In the early 90’s Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, and Cindy Crawford, rulled the runway. Now we have passed another major grouping of modells i.e. Gemma Ward, Kate Moss, Daria W, and Giselle. Who are the next big faces going to be?

Leo and I are predicting that there may be a strong Asian posse hitting the runway this season. What do you think?

What has Riccardo Tisci done to his models? The faux lace glued to their faces looks a bit like a flesh eating disease. I don’t really understand his need to mess with their faces, the collection was strong…and if anything this styling mistake takes away from the look of his collection. For a better use of lace as a styling implement see Gaultier’s usage, where the lace looks more like a stray hair rather than a full blown skin condition.

‘Hi, I’m here to see Mr. Voloshin’
‘Meeeeeeeeooooow, pleeeeaase sit down’

New to the Hello Kitty craze in Japan is the Hello Kitty receptionist. For a mere 50,000 yen (around $430 USD) you can rent a Hello Kitty Robo, which is capable of sensing a visitor’s presence, is able to greet the visitor, and hold simple conversations. We’ve been speculating if the kitty is able to sign for packages using it’s paw as a stamp…

In other Hello Kitty news Kimora Lee Simmons unveiled her ‘fine’ jewelry line for Sanrio Ltd., Hello Kitty’s corporate owner mid-January. This collection features pieces ranging from $20,000 to $80,000. These new high end pieces will be available Valentine’s Day at select Neiman Marcus stores.

In the styling war between hair and makeup, the tresses had the upper hand in this years spring couture shows. Lacroix, Chanel, and Gaultier all got the memo. Gaultier shoved random pieces of trim into the up-dos of his models (I think that Gaultier caught a glimpse of Givenchy’s faux lace styling disaster and decided to throw a touch of lace onto Du Juan’s forehead, as shown in the upper left). Chanel (bottom left) handled this styling concept with the most control, the metal flowers and garnishes looked purposeful and added tremendously to the overall look of the show. Lastly we have Lacroix (bottom right) whose look is overdone, but that is what the house is known for. So, I guess, it’s okay.

As many of you know the second episode of Project Catwalk aired about a week and a half ago on Skyone. It took quite a while for it to show up on the torrent sites but it finally appeared earlier this week.

This episode the designers were given a lesson in fashion by the Sadie Frost and Jemima French of the FrostFrench designer duo. Sadie and Jemima wasted no time getting into the thick of it with the contestants challenging them to describe themselves in a ‘word’. Everyone was able to respond pretty quickly except for Zoe who decided to have some sort of fit about being put on the spot, a sure foreshadowing of troubles to come.

*Spoiler Warning* (Winner and Loser Revealed)

Before stepping out last evening I took some time to indulge in E!’s special on the Sex and the City’s style. Although the ladies from SITC are typically well dressed, Sarah Jessica Parker did make a bad fashion decision back at the 58th Golden Globes. It’s not that Sarah Jessica Parker’s dress was awful, it just wasn’t good. And then, as I was paging through the paper this morning it all came together…

Honeymilk is a concept store based on the idea of gift giving. The shop is located in the back of Vagabond (37 N 3rd St, Philadelphia). This space has been the breeding ground of many boutique/fashion moguls, think Emma Luv and Sodafine. The products in Honeymilk are made by young artists and designers, their creations are mostly as one of a kind pieces and small editions.

The store has a variety of gifts ranging from paintings, baby+dog clothing, to Kinked Works tees, and jewelry. Linda (one of the owners) is especially know for her intricately cut leather earrings, she has begun a collection of Valentines’ Day necklaces with charms and lockets which are great ideas as gifts.

Check out Mamastone Vintage for awesome vintage pieces which are styled beautifully. Back in the day they were my favorite for Boho pieces, but now that Edie Sedgwick is en vogue they carry a nice supply of mod graphic styles. In addition to their ebay store, they also have a website which has great lookbooks of the pieces they have sold recently which is great inspiration for fun outfits.

John Galliano has presented an alarmingly sadistic collection for his spring couture line for Dior. His work is a response to the rioting and general unrest in Paris during the summer. He also resorts to digging back into Paris’s history, looking as far as the French Revolution. This violent edge to his collection comes as no surprise as the men’s shows in Millan have also carried this aggressive look. Galliano’s collection is trend right in the attitude of his collection, but his execution of the collection appears stale…

Looking at the men’s fall 2006 Millan shows, there was a definite direction for jackets. There was a tremendous amount of motorcycle styled jackets. In the assemblage above we have men’s styles by Alexander McQueen and D&G, and Kate is wearing some Dior from long ago and Daria is sporting her own personal leather.

I must express my apologies to Gemma Ward, I am way too excited about the women’s fall fashion shows which are quickly approaching (Feb.3rd!). I’ve taken this opportunity to use you as the vessel (via cutting and pasting) for us to look at men’s Fall 2006 fashion week in Milan. I hope you understand…

Jill Stuart, Miu Miu, and D&G are all about the long bicycle short/surfer short. At first I was apprehensive, even dismissive…but with all the long tops this season, it is the perfect match. Shorts are taking the place of skirts at the moment, hopefully the Fall collections in February will provide some new skirt direction. But in the meantime try to sport neutral colored shorts, it’s already enough of a fashion statement there is no need to make it overtly wacky.

There is an extreme range of lengths on the runways in the Spring 2006 collections. There are teensy dresses which are more like overgrown tops. Although these short styles are cute the wearer does run the risk of people exclaiming ‘look she’s not wearing pants!’.

On the other end of the spectrum Rochas, Marni, and Missoni are pushing hems to the floor. Check out the floor sweeping Missoni dress (shown above) paired with footless tights (another fashion staple for the coming season). Check out the options from Urban Outfitters, or you can DIY and just cut off the feet of your old tights.

Reese Witherspoon got screwed with Kristen Dunst’s hand-me-down gown. We need to ask ourselves what makes something vintage? Is last season vintage? Or does something need to recede from fashion for 2o years to become honorably vintage?

The gown is from Chanel’s 2002 couture collection. According to Chanel’s publicist Gretchen Fenton, the gown actually isn’t considered vintage. Fenton said, the term vintage, long used to classify dresses from bygone eras, has become “very vague” and is a “new way” to define apparel not available in recent designer collections.

What do you think?