Interior Ann Taylor Loft
The weather has finally turned crisp — well, relatively crisp in these strange times, when there are still 70-degree days in November — which means it’s time for a little seasonal shopping! Let’s see what can be had, not for $1,000 (that’s easy) or $500 (still not much of a challenge) but in the glorious $100-or-so category.
First stop? The formerly stultifying Ann Taylor Loft (is this a good name for a store? Are lofts still cool?), where there are glad tidings to share: Santa, or more likely a cadre of smart retailing executives, has swept the cobwebs from this place and stocked it with sequins and swirly chiffon rosettes. I am dumbstruck to see chic gray cardigans decorated with floppy grosgrain bows, dead ringers for Lanvin but for their $59.50 price tags.
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Pipit, a two-year-old brand designed by Dustin Horowitz, a former creative director of Tommy Hilfiger, is a contemporary take on the idea of handcraftsmanship.
Sold exclusively at Barneys, the label offers a plethora of dresses sans separates, keeping in tune with Horowitz’s design philosophy of allowing a single idea to evolve and refine itself over time. Playing on the idea of an old favorite and taking a cue from vintage American sportswear brands, Pipit offers a number of shapes that translate into each collection as well as new, more experimental shapes that are seasonal.
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Barney’s event flyer
Monday night, Barneys kicked off the week with a cheeky evening of champers, British hors d’oeuvres (twee mini shepherd’s pie!), and a rousing discussion between Sir Paul Smith and Simon Doonan.
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Ok kids, I have to be honest. I was not looking forward to Fashion’s Night Out. I imagined piles of Neds from Newark pushing their way through shops hoping to catch a glimpse of an Olsen. I could envision hooligans bombarding stores and guzzling free booze then leaving. I foresaw pandemonium.
How wrong I was! Well, granted I didn’t even attempt to darken the door of Bergdorf’s with the line around the block. But the events I did attend were quite swank and terribly amusing!
As a matter of fact, I was so impressed that I am publicly demanding that Anna Wintour for now and forever be in charge of Gay Pride. Yes! This was probably one of the gayest nights in recorded history. I’m renaming it Gay’s Night Out.
Let me explain.
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Cator Sparks | Categories: Design + Designers, People + Personalities | 1 Comment » |
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Article Tags: Anna Wintour, Barneys New York, Bergdorf Goodman, Christian Louboutin, Fashion's Night Out, Gay, Gela Nash-Taylor, Hamish Bowles, Isabel Toledo, Juicy Couture, New York, New York Fashion Week, Ruben Toledo
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I heard the voice of God on the pay line at Barneys Warehouse Sale a few years ago. She sounded like a combination of Doris Roberts and Coco Chanel, and she thundered in her strange Bronx-French accent, “Drop that Comme des Garçons skirt! It’s no bargain at $300 instead of $3000, and it’s a hideous color that you will never wear! Dump it and run for your life!”
So I left BWS that day empty–handed, and have never — okay, hardly ever — gone back. But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been tempted. I am, like you, depressingly human — a sap for sample sales, a sucker for 70 percent off. (I have thus far resisted the clarion call of Gilt Group, which as I understand it is some kind of internet high fashion bargain basement, though I am an enthusiastic if frequently disappointed buyer on eBay.) But even as my closet bursts with a variety of marked-down monstrosities, I still long for the annual IF boutique sale in Soho with the avidity of a Chekhovian sister pining for Moscow. (How many times did I wear the ruffled Marc Le Bihan get-up I bought at this sale last summer for $350? Exactly once, and I felt like an overstuffed flamenco dancer all night.)
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