By Mari Gezalyan
Mhgezalyan@gmail.com
It’s that time of the year again, where the old is thrown out, buried deep in the back of the closet, or revamped for a new season. As I switched out my L.A.’s finest for New York’s warmest, I realized that this year’s Fashion Week was going to be one to go down in history as the season that changed it all. Riding high on the wave of a faux depression filled with layoffs, unemployment, and the reversal of the American psyche from “I want” to “I need,” designers have taken the approach of making their creations more realistic rather than surreal.
This fall get ready to bring out the red, the orange, the pale blues and all hues that are new! Georges Chakra, Ports 1961, Zac Posen, Donna Karen, Perry Ellis, and countless many have made their runways pop with red silks, velvets, and georgettes. Hello fox, grey, and goat skin trenches. The rich fabrics and gracing silhouettes embrace the female form while feminizing masculine looks. To my surprise, leg wear is ever more present. Bold, opaque, sheer, hints of sheen, or textured are seen with ready-to-wear and evening gowns. They are paired with open toe booties, strappy sandals, sky-high platforms, and flats. Whether it is Custo Barcelona’s flamboyant colors or Diane von Furstenburg’s classic warps modified, I am anxiously counting down the months until fall.
Fashion Week is not all about what happens on the runway but what is happening off the catwalk. When I met my friend Kate Dommick, style editor of People magazine’s Style Watch, our talk about losing Alexander McQueen (the Kobe Bryant of fashion who died earlier that week) and loving Calvin Klein’s timeless clean cuts had shifted to the tragic earthquake in Haiti. Model Naomi Campbell’s Fashion for Relief - Haiti brought in the star power combined with the help of fashion’s finest, to raise aid for the still struggling country. Victoria Beckham, Kelly Osbourne, and Molly Sims were only a few of the countless celebrities lending their star-power for the cause, along with QVC who had joined Mercedes-Benz by donating 95% of their “Fashion for Haiti” shirts’ profit. “It’s amazing how people come together when there is some sort of tragedy. This past month has been mind blowing - first Haiti and then McQueen. It makes you realize how important the little things are in life,” stated Dommick over lattes.
It certainly is a different world out here in New York. Coming from the laid back, overly heated, and at times superficial lifestyle that embraces Los Angeles, it is refreshing to be set back into reality. Through all the shows, meetings, and shopping around the City, I found myself asking the same question, “Why is L.A. Fashion Week such a joke?” Being a true California native who surfed during the summers, scheduled my events around Laker games, and confined myself to my box on wheels, it is such a shame that the culture out in Southern California is so fixed on artificial aesthetics. Yes, there is fashion week in L.A., yes we do have stressful days, yes we do walk to our destinations (even if is 10 steps from our cars to the front door); nevertheless, I can’t help but realize that there is something missing. Maybe it’s the drive, the angry cabbies, the rush of Wall Street, or simply the New York state of mind.
As I get ready for the last day of Fashion Week, I click my Roger Vivers only to realize I am home at Bryant Park.
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