Marcy Carmack

Highlights from NY Fashion Week Fall 2010

Fashion Week as we know it, will morph interestingly in the near future with so many elements changing. The shows will be in Lincoln Center next September, economic pressures will continue, there will be more live streaming on the internet and an added prominence of style-hungry bloggers. Additionally, by banishing celebrities from his front row, Marc Jacobs has pointedly returned the focus of fashion to the clothes.

One of the highlights for me was sitting next to legend Suzy Menkes, Fashion Editor of the International Herald Tribune. She has been covering fashion shows for 44 years and can really make or break a designer. I told her I had lived in Manhattan and now lived in San Francisco. She thought I had made a wise move as she is quite enchanted with SF. She covers San Francisco's Academy of Art's show in NYC which is quite a coup for AAU. The show is really well done and has more latitude to be creative than the shows of established designers.

Zac Posen is obviously a very talented designer. The workmanship in each piece is extraordinary, although the ability of his designs to fit and flatter isn't always there. A special treat that opened his show and played throughout was Miri Ben-Ari, known as the HIP HOP violinist. Sublime along with Zac's red velvet.

Carolina Herrera puts on a beautiful perfectly executed show every season. Many shows are sort of tag teamed by Vogue with a couple of editors attending. For Mrs. Herrera, they all show: Anna Wintour to the left of the model, Virginia Smith to the right, then Hamish Bowles, then Grace Coddington, Tonne Goodman and Sally Singer. Hard to see but hopefully you can see Anna's bob and Grace's red tresses.

Thom Browne is a favorite. There is always something otherworldly or wacky about his shows. This time we entered the grand old Park Avenue Armory and wondered with great anticipation what was next, all the while listening to Mozart. To me, Thom takes classic sartorial elements- argyle, stripes, checks, tweeds- and turns them upside down to great effect. Black Fleece, a collection Thom Browne designs for Brooks Brothers, is opening a store in San Francisco soon. Will keep you posted.

Jason Wu presented a capsule collection for TSE that was perfection. It is hard to imagine that someone who looks like a child can design such subtly sophisticated clothes. Modern, fresh, wearable and fantastic.