Fashion Funhouse Emporium

Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center is approaching quickly. Like past seasons, the tents will compete with Milk Studios shows and other off-site locations.  Fashion Funhouse Emporium's credentials as a legit source of coverage have finally been approved. Yay! I suppose this means I can officially talk about who I want to check out with some "street cred!"

Here are the women's designers showing at Spring 2011 fashion week that I am curious to see. Good, bad, and in between, this is what the shows are all about.

YUNA YANG

Photo: Yuna Yang Blog

This New York based fashion designer has two past collections on her site. This season, she'll be showing at Lincoln Center.  When I checked out her collections, I see potential from this Central Saint Martins grad, yet there is some question to who she wants to be as a designer. Her pieces range artsy, structural suits to very basic looking ready to wear. I'd like to see her go full throttle,with Galliano couture, if she's really not focused on selling as her biography states.  We need some more craziness at New York shows.

JENNY PACKHAM

Photo: Jenny Packham

I am familiar with Jenny Packham's lacy and ultra feminine luxury wedding collections from when I worked at In Style Weddings. Of course, I'm ready to see what this British designer (also a Central Saint Martins alumni) will send down the runway for ready to wear again this spring. Her past couple of collections showcased red carpet ready dresses, which isn't too much of a stray from matrimonial gowns. So far, she's a bit of an edgier Carolina Herrera, keeping with the high end evening wear aesthetic.

WILLIAM TEMPEST

Photo: William Tempest

Another Brit on the New York scene, this designer's past collections have been pretty basic geometric influenced body conscious dresses. He's worked with some heavy-hitters, like Jean Charles de Castlebajac and Giles Deacon. He's even designed accessories and clothing for Miss Madge, Madonna to you others. It will be interesting to see this guy evolve, hopefully away from Alexander McQueen/ Balmain style dresses and into his own signature.

PARKCHOOMOO

Photo: Parkchoomoo

So I'm not only giving preference to the British designers this season, enter Seoul, Korea's Parkchoomoo. This designer has been around fashion for a while. Her family owned a children's apparel company in Kimje, in the southern part of the country.  She opened her first retail store in 1988, but since then has had a mostly Asian following. With a less rigid Calvin Klein simplicity, and little less fear of color, she's not about getting better, for shes already established. She's about taking over a new market. I'd like to see what she has in store for the US.

IRINA SHABAYEVA

Photo: Irina Shabayeva

She's trying hard to shed her Project Runway affiliation and become a force in fashion. Last season she crept quietly on to the runway with an off-site show that showed off what she can do with a little financial backing from Tupperwear. I'm assuming this year, she may not be sponsored by the plastics company since she's no longer a newbie. But it is my guess that lack of petroleum based synthetics will not hinder her.  With the imagination showcased last season, as long as she keeps to her own without compromise, she'll be around for more than 15 minutes of reality television fame.

READ MORE PAST FASHION WEEK COVERAGE:

Spring 2011 Men's Designers to Watch

Irina Shabayeva Runway Fall 2010

Fall 2010 Condensed Report A-L

Fall 2010 Condensed Report M-Z

New York Fashion Week: Fall 2010

Designer: LNA

About two years ago, an editor at a magazine gave me an LNA scoop neck tee. It was the softest, slinkiest, most comfortable t-shirt I've ever worn. I was hooked.

The line was founded by California natives Lauren Alexander and April Leight on quest to design the perfect t-shirt that fit, in versatile colors and of course quality cotton.  They succeeded.  Since then, they've been expanding their line to bottoms, jackets and even dresses.

Colors

Basic Black, Heather Gray and White

Looks Loved

I loved the basic black and white stripe dress with a a leather jacket thrown over top as seen on the blond model. The gray tee dress looked so comfortable that I wanted to steal it off the model and run.The guys hoodie and black biker jacket, tough but not too involved which is how I like men to dress.

Unloved Looks

Can we please end this trend of MC hammer, carrying a load style  pants?  Love the jacket, hate the pants.  Im also not a fan of the black crop garbage bag looking top over the gray dress in the pic above. It looks strange, but not in a good way.

Music

The Fall collection was inspired by the music industry's bad ass front women like Alison Mosshart of The Kills & The Dead, io of Lo Echo, Natasha Khan of Bat for Lashes and of course, the original unisex rock n' roll uniform creator, Ms. Patti Smith.

LNA held an after-party at Milk Studios with a live performance by Smith.  I was invited. My name was on the list, however, when I got to the studio, the line  just to check in stretched almost a block.  About  10 people cut in front of me in line "to meet their friends" after I've been waiting about 15 minutes. I decided with the temperature being 20 degrees that I would call it a night.  I'd been out all day at shows. Though, I'm a Patti Smith fan and would've loved to check it out, I'm not big into scenes that seem like a velvet rope event --though there were metal police barracades rather than rope. Still.  That's just me, personally. Thats how it goes at these things and thanks for the invite!

People and Scene

The presentation was held in a studio at Milk.  It was easy come, easy go which I prefer over nutty huge productions.  There were some fashion types standing around chatting, then there were some people who just came in, snapped some shots and left.

The "stages" reminded me of decorations put up by the high school prom committee: cardboard, tissue paper and metal, made to seem goth?  I think this was probably the intention of the art crew.  I think?  Rock, rock, rock n' roll high school!

To Gift or Not to Gift

I'm voting this gift bag the best yet! The black cotton LNA bag was stuffed with Bumble and Bumble donated shampoo and conditioner in full size bottles, a cd from a band called Metric (which I haven't listened to yet) a product called Inodorous that is fabric refresher with no scent, and last, one of my favorite v-neck LNA heather gray t-shirts.