New York Fashion Week Days 5 & 6

Over the past few days, I’ve been living vicariously through my fabulous friend Dana who’s been at New York Fashion Week for work with Getty Images (which provided the images below as noted).  A fellow fashionista and Jersey girl, Dana will be guest blogging and sharing her personal experience and snapshots at NYFW, including who she spied at the tents and breaking NYFW down for those of us who have never actually had the opportunity to experience it.   Below are her posts from Monday and Tuesday.  Thanks so much Dana!

Me (sans bangs) and Dana

Day 6 At Mercedes Benz Fashion Week – Whew – another whirlwind of a day! What amazes me the most (well one of the things) is that a HUGE celeb like Rachel Bilson can walk not even ten feet away from me and it’s not until later that someone will say “Did you see Rachel Bilson this morning” that I’ll realize who the heck walked past me!  I guess I need to be more attentive to the passerbyers…

Well, today I went to my first show in the tents, Max Azria (the whole thing in Bryant Park is called “The Tents” but there are 3 different venues to show at — the Promenade, the Salon, and the Tent).  As a designer, you know you’ve hit the big time when you’re showing your line in the Tent.  Not only is it the biggest of the three, but there is a different audience set up — with two rows of chairs sitting back to back in the middle of the runway — that allows more people to be in the oh-so-coveted “Front Row” seats.  Lucy Liu, Mickey Rourke, Nastia Lutkin, Kelly Rowland and Katrina Bowden were a few of the A-listers that nabbed this row.  Since I somehow finagled my way to the 2^nd row, I’m not quite as envious of them as I would have been had I kept my original spot in the “photog pit”.

Photo taken by Dana

I’m a HUGE fan of the dresses from his BCBG line, so I knew Max’s higher-end collection could only get better.  I was right.  Well kind of.

LIKES:

1. Colors: I absolutely loved all the colors in his line — from light rose hues, to peach tones, and elephant grays — they were not the most Spring-y colors, but they were rather stunning, especially against the very pale skin of most of the models.  I felt a little better about my Casper the Ghost-like appearance.

2. Materials:  Everything was made out of a very lightweight material. Anything from silk to jersey knits, to almost a mesh-type fabric, these clothes were certainly not made to be worn in the cold.**

3. Shapes:  I really liked all of the shapes of the dresses, pants, shirts — everything really. I think what I liked the most was that the majority of the pieces were very flowy which works great with nearly every body type.

DISLIKES:

1. Tony the Tiger for Max Azria. What was up with all of the slits (which you can see in some of the photos)? I don’t think it made the pieces look chic at all – in fact, if I didn’t know it was Max Azria, I might not even look twice. Thank goodness the colors and materials were very subtle, because if they weren’t, these tiger-like tears could have easily made the line look very, well, hooker-ish.

Photo by Stephen Lovekin/Getty Images

Photo by Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

2. Undergarments. OK, I realize it’s a recession and all (and maybe that can explain the reason for the tears – not enough fabric to finish) – but undergarments, especially bras can really make or break an article of clothing. These girls, were not only sans undergarments, they were cold** (if you get my drift). Therefore, the lightweight fabrics were doing nothing to cover up their – friends. I truly think I would have liked the collection a bit more if I wasn’t so aware of the temperature in the room, via the models on the runway.

That was the only show I got to see today – but I think I overall choose a good one. Tomorrow I’m planning on going to Nanette Lepore – I’ll give you a full report.

Today’s Outfit:

As today is supposedly the last “summer-like” day, I went with a little more light-weight outfit. On the top I wore an Ann Taylor black paneled tank with an exposed zipper on the left (another huge trend I’m seeing a lot of).  Over my top I had on a White House|Black Market sheer black cami (WHBM had an advertisement on the whole outside cover of WWD today!).  On the bottom, I had on a pair of black shin length pants and wore faux-python light tan Calvin Klein heels and a Banana Republic cream statement necklace.  Today it was 80 degrees – tomorrow’s forecast calls for a high of 65!  Talk about fall coming fast!!

Okay, that’s about all I have to report today. I’ll be back for day 7 (!) of MBFW!

XoXo,

Dana

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Day 5 of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in New York City – Ah, NY Fashion week.  So many fashionistas wandering about, it’s almost too much to take in – but not enough to observe and report for the faithful readers of Style with Benefits.

One of the (many) cool things about the lobby area of the tents are the little rooms that are all around the concourse area.  There is everything from a McCafé Lounge (I had one of the sugar-free vanilla, fat-free latte’s –- it was no Starbucks, but I would definitely say it is a great alternative if you’re in a coffee jam) -– to a QVC lounge, where Rachel Zoe premiered her new accessories line this past weekend.  Sharpie Markers also had a fun booth where they were giving out T-shirts and markers so you could draw on them.  Who knew you’d find a taste of summer camp right in the middle of Bryant Park?  Betsey Johnson even got in on the action!

Photo by Brian Ach/Getty Images

I was lucky enough to have a free hour to check out the Tracy Reese show. Some of the celebs in attendance included Miss Jay Alexander and Nigel Barker from America’s Next Top Model, Kelly Rowland, Gabriel Union, Kim Kardashian and Ciara.  Overall, the show was fabulously girly.  There were lots of orange and mustard colors as well as floral prints and really awesome shapes dresses and skirts.

Photo taken by Dana

It looks like the stud trend is here to stay because they are everywhere.  Another big trend that I saw is the layering of necklaces and bracelets – like I did today!

Banana Republic dress and blazer. Ann Taylor Loft gold layered necklace and gold bangles. J.Crew black gemstone necklace. Lalia Rowe black studded bracelet. Michael Kors shoes

Ok, that’s about all from me today!!  I’m tired and more importantly, I have no clue what I’m wearing tomorrow, so I better get on it!  More to follow for the rest of this week!

XoXo,

Dana