Starry Starry Night

Can I tell you …about the CFDA Awards. It’s the most anticipated event in the fashion industry. It’s always a great party and I love seeing what and who everybody is wearing. The star gazing isn’t bad either since Hollywood celebrities like to show their support to the designers who dress them for their share of red carpet events. This year my date was my friend, the fabulous designer Tracy Reese. She wore my crystal beaded Sasha minaudiere with her floral printed dress with a full skirt and lots of crinoline. She looked like the Belle of the Ball.
Diane von Furstenburg (president of the CFDA) and Steven Kolb (executive director) had promised us a fun and hopefully short evening from years past. First was the change in venue and just in time for the opening of the newly renovated Alice Tully Hall at the Lincoln Center.
At the entrance we were greeted by a row of cute boys all armed with umbrellas. It was raining all afternoon and they weren’t taking any chances with the red carpet. There is nothing worse than soggy fashionista.
Then there was the tableau-vivant of 60 models on the steps of the amphitheatre, all dressed in looks from the Womenswear Designer of the Year nominees: Rodarte, Marc Jacobs and Narciso Rodriguez. It was live fashion and a reminder that you are attending a major fashion event.
Inside was when the real fun began. I was so excited to see actress Mamie Gummer ( Meryl Streep’s daughter) wearing my gold python minaudiere and Peter Som’s dress. Big shout out to Peter for making that happen. Ran into Roopal Patel in an emerald green dress and hot pink accessories. That girl knows how to wear color and she stood apart from the sea of black dresses. Rachel Roy looked like a goddess in a Venus shoulder white brocade dress of her design. Spotted Behnaz Sarapfour and actress Michelle Trachtenberg sipping champagne in a corner. My friend menswear designer and nominee Robert Geller and his gorgeous wife Ana Elaria were enjoying the moment. It was their first time at the Awards. Tracy caught up with her old friend Marc Jacobs for a bit while I mingled. They used to be classmates in Parsons.
Tracey Ullman was the host of the evening wearing vintage Claire McCardell which won her a round of applause. She kept the mood light and tried her best to make everybody laugh. Can I tell you, in this economy we all need a good laugh. Sometimes she succeeded and sometimes there was a deathly silence in the auditorium. Jaded fashion people are the hardest to please I swear. Other presenters were Justin Timberlake who is looking better with age, Blake Lively looked hot in hot pink and Diane Kruger in Jason Wu.
So here are the winners: Fashion Icon: Michelle Obama (obvi!), Lifetime Achievement : Anna Sui (hello!) Marc Jacobs: International Award (of course!), Proenza Schouler: Accessories (huh?), Kate and Laura Mulleavy: womenswear (love!), a tie between Calvin Klein’s Italo Zucchelli and Band of Outsider’s Scott Sternberg for menswear (surprise!), Ralph Lauren: Most Popular Vote (duh!), Justin Guinta, Tim Hamilton and Alexander Wang.
After the awards was the buffet dinner, more drinks and hobknobbing. I’m so glad I took my camera. This party was one big photo op and everybody is happy to strike a pose. What’s the point of dressing up otherwise, right? But this wasn’t end of the evening. The night was young and so were we!Everybody was headed to the After Parties. Peter, Roopal, Elana and I weren't going to miss the Highline Party hosted by Calvin Klein. Their parties are always so much fun! I’ll tell you all about it but that's another blog. Stay tuned.

Get Real

Can I tell you about... Under the Arch. When I met Sean Patrick Murray last year at a party in the Hamptons, he told me about this exciting new project that he had been working on with his friends from NYU. A reality based show entitled "Under the Arch", about the ups and downs of 7 NYU students living and partying in Manhattan. "They are all my friends that I have met in New York. Our newest cast member Briana is a girl who I met on the 6 train, and we've been friends since." Sean said of the cast. In case you’re wondering, the title references the iconic landmark in Washington Square Park that is the epicenter of New York University. "About two years ago I was watching Laguna Beach with some friends and was tired of watching the same shows, and kept claiming "I could do this. Our lives are so much more interesting." They told me to stop complaining and actually do it, so I hired a crew, rented equipment, and got a bunch of my friends together to make a 7 minute demo pilot. The pilot lived on my facebook and youtube account, and suddenly got all this buzz by GAWKER.COM and NEW YORK POST: Page 6. Michael Flutie and Madwood media read the articles, and contacted me via my YouTube account. I came into the office the next day, and since then its been history," Sean added.
With the help of producer and talent rep Michael Flutie, Sean has managed to bypass the networks altogether by having the webisodes only available to select audiences by invitation. Sean said that they wanted to create something new, interactive, and exciting. He felt that less and less people were watching TV and were spending more time on their computers so he, Michael and the Madwood team spent over a year developing the show and exploring this new terrain.At their launch party at Bungalow 8 hosted by downtown party doyenne Amy Sacco, Michael was giving out UTA credit cards with passwords so we could all watch the show the next day. He said he was sending out a total of 3000 of these cards to “tastemakers” to generate some buzz for the show. Everbody came to show their support including photographer David Xavier Prutting and his gorgeous fiancee Chau Ngo. David took photos all night long, he never stops working.So how real is this show? Sean added, "Anything that is produced has to have been touched for an audience. I don't want to lie like shows like the HILLS or LAGUNA and say it's all "reality"...because you can't kid an auidence. They will see right through it, and be pissed off. But if we are honest from the start, hopefully we will gain respect and allow the audience to be engaged and entertained. The idea of this show isn't to be a documentary, but to tell a story.The episodes are all emotions, feelings, situations, and events that have happened to us. It's like we are playing ourselves. We have taken journal entries, experiences, etc, and come up with a "piece". Just like how "A Chorus Line" was created. When filming, we will discuss what's current, what is relevant, but also what our schedules are like that next week. So if we can combine live occurrences with a scene, all the better."
The cast were styled by downtown retail diva Jeffrey Kalinsky, with hopes of attracting a younger customer base through this new medium of entertainment. Ingenue Ariana Madix wore my Martina black patent clutch for the party and I must say she looked AMAZING! Even her costar Briana Cornelius was lusting over the clutch. Big shout out to my friend Sean for making it happen!
Michael Flutie, who’s most recent success was “Queer Eye for the Straight Guy”, plans to shoot 12-16 more webisodes in the next season. Eventually he’s hoping that certain brands will want to partner up for appropriate product placements and other cross-marketing opportunities. To date, only Joey and Sean have graduated. Briana and Sarah are still at NYU and they are continuing to film the process of the characters post-graduation, but are also casting new NYU students in the Fall.
So the next time you happen to be walking under the arch, make sure you look hot and fabulous! Hey, you never know. You could be in next season's webisode. Get ready to get real!

Rafe Loves...You!

Can I tell you...about my new blog called, Rafe Loves. Over the years of designing accessories I've been very fortunate to meet some truly stylish individuals, some are friends and some are acquaintances. On my website and on the Rafe Facebook company page, I have hundreds of photos of people both of greater and lesser fame wearing Rafe accessories. As a designer, nothing is more satisfying than seeing your designs worn by your customers. I love seeing my accessories incorporated into their personal style and the varieties are endless.When I started my blog several years ago I started including photos of them in my blogs. Inevitably I would get inquiries about who they were, what they did, where they shopped and dined,etc. People wanted to know more about them. So I decided to create a blog to celebrate these fabulous individuals, their style choices and let them tell their own story.
So the next time you happen to be wearing your favorite Rafe accessory, take a picture and send it over. Not only would I love to see it but I'd love you...to tell me...about you!

Lifeguards and Lemonade

Can I tell you about... Matt Albiani's book Lifeguard on Duty. On a recent humid May evening, dapper dudes and PYT’s gathered at Bergdorf Goodman Men’s Store for Matt’s book launch and drink to the start of summer. The party was hosted by mens designer Michael Bastian whose Spring 09 collection coincidentally was also inspired by lifeguards.
All of Michael’s friends and colleagues showed up to enjoy the mini hamburgers and vodka lemonade being passed around as well as peruse Michael’s collection and Matt’s prints from the book which were on display.Roopal Patel, Bergdorf’s fashion director was the epitome of bohemian chic in Thakoon's long floral print dress and Bastian’s publicist, Eugenia Gonzalez Ruiz-Olloqui wore a hand-made Mexican cotton mini caftan, exposing her mile long legs! Rugby designer and fellow blogger Antonio Ciongoli also scored sartorial points by wearing his father’s vintage briefcase.Amidst the craziness, the film crew from the reality TV show “The City” was also filming one of their episodes at the party. Whitney Port, one of the stars of the show was busy trying to look as ‘candid’ as possible while sipping her drink and casually chatting with her friends.I asked Michael about his Spring collection and what inspired him to reference lifeguards in particular. “We intentionally set out to capture the whole spirit of Lifeguards and what they represent. I can't speak for the rest of the world, but if you grew up in America, lifeguards always embodied the perfect easy summer lifestyle. There is also a movie we referred to a lot from the '70s called 'The Lifeguard' with Parker Stevenson and Sam Elliott. You realize pretty quickly men's swim shorts weren't always these big baggy disasters that look like you're trying to hide something. “
I’ve included some images from Michael’s Spring 09 collection to illustrate his point.He added,“It was a pure coincidence that Matt Albiani was coming out with his Lifeguard book at the same time as our Lifeguard collection. Back in July last year, I was telling a friend in the business about the collection, and he said 'Wow, that's such a coincidence-- I just got an e-mail regarding a photo book that's coming out next year on Lifeguards-- they must be in the air.' We then tracked Matt down and asked him if he'd like to possibly team up for a couple events in the spring and he said sure. I always think events like this work better and are more interesting when you combine a couple different but related ideas, such as a new book and a fashion collection.”It seemed like more people were coming than going because it was getting pretty hot despite the cool drinks. I ran into designer Prabal Gurung and stylist Sam Spector. Prabal had just come back from India and Nepal,totally inspired. Ummm, how could you not?!

As the crowd swelled and the heat rose, me and my friend photographer Tetsu Kubota decided to skip out. I bought the book, had Matt sign it and we headed downtown for another party. But that’s another story!

Westside Story

Can I tell you...about the parks on the Westside Highway. Every weekend during Spring and Summer, hundreds of New Yorkers flock to any patch of green they can find to get a bit of sun, read, take a nap or picnic with friends. Personally, I love Central Park but it gets too crowded and a bit of a trek so the next best location is the Hudson River Park (Pier 45 & 46) on the West Side Highway.The piers get packed too but the "view" is well worth it. For one, it's near Chelsea and the West Village so you can already assume there will be some good eye candy. I don't have to explain why that is, do I?My friend Ward Kelvin, a seriously talented jewelry designer and Sartorialist regular invited me to have a picnic on a warm April Sunday. He conveniently lives a hop and a skip away from Pier 45. We positioned ourselves in front of the Richard Meier buildings and close to the Pier. This way we could watch the promenade on the boardwalk. Location is everything!People watching is one of my favorite things to do wherever I am. Street style is especially individualistic and ecclectic in New York City. Hello!
Another friend, fashion stylist Ron Laxamana, dropped by and hung out with us for a bit. We played Fashion Police and scored the Fashion Do's and Don'ts we saw on parade.
Time flies when you're a watching a fashion show, especially a good one.
I could have stayed there until sunset but Ward had other plans. He wanted to go sit in Abingdon Square Park in Greenwich Village. This is one of the most picturesque squares in the city ( Gramercy is my favorite but not open to the public) and one of the oldest. People were wandering in to sit on the benches or take pictures of the colorful tulips that were in full bloom.It was one of the quintessential New York moments and I count my lucky stars that I live in this amazing city!

Treasure Hunt

Can I tell you...about my obsession for vintage fashion. As it goes, "Someone's trash is someone's treasure" and I've been collecting vintage "treasures" for the past 10 years! My appetite for acquisition remains insatiable. Fortunately for me, two times a year vintage sellers from all over the US come together for the Manhattan Vintage Show. The exhibition lasts only two days, usually beginning on Friday and ending on Saturday. On the first day, designers, stylists, die hard fashionistas and random drag queens show up to get first dibs. The second day is open to the general public. It's first come first serve so the earlier the better. Teams from big firms go in groups so they can divide and conquer. This 'treasure hunt' is a vintage addict's dream!There are aisles and aisles of vintage fabulosity and the varieties are endless. There are sellers who only sell mens fashion, some who only deal in prints and remnant fabrics and others who sell only accessories. Some sellers specialize in designer vintage because they usually fetch higher prices and others have random pieces they've bought at yard sales or flea markets.
In terms of handbags and shoes, I'm adverse to designer vintage because they are so recognizable and usually cost more than I want to pay. I like the more obscure or never heard of labels. They are usually more interesting and full of surprising details. Although, every now and then I can't resist and will end up buying Charles Jourdan, Maud Frizon, Walter Steiger or Stuart Weitzman. Their shoes from the Eighties rocked!There are some amazing costume jewelry in the show but their prices have gone through the roof recently, especially the casted pieces that are in relatively 'wear now' condition.At the entrance there was a vendor who was selling Louis Vuitton trunks and luggage as well as other objects covered in the monogram fabric. I loved the LV covered toilet seat cover. I thought that was kitschy and hilarious.Over the years I've ammassed such a large inventory I've had to label them and index them so I can access them easily when I'm working on the next season. Vintage fashion is a huge source of inspiration for me and other designers as you may already know.
This particular show didn't yield as many 'treasures', which is just as well given the times. I should just shop my own vintage closet.
Discouraged, Steffanie and I went to City Bakery for a coffee break before heading back to the office. Right as we're about to finish, in walks this cute blonde girl wearing a Rafe bag. She circles the counter then walks out of the cafe. As she approaches the door we recognize her. It was actress Julia Stiles!
Steffanie urged me to run out and get a snapshot. Thank God for my Iphone. She was surprisingly accommodating and really sweet. Once she realized I was who I am, she relaxed and posed for me. She loves the bag and still wears it after all these years. Now that was a New York moment!