This Fashion Week was the first one since The Shophound has been covering it that we saw more shows outside and away from the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week tents than inside them. Despite their obvious upgrade and expansion from Bryant Park, more and more important designers simply don't want to be there anymore. Possibly this is because of the increasing rental costs of the tents or because some are turned off by the sponsor-heavy atmosphere, but for whatever reason, the tents are now failing in their original mission to centralize New York's most important runway shows. In fact, despite the bloated overall schedule of 280 or so shows, MBFW had not a single show booked for yesterday, the final day of Fashion Week, so they closed down early. What that means for IMG which now owns the enterprise remains to be seen, but these days, exclusive niche eveningwear designers remain among the few highlights that the tents can still reliably offer. The kind of high-glam drama they require for their runways is still well served by the big tents as opposed to low-ceilinged rooms and raw spaces elsewhere, and their clientele appreciates the ease and efficiency with which they can get in and out of the shows. Unfortunately, the overbooked, larger Fashion Week schedule (a MESS) sadly made The Shophound miss Reem Acra, who is having a hot red carpet moment right now, so our apologies go to her, but we still saw enough gowns to keep our eyes dazzled until next season. As we have said before, sometimes it nice to just sit back and watch at all the pretty dresses going by.
Chief among the dazzlers is NAEEM KHAN (above) whose profile continues to rise after experiencing the Midas-like patronage of the First Lady, and while his front row featured some of the weeks usual suspects like Padma Lakshmi and Kristin Chenoweth he managed to produce one of the week's actual major stars for his show. Freakin' Matt Damon caused a photographer frenzy when he and his wife unexpectedly appeared in their seats just before the show began. It was especially surprising, since last season, Damon's purported appearance at a show was the subject of a hoax that caused chaos in the tents, and here he was, unassumingly live and in person. Naturally, he was right across the runway from The Shophound, and we can report that he behaved himself beautifully while watching what is reported to be his first fashion show. Next time, he'll know to dress better. As for the clothes, they were as glittery and alluring as ever, with Khan showing a virtuoso touch with stunningly complicated embroideries and beading. Click the thumbnails for some highlights.
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MONIQUE LHUILLIER managed to score "Vampire Diaries" star Nina Dobrev for her front row, along with supermodel spawn and newly enthusiastic showgoer Peter Brant II. With Academy Awards on the horizon, there's always the feeling that some of these gowns might wind up on the red carpet sooner rather than later, and Lhuillier played up a graphic black, red and white theme that seemed tailor made for TV. Thee were no nominees in attendance that we knew of, but you can be sure that their stylists we watching closely.
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As the subject of a recent New York Times profile, CHRISTIAN SIRIANO was suddenly a hotter ticket this week. He also joined the ranks of designers who have abandoned the tents opting instead for Chelsea's Eyebeam Studios. As a result we endured, most of his audience had to wait outside on a cold sidewalk to be seated, but once inside, The Shophound managed to slip into a second row seat not far from Dobrev once again along with Gabourey Sidibe, making a rare Fashion Week appearance, Mena Suvari, and returning front-row champ, Leigh Lezark who lent her own peculiar sort of credibility to the proceedings. Siriano's new stylist Danielle Nachmani has tempered the reality star's penchant for over-the-top glamor, and his collection looked more modern and wearable than the last time we had been to one of his shows, but his best pieces were still the most extravagant ones, so we don't expect to see him go totally minimalist on us. Click below for a look at the newly cleaned-up Siriano
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Yesterday at J.MENDEL, we repeated the feat of finding an excellent seat after a tedious wait, when none had actually been assigned to us, and found ourselves across the runway from a dewy Kelly Osbourne a few seats away from the sunshaded Olsen twins. We realized, while watching the show, that having gone to fewer show this season, this was one of the few to feature full-on production with a custom set and a top flight cast of models like Arizona Muse, Lindsey Wixson, Ginta Lapina, Alana Zimmer, Tanya Dziahileva and the week's breakout star Kati Nescher opening and closing. High production does make a difference (innovative furs and flashes of gold lamé don't hurt either), and this was one of our most satisfying shows of the week. Click below for a closer look.