fashion
An evening of Betsey Johnson doing what Betsey Johnson does, and who's to complain?
Betsey Johnson spoke with Fern Mallis at the 92Y about a life in fashion, her favorite ex-husband, a new reality show, and how to kick ass. More
In the Garment district, a milliners' parade declares that hats still matter
About 20 milliners, all of them women, were gathered in front of the Millinery Center Synagogue on Sixth Avenue near 39th St., the celebration's starting point, at around 6:30 last night. A boisterous bunch, they wore elegant, hand-crafted hats and looked ready to go to church in their Sunday best. Instead, the synagogue's cantor led them inside, where they were blessed. "Millinery tonight represents how a mighty God wanted women to look," said the cantor, who for his part wore a wool flat cap and spoke with what sounded like an Eastern European accent. "You look, all of you tonight, rich, beautiful and rich. Everyone walking the street tonight should think, 'Wow, maybe I should dress like this.’" More
(1)Grace Coddington on fashion, modeling, and a life in 'Vogue'
To a packed audience that included Brooke Shields and fellow speaker Jay McInerney, she told the story of how she left Anglesey, Wales at 18 to become one of the top models of the '60s, and then, at 26, transitioned to a career behind the camera for British Vogue, ultimately reigning as the artistic force behind American Vogue, as featured in the documentary The September Issue. The evening’s host, Amanda Foreman, began by stepping back to start, to Coddington’s youth in rural Wales. More
The curator and the fashion magazine icon discuss what it means to dream.
One of the questions that I ask an artist is ‘what is your product?’” Biesenbach continued. “You're not a baker. You’re not baking bread, so what is your product?” “I think my product is; I think I'm a dreamer,” Roitfeld replied. “I don't know if this is a real job. I have many different projects, but it always starts with a dream. Is a dream an occupation?” More
A documentary on Diana Vreeland, goddess of 20th-century fabulousness
Although the first line of her 1983 autobiography proclaims her loathing for nostalgia, in The Eye Has to Travel Vreeland is shown reveling in her own good timing, from being born before Europe fell (“It was the Belle Époque!”) to coming of age just as women were bobbing their hair and their skirts for the first time in modern history (“It was the Roaring Twenties!”) to reaching her professional, taste-making pinnacle during a decade of social and cultural revolution (“I loved the Sixties—that was the youthquake!”). It feels telling that the last coinage is Vreeland’s own, a term she used to accompany a 1965 profile of young Edie Sedgwick from her high priestess perch at Vogue. More
(1)We get Mapplethorpe, but why is shirtless Tim Tebow rolling that tire?
Each day, the New York tabloids vie to sell readers at the newsstands on outrageous headlines, dramatic photography, and, occasionally, great reporting. Who is today's winner? More
(1)F.I.T.'s 'Ivy Style' exhibit explores the fashions of privilege
Although the term “Ivy” wasn’t used to describe the collection of elite colleges along the East Coast until 1933, Fitzgerald’s debut, along with Owen Johnson’s 1912 novel Stover at Yale, were the two novels of the early 20th century that best described life at the grand institutions of learning that we now call the Ivy League. The style that first developed on those campuses in the days of Stover and Blaine continues on to this day on runways from New York to Milan (not to mention the host of websites and forums for enthusiasts), yet this is the first exhibition of its kind. More
(1)'Daily News' hires fashion desk, relaunches 'Gatecrasher' as 'Confidential'
Starting this week, the News will run regular fashion features in its Thursday and Sunday editions, mirroring the popular style formula of The New York Times and marking a return to a beat it had abandoned in recent years. The change takes effect just in time for Fashion Week, which kicks off on Sept. 6. More
(3)Adventures in the rag trade: A photographic tour of the holdout fabric stores of the Garment District
A tour of one of the Manhattan's last remaining industrial districts. More
Elizabeth Cline's cure for throwaway fashion: 'slow clothes'
“Fashion’s race to the bottom,” as she puts it, can’t be fixed overnight, but she shows that we need an extreme makeover of our attitude towards clothes as disposable goods. Cline’s book is as personal as it is polemical, and it follows her journey from a Forever 21 fanatic to an educated, careful consumer. She confesses her sins early on: the moment she realized that she had to change her ways was when she hauled home a heavy bag of identical shoes from K-Mart. She had seen a bargain she just couldn’t pass up—$7 a pair—and, in the thrill of the hunt, bought out the store in her size. The shoes soon fell apart and fell out of fashion, and the remainders languished in her closet. More
Michael Kors' kaffeeklatsch bawdiness goes down a treat at 92nd Street Y
When he was five years old, he helped his mother with her wedding dress. It had lots of bows. “I think it’s really busy,” he recalled telling his mom. So they took the bows off and the dress, at least, was a success, even if the marriage wasn't. “My mom ended up getting divorced from Bill Kors, but I think the dress was pretty timeless,” he said. More
An improbable conversation: new Met exhibition attempts to mix and match Elsa Schiaparelli and Miuccia Prada
So we have two renegades, and admirable renegades at that, but their respective revolts are undertaken with more dissimilarity than the exhibition would have one believe. Harold Koda, one of the show’s curators, admitted in a press preview this week that the conversations produced in the exhibit come off more like two women talking at each other rather than to each other. More
Pointing at Beyonce in Givenchy and a 'sex cop' in jail
Each day, the New York tabloids vie to sell readers at the newsstands on outrageous headlines, dramatic photography, and, occasionally, great reporting. Who is today's winner? More
'Beast-week' reporter Jacob Bernstein to be a regular moonlighter for 'Times' Styles section
Bernstein, 33, seems like a natural fit for Styles. He was previously a reporter at Women's Wear Daily and W. He also happens to be the son of Watergate-hero Carl Bernstein and the author and screenwriter Nora Ephron, and as such was born into a certain New York social orbit of interest to the section's readers and its editor, Stuart Emmrich. (How many young writers can say that they were played by the baby-actor in Heartburn?) More
With the launch of 'Megazine,' 24-year-old art star Loren Kramar is downtown's most in-demand new eccentric
"I once saw him make a bowl of Kryptonite out of a piece of tinfoil," artist Julian Schnabel said. "He also sang the best version of Chrissie Hynde’s 'I’ll Stand By You’ that I’ve ever heard. I honestly think he’s one of the smartest, most talented young men I’ve met in a long time." More
