Nordstrom at NYFW

Celebrated society columnist and industry insider Ben Widdicombe captures the culture of fashion at the shows and all over town.

Pamela and Deniz are our Fashion PR experts and fixtures on the NYFW beat. They're bringing all the runway action to you with reports from inside the tents at the week's hottest shows.

Cheri, Nordstrom's National Beauty Director, takes you behind the scenes to reveal the season's biggest beauty trends and makeup artists' tricks of the trade.

Thakoon: Lived-in Luxury

Designer Thakoon Panichgul set a cerebral tone using an echoing heartbeat as "music" when we entered his show space. Models passed through glowing white sculptures lit from within.

Look #1 was a gray cable matelasse cape-sleeve hooded jacket, black merino asymmetric cardigan and black canvas jersey paired with gray merino wool layer leggings. The jacket was like a luxury-class hoody.

The matelasse fabric was the first indication of Thakoon's dedication to texture in this collection. Other fabrics included rumpled velvet, fox and mink furs, double-faced twill, burnout velvet and leather.

Technically advanced but familiar silhouettes included pullovers, bomber jackets, shift dresses and track pants. The color palette ranged from gray to black and ivory to yellow. Tiny pompoms were an unexpected and whimsical detail that actually worked for a fall collection .

 

Narciso Rodriguez Does Mixed Media

Typically a minimalist designer, Narciso Rodriguez focused his Fall 2010 Collection on mixing fabrics, textures and color. The show opened with a black wool, twill coat with a circular silk Mikado inset. 

One thing is true for this season—there is no shortage of beautiful coats to choose from. Shearling is showing up everywhere, and we adored the black shearling jacket and jersey top paired with a wool and silk Mikado skirt.

Then came softer and more draped shapes than we're used to seeing from Narciso. And in a black-heavy season, we loved the striking jade, aqua, bronze and brick textured silks he used in dresses with sexy side cut-outs. The last look of the evening was a black textured silk dress with a bronze studded embroidered jacket.

For a futuristic look, Narcisco accessorized with big round box hats made of leather and wool—but don't try this look off the runway...at least not this decade.

Michael Kors: Quintessential American Sportswear

More often than not, Michael Kors is spot-on when it comes to offering easy but chic American sportswear. This season, he showed urban casual vs. country luxe—i.e. perfect for the city jet setter with a country estate.

Now, I don't live in the "big city," nor do I live in the country in a place large enough to require a name like "Highfield Estates" (though that would be an ideal setting to don his camel mohair cocoon sweater). No matter, I still have a fair amount of Michael Kors in my closet, and my bet is that this season—just like me—you can find amazing pieces to update your everyday wardrobe.

For his Fall 2010 Collection, Michael mixed fabric textures like crinkle and crushed cashmere, mohair, tweed, silk and jersey, The crinkle or crushed cashmere came in the form of Chesterfield coats in smoke and camel—we love. As Pamela, my colleague/fellow blogger, was leaning over and pointing them out to me, someone from Michael's team sitting next to us said those were Michael's favorite, too!

Speaking of favorites, I adore when Michael does evening; it's always simple, clean and sophisticated. He ended the show with three sequin numbers that hug the body—the last look was a black paillette jersey gown with a slight slit at the hip...oh, so very sexy.

 

Jason Wu and Tse Collaborate: Lush Feminine Knitwear

I wanted to share about Jason Wu's capsule collection with cashmere house, Tse. We really loved some of the pieces resulting from this collaboration (and with the snow outside, I wished I was wearing one of the chunky, metallic, looped-tape-yarn scarves around my neck). The collection was full of lush knitwear, flannel blazers and cashmere sweaters layered over chiffon dresses and skirts.

A few of my personal favorites: a red and beige, blocked cashmere tee that was incredibly soft (the more informal fashion presentation allowed us to touch and feel a bit). Wu explained his science behind hand washing some of his fabrics, including cashmere and chiffon, to get that "extra feel" to it.

I loved the black cashmere dress with an off-white silk chiffon pleated underskirt (so much so that I asked our national buyer to take a note for me—a pitfall of the job).

Yes, it took me and few others about five minutes to figure out that it was one easy piece (I'll admit it; we had to ask the model). It was accessorized with black chunky ribbed gloves and a black leather skinny belt. A note about Wu's dresses: most of them deliver with the belts included, which is a huge plus in the designer world!

If you're near Seattle, visit with Jason, and shop his Spring collection as well as place pre-orders for fall on April 15, from 1-3PM at our Downtown Seattle flagship store!

Rodarte Goes Ethereal

We are having a love affair with Rodarte—widely known as one of the most creative and forward-thinking design teams to arrive on the American fashion stage. We are so very excited to see them this thursday night at the Nordstrom and Vogue official launch party of their exhibit at the Cooper-Hewitt Museum in New York (Nordstrom is also sponsoring the exhibit itself).

So highly esteemed, it should come as no surprise then that Rodarte really knows how to set the stage for their shows. This time, as the lights went out, confetti was sprinkled through the maze-like runway, and girls hurriedly lit a sculpture of white candles.

The first look out was a nude top of vertical ribbons, a colorful miniskirt (looked like a rich hand-woven Mexican blanket), completed with lace leggings.

The shoes are always of interest (of course), and this season they were Nicholas Kirkwood with heels designed to look like melting wax—they even glowed in the finale.

There were vintage-looking chiffon floral dresses, lots of lace and burnt-out velvet. Knits this season were chunky wool and alpaca sweaters paired with sheer floral tops. My favorite looks were the three ethereal white dresses in the end made of layered chiffon, lace and pearls.

Celeb note: Kirsten Dunst with Jason Schwartzman in the front row. To my left, the ever-so-chic Chloe Sevigny in a all-black suede shearling bomber, leather leggings and fuchsia lips. Natalie Portman, also there, is set to host thursday's exhibit launch party with a slew of others including our very own Pete Nordstrom.