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 With Eco conscious wear on the rise (for real this time), a lot of new design houses are
popping up with this in mind. Moschino has had a division that's
done this for a while, and even the house of FENDI happily duplicates many
of their fur patterns in fakes these days. One of the most
interesting new finds is by designer Natalie Barriman whose new
store at 110 W 7th St. N.Y.C. is worth checking out. She takes
hemp based natural wovens and silk blends which often translate
into hippy dippy and turns them into very cool yet chic sportswear
that will last a lifetime. Get this, in 1947, there was a
government film made called Hemp for Victory that illustrated the
strength of this genius fiber. Good for warfare and hard urban living.
It lasts 2-3 times longer than cotton and resists heat, UV rays
and mildew. Commercial man came along, of course, and made "improvements" with money making synthetics and hemp production
was abruptly halted. As much as we love polyester too, Natalie
will be showing her collection during Alternative Fashion Week,
March 19th at the Palladium.
Aside from taking in the ever-changing style shifts in fashion mondo, fashion week provides some of the best amusement available. One of the best ways to tell if a collection is exciting is to look for Elsa...We love her as she opened up the world of fashion television in the first place and because she will fall asleep at a show if she feels like it instead of pretending to oooh and aah at a bunch of boredom. I feel strongly that she works very hard at what she does and deserves every catnap she can steal so must decline divulging exactly whose shows got the z's. And then there's this new trend of models with assistants. Apparently there's "status involved" but unless you speak a language foreign to New York (does that exist?) Hello? What could you possibly need help with. There were all kinds of completely unfamiliar faces traipsing around to go-sees with assistants in tow.
The great thing was that EVERYBODY was dressed up. Not tuxes and tails, but instead of that "just rolled out of bed to do this show look", almost everyone was clean and groomed with obvious attention spent on styling their garb du jour. Even a daringly high percentage of editors took a departure from the standard all black. There were a few caricatures that looked like extras from Absolutely Fabulous but even they were tryin', bless their hearts. Even club kids are really dressing up. The lil' darlins' are all wearing the gangster chic thing and with Casino playing on a loop all over the world, it's a matter of nanoseconds before mainstream collections pay homage. All the girls are dripping in rhinestones and evening gowns, and the boys on their arms are either doing suits with pencil thin mustaches or the modern gangsta version with all that baggy stuff. Now's a very good time to invest in that Cubic Zirconium pinkie ring.
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Overheard: Assistant: "How many cards do you
have left?" Model: "Three" Assistant: Looking at appointment book
replies, "O.K., then we have to go back to the agency and get more
after the next two castings". Fortunately these two found each
other. Other senseless scenarios entailed assistants
walking girls to the doors of said castings and explaining who the
person to see would be. Seemingly normal people
spelling out the obvious to grown-up girls who can
probably read and count is yet another step backwards for womenkind. 
Unique being all the rage enforces one
rule of thumb: not to look like everybody else...so if you still
do, get with the program and continue to forget everything that
you've ever learned. A difficult concept for the label conscious
to grasp, but if you just let go of your
Prada clutch for a minute and set yourself free. There are no rules. Especially the
one about not wearing horizontal stripes. And with the growing
success of new modeling agencies like A Plus, representing the
best of New York's club kids and the some of the most gorgeous
drag queens in town, the possibilities are endless.
