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