NEW YORK FASHION WEEK: THINGS THAT MAKE ME GO WUUUUU

Posted by Fashion Editor at Large

I am not at New York fashion week. Want to be there, but couldn't justify the cost in time out from LFW prep and cost. I try make myself feel better about the fact I'm not there by telling myself that - and this is purely personal - only two handfuls of NY designers showing are properly relevant to the global picture of fashion. The rest are successful and pertinent in their homeland.

My NY stars are Marc Jacobs (+ Marc by Marc Jacobs), Alex Wang, Jason Wu, Philip Lim, The Row, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Diane von Furstenberg and Ralph Lauren. Also these days I can't not look at Joseph Altuzarra, Peter Som and Prabal Gurung to see what they are picking up on.

Though, as a side-thought, and in a kinda nostalgic way, I am loving that Tara Subkoff has properly brought her label Imitation of Christ (IoC) back to life in the form she originally created it back in the late nineties. Tara was feted then, and she and her friend Chloe Sevigny (who worked on the label too) were the coolest girls in NYC.

An older and wiser Subkoff did a runway show Thursday at the ballroom of the W hotel in Union Square that doubled as the actual wedding of model/actress Lydia Hearst to a man who, according to Susie Lau is called Miles. Though, from the impression I get no-one thought it was real at the time. Surely turning a genuine wedding into a fashion show (or is it the other way round?) is a fashion first?

N.B  SEPTEMBER 13th UPDATE, The Cut blog reported over night that Lydia Hearst claims she is not married after all, and remains resolutely single. So the most twsitedly cool fashion event of NYFW was a stunt after all!

Lydia Hearst and her un-identified new husband. (Image Racked.com)

IoC, in its original form, showed wonderful, crafty and romantic ways to re-work vintage, and seeing the girls dressed in1930s flapper dresses, and depression-era-seeming tea dresses as they wandered dreamily down the aisle made me wish I was at this particular happening.

I want it all. Imitation of Christ by Tara Subkoff

So, as I am not in New York, I use subscription only catwalking.com for visual close ups, flick onto Graziadaily.co.uk to see what our style director Paula Reed is up to and of course, for its complete hose-down of everything that breathes at any given fashion week, Style.com. I have been a fan of style.com since it began in 2000, and still miss my friend Sarah Mower's writing on there, (she's now at American Vogue's website, critiquing. A site, despite forcing myself to be patient with it, I find painful to navigate) though Tim Blanks and Nicole Phelps have stepped into the empty chief critic position at Style with aplomb.

ANYWAY..I've been dreaming of and waiting patiently for the day that on a catwalk site like style.com, a still catwalk image would be accompanied by a moving image, (what a geek). And this morning, when having some face time with the Jason Wu collection -  massive fan of his work and all that - I saw the day had come!  A button to the left of the image says "move It!" and boom, sure enough when you press said button on look 11, Jourdan Dunn - in a black lightweight parka with a decidedly 40s's hourglass/fishtail shape, gym shorts, and a pink lightweight knit over a cute-collared shirt - look, she walks!

Here are the looks from the show that made me go Wuuu...

Jason Wu SS12 (catwalking.com)

With his Spring/Summer 2012 show Jason Wu has picked up with some tiny trends that were emerging at the last shows, and run with them. Namely peplums, an hourglass silhouette of tiny waist and full volume at hips, pretty pink, acid-ish yellow, decorative collars and wearing the same print top-to-bottom. His look is very European American; and this collection is most definitely for a modern, young and cool version of Grace Kelly. Top marks.