QUIET AS IT’S KEPT: STYLE RADAR

FASHION EDITORAugust 6, 2013

QUIET AS IT’S KEPT…What’s on the radar of the dynamic New York fashion-stylist team, THE STYLEMONSTERS?

This issue: “No Sleep ‘til Brooklyn…and then no sleep until after New York Fashion Week!!!”

While we are feverishly checking our mailbox for the barrage of fashion magazine September issues, carefully sending out our RSVPs for the shows at Lincoln Center (and beyond) and thoughtfully lining up our “Street Style” ensembles for the inevitable flashbulbs of New York Fashion Week, here is what is on our radar….

Quiet As Its Kept…Forget Paris- give me BROOKLYN!!!

We’ve been feeling this way all summer, but this past week confirmed it for us: Brooklyn is fast becoming our favorite (AND MOST Instagram-able) borough in New York City! Where else can you see pop/soul chanteuse/celebrity DJ Solange Knowles perform some of her hottest songs in a Laundromat? Yes, on Monday, July 29^th Ms. Knowles (with help from event sponsors Faded Magazine and Vitamin Water) eschewed the typical performance venues and, to our utter delight, belted out a few tunes (including a cover of R&B diva Nivea’s song, “Laundromat”) while climbing on top of some apparently ultra-sturdy washing machines and dryers (the majority of the concert was performed on a cleverly converted makeshift stage)!!!

Wednesday at The Brooklyn Museum included the Ghanaian-born contemporary fine artist El Anatsui’s ‘Gravity and Grace’ exhibit (which examines how metal and wood could transform and walk the textural lines of sculpture and painting).

A few days later (on Saturday, to be exact) one could lose their breath (and their minds) by going over to Brooklyn’s answer to Madison Square Garden the still-new Barclays Center to see Solange’s sister (some performer named Beyonce, we believe) blow the roof off of the downtown Brooklyn arena in the first of 3 shows. If that wasn’t enough, you could have then attended the Soul Summit Music Festival extravaganza (which normally is held at Fort Greene Park but surfaced at Brooklyn’s Restoration Plaza this Sunday), replete with beautiful folks writhing to house beats and classic soul provided by resident DJ and organizer Saadiq, among others.

Never mind the resurgence of the row of restaurants, cafes, quasi-speakeasys and boutiques that have recently littered the Flatbush Avenue section of Park Slope (our personal favorite boutique shop is Je’Taime Shoes, a petite but wonderfully-edited shoe boutique directly across from Barclays Center that carries a gamut of Manhattan-worthy pumps, from Jeffrey Campbell to Giuseppi Zanotti).

Two weeks from now we’ll be running back to Brooklyn’s Barclay’s Center again for the MTV Music Awards to catch, among all the other craziness, Lady Gaga’s triumphant return to the world stage as she debuts her first single off of her ‘Artpop’ project. Quiet As Its Kept, Brooklyn is on FIRE…

Quiet As Its Kept…Spread my ashes at Bergdorf’s, but invest my stock portfolio in Saks, immediately…

Seasoned market analysts didn’t know what to think of Richard A. Baker when he bought Lord & Taylor in 2006 for $1.2 billion. They thought he was just some overfunded real estate tycoon with a questionable passion for fashion and no way to dig a profit out of the retail giant, which had been feeling the pinch of the market downturn. When he bought another retail stalwart, Hudson Bay, they thought he was crazy. Crazy like a Fox, it turns out; because now Mr. Baker has bought Saks Fifth Avenue (beating out investment competitors from Neiman Marcus and the United Arab Emirates) and has carefully engineered acquisition one of the savviest retail conglomerates in the world. The streets agreed with him, as shares of Saks’ stock rose 4.18 percent. His next step? Open Canadian outposts of the Saks brand to compete with the only real higher-end luxury department store in that country: Holt Refrew. With virtually no fashion business experience (outside of owning a few shopping malls) but now with two retail juggernauts named Lord & Taylor and Saks Fifth Avenue within an 11-block radius, Richard Baker may seem more like that other crazy fox, Richard Williams, who fathered, trained and then produced two world-champion tennis players by the names of Venus and Serena– with little experience in the field…Quiet as its kept.

Quiet As Its Kept, there are a few “interesting” fashion collaborations this season…

Fashion design has lately become a very collaborative art, even if the end result has one name on the label. Collaborations have become de riguer, almost expected. However, each season there are a few mercurial mashups that make one do a double-take or to question the rationalization of said partnership. Conversations are abuzz about the future that John Galliano may play in the future of the Oscar de la Renta label (where there is speculation that Galliano is in talks to join the fashion house on a more permanent basis than the “designer-in-residence” title he held there for three weeks last season). Putting the possibility of this fashion power-marriage aside (at least for now), perhaps most awe-inspiring of the collaborations on our radar this season is the design partnership between Dutch couture designer (and former Alexander Mcqueen intern!)

Iris van Herpen and shoewear line United Nude. Perhaps brought to the fashion cognoscenti’s attention by having her show-stopping wares on the bodies of both eclectic singer Bjork and fashion devotee Daphne Guiness, van Herpen has worked with many other artists from a variety of discipines (milliners, architects, filmmakers, graphic designers), so it isn’t a surprise that she would look to expand her touch to footwear. Many of the shoes, which posses a primitive, reptilian quality to them (reminiscent of the shoes Alexander McQueen designed in the last collection before his death) are high-concept but with a pret-a-porter lean.

As of press time, it has not been determined if the shoes will be produced for mass market, or just as a purely artistic expression. Either way, it is a home run.

Another collaboration to look out for (which was a huge hit at the PROJECT NYC men’s trade show in July) is Cuban pop artist Nelson de la Nuez’ work with men’s shirt designer Jared Lang. Swatches of Nuez’ eye-catching Pop Art images line the inside collar, button placket and bottom sleeve of Jared Lang’s Fall 2013 shirt collection, giving the wearing a reason to pop this collar and tszuj his sleeve.

We also expect Rick Owens to give Jeremy Scott a run for his money, as Owens collaborates with Adidas on a line of sneakers and footwear for Spring/Summer 2014…

One collaboration that left us having a WTF moment is the MAC/ Antonio Lopez line, which features eye and lip palettes (and makeup bags) rendered in mixes of fuchsia, violet and electric blue. We LOVE the imagery of the 70’s-themed ad featuring Pat Cleveland, Jerry Hall (a close personal friend of Lopez’) and Marisa Berenson, looking as though they just stepped out of Studio 54 (last night!) wearing Halston, Scott Barrie and Stephen Burrows-inspired stretch silk jersey dresses. We even love that Lopez’ illustrations cover the packaging (illustrations that would make Patrick Nagel proud).

However, while MAC cosmetics has made their mark in the maquillage industry, we question the rationalization of using (or commercializing) the name of one of fashion’s greatest fashion illustrators to push makeup. What’s next, foundation and contouring concealer by Joe Eula? Eyeliner and mascara by Michaele Vollbracht?

Quiet As Its Kept…Celebrity DJ/Activist Beverly Bond is right; Black Girls Rock!!!

Fresh off of viewing the Procter & Gamble’s “Imagine A Future” documentary that made its rounds at the Essence Music Festival in July, we have to have a moment of pause to recognize some Black girls (and women) that are out there doing it big in their chosen fields whom you may not be aware of. For your consideration:

Frances Armand– Cementing her legacy in fashion PR, Frances Armand is an industry power player and sole proprietor of Armand Consulting, which specializes in brand development, strategic communications and media relations for primarily European fashion houses trying to make a stake in the US fashion marketplace. Her expertise in the bridal market is constantly sought-after as well. Bill Gates is famous for stating, “If I was down to my last dollar, I’d spend it on public relations”. We’d spend it on Frances Armand.

Maad*moiselle– She looks like Tyra Banks’ younger, hipper sister and her music exists in the space between Nicki Minaj, Dawn Richards and Lady Gaga. Her single “Glitter (On the Floor)” is a sensual club thumper and an underground sleeper hit. Look out for this one…

Makeup artist Tatiana Ward, aka, BeatFace Honey became an instant Instagram star when her friends (and YouTube followers) reached out to R&B singer Brandy and practically begged her to let Tatiana do her makeup while she was performing in Ward’s hometown of Philadelphia. Fast-forward a few months and now she is beating Nicki Minaj’s lovely visage and providing inspiration to almost 100 thousand followers on Instagram- whom she lovingly calls her “BeatFace Brigade”

Lisa Jackson is one of the new faces making fashion waves. Add one part Alicia Keys, one part Eva Mendes and one part Joan Smalls and you have Lisa Jackson. First seen in season 9 of Tyra Banks’ brain-child reality show, “America’s Next Top Model”, Jackson has graduated to the ranks of rarified model air, walking for Carmen Marc Valvo’s runway shows, emerging as the muse of Project Runway’s winning designer Michelle Lesniak Franklin (thus securing a fashion spread in Marie Claire magazine), and most recently appearing in John Legend’s “Who Do We Think We Are” music video. Beauty is her name.

Brandice Henderson: A huge mover and shaker in the New York Fashion scene, Brandice started Harlem’s Fashion Row (HFR) as an entity that mentors and showcases designers of color that have not achieved the recognition or venture capital necessary to compete with the big names on Seventh Avenue. Amongst fashionistas of every shade and ethnicity, the invitation to the HFR Fashion Show is as covetable as an invitation to the now-defunct Marc Jacobs Halloween party.

Quiet As Its Kept, these women are prime examples that all it takes is talent and some gumption to make opportunities for yourself…

Quiet As Its Kept- No other fashion event has been as interesting as the infamous ‘Battle of Versailles’…

Alluded to at the recently-closed Stephen Burrows exhibit, “When Fashion Danced”, the mere mention of the notorious “Battle of Versailles” still sends rushes of adrenaline through the average fashion-history buff’s veins. To calm this hysteria (or perhaps because of it) director Deborah Riley Draper offers up 91 minutes of extraordinary fashionspeak in the documentary, “Versailles ’73: American Runway Revolution”. Although it contains very little footage of the actual event, Draper manages to give us the feeling that we were there, sitting beside Princess Grace as both French and American designers fought for sartorial supremacy under the guise of a $60 million fund-raising initiative to restore the beauty of The Palace of Versailles. Recalled first-hand by those who were there (Charles Tracy, Marisa Berenson, Karen Bjornson, China Machado included), the film takes you through the madness, the bickering and the egotistical infighting that preceded the events of that memorable night. Also, if you didn’t know that Black Girls Rocked before, the film acquaints you with the likes of Billie Blair, Alva Chinn, Barbara Jackson, Bethann Hardison, Norma Jean Darden, Charlene Dash and Pat Cleveland– all of whom used their catwalk and their cheekbones to chisel out access to the runways for all models of color (and changed the European’s idea of black standards of beauty). Fashion luminaries such as Halston, Oscar de la Renta, Stephen Burrows, Ann Klein and Bill Blass get their due mentions as well. Get you some!