Ballgowns on the Beach at Badgley Mischka

ApparelMagic client Badgley Mischka’s spring show offered a breath of fresh air direct from the French Riviera.

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Set in a polished black warehouse during New York Fashion Week, Mark Badgley and James Mischka dreamed up an airy, sun drenched collection evoking Capri by way of Boca Raton.

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Two show stopping bathing suits all ruffles and rosettes a set the tone for a retro jaunt to the sea or a pool party straight from a Slim Aarons photograph.

For day, the designers set their sights on the workaday shirtdress, imagining it in tangerine linen or fuschia lace, dividing it into separates, or, in one of the closing looks, sewn into a full-length brocade number.

Walking the line between poolside cover-up and luncheon staples, the spring line was by turns modish and strikingly elegant. Swingy minidresses and caftans alternated with satin cocktail dresses trimmed in marabou feathers and bejeweled necklines.

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Other highlights included a sleek, long column of white guipure lace with bell sleeves and a couple of red-carpet-ready dresses entirely in sequins.

The designers, never strangers to occasion dressing, embellished a body-skimming white gown with floral beading. Worn with a casual up-do and drippy earrings, the dress begged for a picturesque wedding in the south of France.

The bride who ends up wearing that dress, by the way, might as easily dress her whole bridal party in this collection. Bridesmaids’ dresses, a suit for the mother of the bride, and even something short and white when it comes time for dancing at the reception: Badgley Mischka is an absolute crowd pleaser.

ApparelMagic Client Sachin & Babi takes its followers to Turkey

Sirens of social media take note: wearing any of ApparelMagic client Sachin & Babi’s spring collection will make your next vacation’s content go viral.

Taking a turn from the ballroom to the beach, the spring collection takes resort-style staples and glams them up for evening. Designers Sachin and Babi Ahluwalia gave their clothes the influencer treatment, in the best way possible.

 

Statement accessories? Turkish hammam tassels hung off the hem of many looks, and long earring versions in bright red are all you need for an on-trend selfie.

Vivid colors? Sachin & Babi rendered their chic eveningwear in icy blue chiffon, marigold yellow satin, and millennial pink taffeta. These screen-friendly blocks of bright color are perfect for any jet-setter on holiday.

Dramatic volumes? Never fearing a ballgown silhouette, the designers featured high-low dresses and trapeze-shaped beach cover-ups any social media scroller would double tap.

 

Iconic graphics? T-shirts embellished with a bold set of red lips make the airplane seat selfie fun when there’s not enough elbow room for one of Sachin & Babi’s diaphanous gowns.

All that’s left is for Instagram influencers to hop on a plane and wear these picture-perfect dresses on terraces overlooking the Mediterranean.

Liya Kebede’s lemlem gives back

Liya Kebede is one of the world’s most in-demand supermodels, walking on red carpets in New York and runways in Paris and representing brands like Estée Lauder, Louis Vuitton, and Gap, but that doesn’t stop this Ethiopian-born beauty from giving back. Kebede, a Glamour magazine Woman of the Year and one of Time magazine’s 100 Most Influential People, isn’t just a Vogue covergirl: she’s a force for change in the world, starting with her roots in Africa.

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lemlem, Her line of clothing and homewares launched a decade ago, gives jobs to weavers and traditional craftspeople, many of whom are women, and is proudly made in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, and Madagascar. This is no vanity project: everything from yarn-spinning to embroidery is done in Africa, and lemlem, an ApparelMagic client, is committed to helping improve these artisans’ quality of life by utilizing their special skills.

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From gauzy caftans handwoven in Kenya to tank tops embroidered in Rwanda, lemlem’s clothes don’t just do good, they look good. In addition to its men’s, women’s, and children’s lines, lemlem also creates home textiles and collaborates with Ancient Greek Sandals on footwear.

In addition to the line of clothing, lemlem also benefits the lemlem Foundation, a nonprofit aiming at improving maternal care in Ethiopia. Learn more about the lemlem Foundation here.

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Lena Dunham, Solange, and More Wear ApparelMagic Clients at the Met Gala

The stars of movies, music, TV, and fashion converged last night at the Met Gala in New York City. The red carpet, often deemed the “Fashion Oscars” due to the high-profile celebrities, included a number of them promoting ApparelMagic clients.

The subject of the 2016 documentary The First Monday in May, the Met Gala is an annual fundraiser headed by Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour for the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Costume Institute.

With this year’s exhibition celebrating designer Rei Kawakubo’s visionary body of work, the typically white-tie dress code directed these VIPs to go out of their comfort zone with avant-garde looks.

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Just weeks after the end of her groundbreaking HBO series Girls, Lena Dunham was back in the spotlight in a ballgown by ApparelMagic client Elizabeth Kennedy. Worn with her trademark irreverence, the off-the-shoulder number referenced motifs running through the Met’s exhibition: namely, the tartans and plaids Kawakubo is drawn back to again and again and her lifelong affinity with assymmetry. Topping the Elizabeth Kennedy gown off with a messy bun and casual bangs, Dunham found the perfect balance between her elegant eveningwear and her fun-loving demeanor.

Jenni Konner, a director, writer, and producer on HBO’s Girls, twinned with her partner in crime in a merlot column dress, also by ApparelMagic client Elizabeth Kennedy. With huge bell sleeves cinched with black straps, Konner’s dress was a punky take on formalwear. Elizabeth Kennedy, an emerging designer brand, is quickly becoming the modern woman’s one-stop shop for dramatic but unfussy evening dresses.

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Solange Knowles is topping not just the charts, but now even topping Vogue’s Best Dressed List. In a cold-weather tuxedo by ApparelMagic client Thom Browne from his Fall 2017 show, Solange showed that her sister Beyonce is not the only force to be reckoned with in both music and fashion. The Thom Browne ensemble, a down-filled puffer overcoat with a long train, cemented the Cranes in the Sky singer’s status as a tastemaker.

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With the front page news in the theatre world of her new award earlier this week, Cynthia Erivo is a rising star. The Grammy, Tony, and now Emmy winner chose ApparelMagic client Thom Browne for this occasion for a surreal ballgown-style assemblage of deconstructed tailoring. Walking up the Met’s grand stair like a 2017 Marie Antoinette, her hair was styled in the Louis XVI pouf style paired with a dress substituting panniers for white brocade blazers.

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Superstar rapper Wiz Khalifa isn’t the first person you’d expect to see in white tie and tales, but at a gala exhibiting an iconoclastic designer, the combination seems especially opportune. The graphic tailcoat and waistcoat offer the perfect contrast to his many, many tattoos and over the top jewelry. With a pair of low key sunglasses to shield his eyes from a blinged out watch, Khalifa is this century’s perfect gentleman in his Thom Browne finery.

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DJ and music producer Diplo took some time off the top 40 to take in the sights at the Costume Institute in a suit by ApparelMagic client Thom Browne. Trimmed in black grosgrain and hemmed into the designer’s signature cropped silhouette, the suit made the Grammy winner into every bit the heartthrob.

Rebels with a cause at Public School

America, the beautiful. Public School’s Dao-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne put out a collection this season at New York Fashion Week dedicated to their country from sea to shining sea. Or maybe more accurately, From Manhattan city street to great plains field to Los Angeles basketball court. Indeed, with models wearing clever red caps proclaiming “Make America New York” and fuzzy white moccasins, you knew this wasn’t a standard star-spangled version of the United States.

Looking to bring together the red and the blue—literally, in the case of some patriotic paisleys, and geopolitically, with urban streetwear and farmers’ plaids—Public School found a bipartisan approach with the most chic denim on denim looks for some and deconstructed suiting with open shoulders for others. This was anything, though, but a compromise.

Somewhere between a hoodie screen printed with a close up of Michael Jordan’s face and a mean set of cranberry colored jackets, you could tell that this folksy-varsity hybrid was exactly what the country needed. Or at least the fashion industry.

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Seizing the Day with Badgley Mischka

Starting with the runway itself, which was set with vignettes of furniture from their brand-new home line, this was a season of firsts for Badgley Mischka. The ApparelMagic client is known around the world for their elegant gowns and cocktail dresses, but starting this fall, their loyal customers can wear Badgley Mischka all day long.

The show began with thirty-some-odd iterations of their impeccable eveningwear, this season turning towards old 1940s Hollywood for inspiration. Every dress was gorgeous, as can be expected from these red carpet masters: some sleek columns in midnight blue sequins, others goddess style in diaphanous red chiffon. Each look was set off with the model’s bright red lips and strong, screen siren brows. One shirtdress in particular, lushly embroidered in metallics over sheer panels, seemed absolutely finale-worthy. But the boys at Badgley Mischka had a trick up their sleeve: their new daytime ready-to-wear line.

Bridging the divide between comfortable and classy, the new line included everything from luxe velour sweatsuit separates to swing coats paired with easy slacks and leggings. Accessories were elevated with youthful details like embellishments on slip-on sneakers and fur pom-poms on beanie hats. Whether a fancy film premiere or a casual weekend movie at home, the new Badgley Mischka is a 24/7 lifestyle brand.

Eckhaus Latta’s Department Store Takeover

Leave it to New York’s premier provocateurs to show their latest fall collection in an abandoned store in midtown Manhattan. The dated, neglected retail space, patchy carpet and all, proved to be the perfect foil for Eckhaus Latta’s dowdy-cum-avant-garde designs. The ApparelMagic clients, a design duo of Mike Eckhaus and Zoe Latta, have been upending the trend-driven fashion landscape with their own brand of cerebral cool, but this collection shows that they are ready for the big leagues.

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Fabricating much of the clothing on display in shiny outerwear nylon, the designers took on classic American sportswear in the most underground of ways. The first model out wore a jacket in fleece tie-dyed like a microbial culture and a skirt that could button away from midi to mini at a moment’s notice. Another innovative look included felt leggings that below the knee were sliced and diced into pointe shoe ribbons.

In keeping with the label’s progressive slant, the show was often androgynous, with menswear taking cues from women in the knitwear department, and both genders wearing mannish, square-shouldered blazers. One male model wore a head-to-toe safety orange number, as if to announce: “This is Eckhaus Latta, and this is the face of fashion today.”

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Zero + Maria Cornejo’s Velvety Vision

What could be more luxurious than wrapping yourself in huge swathes of crimson velvet? Not much, according to Zero + Maria Cornejo. The ApparelMagic client’s fall runway show at New York Fashion Week was dedicated to the indulgent fabric in all of its luster.

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Sticking to mostly oversized volumes, each piece felt generous and a little bit decadent, starting with loose A-line skirts with hems that sinuously dipped and peaked paired with roomy sweaters and punctuated by bright red velvet sandals or tall, slouchy boots.

Shoulders were on display, many casually exposed through wide necklines or sensual cut outs. A pair of evening shell tops in gold and red velvet were cinched at the neckline on one side and elegantly slid off the opposite shoulder.

Cornejo took a similarly restrained look at daywear. Confining herself to a palette of mostly neutrals, she let her loose silhouettes in fine wools and silks do the talking. If their subtle luxury wasn’t clear enough, a couple of Mongolian lamb jackets and coats were thrown into the mix. Cornejo’s vision of luxury is understated and elegant, but at the same time, it’s modern enough for today’s woman.

Thom Browne takes to the Ice

From their looks to the way they move, penguins are arguably the funniest of the animal kingdom. And for a designer who loves to inject more than a little bit of humor into his fashion, Thom Browne’s adoption of a penguin motif this season seems particularly apt.

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Staging his typically wacky piece of theatre on a set imitating a frozen lake and surrounded by these chilly birds (sewn in wool houndstooth, of course,) the ApparelMagic client brought forth an cadre of ice skating tomboys in suiting that ranged from steadfastly conservative with only outré proportions to mark Browne’s involvement all the way to the far-out groovy of one particular astrakhan overcoat paneled in primary colors to duplicate a childish illustration of a storybook-style prairie church.

The penguin motif appeared in a dozen iterations. Sometimes it was nearly tessellated on a patent leather coat, other times a full-size version functioned as a leather handbag. The final models, however, in their black and white and bow ties, reminded us that while the classic tuxedo is often jokingly called a “penguin suit,” under Browne’s supervision it can be as modern and chic as it is funny.

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Putting on the Glitz at Naeem Khan

This awards season, expect more glitz and glamor than ever. As one of Hollywood’s favorite brands, ApparelMagic client Naeem Khan took to the runway at New York Fashion Week with a collection heavy on crystal, tinsel, and everything that shines.

Starting off the show on a high note, the first model made her way down a premiere-worthy red carpet in a louche set of black silk pajamas with thick stripes of crystals worn over lacy lingerie. The next look was an equally stunning robe coat embroidered from collar to hem with metallic gold thread. Both looks, while updated with a maximal, showgirl style, harkened back to Faye Dunaway’s iconic silk-robe-attired portrait at the Beverly Hills Hotel after her 1977 Oscar win.

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The extensive detailing was not limited to only the pajama dressing styles, but further applied to a suite of coats, dresses, and over-the-knee boots in graphic jumbo florals. Too much was just enough when Khan layered those florals with oversize leopard print and spliced it with beading, purple rick-rack, and sheer insets. Showpieces galore.

Other, more paired down pieces made just as much effect though, with a dress for every type of embellishment and style, including a feather column, a gold-scaled sweetheart neckline number, another patterned with petals, and classic red chiffon drapes.

Tailor made to make an impression in the paparazzi’s flashbulbs, we can expect Hollywood’s best—and brightest—starlets to take a spin in Khan’s frocks down the red carpet.

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Jonathan Simkhai takes a trip to Spain for New York Fashion Week

Bullfighting may be on its way out on the other side of the Atlantic, but its iconic uniforms may never go out of style, especially if ApparelMagic client Jonathan Simkhai is involved. Indeed, his fall collection was an ode to Spain and all of its traditional costumes, short maybe only of mantillas.

The opening look, a matador’s ensemble updated for 2017, replaced gold braiding for tiny grommets, and eschewed a shirt entirely so as to expose a sliver of a midriff. While the inspirations might be classics, these were no costume museum displays.

More likely, they’d be what a Kardashian or Jenner would wear to the Costume Institute’s Met Gala. This goes doubly for the finale gowns, blindingly gorgeous ones that looked as if the wearer just stepped out of a shower of crystals.

The matador-inflected style was repeated throughout the collection in various forms, from a minimal white suit to motorcycle leathers to a version in denim.

On the cocktail and evening side of the equation, Simkhai favored off-the-shoulder shapes and sleeves with slight flares. Feeling cold? An assortment of super-luxe fur stoles and puffy fur coats could fend off a winter breeze over the Iberian peninsula.

Jill Stuart’s Victorian Vamps

ApparelMagic client Jill Stuart cast a spell with her fall presentation at New York Fashion Week. Like red-lipped, retro witches, the models stood in pointed shoes on platforms above the crowd, looking down imposingly. Swathed in voluminous velvets and heavy melton wool, they were femme fatales with a flair for the seventies.

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A heavy Victorian undercurrent ran through the collection, with high, often tied or ruffled necklines and sleeves ranging in shape from bishop to leg-o-mutton and back again. These high-coverage looks were often cut with transparent fabrics or even mesh, making them more Biba than prairie wife. A number of the looks went full-on YSL with throwback riffs on his famous Le Smoking tuxedo jacket and tiered taffeta skirts.

The stars of the show, however, were the wide black belts with huge brass buckles cinching in the closing looks. While they could equally well be sitting undiscovered in a thrift store since the 1970s, suddenly they look absolutely of the moment for 2017.

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