It’s not Monday, it’s Menday: Faux Fur

Starting today, I’ll be injecting some testosterone into this blog.  From women’s fashion trends to street style photos, I’ve asked several of my favorite men’s style bloggers to sound off on this weekly ‘panel’ to see if they are on board with what us ladies find popular/attractive/amazing.

Get to know the men below, and click on each box to visit their blogs.

For the innaugural Menday, I’ve decided to focus on the faux fur trend.  The majority of us, myself included, love faux fur.  But are men down with this cozy trend as well?

Kenyatte:  First of all…can we just pass a general fashion rule that the combined weight of a women’s jacket and bag may not be more than her body weight (Mary Kate…WTF!?!)

That said, I am not a huge fan of this trend…not because I have anything against fur (or faux fur) but because when a women wears something like this, the fur piece tends to completely overshadow the women underneath.  With the exception of Victoria (who is wearing a piece that allows the eye to trail down to her stunning leather leggings) the other women look like caricatures.

——————————

Lawrence:  Normally I would use this platform to bitch about how attractive women act like they get a free pass when it comes to wearing ridiculous stuff.  But, to be quite honest, I can’t find too much fault in this faux fur gear (though it does help to be beautiful).  Too bad I can’t say the same thing about some of these shoes.  Goddamn.

——————————

Shaun:  Animals have (previously I wrote “wear”, but they don’t have a choice really) fur to keep themselves at a level temperature.  Humans wear fur because we don’t have it, well everyone except Robin Williams.  But faux fur?  And faux fur worn in such a way that it won’t keep you warm?  Is there any utilitarian purpose to their style?  Must I say more?  (I will admit though Mary Kate [or is that Ashley?]…either way she looks good.)

——————————

Will:  If it serves a purpose other than making you look part-animal, go for it. MKO looks downright frigid and could use all the layers she can get. Furthermore, I think the real question regarding Ms. Wasson is the shoes.

——————————

Paul:  I don’t necessarily have a problem with faux fur (I guess the less animals you kill for the sake of fashion, the better), but I think the faux fur prize definitely has to go to Victoria here.  She applies it well, going with a well-proportioned, sexy and classy look, and I applaud her effort in representing the fashionable ladies across the pond.  Besides, Mrs. Becks is the less annoying of the four, so I think I’d still side with her if only on principle alone.

——————————

Nick:  Faux? Great, now how is PETA going to know who to throw red paint on?  As if girls weren’t cuddly enough, you gotta go and dress ‘em up like teddy bears.  I’m a fan, for sure.  I’d make this trend mix tapes and throw rocks at its window at 2am.

——————————

Max:  About the faux fur look, I’d hate to upset any members of PETA, but if you’re going to wear fur, wear fur.  Forget the faux.  In general, I don’t advocate wearing fur.  I wouldn’t suggest actively seeking it out, but if by some means it is acquired, wear it when it’s cold.  In the case of fur, function should rule over fashion.  Yes, I’m talking to you LA.  There is a time and a season to wear fur, and it is called winter.

——————————

Dan:  Personally, I’m not a fan of the faux fur trend, mainly because I don’t like when women (or men for that matter) dress gaudy or in a manner that screams “I am better or richer than you.”  To me, it looks uptight and “uppity.” While these are clearly all beautiful women, I would say Erin Wasson wore it best because she’s pulling it off most subtly and down-to-earth-looking (or perhaps because she’s the only one not wearing those ridiculous oversized insect-looking glasses). – SB

——————————

Agree with the guys?  Yes, I will still continue to wear my faux fur… even in LA when the temps drop to a brisk 50 degrees (cough, Max).  Have an idea for what you want the guys to sound off on next week?  Please let me know in the comments box.

Hope you enjoyed this first post as much as I enjoyed putting it all together.

xo, Becs

New York Fashion Week Days 7 & 8

With NYFW wrapped, my fav collections were Jill Stuart, Alexander Wang, Jen Kao and Marchesa.  If I had to choose a favorite, it would be Jill Stuart.  The cut-outs, metallic fabrics, stud action and borderline indecent placement of mesh… I could go on, but you can take a look at her collection and just be amazed yourself.  Dana is back to share her stories from Days 7 & 8 of NYFW… and I’m SO jealous of who she got to meet.

Day 7 at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week NY – I never thought in a million years I would say this, but thank goodness Fashion Week is over tomorrow. Don’t get me wrong – I’ve had a BLAST so far – and the Getty Images Photographer I get to hang out with all day, Frazer Harrison, is the absolute best! He’s British, hilarious, easy to talk to, and very down-to- earth, even when he’s telling stories about shooting A-listers such as Angelia and Brad, Megan Fox, Julia Roberts – the list goes on. It’s very refreshing to meet someone so unaffected by the craziness of Hollywood that constantly surrounds him.

Ann Taylor Dress. J. Crew blazer. Steve Madden Luxe Shoes. Ann Taylor loft layered necklace. Sarah Chloe ‘D’ initial necklace. J. Crew, Ann Taylor, and Banana Republic bracelets

Anyway, today was another crazy day!! I decided that I would go to the 11:00AM Nanette Lepore show. I was planning on leaving the office at 10:30 — that’s until I started seeing tweets about who was attending the 10:00AM Michael Kors show — Rachel Zoe for one, need I say more?!  So, knowing that the shows don’t actually begin until about half past the hour and seeing as it was already 10:15, I knew I would need to hustle my high heeled (without flats in my bag to change into) self over to the tent ASAP if I wanted to catch a glimpse.  I got there just in time for the last four looks and the finale — and no RZ sightings! At that point I was sweating like I just ran the NY Marathon — All. For. Nothing.

Oh well – se la vie!  On to Nanette!  I head into the Promenade and take a seat. On each seat was a mini perfume, a “Save the Garment District” bumper sticker, an article from the NYT about saving the garment district, and a list/description of all the clothes we would shortly be seeing come down the runway.  Now, I sat in a Sponsor seat to rest my feet.  I decided that if I was going to sit in the seat, I would also be entitled to the contents on the seat. Therefore, I slyly put them into my bag.  SCORE.  As I learned yesterday, once the standing room only fills in, they start to fill in the open seats.  I promptly sat 2^nd row…until Elle Market Editor, Jade Frampton came along and claimed her actual seat — the one I was sitting in.  UGH.  Oh well, I ended up in the 6^th row — at least I wasn’t standing!  Someone who didn’t get kicked out of her seat was Lauren Conrad, sitting across the runway with her hair back in a chignon and her signature bohemian twist of hair on the sides.

Photo taken by Dana

Overall I really enjoyed the show. There were lots of colors – olive green, blue green, orange — all mostly paired with pink, which was actually a surprisingly nice combo.  There were also quite a few pieces that had a small pattern of little spots of color that from a far looked floral.  She had a lot of plunging necklines and short shorts.  Similar to the Max Azria show, Nanette used lots of very lightweight fabrics like silk and chiffon (but they had on bras today! Yay!).  Her clothes are very wearable which makes it also very likable.

The HIGHLIGHT of my day was when I went to the bathroom — OK, actually to the bathroom, but to the line.  Who was in line when I came out:

Brad from The Rachel Zoe Project and Dana

OMG OMG – I diiiied!!  And the best part was, he was actually really nice!  We even looked at the picture on my camera after it was taken to make sure it was up to par.  Well, that just totally made my day!!

Hopefully tomorrow I’ll end the week seeing a ‘big’ name celeb — like Rachel Zoe — she’s big in the fashion world at least!

It’s getting REALLY chilly in the Big Apple — I’m actually considering wearing tights tomorrow — I know, I don’t really think I’m ready either, but I also despise being cold I’ll let you know tomorrow!!

XoXo,

Dana

_______________________________________________

Last Day at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week, Day 8 — WOW.  I really feel like I ran a marathon the past 8 days. It’s been absolutely crazy – fun, but crazy!

Banana Republic T-shirt, blazer and skirt. Jessica Simpson peep toe heels. Black Spanx tights.

All week I had been eyeing up the TRESemme hair booth.  They had stylists there doing some touch-ups, but I thought it a.) cost something or b.) was reserved for VIPs.  I’m glad I asked!  While I was waiting for an editor to arrive, I had my hair curled — and let me tell you, it took this guy about 10 min. to do and it looks FABULOUS — even right now at almost 6pm as I’m writing this, I’m still impressed!  He used a really great product on my hair, and I suggest that anyone who tries to put a little volume in their hair with a curling iron use it.  It is the TRESemme 24 Hour Body Finishing Spray.  The stylist sprayed a whole bunch on my hair, and you can’t even tell it’s there, but it somehow held the curls!  Fabulous!!

While I was getting my hair did, I was watching the live video stream of the Isaac Mizrahi show.  Now, I didn’t see every show during the week, but I’ve at least seen pictures from them all, and I can say that hands down this was the absolutely most inventive runway ever!  I’m not even sure I can call it a runway.  I had to show you a few pictures of this — I’m not sure I would do it justice by simply describing it.

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Photo by Frazer Harrison/Getty Images

Also, as you can see, when the models stepped on to a certain part of the runway, a man had to come over with an umbrella because it was “raining” in that certain area.  Another model came out in a golf cart.  It was just so inventive and a breath of fresh air after all the super serious shows.

I went to the Trias show and sat 2^nd row.  Now, I’ve never heard of this designer, but I figured it was very possible that I just don’t know all the designers out there — but it seems as though this show was not too popular. At about half past the hour the show is supposed to begin, they let in the standing room — well I went in at about 3:10 and they were already filling seats.  The only big name that was there was Carolina Herrera.

Photo taken by Dana

Overall, I didn’t care for this show much — the designer made it look like the skirts were purposely big, and all of the models walked like they were robots.

Photo taken by Dana

I’m really hoping that they walked that way because they were supposed to, not because that’s their best walk.  If that’s the case, then I think I can safely say I have a much more fierce runway walk than them — and that’s not saying a whole lot.

Anyway, I thought I would show you a picture of who I was hanging out with all week — he took this one holding the camera out in front of us — much better than when I do that!

When you get a chance, Google Frazer Harrison. You’ll be amazed at how many celebs he’s shot.  He has story after story about different experiences he’s had and is quite an interesting guy.

That’s all for me from NY Fashion Week!  Maybe (if Becs lets me ) I’ll be back in February to report on the Fall 2011 lines!!

XoXo,

Dana

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

_______________________________________________________________

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

Tastefully Scandalous

SHEER goodness that goes the distance.  The sheer effect lets you show off just the right amount of skin, without straddling the hoochie line.  Did I just really say ‘hoochie’?  Think of it as being tastefully scandalous.

Images via Tobi.com

Business in the front; party on the side.  Digging the single cut-out shoulder on the Coming Soon Change Flared Dress ($477), with the surprise side sheer panels.  The Opening Ceremony Slip Dress ($396) adds a modern twist with sheer mesh patches at the top, bottom and sides.  Better make sure you’re wearing your best black briefs since they’ll be out on public display.

Images via ShopBop.com, BasicBoutique.com, RevolveClothing.com, FashionChateau.com

Other choice sheerness includes this Mason by Michelle Mason Tank Dress ($209) with lace cut-outs at the waist and bottom.  I’ve had my eye on this Loeffler Randall Overlay Dress ($312) for some time now, but that sale price (down from $625) hasn’t budged in months.   Although more on the classically sophisticated end, it’s also available in black at Goldyn.  I heart Karen Zambos Vintage Couture, and this Harlow Dress in Polka Dot ($215) is no exception.  It’s totally girly with the ruffle trim along the sweetheart neckline, and the emerald color is a bonus.  Finally, for a more simple sheer effect, the LaROK Blue Bon Voyage Dress ($277) is a carefree throw-on.

Currently overplaying Rachael Yamagata.