NEW YORK FASHION WEEK FALL 2012: Will Monika Chiang Be The New Tory Burch? + Duckie Brown Has Big News

Chris Burch is being buzzed about today with rumors that his ex-wife Tory Burch is considering suing the entrepreneur over similarities between her own lines and the newly opened super-popular C.Wonder store concept, but his attentions were focused elsewhere yesterday morning as he presented another one of his nascent businesses, designer MONIKA CHIANG's latest collection. The Shophound made our way up to the Stanley H. Kaplan Penthouse at Lincoln Center Plaza to find a stylish but highly commercial lifestyle collection from the designer including shoes and accessories with a prominent initial-based logo that find Ms. Chiang poised for what is clearly planned to be a similar sort of success. Luckily, this designer has a different, more urbane point of view than the ex Mrs. Burch, so there should be no intellectual property issues here, but there are still ballet flats to be had —although these are decorated with spiky studs, a trend that is fast moving from daring to gratuitous. Along with the models posed around a circular platform, blogger/model Hanneli Mustaparta and second-generation glamour girl Elettra Wiedemann were led about the room in Chiang outfits to add extra frisson. The collection wasn't earthshattering, but looked like money in the bank, which should fulfill Mr. Burch's goals well. Click on the thumbnails below for a few highlights.

❖◆❖

Daniel Silver and Steven Cox of DUCKIE BROWN always draw a faithfully enthusiastic crowd even as they toil away as a relatively small, independent label. Lately, they have become almost more noted as shoe designers with their hugely successful collaboration with Florsheim, and yesterday morning the news broke that the duo would become the designers for a new Perry Ellis men's collection line that would be aimed at more upscale retailers. You wouldn't be blamed for imagining that the pair's Fall collection titled "Super Duckie" for their own label (which will continue) was something of an audition for the job, as it incorporated the kind of oatmeal tweeds and murky tartans that the late Mr. Ellis himself made into his own distinctive signatures. They were mixed with the kind of plays on proportion and materials that have made Cox and Silver favorites of the menswear crowd, and the hearty applause for the designers could be interpreted as congratulations not only for a great collection, but also for a prize opportunity that has been a long time coming.