TheRunwayScoop

Paris Hilton Strikes Again

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 18:44:57 -0700

The billionaire heiress strikes again. Paris Hilton launched her new footwear collection at the Macy's in the Fashion Show Mall in Las Vegas. Naturally, she drew a crowd anxious to get a glimpse of what threatens to be a big flop. Others think the shoes are definitely overpriced. The collection will also be available at Kitson, Zappos.com, Endless.com, Bakers, Lord & Taylor and select specialty boutiques across the country.

You can't be mad at Paris for putting her name on everything, but does she really have to? She's set for life. Frankly, I think she should just stick to perfumes. I happen to like her Can Can fragrance...

I'm In Denial, Neon IS Back

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 10:08:40 -0700

Neon is officially back - well, according to Simon Doonan it is. The Creative Director of Barney's New York and author of several books including Confessions of a Window Dresser,says that you need neon accessories so you don't get hit by a car when you're drunk and staggering down the dark streets at night. Alrighty then! Simon has spoken.

I thought to myself, Could it be that neon really is back? Some of you are probably wondering, Where have you been? Neon is sooooo in right now! I must have missed that memo and truly in denial. For some reason I thought neon was completely banned from making a comeback, like acid-washed denim is. I did a blogsearch for "neon fashion" and yes, Dear Readers, neon is back.

Diane von Furstenberg and Liz Claiborne Inducted into Fashion Walk of Fame

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 00:31:49 -0700

Their time has come. Early Wednesday morning Diane von Furstenberg and the late Liz Claiborne were inducted into the Fashion Walk of Fame. These two illustrious fashion icons is joining the likes of Donna Karan, Marc Jacobs, Halston, Calvin Klein, Anne Klein and Oscar de la Renta as honorees of this prestigious award. The recipients are awarded a plaque that gets embedded into sidewalk of Seventh Avenue.

Art Ortenberg, the former husband of Liz Claiborne, accepted her award...

The Fashion Walk of Fame was started in 1999 by the Fashion Center BID. The criteria for nominations include:

A significant New York presence
Owned their own businesses for at least 10 years
Have been moving forces in the fashion industry and have made a powerful impact on fashion through either innovative design or the use of materials, or significantly influenced the way America dresses.

You can't blame Diane von Furstenberg for going on vacation to celebrate. She certainly deserves it. I would too knowing that Fashion Week is just around the corner!

Coutorture's Latest Editorial: An Artist's Perspective

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:06:50 -0700

Ok, so fashion photography has been on my mind quite a bit lately. Last Friday I talked about Fashionation. Then yesterday I talked about Bryan Adams' work - which I'm still in awe of. I'm not sure why I'm so surprised that he would be a photographer. It's not like singers can't be multi-talented. Oh, but I digress...

And today I came across Sarah Conley's announcement about Coutorture's latest photo editorial, The Sun Doesn't Care. I was immediately drawn to this photo because of the purple...

I love the contrast of colors and the emotion that emanates from this photo. It's as if the model is thinking, "Damn, it's sweltering hot, but I still look good, no?"

Bryan Adams A Fashion Photographer?

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 20:37:54 -0700

Did you know that Bryan Adams is a fashion photographer? I had no idea... Glam Boulevard says that the musician/photographer is the mastermind behind the Guess F/W 2008 Ad campaign.

I remember Bryan Adams from "back in the days" when he sang “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You”. For those of you who aren't familiar with his work, here's a video of my favorite Adams song, "Summer of 69"...

Those of you regular readers know how much I love black and white photography. Here's a piece that Adams did featuring Victoria Beckham...

Buy Bryan Adams' compilation CD, So Far So Good

Fashion Highlights: Miami Fashion Week 2008

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 18:08:34 -0700

I've gone over some photos from Miami's Fashion Week, but to be quite honest, I'm just not that interested in swimwear. However, I did come across a few pieces from the Cia.Maritima collection that I did like. Cia.Maritima is considered to be the most sought-after swimwear line in Brazil. The brand was launched by Benny Rosset back in 1990. For the 2009 collection, the design team found inspiration from the psychedelic looks of the 60's and 70's.

For those of you who want to check out some of the highlights from Miami, here's a photo montage I came across over at YouTube...

Welcome Racked and Coutorture Annex Readers!

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:29:59 -0700

Today I noticed a huge spike in traffic coming from the a website called Racked, a blog that covers New York City shopping, stores, and the overall retail scene - and another good read to add to the list!

So, welcome to all who have come here to check out my Richard Chai for Target review !

Also, welcome Coutorture Annex readers who have come here through the post about Know More Media...As I stated, I will keep blogging here, so I encourage you to subscribe to The Runway Scoop via feeds or if you prefer to receive blog posts via email, enter your address in the form under the "Subscribe" heading in the middle column.

Although I will remain here at The Runway Scoop, posting will be light for the next month as I work on a few projects. Expect to see about two posts a week until, of course, fashion week in New York!

Monday Fashion Scoop

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 20:12:58 -0700

Today has been more a reading day than a writing day. Here's some fashion scoop to check out:

Cathy Horyn comments on the Halston situation. I really hope the brand does revive itself because I really liked the spring collection. Is the marketing team sleeping?

Looks like Nina Garcia is wasting no time making friends...

Coutorture is talking about sustainability of the fashion industry chain. I certainly like the idea of more sustainable materials used in fashion.

Portfolio.com reports that Balenciaga is going beachy. I'm curious how the brand is going to fit in with the O.C. crowd...

The Business of Fashion gives us the lowdown on what Made in Italy really means - great comments there too!

Richard Chai For Target Review

Mon, 28 Jul 2008 17:28:32 -0700

This past weekend a brand new Target opened up in my area, so I thought I'd go on an adventure to see what it had to offer in terms of clothing. To my surprise, this Target had already stocked Richard Chai's collection which is supposedly scheduled to launch on August 3rd.

Pickings were a little slim and I couldn't really find anything in my size. However, I did try on a couple dresses. This first one was a tad bit tight (I've come to the realization that I no longer wear a size 5). It probably would've looked better with a cardigan or vest...

This second dress has my name written all over it...

All in all, I would say that the collection delivered, although others may think otherwise. You can't really expect too much from a $45 dress.

About the Designer: Richard Chai helped launch the Marc by Marc Jacobs line and has also worked under the Donna Karan, Geoffrey Beene, and TSE brands. In 2004 Chai launched his very own collection and has received rave reviews ever since.

Update: If you've come here via Racked, click here!

Once You Go Black…

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 18:37:33 -0700

For years now we’ve talked about the “lack of color” on the runways and in fashion magazines. White models take center stage because supposedly that’s what people want to see. They (modeling agencies) say that women want the blue-eyed, blonde hair life.

But now, hopefully, that’s all changed.

Perhaps all this talk has gotten into the heads of the editors over at Vogue Italia because the magazine just came out with a “black” issue that has everyone around the world clamoring to get their hands on it.

Now let’s see if other magazines take a cue from this. And as for Vogue Italia, well, as the saying goes…”Once you go black, you never go back!”

For those of us who missed out on this historic edition, check out Jezebel's guided tour...

Mariah Carey's Cover on Elle: Publicity Stunt?

Sun, 27 Jul 2008 11:29:03 -0700

Someone needs to fire the designers who created the front cover of the August issue of Elle magazine. One of my favorite music idols, Mariah Carey, is botched up so bad, but then, why should we be surprised? The editors over at Elle could possibly be quite delusional to think they could pass off that cover as being real. They've been doing it so long that it now looks ok to them. As Stephanie Quilao says, "You'd think that Elle would at least put Mariah's head on right."

But then again, it could be a publicity stunt to get us buzzing about it. In that case, it worked.

Yves St. Laurent Resort 2009

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 19:24:15 -0700

As the fashion world gets set for another round of fashion weeks, there are fashion houses already getting a jump start in marketing their 2009 collections. It certainly makes economic sense to forgo a big runway show and simply launch a video on the internet for everyone to see. Yves St. Laurent's Stefani Pilati did just that by creating this video for the 2009 Resort collection which is available exclusively via Style.com. This collection is very sophisticated with a neutral color palette - black, greys, tans, with a hint of color here and there. It's timeless and features menswear-inspired pieces that YSL is known for. Check out the video below...

Inspiring Fashion Photography Resource: Fashionation

Fri, 25 Jul 2008 17:43:19 -0700

You gotta love the power of Twitter. Had it not been for Crosby of PR Couture tweeting about Fashion Inspiration, I wouldn't have discovered Fashionation and all the phenomenal fashion photography out there - not to mention Carrie & Danielle's awesome blog. It's resources like Fashionation that put a smile on my face and bring about new channels of creativity within me. It's been a long time since I've been blown away by fashion photography. It's nice to be able to go to just one place and see it all...

By the way, if you're on Twitter, you can follow me here: @studio747. (Studio 747 is my other blog)

Super Fierce: Christian Siriano's Collection For Bluefly

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 17:21:33 -0700

Christian Siriano, the Project Runway winner who took the fashion world by storm with his signature puffy shoulders, has a new collection for Bluefly. Here's a short video clip showing how it all came about from concept to photo shoot...

According to FabSugar, the collection is selling out fast. I just checked out the Bluefly website and see only three pieces remaining: a gold shift dress, a gold pencil skirt, and the "Posh" puff sleeve blouse.

It goes without saying that Siriano has some serious talent and will definitely go far in the business. I'm excited to see what else he has in store for us...

Should We Support the Modeling Industry?

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:48:00 -0700

Atlanta Carpet Cleaning - interior fashion never looked so clean! The fabrics, upholstery and carpet runways makeup assistants.

Elle of Kiss Me Stace stopped by the blog the other day to leave her thoughts on my post, Celebrity-Less Fashion Ads, and what she had to say made me stop and rethink the idea about using models in fashion ads. I do agree that it would be better to use "real" people in ads - people who are bigger than a size "0" and aren't airbrushed over. That option would certainly be at the top of the list, but since that's not happening anytime soon, why not give the job to the aspiring models? I don't see anything wrong with that.

However, as Elle pointed out, there are so many things wrong with the modeling industry, so why support these models? The industry is full of pressure to be skinny, "there's the lack of doing something real and meaningful" (Elle's words, not mine).

Whether or not modeling is a meaningful career to get into is up for debate, but we won't get into that in this post. Yes, there are many things that could be improved in the modeling industry, but I wouldn't say that the whole industry shouldn't be supported. There are legitimate agencies out there that promote realistic-looking models...and besides, if there weren't models, there wouldn't be any runway shows!

And since we're on the subject of modeling, here's an interesting post by Elle that is slightly related: Magazine Ads Decrease - Is this bad? With ads on the decline, there may be some models without jobs pretty soon ;(