Elisabeth Hasselbeck for the Ab Glider

I had a chance to work with Elisabeth Hasselbeck to make a picture for the Ab Glider. They were shooting a new commercial and I got called in for stills. She’s an insanely hard worker and I have nothing but respect for her. She laughed at my Whoopi Goldberg jokes in her Brian Atwood pumps. Like most shoots, it went into overtime and she still kept on going. She even had a better body then her double. Because of the pace of production, I only had a few minutes to create the photo above and think it’s quite spectacular, we changed the lights and set-up the reflector all while they set up for the next scene.

Start of Michael Bastian, Fall Fashion Week 2012

Shiny things, from bow ties and breastplates, are not just for the Blonds anymore. Marlon Gobel, sponsored by Swarovski did just that. Having handprints on your outfit might be a great way of flirting (DVF & Rodarte), but at any moment I expect Vidal Sassoon to rise to prominence and give us the five-pointed cut. Will a new version of The Factory begin and who’ll be our next Andy Warhol? Luxury is yawning ever so gracefully; trying to make it’s way back into a recognizable statement to differentiate the classes. Appliqué prints made to look like your grandmother’s couch are out.

Architecture has arrived from Number:Lab to Peter Som, Helmut Lang and Donna Karan to name just a few. The designs are linier asymmetrical, colorful and splotchy – we might all start to look like Frank Gehry buildings.

I was in Allan & Suzi’s shop in SoHo, strangely obsessed with their fashion library and the many important dresses for sale or rent. One stuck out, a white bondage dress with red trim from Jean Paul Gaultier’s Fall 2009 collection (style.com link). I feel like I’ve seen the same concept in many collections recently. Are we going back to 2009? Before the world stood still, are we simply trying to wash the past few years away?

In New York, we’re not seeing a lot of original design, unless you go to the playful antics of Lindsay Degen and fashion’s underground. In fact, there’s been so much unoriginality the New York Times professed this “An American Crisis of Identity”.

China seemed to be on everyone’s mind. I talked to a paper manufacturer based in the Midwest at the Max Azria party who was perplexed by the new generation’s inability to find paid work. He struggles with all the same issues everyone else does, but he’s still in business because he provides a high-end product, while the rest of his competitive set has folded.

With Target, K-Mart and H&M surviving on the licensing “Kool-Aid “of emerging designers and talent that can afford a splashy runway, there’s an even lower price point emerging in the fast fashion wars. Joe Fresh and brands in that market tier are ensuring customers never have to pay more then $100 a garment and never more then $19 a t-shirt, so the innovation that happens in the top of the market no longer occurs in America. A split has happened, the surreal axe of credit-swap-derivatives has created a very definitive wedge between the classes.

Yet we’re marching forward – even as we see the pop-up parties and supper clubs evaporate, replaced by big restaurants and actual nightclubs. Yet my hopes that the past three years would lead to a march in “new” have not occurred. We’ve simply twisted and shaped ideas of the East.

This is not fashion. This is not America.  Innovation used to start here. But as Gary Wassner pointed, while on our way to a show “every pendulum always swings back”. It’s just a question of time. 

I love how surreal the city looked before the athletes took to the ice.

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  Models at the Gant presentation

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  The gant winter wonderland. I love this sweater.

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  Michael Bastian makes sure the look is perfect before the show.

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  Right before they let everyone in.

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  The line to see the presentation is around the block.

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  A model shows off one of the colorful scarfs.

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  The backstage and make-up area for the presentation.

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  Snow is falling.

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  The styling team get the models ready backstage.

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  Great glasses

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  A projector shows black and white movies in the background.

Michael Bastian showed off his 2012 fall collection for Gant at Exit Art, days after his namesake show. Stunning gals and guys posed in a winter wonderland wearing knit scarves in an array of festive colors and perfect sunglasses to match. Truly inspiring and a great presentation.

a model at L.A.M.B. in the Box at Lincoln Center

Gwen Stefani had a pop star moment (no surprise there), when she drew inspiration from the it girl. Although never stating that Edie is the inspiration. The Factory days seem to be front and center. From the black and white vibe and the prints. Check out google and you’ll see the uncanny comparison.

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  Sally Lapointe Fall Fashion Week 2012

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Sally LaPointe has steadfastly evolved since her first show two years ago. Has it really been four seasons? Now the young and no longer new designer, focuses on twisting and turning new materials into something anyone would want to wear. Last season she gave us an insane asylum. This season a sewer. Even though her set is often painstakingly derelict her clothes are never dingy.

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  Katya Leonovich showing at the Box

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  Katya Leonovich showing in the Box

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  Katya Leonovich

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  At the Maybelline - I obsessed about the shape and color.

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  Academy of Art University

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  Rocco Gaglioti interviewing Miss USA for Fashion News Live

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  Alex McCord, surrounded by fans before entering Academy of Art University

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  Academy of Art University - great use of new materials.

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  Academy of Art University

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  The New York Times highlights Paris Show at New York Fashion Week

Trying to get used to the pace of blogging again, I haven’t been able to see as many shows as I want to. There hasn’t been a whole lot of rhyme or reason to who I’ve been popping in to see. With twitter, facebook and the web, I’m getting a great overview of everything that happens, in the warmth of my apartment.

Reconnecting with old friends and acquaintances has been a rejuvenating experience. Katya Leonovich is a Russian designer, she has the unique talent of creating clothing that transforms with photography, I’ve never seen this before. I pulled her for a shoot that didn’t quite happen and didn’t realize it was the same designer till I reviewed my recent photos. The students of Academy of Art University, continued to be on trend. This shouldn’t be a shock to anyone, when they get to obsess about fashion as much as I do, seeing the use of new fabrics and the exploration of patterns and baseball caps was true to form. Wandering out. I couldn’t help notice the New York Times now uses a Paris show to highlight their fashion app at Lincoln Center. I love McQueen. Adore him. Yet this is a telling detail.