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Area’s blingy suiting sparkles at NYFW

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What do you get when you combine name plate necklaces, rhinestone beards, and yards of satin? That’s what Area designers Beckett Fogg and Piotrek Pansczczyk asked this season with their standout spring 2020 collection.

Daring to go where few designers could, they dreamt up looks that somehow bridged the gaps between the 90s ballroom scene, 50s couture, and 2010s Instagram culture.

The collection really had it all. Shoulders and skirts with poufs out to there. Downright elegant jumpsuits and shirtdresses in eyelet lace or lasercut vinyl. Golden crinolines, panniers, and shoulder pads worn above pantsuits.

Riotous? Absolutely. But masterfully done? Even more so. Beneath the of-the-moment sparkle, there were perfectly cut blazers with just the right wiggle room, party dresses that could work on ages 16 to 60, and skirt suits that updated the classic Chanel look for the post-Lagerfeld era.

Foresight is 20/20 at Maria Cornejo’s first show of the next decade

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With only months to go before we leave the 2010’s, Maria Cornejo is in the mood for a fresh start. Putting on her Spring/Summer 2020 show atop The High Line park in New York City, she envisioned a warm, comfortable world for the loyal legions of women who make up her base.

Simple it might have felt, but the patternmaking was sublime. A ruff topped one elevated T-shirt, bringing the Elizabethan times to the present. Another touch, accordion-pleated sleeves, curved down the arms like paper fans.

Focusing on a new silhouette: rounded shoulders, a cinched waist, and loose trousers ending just above the ankle, Cornejo reimagined her line, Zero + Maria Cornejo, in tones of ecru, eggshell, and cream. Where there was color, it was cobalt, navy, or a few shots of peach.

With easy wrap dresses, oversized jackets, and even a few utilitarian pieces shown on men, Cornejo showed she’ll be ready for the future, whatever it holds.

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ApparelMagic client Bode wins CFDA award

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Emily Adams Bode of the New York-based menswear label Bode won the Emerging Designer of the Year Award at the CFDA Awards on Monday in Brooklyn, New York.

The designer, whose brand Bode is an ApparelMagic client, is a newcomer on the scene—only launching the company three years ago—but since then has been a critical darling with eco-friendly, heirloom fabrics and nostalgic cuts and embellishments.

Winning an award from the CFDA is the highest honor in American fashion. However, this is not Bode’s first accolade. Just last year, Bode was a runner up for the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund, winning $150,000 in the competition.

Jonathan Simkhai takes on Sydney, Australia for his resort show

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With all of the biggest luxury brands flying their guests out to exotic locales for stagings of their resort fashion shows, it only feels natural for Jonathan Simkhai’s growing brand to do the same. This season, the ApparelMagic client experimented with the concept by taking over a Bondi Beach boardwalk in Sydney, Australia.

Starting out with a pink leather jumpsuit that looked custom-ordered for the next Bond girl, he quickly went into what she would wear on her off-hours: scarf-print silk dresses, trench coats covering one-piece swimsuits, and even some black-tie style tuxedo dresses for evening.

Going deeper into the night—literally, given his twilight-staged al fresco runway—he showed off his speciality, negligee-inspired gowns, this time in a rainbow of colors.

These dresses were the big hit of the collection, their oranges, blushes, and lavenders set off by the sunset sky. Timing is everything in fashion, and this designer, more than most, knows how to put on a show.

ApparelMagic clients walk the Met Gala red carpet

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The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s annual Costume Institute benefit gala, or the Met Gala, as it’s commonly known, brings A-listers from around the world to celebrate the museum’s annual fashion-oriented show.

It is the biggest night in fashion, and this year the biggest names in fashion, music, and sports chose to wear custom creations by ApparelMagic clients for their struts up the red carpet.

Jonathan Simkhai, one of New York’s leading young designers, and an ApparelMagic client, took Josephine Skriver, a supermodel and one of his muses, as his date. They stunned paparazzi and onlookers alike with their coordinated florals.

Basketball star Odell Beckham Jr. one-upped the rest of the men on the red—or more accurately, pink—carpet when he showed up in a Thom Browne sleeveless suit jacket and matching wool kilt. Worn with unlaced boots and tattoos all over, he took the look to the next level.

Shutting down the arrivals was the ever-charismatic musician Cardi B, also in Thom Browne. In an anatomically-correct burgundy gown with a bodice encrusted with real rubies and a yards-long train edged in feathers, she was the night’s fan favorite, topping best-dressed lists and showing that ApparelMagic clients are on the cutting edge of fashion.

ApparelMagic clients nominated for 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards

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The fashion industry’s leading brands use ApparelMagic, and yet again their success has yielded accolades from the highest places. This year, at the 2019 CFDA Fashion Awards, commonly known as the “Oscars of Fashion,” it will be ApparelMagic clients walking the red carpet instead of the glamorous men and women they dress.

Thom Browne’s trademark shrunken wool suits and Amiri’s rocker-chic casual wear might look lightyears apart, but designers Thom Browne and Mike Amiri, both ApparelMagic clients, have gotten the nod for Menswear Designer of the Year.

With his logo-embossed tote bags hanging off the shoulders of a crowd both socially-conscious and trend-aware, New York it-designer Telfar Clemens has been nominated for Accessory Designer of the Year.

And it’s not just established ApparelMagic users who are getting the star treatment. Both Sarah Staudinger and George Augusto of Staud and Emily Adams Bode of Bode have been nominated for Emerging Designer of the Year.

Nominated designers will gather with many of the fashion industry’s leading lights at a ceremony on June 3 in Brooklyn, New York.

In addition to the nomination from the CFDA, Bode was also honored as a finalist for the LVMH Prize earlier this week.

Naeem Khan relives big nights out at Studio 54

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The phrase “age is just a number” has never felt more accurate than at Naeem Khan’s fall 2019 show during New York Fashion Week.

The designer, an ApparelMagic client, let an intergenerational cast of beauties strut down the catwalk in some of the shiniest, sparkliest, and most feather-laden pieces of clothing this side of a Bob Mackie retrospective. And even more, Khan did it in the best taste imaginable.

Like disco dancers from the legendary 70s night club, every fluid movement of these women captured the light and energy in the room. From teenage models in the running to be this season’s it girls to women like Pat Cleveland who were really in attendance at some of history’s greatest parties, each woman looked strong, elegant, and very, very glam in her individual look.

These looks were not for the wall flowers. Dresses were dripping with metallic threads, spangled in sequins, flowing with fringe and feathers, and worn with very high slits and sheer panels. For believers in astrology, though Khan is a Taurus-Gemini cusp, his clothes are made for Leos, ready for the spotlight at a moment’s notice.

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Going back to nature with Lauren Manoogian

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Never have neutrals looked more enticing than in ApparelMagic client Lauren Manoogian’s fall 2019 collection. The lookbook, shot in and around the workshop of famed carpenter and wood artist George Nakashima, played with knits, Manoogian’s forte, in a range of taupes and browns, putties and oatmeals.

Working with wide, loose silhouettes, Manoogian layered soft sweaters effortlessly with scarves and cardigans, turning each of her models into the picture of wearable hygge. Ornament was practically nonexistant, with all but a few wooden buttons eliminated. Plush jackets hung open without closure, and some coats were belted in self fabric.

Pairing stiff denim and weightless cashmere, the designer played with hard and soft, durable and delicate. Silhouettes, on the other hand, were refined into one easy concept: oversize sweaters that in some cases, reached to just above the ankle. After all, in some weather, isn’t all we want to do cuddle up in something soft and warm?

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Apiece Apart shows sumptuous separates for fall at NYFW

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Apiece Apart designers Starr Hout and Laura Cramer are getting very comfortable. With a fall collection launched at New York Fashion Week this February, they helped their woman get plenty of room to breathe with cozy, effortless clothes perfect for a trip to the country house.

In amethyst, bottle green, and clay tones from taupe to terra cotta, each piece gave off a decadent, even mysterious vibe. Fine mohair and cashmere sweaters begged to be touched, and even more tactile was a thick corduroy jumpsuit in magenta.

Another strong statement was below the belt, with variations on pants, whether they were pleated, cropped and wide-legged, or flaring out at the hem. Each pair was a pitch-perfect take on 2019 casual dressing.

Ending the collection on a subdued note was an elegant halter-neck gown in a muddy green velvet. It was just asking to be worn at a dinner lit only by candlelight. These were clothes that spoke for themselves.

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Taking NYFW around the world with ApparelMagic client Prabal Gurung

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For his fall 2019 New York Fashion Week show, Prabal Gurung took us far from Manhattan with a show that combined the ikats and brocades of South Asia with the lurex and luster of a glittering night out.

The Nepali-American designer has never shied from making these bold juxtapositions, but never before has he merged them into such an arresting package. Diamond quilted house coats in shocking pink (famously the “navy blue of India” according to Diana Vreeland) and loud puffer jackets in teal paired seamlessly with cargo pants and jumpsuits patched together in a half dozen batik patterns.

For evening, Gurung continued the theme, skillfully clashing floral brocades, here adding feather trims and metal ring embellishments. With a caftan ready for Studio 54 or a sheer coat covered in metallic tropical vegetation, these looks were in no way understated, but better than that, they vibrated with the energy of cultures near and far.

Jonathan Simkhai mixes sweet, spice, and everything in white

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Jonathan Simkhai’s New York Fashion Week presentation was an ode to everything sweet and girlish. Full-grown women in christening gowns these were not, but dressed in tiers of lace and white chiffon ruffles the models exuded youth, innocence, and an easy-breezy attitude.

 

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In ApparelMagic client Jonathan Simkhai’s world, this season it was all about the garden party. Not limiting himself to any one silhouette, he put forward day dresses for women at every age, taste, and shape. There were sexy slitted numbers with gingham that stretches across curves, Victorian-style gowns that cover skin from neck to toe in a gauzy lace, and dramatic high-low hemmed halter dresses in pale yellow or baby blue.

 

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When Simkhai tried his hand at the bifurbicated items too, results were equally successful. Trading tea dresses for cargo pants, he gave them a boyish appeal without creating anything in the least bit masculine. Here they were done up in silky creams, a high-shine olive, or a guipere lace. Simkhai knows his brand’s codes well, and he’s proving season after season he is a master of them.

 

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Badgley Mischka celebrates 30 years at #NYFW

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This garden party has been three years in the making. Longtime ApparelMagic client Badgley Mischka celebrated their big three-oh in style during New York Fashion Week with a show for the books. Taking their girl to the great outdoors—albeit a manicured topiary park more likely—designers Mark Badgley and James Mischka did what they do best: elegant occasionwear for the most sophisticated women.

 

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Flowers were everywhere, here as a rich, moody floral print on marabou-hemmed shift dress and there as palm-sized three-dimensional silk flowers adorning a super abbreviated mini dress. For women of a certain age though, there are plenty of more pared-back column dresses that are just as beautiful, especially one worn just days later at the Emmy Awards by actress Laurie Metcalf.

 

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