New York Fashion Week Day 1: The Marathon Featuring Yigal Azrouël, Abaeté, Duckie Brown, Samantha Ronson & BCBG Maz Azria

As we mentioned earlier, our runway invitations are really front-loaded this season, so on Friday morning, we took a deep breath and plunged in.
We began our day at YIGAL AZROUËL, who made waves later in the afternoon by firing his PR company, Kelly Cutrone's People's Revolution for "mismanagement" (allegedly over Cutrone seating Gubernatorial Hooker Ashley Dupré in the front row) and promptly announcing it via mass email to the press.  This is generally considered poor form. After all, if you want to badmouth your PR firm, the fashion industry has a highly sophisticated gossip network that can effectively accomplish that task. We can't help wondering if this is some sort of set up for Cutrone's recently announced reality show.
Anyway, the show was full of cozy, oversized wraps mixed with sleek flange shouldered dresses with an '80s feeling. Everything has an '80s feeling these day, but Azrouël did it without seeming slavishly referential. The show was swag free, an unfortunate, but not unforeseen trend these days.
Next it was off to ABAETÉ at the Altman Building, our only off-site show of the day, which as we mentioned earlier was beautiful but perhaps a bit gloomy. Designer Laura Poretzky moved her show form its usual Bryant Park slot, and while we can't argue with the likely cost savings, we can't help suggesting that she may have sacrificed too much in attendance by moving her show. Commercial though they might seem, the tents have a way of pulling in a crowd that may not be so keen on making even the short trip down Sixth Avenue.
Back to the tents for DUCKIE BROWN, always a favorite of ours. Steven Cox and Daniel Silver have a clever way of commenting on the way men actually dress. This time, their collection was more classically proportioned, but punctuated with bright ski caps topped with giant pom poms. When paired with balaclavas, they had a surprisingly menacing Roman centurion look. Later models were swathed with comically oversized scarves. It's high time these guys got a UNIQLO collaboration deal, or another similar arrangement to raise their profile. Usually counted on for a gift bag full of products, this time the swag was a gift card from show sponsor McDonald's, one of Cox's first employers. We can think of few designers who will admit that they once regularly uttered the phrase "Would you like fries with that?", and the program included an amusing account of Cox's tenure there. $5 from McDonald's equals exactly two large orders of fries, and we can't complain about that.

Plowing through, it was on to CHARLOTTE RONSON, whose show we had never attended. Thank God we had a seat, because the pre-show action was centered around a game the photographers could call, "Find The Lohan". Lindsay Lohan is famously Charlotte's sister Samantha's current girlfriend, and inexplicably, the press fascination with her continues despite the fact that her last hit movie was, what, five years ago?
First La Lohan is spotted next to Samantha in the DJ booth. Then, when she made her way to the front row, a paparazzi frenzy erupted with a zeal that nearly trampled The New York Times' hapless Bill Cunningham, who certainly deserves more respectful treatment. Security was called in to break up the flashing mess, and remained as a phalanx shielding the starlet until the show began.
Ronson played '40s standards from Benny Goodman and the Andrews Sisters for her sister which was odd since the clothes really looked like '80s rocker wear followed by '90s grunge plaid. Go figure.
We had little time to contemplate this dichotomy before we hit BCBG, our first show in the big tent. This one is also a starlet magnet, and Max Azria likes to seat them all in a row which we found ourselves a few rows directly behind, knowing the flashbulbs were for someone, but not knowing exactly whom.
This was BCBG's runway line, which tends to be much more expensive than the bulk of the contemporary brand's offerings, and is only sold in select stores. Azria and his creative director wife Lubov have made a signature of loosely draped dresses, making a good case for them in jewel toned velvets that looked luxurious. Unfortunately, several patchwork pieced looks recalled last season's PHI show a little too closely. Most looks were finished off with gleaming gold tights. BCBG is usually a good showcase for the most in-demand models, and Azria didn't disappoint, promising business as usual this season with a cutting edge lineup that would easily pass muster at Prada.
By this time, we were ready for a break, and food. How handy was it that we had a McDonald's gift card right in our pocket?

Comments

[Maria]

Those Duckie Brown hats are too awesome. I don't know if many men in Vancouver would wear them, but I certainly would.