TREND I-SPY

In a rather bland runway season for Fall 2011, one non-shoe or handbag accessory has been ubiquitous. The wide-brimmed portrait or picture hat has symbolized many fashion eras, most recently the 1970s. Iconic fashion figures from Bianca Jagger and Angelica Huston to Cher and Lauren Hutton have been photographed wearing one.There is something wonderfully ladylike and yet bohemian about these hats. For Fall designers used a wide range of sophisticated colors from cloudy pink and nude to deep teal, purple and ochre Marc by Marc Jacobs, Fall 2011 Christian Dior, Fall 2011 Chris Benz, Fall 2011   Gucci, Fall 2011

Recently on display at The Didier Aaron Gallery some paintings by an unknown seventeenth century artist from Italy, simply known as The Master of The Blue Jeans. As the Didier Aaron website describes, "Although we do not know his name or nationality, the Master of the Blue Jeans holds an original place among the European painters of reality of the seventeenth century. In his hands, poor, humble people are depicted with a dignity and directness rarely given to such subjects.   The paintings show women and children wearing a blue cloth with a white-thread weave that typifies the famous Genoese fabric. This forerunner to modern denim derives its name from ‘Genes’ in French, which became ‘Geanes’ in seventeenth-century English. Imagine that! 500 years ago these poor Italian folks were wearing denim". Centuries later, not so dissimilar looks shown on the G-Star runway during New York Fashion Week. G-Star Fall 2011 G-Star Fall 2011 G-Star Fall 20...

New York Fashion Week is well underway, one of my favorite shows so far has been Edun. I think this gypsy trend is going to be huge. Here is the style.com review. Edun, By Nicole Phelps Sharon Wauchob is now in her second season at the reins at Edun , and the picture of what the brand will become under the Irish designer's leadership is coming into focus. Her Fall runway, not unlike last season's, was full of real, wearable clothes. As hard as this might be to believe, you can't necessarily say that about all the contemporary labels out there. But Wauchob has apparently surrounded herself with a fresh, young team and she says that helps keep her in touch with what cool girls want to wear. Let's start with the coats. The quilted khaki storm trench that opened the show has the X factor that will make it a popular personal order item with editors. In this era of influential street style blogs that really means something, and there was more soli...