>> Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Lincoln Center’s new fashion director, wasn't kidding when she said there will be no crashers at this year's New York Fashion Week. This season, instead of sending out paper fashion show invitations that require check-in with publicists at the show doors like seasons past, designers will instead send email invitations with bar coded confirmations ahead of time, so attendees can check in and receive their seating assignments from airport-style kiosks at the venue.
>> Miranda Kerr Confirms Pregnancy —Miranda Kerr has a Vogue Italia cover coming up, but she also has something of a more personal nature in store: after weeks of rumors, she has finally confirmed that, like fellow Victoria's Secret Angel Doutzen Kroes, she's pregnant with her first child. "Yes, I am pregnant. Four months along," she told Vogue Espana in its September 2010 issue. She added that it's been difficult to keep the pregnancy under wraps: "I remember on one occasion in the early days [of my pregnancy] when it was still too soon to say anything, and I had a dreadful time at one job," referring to morning sickness. Kerr wed Orlando Bloom last month. [People]
>> Last night saw crowds on New York's West Side craning their necks in awe while Target's twenty-minute-long Kaleidoscopic Fashion Spectacular took place. The mass retailer rented out 155 rooms — the entire south side of the Standard Hotel — and took advantage of the building's floor-to-ceiling glass, illuminating the windows to reveal 66 dancers performing a choreographed dance. The light show and dance sequences portrayed everything from a growing green vine, to lightning and rain, to a tie-dyed rainbow of colors before finally ending to applause in a red Target bullseye.
Among the audience were Prabal Gurung, Richard Chai, Georgina Chapman, who is due with her first child any day now (and still plans to be at Fashion Week), and reportedly Phoebe Philo. Target is clearly working on upping its image — and last night's display seemed a success, based on the enthusiastic audience reaction. It's also partnering with Gilt Groupe for the first time, allowing its collaboration with Mulberry (see images here), which doesn't hit Target stores until Oct. 12, to be sold on Gilt tomorrow, Aug. 20, in limited quantities.
A video of last night's light show, below.
No one clothing item more perfectly transitions your wardrobe into the colder months than a classic cape. Worn over a favorite pair of jeans or dressed up trousers, this is one silhouette that never goes out of style. Some of our favorites above from the fall collections, including more than a few by Stella McCartney, who does casual cool better than most.
>> Vogue Paris Picks an Actress for September 2010 Cover, First Time in Five Years —Marion Cotillard may have graced Vogue's cover before Vogue Paris's — surprising considering that she's a French actress — but maybe it's because Carine Roitfeld was saving her for the coveted September issue spot. Unlike their American couterpart, however, VP doesn't shy away from putting models on their September covers — Lara Stone scored last year's cover, and Marion's marks the first actress on a Vogue Paris September cover since Nicole Kidman in 2005. Cotillard — much like Alessandra Ambrosio on one of Love's Fall covers — gets the bleached eyebrow treatment for the occasion, and is photographed by Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott. [TFS]
Swarovski's Fashion Week starts.
Georgia May Jagger does her most provocative campaign for Hudson.
APC's Madras collection now at Urban Outfitters.
Jean Paul Gaultier made a cone bra for La Perla!
Emma Watson's clothing line will make its debut this September — but not at Fashion Week.
From Left: Alexander Wang, Zac Posen, and Ralph Lauren fall 2010
Velvet—especially red and oxblood colored—was all over the New York runways for fall 2010. Alexander Wang draped the deep red fabric into asymmetric mini dresses with black lace detailing, Zac Posen used vampy reds for pleated bustier dresses and seventies style trouser suits, and Ralph Lauren kept it classic with velvet mutton sleeved tunics and floor-length evening gowns.
Click the gallery below for more fall 2010 velvet looks from New York.
>> Lauren Santo Domingo has cofounded a startup company, Trunk Show Inc., which aims to put the trunk show process online. The company, which has already raised $1.15 million in venture capital from New Atlantic Ventures, is still in stealth mode, but a few details could be learned about what they have planned.
The idea is to stream video of fashion shows, after which customers and store buyers could both order from the collection they just saw — direct from the manufacturer. This would effectively cut out the lag time between when the pieces are shown on the catwalk and when they hit store racks. A similar tactic was first tried by Net-a-Porter back in 2008 in conjunction with Roland Mouret's show, but Trunk Show Inc. likely wants to encompass a wide number of brands at once. Fashionista suggests that the clothes sold in this way may also be at "a 10 to 30 percent discount, given that most designers offer a small discount at their trunk shows."
>> Morning Mysteries: Another Supermodel Divorce? Theory's Consulting Shoe Designer? —Stephanie Seymour and Peter Brant have been embroiled in a messy divorce, but Daily Front Row seems to suggest that another supermodel is in the thick of it with this blind item: "Which married supermodel is in process of divorcing her husband? The Daily hears she has flings and he has a bit of a drug problem." And Olivier Theyskens recently partnered with Theory, but it sounds like there's another designer doing work for the brand behind the scenes. Theory launched some new shoe styles on their website today, and as for who worked on them, Style.com would only say: "The brand’s design team and a certain much-followed private designer. No names, but you never know — she might just hit the shows sporting one of her own creations. If that’s the case, we’d advise buying now, before they sell immediately out." [DFR, Style File]
>> Access to APC's lower-priced Madras line just got easier. Urban Outfitters just started stocking the line, which features an array of APC's greatest hits: plaid print skirts, Peter Pan collar blouses, pegged trousers, and marled wool sweaters among them. The lookbook for the Fall offering, which ranges from $105 to $295, is below, although Urban already has a more extensive stock than shown — our favorites include a black silk jumpsuit with gold piping ($295) and a navy miniskirt featuring a squirrel and rabbit print ($135).
