BY LAUREN DAVID PEDEN/THE FASHION INFORMER

It always makes me laugh to look at photos from the shows, when all you see are perfect-looking models in perfect-looking makeup in perfect-looking clothes. Because while there’s certainly plenty of all of the above, the fact is that if the camera were to turn just a foot, or, in some cases, an inch, to the left or right, the reality would look very different.

Between the crowds (which are usually packed in like sardines), the venues (far grittier than the typical runway glamour shots would lead you to believe), and the machinations to actually get to the events (Lincoln Center may be the official “home” to New York Fashion Week, but the shows are, in fact, spread out in different locations all over the city, with many designers opting to present in the farthest reaches of Chelsea), New York Fashion Week is often about as far from being fun and glamorous as you can imagine.
Continue reading “NYFW 2011: Perception vs. Reality” »

BY LAUREN DAVID PEDEN/THE FASHION INFORMER

Okay, so it’s only Day Two of New York Fashion Week, but I’ve noticed an early trend bubbling up (or should I say down): Long skirts. Way long. As in grazing the ankle and maybe, if you’re lucky, rising just high enough to allow for a little glimpse of the lower calf.

Legend has it that women’s hemlines are predictors of the national economy, and as skirt lengths rise, so too, do our financial prospects. Lowered hems, on the other hand, traditionally equate to a sinking economy. I don’t put much stock in the Hemline Index (which was conceived back in the 1920s by the economist George Taylor), but I couldn’t help but notice a common thread among six of the seven women’s collections I’ve seen over the last two days. The aesthetics may have been wildly different from show to show, but they all had one thing in common: skirts that were long, longer, longest.
Continue reading “NYFW 2011: Trend Alert – The Hemline Index” »