Repetto Shoes on Sale at Pas de Deux

I love Repetto shoes SO MUCH, but they cost lots.  However, I scored some patent leather loafers/capezios for half price yesterday at Pas de Deux on 11th St. in the E. Village.  I also picked up an extraordinarily cool black zip-up sweatshirt by T by Alexander Wang, whose website is apparently relaunching tomorrow.  It was certainly not half price, but will make me feel twice as cool.  And after the day I had yesterday, I needed (deserved?) it! 

Darren Wallace Belts

You know my main man Darren Wallace?

Who made belts so rad they were lawless?

With python and gator

For me he did cater

And said, "if you want more, you should call us."

Anni Kuan: Velvet: Flocked and Feminine

Anni Kuan was one of the most contagiously enthusiastic designers at New York's Coterie this year. Her line stands out for its texture, color and flattery of the female form. Also check out her glazed velvet zip coat for Fall 2011 - which looks like leather - with warm quilting underneath, but without the leather price....Look for Anni's on-trend velvets at better boutiques.

/nancy brenner

Footwear Revolt: Hush Puppies Colab with Anna Sui

If only Elvis were alive to croon "Blue Suede Shoes" to stiletto-fatigued fans who will be fashion forward this Fall in electric blue mary-janes, by Hush Puppies for Anna Sui, which debuted on the runway at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. Designers take note: pain-free affordable footwear that doesn't need to doom the wearer to lugging around an extra pair of shoes in a 10-gallon purse. I predict a running of the stores for the moto boot, tap shoe and ghillie styles when the line arrives this September at Nordstrom and Anthropologie and an e-stampede to hushpuppies.com. Maybe Anna Sui's Boho Barbie will be hoofing Hush Puppies for Fall 2011.
Price range: $100-$210
Sizes: Med 5-10,11,12 and Wide 5-10.

/nancy brenner

Ba Ba Black Sheep, Have You Any Wool?

No, sir, no sir, doesn't seem as if designers do - based on what's displayed at Coterie at the Javits Center for Fall 2011. Ponte, jersey, poly, the fancy soul-sister - lurex - are the dominant fibers.  Today's Fiber Sheet in WWD cites the costs of wool have risen by 40%, while some say raw increases for wool were in the 80% range.

What's a wool loving fashionista to do? Take your re-weaver to lunch - they will be in big demand for Fall 2011. Start shopping vintage. Start storing woolies in lots of mothballs or cedar planks in a sealed container. No wonder they were showing so many textured tights at the runways at Lincoln Center. And stock up on arm warmers at Tibi. And all manners of fur. Fall 2011 will be a cold all-seasons material winter. BRRRR.

A true sweater aficionado will explore Autumn Cashmere for the widest variety of texture, colors and trims and Lauren Moffatt for an interesting felted wool sweater and comeback designer Christian Francis Roth's contemporary line, Roth, for well designed wool coats and dresses in pop-art colors.

/nancy brenner

NOTE FROM GSNYC: For those of you who don't know, the image is Black Sheep's "A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing" album cover, one of the best hip hop albums of that year (1992), and one that I have a great affinity for.

Report from Coterie - SKIP the SPANX: Contour Patrol NUE BY SHANI

The war on tugging, pulling on body slips, half slips and skinny britches under full slips could finally be over. Oprah is already a fan. According to designer Shani Grosz, the line allows you to undress in your own bedroom or a busy Loehmann's communal dressing room without looking like you've stripped down to scuba instruction gear. NUE by Shani(TM) has put the shaping into the dress to firm and control common trouble spots - midsection, backs and thighs. Shani says the hem has a special coating at the bottom that keeps the liner in place and eliminates that embarrassing feeling when your blue skirt rides up and a funny colored non-matching, non-descript undergarment is peaking through underneath - practically tweeting - "see my shapewear."

The Body Architecture(TM) comes in a range of colors, so you don't have to stick with black. Missed some days at the gym? Camouflage arm jiggle from a few missed gym jams with spot-on Fall 2011 trend - sleeves with flounces! I suspect that women buying the line at Lord & Taylor, 600 speciality stores and in 44 countries are tossing their salad forks by the wayside in celebration. Middle East customers wear the colorful garmets to women-only "dress to impress" parties. Shani, will there be a line for men?

The line retails from $200-$350. Sizes 4-16.

/Nancy Brenner

Fall 2011 Trends: Hemlines do double duty as dusters...

Photo: Dan Lecca for Cynthia Steffe

...for your floors, unless you have a handmaiden to lift the bottom of your dress as you scurry about town. Boy blazers, boy flats with shoelaces, menswear-inspired plaids, shapeless bulky sweaters - for girls - why do designers design to dress dames like dudes? Guys look out for a little extra competition from women tomorrow at the Barneys Warehouse Sale who may be stocking up for themselves for Fall 2011. Leather everything. A resurgence of jade, emerald and sea foam greens -- redheads, this is your season to rule. Lush luxe fur looks in rainbow of hues. Sleeves on dresses are back - finally. Opaque tights - use those Lord & Taylor coupons now! Cozy neck wraps. Antique gold. Red. Color me happy.

/nancy brenner

Fashion Week: Tibi: What's In a Shoe?

A shoe malfunction at Tibi drew rounds of applause as the shoe-liberated model proudly strutted the catwalk in black opaque tights at the 2011 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show.

Too bad all the models weren't wearing Tibi's standout glitter black flat with a silk ankle strap closure with bow details. Other wardrobe challenges -- if you are not graced with the gift of height, you may need to put your tailor on speed dial for the new longer mid-calf lengths.

Commodity prices crimping your gold bug? Add a liquified coated gold lace V dress or a damask gold jacquard dress to your fashion portfolio. Will either be a be a pick for front row attendees Vanessa Hudgens or Olivia Palermo?

/nancy brenner

Fashion Week: Narciso Rodriguez Report

Jerry Seinfeld and his wife Jessica graced the Narciso Rodriguez Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week show last night. Geometric. Streamlined. Abstract Mondrian looks. Modern. Some androgynous looking jackets and
models. High-end interpretations of layers, color blocking and plaid looks all over the runway for Fall 2011. Italian leathers, felted wools, chiffons and silks. Pops of pink, red, lavender and cobalt. So quiet, pounding music aside, most intense audience of editors, socialites and buyers, so far hanging on every look.

/nancy brenner

PRADA: Somewhere UNDER the Rainbow

AAAHHHHH!  I just got an email from Saks pushing this thing on me.  Well, they certainly got my attention.  But good grief Charlie Brown, these are neither attractive nor interesting.  Ptooey!

Fashion Week: Erin Wasson

Fashion icon Erin Wasson relaxing after an appearance at the Maybelline Lounge at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

/nancy brenner

Fashion Week: Tracy Reese: Furs Flying - Pop an Antihistamine if You're Allergic

Black fur skirt, grey fox bolero, ivory fur vest, black fur coat, animal knit storm coat, ivory fur coat, and many more furs on the catwalk. Worth the Zyrtec.  Color addicts have options too: a jade fringed maxi slip, an antique gold cable sequins skirt and a rasberry ponte jacket.  A six week old week old baby boy bedecked in red and black bows bested me in the seating.  Not sure which designer he saw last night, but hope he enjoyed the show. A-listers included Julia Stiles and Gabrielle Union.

<3 Nancy Brener

Fashion Week: Tracy Reese Shoes

Roach killer heels in burgundy and black at Tracy Reese (bottom).

c/o nancy brenner

Fashion Week: Report from the Front - Zang Toi

So is there anyone who doesn't love Zang Toi designer and his handmade in Manhattan $30,000 nude colored Grand Finale gown (black beading in Mumbai) modeled by runway newbie Jill Zarin? Toi offers the opulance once afforded by Russian oligarchs with emerald hue-furs and and matching gala necklace with heiress chocker. ABT Ballet's new principal dancer Cory Stearns ruled the runway and the audience who collectvely lean forward to absorb his swashbuckling presence. Models swished down the catwalk with skyscraper hair that would make Marge Simpson wish she had a little more height in her beehive.

The show was part the Who's Tommy, Madonna at Madison Square Garden, and a night at the opera sans fear of falling performers, like Spider Man. Silks, tafettas, cashmeres at if-you-have-to-ask-you-can't afford-it prices had the Davos crowd in a pre-market crash, "what unemployment numbers?" kind of mode. Melinda Gates is a frequent front-row fan.

Buddy, can you spare $30,000?
 
/nancy brenner

Fashion Week: Nautica Fall 2011

The scene at Nautica Fall 2011 - fab fashionable men and females admiring them.

~nancy brenner

Fashion Week Shot: Rebecca Taylor Fall 2011

Rebecca Taylor Fall 2011 on Julia Alison as she exits the runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week.

/Nancy Brenner

Last night's Simkhai Show Debuted Collab with Ben-Amun

Inventive and certain to be conversation starters, the Isaac Manevitz collaboration for Jonathan Simkhai's modern Fall 2011 line showcases tassels - leather no less. Adorning wrists, fastening a draped dress
secured by a safety pin, or hanging seductively from leather cords coiling into necklines, tassels graduate into an accessory not just for exotic dancers. Also of note, metal upside-down T-shaped earrings.
The ever-versatile Manevitz and his amiable wife Regina showcased and viewed the presentation at the Zach Feuer Gallery last night.

~Nancy Brenner

Preview from the Front: Sweetheart V-Day Deals at Wendy Mink

72 Orchard St.
Feb 10:  6-8p;
Feb 11 & 12: 12-7p;
Feb 13: 12-6p.

Pale pink bracelets from $8; photo-shoot worthy empress earrings for $95 reduced from $250 at this Valentines sale.

/nancy brenner

Jill Anderson Super Sale

Lingo: a Chelsea boutique catering to “buttoned-up” creative ladies (editors, architects, designers, etc.) | Paper and String

More from the GSNYC on the new Paper & String site, about one of her favorite Chelsea shops:

Lingo: a Chelsea boutique catering to “buttoned-up” creative ladies (editors, architects, designers, etc.) Paper and String

Club Monaco's $5 Tights

now I know why they were on sale for $5.  They ran after I wore them for about 3 hours.  Great.

Cotton Hoarders: A New A&E Show?

Everyone from cotton farmers in China to T-shirt manufacturers are hoarding cotton as commodity prices have soared 127% in the last six months.  How will this affect you? The price of everything from undies to Egyptian cotton sheets will rise.

As Fall 2011 collections arrive at Mercedez Benz Fashion Week this month, it will be interesting to note which materials are sourced.

If you are allergic to wool, the mere thought of ponte or sky-high cotton prices, you may want to bear the badge of a hoarder (a cotton one that is). Start stock-piling those high-thread counts at Macy's winter white sales or prepare for poly.

Cotton Fun fact: Egypt imports $248.8 million worth of men's and boy's cotton and man-made cotton shorts for the year ending November 13.
(source: WWD)

/nancy brenner