So as I mentioned, I traded in the Bryant Park tents this season for a jaunt in the motherland. My usual recap of the NY shows will resume in February 2009. In the meantime though, I advise those of you who want a fresh perspective (beyond the celeb rehashing) of what went down during Fashion Week in NYC to check out Robin Givhan's blog here. She also covers the Paris and Milan shows. She didn't win that Pulitzer for nuthin' honey.
In the meantime though, I thought it would be cool to compare what I did in South Africa last week to what I would have been doing here in NY had I stayed home and share it with you. By the way, a post (or 2) on the trip itself is coming - I'm still uploading photos and getting my life back in order. *sigh*
THE TOP THREE WAYS SPRING 2009 NY FASHION WEEK IS MORE LIKE SOUTH AFRICA THAN I THOUGHT...
1 - I always do a lot of people watching at the shows. What folks are wearing in the tents and the off-site venues is practically as important as what they are wearing on the runway.
1b - I did a whole lot of people watching on my vacay. From the time I left JFK (the airline stewardesses on S.A. Airways were rocking these funky scaves) to the moment I boarded my last flight in Jo'burg.
2 - Everyone at the shows was buzzing about the upcoming election I'm sure. Really, how could they not?
2b - I had no less than three in-depth convos with native South Africans about Obama. It reminded me how much the rest of this world is watching and are anticipating November 4th as much (perhaps more) as we are.
3 - For me, going to the shows is obviously about trend spotting for the next season but it is also a way to get inspired about well...everything. Runway is typically driven by fantasy (things are scaled down considerably for retail) and after viewing a few shows I get all sorts of ideas on everything from how to decorate my kitchen to trying out a new haircolor.
3b - While Cape Town was certainly the more cosmopolitan part of my trip (Madison Avenue has nothing on the V&A Waterfront), I was styilshly inspired by the safari and game reserve leg of my journey as well. God makes no mistakes and the way colors and textures blend and contrast with each other in nature is brillant. Not even the best trend forecasters could pull it off. It is no coincidence that designers are always claiming to get inspiration for their collections from "the bush", huh?
P.S. - My Freakum Dress update and the long overdue Italian Vougue recap posts are coming soon and very soon.
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