One of the designers in our pre-fashion week video series is New York designer Chris Han. Han's traditionally dark palate in trim silhouettes, is not without a particular lightness (manifested, in the past, with chiffon, beading, and draping) that make her designs well-balanced and, therefore, well received. This time around, Han tells us about her A/W 08 collection, inspired by angelic imagery, and her preparations for fashion week. Fashion week is just around the corner, so here's a taste of what it takes to make it happen.

More: Pre-fashion Week Studio Visit With Joanna Mastroianni
More: Pre-fashion Week Studio Visit With Sue Stemp

Last week, at a lecture in which David Wolfe, creative director of The Doneger Group, spoke about Spring 2009 trends, he began with the topic of appropriation. Nothing new can come of fashion, he warned us, and consequentially appropriation will be a great battle in the years to come. Also touched upon, was Wolfe's articulation that one of the most interesting ways for designers to find newness is to look to art and architecture for inspiration. There, he said, newness is abundant.


A parallel story, in this narrative of appropriation, are artists like Richard Prince (who recently collaborated with Marc Jacobs, a designer not free of appropriation scrutiny) who recycles cultural material to make his own (even if it simply involves enlargement). Prince is not alone, that is, hundreds of Parson's and Chelsea College graduates are investing in their pop-saturated upbringing in this way (Parson's is also notorious for lecturing it's fashion students on the impossibility of newness, and the delicacies of fashion plagiarism), by openly sampling images or media to use as the basis of their work. The trick, it seems, is appropriating content from another medium.


Today we discovered another young artist in the Prince/Warhol gamut, Shane Bradford, pointed to us by our London-based Coutorture partner, StyleBubble. Bradford gives us more evidence of the entwining concept of property in art, where if only designers appropriated art (and not other designs), they'd be off the hook.

Vogue, British edition March 2003, Nick Knight, model: Natasha Vojnovic

Stained Couture wonders if toe cleavage has been taken to the extreme.


Vintage isn't going anywhere anytime soon, and Shrimpton Couture couldn't be happier.


Bag Bliss finds an incredibly chic laptop envelope.


Margaux Inc chats with Fashionalities about entrepreneurship.


I Heart Makeup introduces us to lace nails.

If you ask us, Lacoste is a line that's just better for S/S. It's the sort of wasp-y activity-based aesthetic that just merits sunshine and a tennis racket. At the end of the show, Lacoste busted out some seriously welcomed brights after a load of crisp white and black. Aside from a burst of color, the pieces that really made a difference were the 1920's style bathing suits (that New York girls will probably wear as jumpers this summer) and the super-loose sailor pants that just breezed down the runway.

An article in this week's issue of the New Yorker had us thinking about personage. It seems New York is the only place you can escape the American obsession with celebrity (not that it can't be found), and yet The New Yorker understands the importance of rewarding true distinction with a heady word count. And boy are we better off.


Who the flip is Lee Miller? Good question.


Lee Miller was a woman who used to date Man Ray. See, there's the ticket. You remember being told that once, right? Yeah, so do we. After the jump, a quick profile that includes a little more than Man Ray, if you should miss the six page (not page six) article.


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The hunt for the mystical Fountain of Youth isn't going so well, and the time machine isn't a reality. Fortunately, SugarShock offers a few helpful hints to keep your makeup youthful.

If you've not a ton of change to drop on the brights this S/S, it's not a bad idea to stock up on some crazy tights. When you're having a brave fashion moment, or have the day to yourself (sometimes the best outfits come when no one's looking), check out these printed tights by Celeste Stein (get it?), brought to our attention by Coutorture partner, Kingdom of Style.

Last week, as part of our pre-Fashion Week video series, we were invited to Joanna Mastroianni's studio to hear her talk about her A/W 08 collection and her preparations for fashion week. Having worked as a designer for over twenty years, she a graceful aplomb that reflects her extensive experience creating collections that inspire the wider design community. In an age where partying and visibility are signs of a successful designer it was refreshing to engage with someone who values the craft over bread and circus. We left the studio, literally, in a fit of inspiration, mouths agape, when one of us broke the silence with 'I want to live there. In that studio. With her. You know? Do you know what I mean? I bet she has really nice bathrobes.'. At this point in her career, as other designers leave their work to an under class of creative personalities, her involvement couldn't be more grounding.

Joanna took us through the collection from starting from its first stages as a nugget of condensed information. We realized, while other designers have inspiration boards replete with kitschy references and brooding moods, Joanna has a conceptual and visual arsenal. Where other designers explain 'and then I made this dress', Joanna explains 'and then I made this drawing, and then this embroidery, and then these six interpretations of that embroidery, and then this panel, and then this dress.' The idea is not that other designers are somehow lazing through the creative process, rather, that Joanna is so meticulous in her involvement that her vision and work leaves others in the dust. It is no wonder she is such a success.

More: Pre-fashion Week Studio Visit With Sue Stemp