Fashion / Style

Ageless Christie Brinkley, a New $550 Million Home and Fashionista Foodies

New York Fashion Week Kicks Off With Plenty of Intrigue

BY // 02.08.19

NEW YORK — Since leaving Lincoln Center in 2015, New York Fashion Week has been in a bit of a funk. Without a signature space like Bryant Park, which the biannual fashion extravaganza called home for 17 years before moving uptown, designers have floated around Manhattan in search of the right place to display their latest looks.

But that may be changing.

Rumors abound that the showcase for women’s fashion, which officially kicked off Thursday following three days of menswear collections, will move in the fall to The Shed, a new $550 million multi-purpose building designed by the noted architectural firm Diller Scofidio + Renfro that opens next month in Hudson Yards on the city’s far west side. The largest private development in the United States, the project also includes several skyscrapers, parks, and retail development, including Manhattan’s first Neiman Marcus.

Until then, it’s business as usual as America’s top designers unveil their fall collections for the fashion press, a host of Instagram bloggers and celebrities of varying degrees of social status. To kick off a month of special fashion week coverage in PaperCity, here are the top five happenings we’ve been looking forward to.

Christie Brinkley and Her Daughter’s Moment

I’ll always remember the last time Elie Tahari showed his collection at New York Fashion Week in 2014 because I snapped a selfie with my fashion idol, Joan Rivers, who was a close friend of the designer. Sadly, Rivers died a few months later. I thought of the comedienne and fashion critic when Tahari returned to fashion week to unveil his fall collection in a full-scale runway show on Thursday afternoon.

“We felt it was the right time for us to return to the official NYFW,” Tahari said. “It’s the brand’s 45th anniversary and we’re launching our first fragrance, and thought there was no better way to celebrate!”

Modeling legend Christie Brinkley and her daughter, Sailor Brinkley Cook, traded high fives on the runway to enthusiastic applause to close Tahari’s show. Backstage afterwards, the mother-daughter duo talked after their first appearance together on a runway and how Brinkley almost messed it up.

“I was so taken aback by the applause that I was trying to hold back tears because it was so sweet and lovely and I walked right past her,” said Brinkley, who was one of the world’s first supermodels in the late ’70s and ’80s.

Brinkley, who wore a tailored dark green velvet jacket and slacks, recovered and they wowed the crowd. Cook, 20, also looked stunning in a black silk velvet dress with ombre beaded sleeves.

“The fact that (Tahari) wanted to highlight the generation thing” lured Brinkley back onto the runway, she said.

“I appreciate it because women my age often feel invisible,” added Brinkley, who turned 65 a few days ago. “It’s great to have  a designer wanting us to be represented. I know his clothes are for us too.”

A Higher Runway

The most successful of all Project Runway winners, Christian Siriano has built a powerful brand in the last decade and his show has become a highlight of fashion week. This season, he promises to exceed previous efforts by showing his fall collection at the “Top of The Rock” atop the glass-enclosed observation desk located on the 67th floor of the iconic 30 Rockefeller Plaza, also home to NBC Studios and the Rainbow Room.

(Siriano will return to Project Runway to mentor contestants when the popular reality show returns to Bravo next month.)

Global Fashion

While a number of American designers have forsaken New York for Paris and Milan, a whole slew of new Asian, Turkish and Indonesian designers have taken their place. Vietnamese fashion designer Cong Tri is presenting his collection in New York for the first time, and shows by Chinese designers Amelie Wang and Leaf Xia, Asian Fashion Collection, Project Korea, Fashion Hong Kong, Global Fashion Collective and Indonesia Diversity are filling the New York Fashion Week schedule.

Fashionista Foodies

There aren’t a lot of opportunities to chow down at fashion week — and many of the social X-rays wouldn’t let a calorie pass their lips in any event — but Brandon Maxwell has made it a tradition to offer up some grub. Last season, he served burgers and Shiner beer before unveiling his sophisticated Texas-inspired collection. This go-around, he’s serving cocktails and light bites before he presents his fall collection at the Penn Plaza Pavilion.

Fashionista foodies — yes, there are a number of them — are excited about the new New York outpost of Paris favorite L’Avenue, which recently opened at the flagship Saks Fifth Avenue store across from Rockefeller Center.

The new Philippe Starck-designed restaurant, located on the store’s ninth floor, has its own special entrance. It plans a similar menu as the original Paris location, with some New York touches, like a chopped salad, and mouth-watering pastries, like the famous Coste Crackers Cheesecake prepared by famous pastry chef Pierre Hermé. One floor below, Le Chalet is a warm and cozy lounge with a St. Moritz vibe featuring cocktails and light bites.

Best Dressed Sneak Peek

The Houston Chronicle Best Dressed Luncheon is highlighting the Carolina Herrera fall collection that Wes Gordon will be unveiling in his second New York Fashion Week outing. Gordon, who took over as creative director after Herrera stepped down last year, has maintained the founder’s flair for the dramatic while adding a modern touch. We’ll get a sneak peek of the collection that will be headed to Houston next month.

For a glimpse of what some other designers have planned for New York Fashion Week, check out their sketches and what they say inspires them in the the photo set above. Their inspirations range from Tiffany glass and intricate stained-glass windows to “uniforms for the modern cannabis ambassadors,” which no doubt ensures that this fashion week will go out on a real high.

Part of the Special Series:

PaperCity - On the Runway Fall 2019
Hop into Bering's this Easter for Egg-citing Finds!
Shop Berings
SHOP NOW

Featured Properties

Swipe
X
X