I love my job and know I am fortunate to work in an industry that I’m truly passionate about. What I don’t love is that many times I take that love too far. Like today, for example, I wore my fabulous printed Roger Vivier pumps all around the city, and now the bones in my feet feel as if they are going to push their way through my skin. I might never be able to walk again. But anyway, onto New York Fashion Week and the Spring 2010 collections…

Yesterday I stopped by a presentation for A La Disposition (I now want a coat with a bustle), I ducked into 2 events at store in SoHo, had dinner with my girlfriend and happened to see Dina, Yael and Tamar – otherwise known as the Magnes Sisters – towards the end of our meal.

Today I started off the day at a medioche presentation, met Kelly (a new favorite publicist of mine) at the Society of Illustrators to preview the new science fiction installation and have a quick bite in the cafe before heading out to meet LaQuan Smith and Telfar. Let me tell you guys – LaQuan Smith is awesome. He might have a lot to learn, but he’ll get there (and soon). I die for his neon dresses and sooo much more. (I’m also going to do a feature on him in the coming weeks for StyledOn, so you better start reading that as well!)

I watched Chanel Iman walk the runway for Rosa Cha (which was rather good, actually). I saw a few other things not worth mentioning. Unfortunately I missed the Cuz Love Killz show (a grafitti-inspired collection), which I really wanted to check out.

And then there was Fashion’s Night Out… and for me, it was all about Nicole Romano and the Plaza. Very successful event and I wore the sexiest little tuxedo shorts and one of her amazing tassel necklaces.

Tomorrow I have a crazy schedule: Alejandro Ingelmo (SHOES!!) | Yigal Azrouel | Copperwheat | Ideeen | Luca Luca | Nicole Miller | Costello Tagliapietra | Indashio | Persona Party with Amber Rose, Russel Simmons & Kanye West

I had better get a good night’s sleep because my toes are still numb and I can barely type. ‘night!!

So Fashion Week is upon us – time to start scoring some swag…

Get your YSL Manifesto this Saturday beginning at 12pm noon. Look for the YSL ambassadors passing out copies at the following locations in Manhattan:
Prince + Mott | Prince + Mercer | Bleeker + Charles | 15th + 10th |
Bryant Park | 57th + 5th | Madison + 71st

Its sad, but true – I’ve barely written about the fall 2009 collections at all (aside from Abaeté and Rebecca Minkoff, which I attended on the very first day of New York Fashion Week), but I just wanted to remind you that the very best shows have either just happened or will be happening very soon:

Prada is out!
Marni is out!!
Bottega is out!!!
Jil Sander is out!!!!
Miu Miu and more, still to come…

Stay tuned to ThoseExtra4Inches.com as I’ll be listing my top looks of the season, just as I did for Spring ‘09, as well as a trend report or some sort of condensed version of one. Have any of you been watching the shows? Have a favorite already??

All I can say is that the Abaeté Fall 2009 Collection is absolutely gorgeous and that the show was a truly beautiful one. It was actually very, very Abaeté in inspiration and design, which is what made me truly love it so very much (and so much more than the last one).

This season, designer Laura Poretzky was inspired by Les Incroyables, a fashion subculture of post-revolutionary French society in the 1790s, which translated into a darker, more sultry collection than we’ve seen in a while from her. The mood on the runway was further enhanced by a haunting soundtrack provided by a string trio. There was no logo on the back wall, no props, no fancy lights - just gorgeous girls sauntering slowly down the runway.

Poretzky’s LBD never disappoint and neither do her tightly tailored jackets or her tulip skirts complete with their perfect layering petals. Each piece looked beautiful, and this time the models walked at such a slow pace that you could actually appreciate the work that went into it all.

When I hugged Laura backstage, my eyes welled up with tears because I was truly proud of her and Abaeté in general. Even though this is going to continue to be a hard year for most of us, I can really see things going well for Abaeté’s Fall ‘09 collection. See the full collection at Style.com and shop her latest collection for Payless here.

I know, I know. I’ve been neglecting you badly. I am deeply sorry and promise to bring things up to speed asap…

First of all – New York Fashion Week begun last week Thursday. First show for me? Rebecca Minkoff on Thursday evening.

Rebecca Minkoff’s Fall 2009 Collection presentation took place in an intimate space at MILK studios and featured both her RTW and popular handbag line. I stayed for about 30 minutes chatted with the girls from InStyle and left right as the adorable Agyness Deyn walked in (sporting a bright purple tutu no less).

The thing is, Minkoff just has an eye for design and simply knows what cool girls want. Her collection on Thursday had a definite LES/Williamsburg feel to it, but the finish and fit were much more refined and sophisticated.

I suppose that it should come as no great surprise that the talented handbag designer’s leather pieces were show presentation stealers. Gorgeous lines, great details and just the perfect fit made me want practically every piece - especially the snug shearling jacket and the leather leggings.

Another style I could use in my closet? The stunning purple dress with zipper edging running along the plunging back and pleated fan detail. Gorgeous, fun, and now a new obsession of mine. Click below for more images from the presentation and be sure to grab yourself one of Rebecca’s fabulous neon-piped ‘morning after bags’ this season.

Now that the shows are finally finished, I’ve selected 15 of my favorite looks from the spring 2009 runways.

Just a brief note: I love LOVE Giambattista Valli’s Spring ‘09 Collection so much, but I want to live in Jil Sander every moment of every single day. Marni’s show was amazing… so much fashion, so little time. Upcoming Spring Trends? Sheer layers, fringe detailing, asymmetrical lines and hems, one-strap tops, mid-drift baring silhouettes, and so much more…

Lanvin | That color combination! The volume!

Narciso Rodriguez | Black and white and perfect

Balmain | Ridiculously cool, love this look

Stella McCartney | A little sparkle, a lot of sex appeal

Donna Karan | Sexy, strong, and slinky

Bottega Veneta | Smooth as butter

Calvin Klein | Sculptural, metallic, and stunning

Jil Sander | Fringe benefits aplenty

Giambattista Valli | Big skirts, perfect pleats, little waists – oh my!

Peter Som | Gorgeous color. love love LOVE

Miu Miu | Sharp dressed and stunning

Marni | So cute. I die! I DIE.

Alexander McQueen | Somewhere over the rainbow

John Galliano | Show-stopping drama

Oscar de le Renta | Pure elegance

(All images courtesy of Style.com)

In the Promenade at Bryant Park, during the Carlos Miele Spring 2009 Collection show, the girls look gorgeous, happy, perfect. With shining hair and smiling eyes, they were serenaded by Brazilian singer Seu Jorge (who has an amazing voice, made the girls laugh, and brought a joyfulness to an otherwise dreary fashion week).

Miele describes the collection as a dance between nature and the female body. His love for architecture, art, music as well as his core influences such as Brazilian landscape artist Roberto Burle Marx, led him to design his island hideaway in Florianopolis, a simple shaped house that blends into the landscape – which coincidentally served as inspiration for his spring 2009 collection.

Unfortunately you can’t really see any of the dresses in my photographs (perhaps I should invest in a real camera instead of just relying on my iPhone), so you either have to trust me when I tell you that they were stunning, or you’ll have to go to style.com and look at the collection yourself. Anyway, click below for my not-so-hot images and more info on this show…

P.S. I finally saw Karlie Kloss walk in a show – haunting yet stunning. Also fell in love with models Sheila Marquez, Eniko Mihalik, Kamila Filipcikova. OH – and the big sparkly cuffs by Juliana Scarpa were simply fabulous and definitely worth looking into.

After a looong day at work on Tuesday, I managed to make it to Tony Cohen’s Spring 2009 Collection Show at the Salon in Bryant Park.

New York fashion fixtures Patrick McDonald (who pens the Highbrow column in Paper Magazine) and Leigh Lezark of the Misshapes were seated front row opposite me (which sort of tells you a lot about the attendance of the show).

The collection featured lots of draped, tucked, and gathered chiffon which floated down the runway. All-in-all, it was a pretty collection that I can imagine many of my friends (as well as bi-coastal It girls) wearing.

And as pretty as the clothing was, the hair was crazy. Big and sort of scraggly, it only accentuated the wobbliness of the girls as they struggled to walk down the runway in heels that seemed unstable (although I would love to try a pair). Actually, I wasn’t a fan of the casting for this show in general, but that may simply be due to the overall styled effect or just sitting front row where I worried about being crushed by a falling model.

On a related note: The spring shows, in case you haven’t noticed already, are quite devoid of jewelry compared to the fall. Tony Cohen’s show did include some jewelry, and although it was Erickson Beamon, which is usually all kinds of wonderful-gaudy bling, but it was stripped down to just simple rope chain necklaces. Click below for images for the show (and a close-up shot of the shoes) below…

Something just reminded me of this (probably an ad for the new 90210):

I’ve been to several shows in the tents so far and have yet to see the CFDA Health Booth - you know, the booth set up so that young women with eating disorders would have a place to go for help..in front of everyone in the industry?

Maybe it really is there and I’ve just walked by, but if that is indeed the case, then again, what the hell is the point of it?

I have to be very honest here – I have always felt that contemporary lines should not show during fashion week, that they dilute what is special about runway shows; that runway should be reserved for more theatrical pieces shown on dazzling sets, etc…

However, after working in the industry for a while now, I have not only come to accept the inclusion of contemporary collections, but truly appreciate their presence at fashion week. After all, the contemporary collections are the ones we’ll actually be wearing.

I barely made it to the tents in time for Abaeté’s Spring 09 Collection on Saturday, but did thanks to one slightly crazy driver who nearly ran over a film crew. My first ‘real job’ was at Abaeté (I was there for over 3 years handling the pr and marketing) and so this line, designer Laura Poretzky, and all of the amazing people there will always be very, very dear to me.

For Spring 09, Poretzky was inspired by the dichotomy of the two sides of a woman: the good and the bad. She also looked at clothing from the inside out and paid close attention to underpinnings (lingerie, girdles, netting, etc). The bad girl, according to Poretzky, is celebrated with bondage-tight black jersey pieces, corseted details, and peek-a-boo netting. The girl girl, with ultra feminine, flirty bows and a pretty pastel palate (which was inspired by summers spent in France).

Because I’ve been through so many seasons with Abaeté, I probably view the shows a little bit differently than other people do, paying special attention to all of the people in the audience (like Neiman Marcus’ Ken Downing and ELLE’s Kate Lanphear), the new collection of footwear for Payless (which is always good) – and then of course to the clothing! All of the pieces in yellow and a sheer blue striped silk were super pretty and the I loved the more dramatic make-up and swept back hair this season. Her blouses and top were also quite strong, but the bike shorts, layering of tops, and use of tights in a few of the looks were a bit much. An overtly sporty departure for Poretzky, but still a collection true to her signature feminine aesthetic.

My top picks from Abaeté’s Spring 09 Collection? The trench in look 14 was ridiculously chic, look 21 was perfect amounts of sweet and sexy, both the bowed white/blue swim suit and the yellow one with corseted details were gorgeous, and the yellow one strap dress would look fantastic in an episode of Gossip Girl (and I mean this in a good way).

Right after the lights went back up at Abaeté, I ran out of the tents and straight into a cab to rush over to the ADAM by Adam Lippes Spring 2009 Collection Show. The show was set to take place in the garden of the New York Theological Seminary, but was moved inside a gorgeous Gothic church due to the looming rain storm.

For his spring 09 collection, Lippes was inspired by color, ease, and MoMA’s Color Chart exhibition months earlier. The first few looks were sent out with loose knit hats embellished with big studs that looked hideous in person, but once the hats were gone, things started looking better. There was bright pink, vibrant yellow, electric blue, lots of white and black too. My favorite look was the last one (especially the amber silk georgette floor-length shirt dress) and it was great seeing Siri walk.

After the show I walked in the pouring rain for blocks, practically ruining a pair of satin Celine peep-toe pumps. Needless to say that by the time I got home I was hating on fashion week and swore off going to any parties I had RSVP’d to for the evening. Of course I ended up going out later that evening (and had a great time), but it took watching Margaret Cho and eating couple slices of pizza to get me back in the mood.

Click below to see more images from Abaeté and ADAM by Adam Lippes including links to their full runway collctions.