clothing as well as collections that are pushing boundaries.  I loved Tawfik’s take on the St. Tropez woman who lounges in a sexy cover up, but really fell in love with his collaboration with Manolo.  it’s been quite a while that I have embraced a classic and appreciated a staple.  Here he took an original Manolo style and altered it to fit his collection with a print.  As I’ve said before, a great investment is a shoe that goes with nothing and therefore goes with everything!

Another collection that blew me away was Rachel Roy’s.  Her nod to Asia, it’s prints and silhouettes have always been favored in my eyes.

Being a freelance stylist tends to pull you in different directions at any given time.

After Joy’s show on Friday I thought I would have the weekend to hit shows and parties all weekend.  Instead I received an urgent email to dress Brooklyn Decker for the Altuzurra show.  Her busy schedule and the US Open allowed for only one show to Fashion Week.  Altuzarra has been a fresh new designer I always look forward to at fashion week and was excited she would be there to see.

Saturday AM after a quick coffee I headed up to the showroom.  Binta, the publicist for the brand, helped me go through the collection and pick a few looks.  Although a swimsuit model, Brooklyn has impeccable style and was veering in the direction of something a little more casual and chic.  Since we working with a F/W collection she chose to wore a tweed blazer, with a lemony colored Equipment blouse and her Thakoon skort (yes I said skort – a skirt/shorts combo) and paired it with the sexiest off-white pointy toe Gianvito Rossi for Altuzarra stilletos.

After the show I rushed to get ready for the Barneys party at Westway.  My friend Steve Gold and I watched Carine Roitfeld and Valentino Garavani karaoke “My Way.”

In fashion, I have come to learn that there will ALWAYS be a last minute crunch to make sure everything is perfect.  Today was no different as I was in final fittings for Joy Cioci’s show, pairing each model with proper footwear and accessories minutes prior to them strutting down the catwalk.  With a giant sigh of relief, my work was done, and the show turned out amazingly.  That’s the funny thing about fashion, it always seems to work out in the final seconds.  I’m totally obsessed with the Patricia Underwood hats we decided to use; they are sophisticated, yet understated sexy, exactly like Joy’s collection.

After the show, I dashed to Fashion Next, ELLE’s partnership with Savannah College of Art and Design, which was full of raw and unexposed talent.  I am so excited to see what the next generation of designers will produce, the ones following Alex Wang, Thakoon, and Richard Chai.  They have a fresh and inventive way at looking at clothing which pleasantly surprises me every time I view their collections.  After the show, I met up with some of my favorite industry folk from ELLE for a drink to cap off another great day at NYFW.  Until tomorrow….