FASHION BY THE RULES: NY Fashion Week, The Good, the Bad, The Ugly

VICTORIA BECKHAM returns for Spring 2011 with a looser, but shapely and still sexy silhouette. There is no mistaking the feminine body conscious shapes that have become her trademark. She has shown us that she is quite capable of producing very alluring and salable collections while sticking to her original design philosophy.

MONIQUE LHUILLIER is well known for red carpet confections and bridal gowns, this season she revs it up for those camera ready moments. From cocktails to drop dead evening extravagance, Ms. Lhuillier has kept the bar high for any occasion after 5 PM.

RALPH LAUREN consistently delivers incredible collections season after season and is forever mining the archives and refining his designs until they are perfection. The urbane couture cowgirl for Spring is no exception. In pristine whites, beiges browns and silver think of prairie skirts, suedes, cottons, concha belts, whip stitching, cavalry shirts, ruffles, lace, Navajo patterns and then just throw in some bugle beads and silver lame and you have all the ingredients of the collection. There is no stone unturned and not one element missed. He cannot be praised enough for salable, chic, endlessly appealing collections.

OSCAR de la RENTA remains the favorite for socials, starlets and the perennial best dressed ladies of the world. The pinks, the neutrals, the crispness of black and white and a few nods to Chanel will keep Mr. de la Renta enthroned for a while longer. He certainly has accentuated the waist and maybe even brought a bit of retro to the collection but nothing gets in the way of his exquisite gowns and those Latin influenced ruffle numbers.

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ might need to examine this collection and ask why. His usual structural and architectural looks were replaced by a bunch of disappointingly soft and slouchy looks. Yes, it is Spring and no one wants to be harnessed in to some tight ass constructed garment but there has to be some common ground between what he presented and what was his usual fare.

REED KARKOFF is insistent on being a designer entity unto himself despite his success with Coach. In his namesake collection, which is in its second season, the DNA has not yet been fully developed and that’s where the issues begin. One can assume that the collection will remain on its minimalist path but when Mr. Krakoff veers off that path, then we see trouble. Again we see the folds and the origami work of so many collections but here we see it become clumsy. Even his use of red jolts us as with his black: they become odious under his hand.

STEPHEN BURROWS has presented Spring 2011 in a very relaxed, if not amateurish setting and seems to have lost his way. This is the man who was king of sexy matte jersey and the King of Henri Bendel when Geraldine Stutz ruled the roost. He would be far wiser and certainly better received if he would only dig into the archives, as so many have done and continue to do, and give it a fresh twist. So much more is expected from a designer of this caliber.

Don’t forget to check in with www.style.com for full photo coverage of all the collections and you can always find me on Facebook  as well as http://jeffybruce.blogspot.com/  and now at http://www.examiner.com/user/2062506/2038116/articles  so please subscribe.

VICTORIA BECKHAM

MONIQUE LHUILLIER

RALPH LAUREN

OSCAR de la RENTA

NARCISO RODRIGUEZ

STEPHEN BURROWS

REED KRAKOFF

Fashion by the rules: The little black dress

During the past few weeks, I have outlined some of the perfect accessories and items that fill out your Fall wardrobe.  The one thing that I have not specifically pointed out is the necessity of the “LBD” or Little Black Dress.

Whether the dress is for work, after five or black tie , you just cannot be without at least one and hopefully more.  There is no more versatile item in your wardrobe and the best part is that if chosen wisely, you own it for life, so to speak.

While I was researching another topic, I started to see just how ubiquitous the little black dress is… sleeveless, long sleeved, one shoulder, strapless, short, long, wool, crepe and on it goes… the variety is endless in style, fabrication and price.  The online offerings are almost endless especially if you visit www.shopstyle.com where items are catalogued by style or designer or classification.  They offer up every price imaginable from scads of resources like Saks or EDressme and from Ralph Lauren to Alexander McQueen .

So, after having been through various sites I decided to show off what I found… and the best is that they are all under $300.  I even threw in the added bonus of  a Norma Kamali jersey dress from Wal Mart at $24.99—which happens to be amazing.  The Kamali was pointed out to me by a blog named The Recessionista which can also be found on Facebook.

Thanks to Wal Mart, Recessionista, Shopestyle, White House, Banana Republic, Acne Jeans, Bloomingdales, Piper Lime, Rugby and Ralph Lauren for some of the best of…

As always I encourage you to explore the possibilities on line and off and to use the Fashion By the Rules as the  guide for being fabulous… Don’t forget me at jeffybruce.blogspot.com.

Headlines This Week 10/16

• Last week Ralph Lauren came under fire for (what looked to be) an extremely altered photo of a model in one of its ads. Bloggers at the website BoingBoing.net posted the image online, and lawyers for Ralph Lauren attempted to sue them for copyright infringement. Shine.Yahoo.com

• I am loving Forever 21’s Fall 2009 look book! It’s full of cute jackets and coats, scarfs, printed tops, boots and more. TheLipstickDiaries.com

• Marc Jacobs, Naomi Campbell, Amanda Lepore, Daphne Guinness, Natasha Poly, Olivier Theyskens, and Shalom Harlow are just a few of the famous fashion faces who supported François Nars 15th anniversary effort. Fashionindie.com

• The film was simply mesmerizing, beautiful and most of all captivating. I strongly encourage you to go out and watch it in theaters with your girlfriends. Audrey Tautou plays Chanel and she did an impeccable job at recreating the women who changed fashion forever. HauteMimi.com

• Talk about an all-star cast! Kate Hudson, Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Fergie and Marion Cotillard team up with screen legends Sophia Loren and Judi Dench to star in the musical Nine along with leading man Daniel Day-Lewis. People.com

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