Duckie Brown S/S 2013

By: Felipe Francois

Today was the second day of one of the most anticipated events in the fashion industry – New York Fashion Week. High fashion, fresh looks, and new faces will showcase in various venues around the city through the 13^th.

One of the designer lines featured in Thursday’s shows was Duckie Brown, a New York-based men’s fashion line. The line has been around for over ten years and was created by Steven Cox and Daniel Silver. As the fashion media and enthusiasts emerged from their long hibernation of last year’s fashion week, there was a sense of eagerness to fill their appetites with the glamour and satisfaction that Duckie Brown was poised to fulfill, and fulfill they did.

Some of Duckie Brown’s latest inventions were buffalo plaid drop-crotch sweats, flannel parachute-overalls, and function-defying belt loop accessories which seemed to deviate from the traditional menswear. On the other hand, Daniel Silver seemed to walk the thin line with precision, walking one step forward and taking two steps back from traditional menswear.

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Ivana Helsinki S/S 2013

By: Felipe Francois

A story about a solar eclipse in the 1940s in Finland was the inspiration for this season’s look at the Ivana Helsinki fashion show. Featured in the show was a short film about the events of that day about 74 years ago, an event so sudden and gloomy that many thought it was the end of the world. The film, however, incorporated high fashion and dramatic choreography to add to the effects. But the show didn’t end there.

Afterwards, the models walked down the runway one by one wearing varying degrees of styles and colors, from pretty florals to simple monotones to bold prints. To the delight of the crowd, some of those in attendance wore 3-D glasses to enjoy the effects of the first set of models’ legs, which were adorned with special paint in bright colors to create the illusion. The last set of models strutted down in floral dresses, some short, some long, some fitted, and some flowy while colors ranged from deep blues, dark and light greens, and burnt oranges.

Paola Suhonen who is the artist and creative mind behind the fashion line, explained that her line featured a lot of silk, and the lighter green styles were made with basic cottons, which act as a good base for the color.

The models took their last walk and the runway was filled with a medley of colors and patterns. “It was a moment of never ending light or eternal darkness.”

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GBK CELEBRITY GIFT AND STYLING LOUNGE

By: Marty Cake

Fashion Week isn’t only about clothes and models, it is also a time for the unveiling of many new products that are important in the fashion world but don’t get the same attention.  The GBK celebrity gift and styling lounge at the Empire Hotel is the place where many of these new and little know products get their opportunity to shine.  For those of you who didn’t have an exclusive invite here are some of the products I was impressed with.

Tweezerman:
The beauty tool experts have perfected all of the grooming tools necessary to stay on top of your game. Some of the products they gave away included stainless facial hair scissors- perfect for brow, ear, nose and facial hair and tweezers with precision point tips. They also sell an array of other tools such as eye lash curlers, eye lash combs, nose hair trimmer kits, and shaving brushes. Tweezerman should also be applauded for their charitable donations to cancer research.

Hard Candy makeup:
They pride themselves on bringing high quality affordable make-up for all occasions, their gift bags included lip gloss, eye shadow, and mascara.

Beyond the Rack gift card:
They were giving away $50 gift cards at Beyondtherack.com, which has all your high end shopping needs at great prices.

Pilot Pen:
Well known and dependable pen maker pilot has introduced the FRIXION erasable gel pen. For so many of us our dreams have been answered, no longer will the curse of poor penmanship affect our daily writing activities. It uses thermo-sensitive gel ink that with erasing friction will remove all traces of our unsightly mistakes, without damaging the paper. This pen is truly functions like a pencil, unlike prior erasable pens that have come along in past years.

BLINKZGEAR bags:
These are highly versatile bags that allow you to change the front covers which is attached via zipper. This gives you the opportunity to have as many new bags as you would like. The bag is water resistant, wipes clean and is extremely durable.

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TADASHI SHOJI S/S 2013

By: Alexis Schroeder
Images by: Rebekah Schott

Simply put, WOW. Tadashi did it again. He took us on an ancient tour around the world all in a matter of minutes and without leaving our seats. Brilliantly, he catered to our anticipatory butterflies with a trance like edgy cool beat. The shows ambiance of breezy blues and blacks that swirled on the walls catered to a mystical oasis setting.

The music took us from Lincoln Center to an upscale exotic paradisiac.  As the show was about to begin, the rhythm subtly pounded throughout the waves of people.  Our first stop on Tadashi’s Spring/Summer collection docked in Venice for vintage Venetian cutwork and embroidered lace.  His desert bloom embroidered banded lace sheath dress was just the right amount of youthfulness, yet sophistication.

As we made our way through the ancient cities, we ventured to Xi’an, China.  Here, after procuring elegantly printed chiffon inspired by the caves of Dunhuang, he mastered the craft of combining materials, creating ethereal gowns.  Models look as if they were floating down the catwalk surrounded by explosions of color.  Particularly, the rose dust chiffon and lace piecework strapless tea length circular skirt dress was an elegantly playful woman’s dream.

Other colors included in his palette consisted of jade, China blue, pale iris, ivory, black, nude, terracotta, and paprika.  Working with light, airy materials he draped his models in lace, gazar, printed chiffon, tulle, silk georgette.  Capturing the audience in wanderlust, Tadashi married antiquity with modernity amalgamating ancient culture with that of the 21^st century.  Truly inspiring his crowd, he not only created clothing that was perfect for Spring/Summer, but he captured our hearts with this purely innocent and cultured collection!

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Mathieu Mirano 360 Part 1

By: Alexis Schroeder

Returning to the tents at Lincoln Center this 2013 Spring/Summer Fashion Week, and despite his young age of 20, New York native, Mathieu Mirano, has sparked critics’ attentions. After leaving Parsons a year early, he seems to have us in the crux of his abilities.  A few weeks after leaving school Mirano was featured in Women’s Wear Daily showcasing his “quickly made nine piece collection which is just beyond I [Mirano] could have ever dreamt for myself.”

With his “great support system, wonderful team, incredible parents, and endless inspiration” excitement ensues as he prepares for this fashion week.  As he “gets as much sleep as possible, eating well, strength training and cardio every day,” this young prominent designer readies himself to take on fashion week hoping to leave behind a lasting impression.  While growing up, Mirano delved into the artistic world at an early age.  Certainly being a trained pianist and gymnast, experience in the fine arts, and his “determination to join Cirque du Soleil put his creative juices to work from the beginning.

Even though matriculated, but never graduated from Parsons, this designer has matured his mind in a very artistic way, which will be exciting to see develop and evolve over his career.   Coming from a background of travel and a family of scientists, Mirano draws much inspiration from geology and biology, particularly this season.  He hopes to have designed a collection for the woman in her “twenties, thirties, or forties.  She doesn’t take herself too seriously, especially with all the humor in the clothes.  Her confidence is high and wants to be noticed.  Above all, she has an appreciation for the craftsmanship and artistry in the clothes.”  Even if that description doesn’t quite fit your personality, with his exuberant enthusiasm how can you not lose yourself in his clothes?

After trying desperately to get him to spill the beans on his inspiration before his big reveal on Monday, September 10 at Lincoln Center, it was a fruitless effort.  I can say however, it is certainly not to be missed as his collection is filled with a brilliantly rich color palette, a combination of materials and embellishments and the “embroidery is stellar!” I think I can speak for all of us, when I say…BUTTERFLIES!

Undoubtedly, Mathieu Mirano is the next up and coming designer we should all keep our eyes on.  Because of his young age and his relatively newness to Mecca, or for the not so much fashion die-hards, New York Fashion Week, he has the potential to bring a freshness and excitability that we are all anticipating!

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NOT by Jenny Lai S/S 2013

By: Devin Cole

Jenny Lai describes her 2013 Spring collection as “a meditation on and a celebration of the lightness of being”. The vibrant fabrics of her collection certainly communicated this exuberance. Creating a beauty look that could hold its own with the garments, while still letting the clothing be the star wasn’t easy but hair stylist Neil Gogoi of Prive Salon and makeup artist Mike Hanz pulled it off beautifully.

The hair:

“We are doing a very soft but messy kind of knot in the back. Then through the front we’re just detailing it with white pins and doing the same through the back as well. We used a texturizing mousse and combed it in to basically smooth everything down and secure the back.”

-Neil Gogoi

The makeup:

“The inspiration is a sunset in summer. So instead of doing the traditional, where it’s corals and oranges on the lip, we wanted to bring it into the eyes to make the eyes the focus-with a little bit of a hint of a lilac, mauve on on the lips. We’re kind of getting into the new trends for spring ’13.

  

We wanted to get really nice soft but hard soft features. You see stronger definition in color but it is all very muted at the same time. We used Play Beauty color and also R Evolution brushes. Play Beauty is paraben free, natural products. It’s really good for backstage but also for the everyday woman as well.”

-Mike Hanz

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All Aboard the Beauty Bus with Hair Room Service!

By: Devin Cole

Beauty Bus is the brainchild of Michael Dueñas, the founder of Hair Room Service. Hair Room service is a mobile salon that comes directly to homes or offices for special events.  They offer hair, makeup, nail, and wardrobe styling services.   The hair products that the stylists used in the Beauty Bus were by Schwarzkopf Professional and manicures were provided outside by SinfulColors.

SinfulColors nail polish comes in 300 different shades and can be purchased at Duane Reade for only $1.99! Shari Manon from Style Network went crazy for their new colors for fall. I’m a sucker for bold colors so I went with the “Rise and Shine” shade from their traditional collection.

Since I usually do the same few looks with my makeup I decided to get a mini makeover on the Beauty Bus to add some new tricks to my repertoire.

 

 Before                                                             After!

                                

• Apply the black Jumbo Pencil Liner (it doesn’t have to be perfect!).

• From the Smoky Look Kit , dip a pencil brush into the slate grey color and blend out the liner.

• Apply plum shadow to the eye with a small dense shadow brush to pack on the color.

• Switch to a tapered blending brush and blend, blend, blend until you can’t blend anymore!

• Add a highlight to brow bone with the “Sand” blush.  Hint: the key to a perfect smoky eye is not the colors you use but the order in which you use them!

• Fill in the eyebrows with a very waxy eyebrow pencil, the waxier the better so that the color sticks to the hair and not your skin for a more natural look. Apply with a feathering motion. With the brush on the other end of the pencil, finish by combing out the eyebrows.

• The smoky eye tends to get a little messy so clean up the area around the eye with NYX Eye Makeup Remover.  Hint: always do the eyes first when you are creating this look so you won’t wipe off your foundation during this step.

• Use NYX HD Photogenic Concealer under the eye and finish with eyeliner in “Purple” on the lower lid.

The Toned-Down Lips:

They toned down my bright lipstick with the Jumbo Lip Pencil in “Pecan”. Most women don’t think about lighten their lip shade with another product but it can be done! Just make sure that the color you use is a lighter version of your original color (my original color was “Berlin” by Kat von D).

The Skin:
NYX HD Photogenic Concealer set with a translucent powder.  The Jumbo Lip Pencil in “Pecan” doubled as blush when applied with a brush.

All of my makeup was compliments of NYX Cosmetics which will be coming soon to a Ricky’s near you!

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Noon by Noor S/S 2013

By: Inna Bosenko
Images by: Rebekah Schott

It was all about attention grabbing color and lighter than air silk at the Noon by Noor Spring/Summer 2013 fashion show. Designs were elegant, refined, and purportedly intended to be worn at sophisticated evening gatherings on hot summer nights. Accessories were kept minimal down to only bracelets not taking attention away from sparkle in the heel or the brightness of fabrics.

The color palette reminded me of a beautiful summer sunset full of hot pinks, tangerine, shades of ecru, gorgeous abstract patterns of aqua, white and gold. An element of luxury was added with golden glittery fabrics and light olive green shades. Some of my favorite pieces of the collection were the structured jackets and vests done in bright colors and lustrous sequins to exude femininity despite its tough silhouette. The line was also littered with accentuated shoulders with feathers, embroidered designs or raised shapes.

The closing look was absolutely stunning: a salmon pink loose shape of a dress cinched at the waist with a high sexy slit showing off legs and a long flowing trail in the back. I couldn’t help but be amazed over how a look so simple and effortless can be so undeniably breathtaking. Having no prior knowledge of the brand, I caught myself backstage at another show this same day describing Noon by Noor as a personal happy discovery of this Spring/Summer 2013 season.

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