Last night marked the half-way point of Fashion Week, so I thought I'd do a round-up of my favorite looks up to this point. Much as I expected, there aren't any collections that compare to Christian Siriano's, at least for me. I'm sure there are plenty of people out there with a different style sensibility who think there are lots of shows that are more exciting than Christian's, but if you know me at all, you know my style and you know that Christian's show was chock-full of looks I die for.
That being said, there were still plenty of amazing looks on the runways at Lincoln Center. The show that came the closest for me was Carolina Herrera. Her looks all seemed to be inspired by antique flower and plant prints like these. Some of the designs integrated the prints in really clever and interesting ways. Other seemed to simply be tacked ono the dress. In most cases, it was a stunning effect. Herrera also featured a slim, 60's style silhouette, much along the lines of what Joan Holloway would wear. I drooled over so many of her looks:
The gowns were also really stunning. I loved Herrera's use of prints:
Jason Wu's show was also quite beautiful. I loved some of his more formal looks as well as his separates. He also featured the slim 60's silhouette, but in a slightly shorter hemline. I also fell in love with the oversize bows done in soft sheers. The two ruffle-y cocktail dresses below are both reminiscent dresses shown in Christian Siriano's Project Runway show, so that's probably why I like them so much.
Few designers had me falling in love with more than a couple of looks, but I still took the time to scroll through nearly every picture of every show that's happened thus far. Here are a few of my favorite looks so far:
Cynthia Rowley's collection featured lots of round cut-outs in nearly every look. Sometimes I loved it, other times not so much. I did like these two looks:
Erin Featherston featured gorgeous fedoras with super-feminine dresses in prints and solids. Her fabric choices and prints were simply luxurious:
Z Spoke by Zac Posen and Vivienne Tam each had one look that I loved, too:
I loved the criss-cross blue fabric draping on this dress by Zac Posen:
It's not often you see lace like on this Vivienne Tam dress:
So far, the most notable aspects of the shows I've seen are the abundance of neutrals. So many of these shows are nearly or completely devoid of color. Whether resort, couture or ready-to-wear, I've seen a lot of beige, cream and grey. Not that I mind, a lot of it is really beautiful.
Do you have any thoughts on the designs that have shown already? Leave a comment! And enjoy the rest of fashion week!
Did you all watch the Emmy's last night? Some of my favorite shows did really well- Modern Family, Mad Men, Dexter, Top Chef- it was fun to watch. Jimmy Fallon was a good host, too. I especially enjoyed his tribute to shows that ended this season with his quick costume changes from Elton John to Boyz II Men to Green Day as well as the clever song choices and lyric changes:
But now for the fashions...
There were many more hits than misses in the gowns that I saw, but I did notice a few trends: there were quite a few one-shoulder gowns and even more white grecian gowns. Most of the stars who chose to make a statement with color did so with rich, jewel tones as opposed to pastels or brights. There were also quite a few black gowns on the red carpet, but none really stood out for me. The one who did stand out, though was Elisabeth Moss in a one-shoulder Donna Karan in a stunning shade of nude:
Please forgive the terrible shot that crops the bottom of her dress out of the photo- it was SO hard to find a good photo of this look, but this is the best I could do. I'm so happy for Elisabeth Moss in this look because she has had some serious red carpet duds. And her character of Peggy Olsen on Mad Men isn't exactly a fashionista either. From the flawless gown to the perfectly coifed hair to the understated jewelry, she nailed it. Kudos, Elisabeth!
Some other lovely one-shoulder looks:
Jennifer Carpenter
Cheryl Hines
Jane Lynch
Nina Dobrev
The other trend most apparent (at least to me) was the choice to wear white. Or maybe it was really apparent because Rachel Zoe just had a freak-out on the last episode of "The Rachel Zoe Project" about not being able to use white AT ALL for the Golden Globes, so I noticed even more when someone was in white. I dunno. Either way, these ladies ALL rocked it:
Brooke Burke
Amber Riley
Rose Byrne
Eva LaRue
Kim Kardashian
Julie Benz
The last of my favorites didn't really fall into either trend category of one-shoulder or all-white, but they looked stunning none-the-less. In fact, I think I liked these because many of them were unexpected
Lea Michele
Sofia Vergara
Toni Collette
Tina Fey
Claire Danes
Jayma Mays
And now for the worst-dressed...
While Elisabeth Moss was nailing it in Donna Karan, her co-stars Christina Hendricks and January Jones were making major flops in their choices:
Neither one of these looks really works. The Zac Posen, while beautiful, would be better suited to a different body type. Although, I do like Christina's hair. As for the Versace, it's wearing January Jones, not the other way around. The cone-like detail on the bust is a little too Madonna-esque for my taste and her hair looks messy, but not in a sophisticated way. About the only thing I like about her look is the shoes, which I assume are Louboutins.
Some other major red carpet disasters:
Emily Blunt (what's with the little tufts of tissues stuck all over the dress?)
Emily Deschanel (the color's not bad, but this dress does NOTHING for her.)
Holly Burrell (I have no words, except maybe, "Is this a joke?")
Lauren Graham (Hmm.... weird, and a poor shoe choice to boot.)
Mary Hart (as if the dress weren't bad enough, what is with the hair?!?)
Mindy Kaling (What a total tulle disaster!)
Mariska Hargitay (My only issue with this dress is the ruffle at the neckline. Aside from that, it's amazing. So, why the ruffle? It ruined a perfectly stunning gown. Ruined.)
Maura Tierney (The fabric reminds me of a sofa in a hotel lobby and the neckline is not doing anything for her.)
The men managed to look pretty dapper (for the most part) last night. Men have it easy with tuxedos- there's nothing more classic and sophisticated. I appreciate when they try to mix is up a little, but some are more successful than others. For example, Ryan Murphy looked incredible in the irridescent Tom Ford jacket that was tailored to perfection. His slightly oversize bowtie helped support the quirky choice, and the plain black pants kept it from going over-the-top:
Another "Glee" standout was Kevin McHale who chose a mustard bow-tie as the finishing look on his tux:
Neil Patrick Harris pretty much always looks great for these types of events, but last night his grey tux with black lapel was a complete knock-out. I love it!
Some other great looks for men:
John Hamm
Mario Lopez
Mark Salling
Skinny ties were in abundance last night and I loved it, but there was another trend I didn't enjoy quite so much. Lots of men made the choice to wear the tux without a tie at all:
Eric Stonestreet (first photo) plays one of my favorite characters on Modern Family and he took home the Emmy for Supporting Actor last night. Do you think he wishes he took the time to tie on the bow tie, now? I hope so. It's one thing to loosen or even remove your tie at the after-party, but I'm not a huge fan of this no-tie look as a choice. Even worse, though, was Alan Cumming's take on it:
I suppose he's going for the ascot-effect, but it just ended up looking like he tied his skinny tie around his neck instead of around his shirt collar. And I can't even talk about those loafers.
Well, that's about it for my red carpet commentary. What did you think of the fashions last night?
