Thoughts on Fashion Week NYC

Now that Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is over and all the designers are currently in London, the opinions of top trends, and popular brands to be are in. Here are what some people had to say about Fashion Week. (Curtsey of WWD)

Linda Fargo, senior vice president, fashion office and store presentation, Bergdorf Goodman:
Big picture: It felt like the designers saved their gunpowder for fall, on the heels of a rather tepid pre-fall.

Trends: Fall will have rich offerings, given the sophisticated sensibilities we saw, such as tonal dressing, tailoring, ultrashine, military moods, leather separates and novelty fur. 

Thrill me: Special mention to Joseph Altuzarra and Proenza Schouler for their highly original collections. No other country cultivates its young tier of designers like the U.S., the bench strength of our fashion future. 

Amanda Brooks, fashion director, Barneys New York:

Thrill me: We loved The Row, Proenza Schouler, Derek Lam and Narciso Rodriguez. Also, L'Wren Scott’s romantic shapes in sumptuous colors and rich textures, and BOY by Band of Outsiders’ elevated tomboy chic, now more feminine and refined.

Arm candy: We were excited to see the new bag shape on the Proenza Schouler runway. Also, a knockout handbag collection from The Row, strong new styles and materials at Alexander Wang and 3.1 Phillip Lim and we loved the new bag at Rag and Bone. Narciso Rodriguez was very promising with a stunning shoe collection debut. His bags are off to a great start.

Sound off: It would be great for designers to move away from heavy fabrics for outerwear. We think our customer is looking for less season-specific layering pieces that can be worn from fall through spring. 

I agree with Amanda Brooks, especially when it comes to The Row and their handbag collection. When looking over the RTW Fall 2012 Collection I fell in LOVE with these two handbags. 

F/W 2012 Trends

Winter whites with fur and edgy jewelry. Especially for coats, shoes and handbags.

Clothing will be heavy metal colors, with lots of shine on everything. 

Also this week at MAGIC in Vegas, comfort was clearly the key message in all areas of the trade show. Sequins and shine were also seen in a lot of different lines, along with very feminine silhouettes.    

Free People

Free People is one of my favorite places to shop, I first fell in love with the store when I went there in Las Vegas. However, there are no physical stores anywhere around here, so I shop online. Then I was walking to work down at the Plaza, and saw the sign for a new store coming to the plaza. Free People will be opening in March 2012. It will be the only Free People store in the KC area. 

Urban Outfitters Online

Urban Outfitters is one of my favorite stores. There are always new and unique products in there that you cannot find anywhere else. I am from Omaha, Nebraska and the only Urban Outfitters we had was about half an hour away downtown, and was an absolute pain to get to. However, since I loved the style of their clothing so much I would always go online to see what they had. My favorite things to buy online from Urban is all the fun little accessories that they sell. I get A LOT of them as gifts for my friends birthdays. I have never had a problem when it comes to receiving the package and it always arrives on time if not earlier. 

urbanoutfitters.com

The Beauty Department

The Beauty Department is produced by Lauren Conrad, Kristen Ess and Amy Nadine. They have new posts every day about hair, nail and makeup trends. The Beauty Department has great tutorials on how to anything you may see on celebrities or runways, but with the easiest ways possible. One of my favorite things about this website is that you can email your questions to them, and they may just post about it for you. I like this because some bloggers do just what they want to do and not what others are wanting. 

http://thebeautydepartment.com/

Cupcakes and Cashmere

Cupcakes and Cashmere has been one of my favorite blogs for quite awhile now. 

Emily is the sole blogger for the site, that features different fashions, recipes, home decor and different how to's. Emily lives in Southern California, so sometimes it is hard to relate to some of her outfit choices when she is wearing shorts in February. However, just about everything else is relatable and unlike a lot of bloggers is my style. She does an excellent job of updating almost every day as well. Every Sunday she posts '5 Things', that she thinks are on trend or are just some of her favorite things. 

 how to's 

cupcakesandcashmere.com

Aly

Name; Aly

Age; 20

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Von Maur, American Eagle

Why I Chose Her; I first noticed Aly because I have a dress very similar to hers and have also thought about pairing it with a red a belt, but wasn't sure if I could pull it off. She with out a doubt pulls the look together, especially with her red shoes. 

Kaylee

Name; Kaylee

Age; 20

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Macy's and Nordstrom

Why I Chose Her; Kaylee had on a pair of dark skinny jeans, black boots, a dark scarf and a super cute cream shirt. I loved the way she looked so casual but also trendy with the skinny jeans and boots.

Julia

Name; Julia

Age; 20

Career; Student

Where She Shops; Von Maur

Why I Chose Her; I chose Julia because I loved her boots. I think knee high boots will always be in style for every fall season. I also really liked her top, which had a slight see through quality to it, but also had a really cute button down feature on the front. 

Hannah

Name; Hannah

Age; 20

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Forever 21, Wet Seal, Charlotte Russe

Why I Chose Her; I chose Hannah because I love the crop top look, and the shredded look at the bottom just gives it a rock and roll kind of feel to the look. Also pairing the shirt with white jeans makes her stand out. 

Jordyn

Name; Jordyn

Age; 19

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Francesca's 

Why I Chose Her; I loved how she paired a white jean with a dark navy shirt. Even though the rule is to "never wear white after labor day" she wore her winter white jeans and pulled it off completely.

Andrea

Name; Andrea

Age; 20

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Express and American Eagle

Why I Chose Her; I chose Andrea  because she had an effortless style, but looked absolutely stunning. Colored jean leggings are a big deal this season and she pulled them off effortlessly and with a lot of confidence. 

Stephanie D.

Name; Stephanie D.

Age; 18

Career; Student

Favorite Places To Shop; Charlotte Russe

Why I Chose Her; I chose Stephanie because I really liked the blue banding on her dress. It make a simple little black dress even better. I also really like the way she added tights to her outfit along with an ankle boot to make her dress even more trendy.

Rachel

Name; Rachel

Age; 19

Career; Student

Where She Likes To Shop; Forever 21 and Wet Seal

Why I Chose Her; I loved her blue and black dress the minute I saw it. I've been seeing lots of blue come into trend recently and I thought the way she paired the dress with the boots she was wearing was a great way to make it a winter look and also be able to wear the dress in the spring too. 

6 PM

http://www.6pm.com/

6PM is a website committed to mainly shoes, everything is discounted. Women's, men's and children's. 

There are name brand shoes up to 75% off retail price. You can easily select what style, color, size and brand that you want. 6pm also features a small amount of shoes and handbags, but their main focus is shoes. I really like how easy the site is to navigate and how even the latest styles are on sale. The purchasing process is very easy and you can also send back the shoes for a refund if they end up not working for you once you get them delivered to your house.

Inspire; By Tiffany

Inspire is located in Olathe, Kansas.

By far it is one of the smallest boutiques I have been in, but they have really cute and original things. 

One of my favorite things about Inspire is that unlike most small boutiques, you can also go online to look at items. So if I was looking for anything specific I could go online first and see what they have in store, before driving out there to go look. Inspire only carries women's clothing and a little amount of accessories and shoes.

inspire online

http://inspirebytiffany.com/index.html

Amaze

Amaze is a really neat boutique located in Overland Park on 135th and Quivera. It only sells women's and little girls clothing. They have fun little accessories, and knick knacks for things around the front. The store is very well organized, mainly by style of clothing. The associates and managers at the store are always very helpful and are interested in what you are looking for. 

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Amaze-Boutique-Studio/116219165089179?sk=info 

Trendz

Trendz is located in Leawood, Kansas right off of 151st and Nall. 

They have over 50 individual boutiques right in the one store. Each separate "boutique" is signed and has a different feel to each area. However, it helps that they put each boutique in the same room that has similar items. So all of the children's clothes are in one area, women's in another, etc. One thing I really like about Trendz is the jean selection. They have lots of different fits, washes and prices. However they all look somewhat like Miss Me's, so if you are not looking for something along the Miss Me line, I would not recommend looking for jeans there.

At first the store is somewhat hard to navigate, but after awhile its easy to figure out how it is organized. One thing that I did not like about Trendz is that the staff there was not very helpful to me or interested in helping me find what I was looking for. I have also heard that the first Thursday of every month they have a 'Girls Night Out' and show what is new in the store to customers and have some snacks and drinks.

 

Francesca's Online

http://www.francescascollections.com/

Not only does Franchesca's have boutiques in 33 different states, but they have a really great online shopping experience. The site is easy to navigate, even easier than shopping in store. They have a new arrival, featured item of the week that is 20% off. The site features everything you could find in store, and then some. Franchesca's Online sells apparel, bags, shoes, jewelry, accessories, and also different gifts. The gifts department sells different trinket like items such as;

 

                                                 Ice Cube Trays                      USB Ports

I love shopping online at Franchesca's because it is easy to find what you are looking for, you dont feel overwhelmed by clothes and products everywhere. Returns are easy, if the product you ordered is not what you thought it would be, you can easily take it into the nearest store and return/exchange it or send it back via mail. The clothes are always very on trend, comfortable and easy to take care of also.

Frankie & Jules

Frankie & Jules storefront 

Frankie & Jules is an unique, small boutique located in Overland Park, Kansas. 

When I first moved to Kansas this is one of the first boutiques recommend to me. Once you step foot in the door you understand why it is just a hidden gem of a store. Frankie & Julies employees make sure that they help you in every way possible. They give their complete honest opinions on what you are trying on, and if they do not like that certain product on you, they will find something similar for you. Frankie & Jules has unique products that I have not seen in any other stores in the Kansas City area. 

The target market for Frankie & Jules is early 20s- early 40s women who are interested in keeping up with the latest fashion trends. Not only does Frankie & Jules sell clothing, but accessories and shoes.  

Checkout Counter

http://frankieandjules.com/index.html