New York Fashion Week

THIS PAST week my Street Gazing eye has taken me out of town, to New York for the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center. I checked out the runway shows, attended lots of parties and most importantly, checked out the street styles of New Yorkers. I spied celebrities, fashion magazine editors, bloggers and many fashionistas rocking their sky-high, red-soled Christian Louboutin heels, Hermes Birkin bags and statement shades. The best-dressed gentlemen wore patterned overcoats that were easily complemented by scarves, hats and wing tip shoes.

Inquirer fashion writer Elizabeth Wellington will report from New York Fashion Week on her blog, "Mirror Image," at and on Twitter, @ewellingtonphl.

Ralph Rucci's New York Fashion Week show attracts the industry's elite: Simon Doonan, the creative ambassador for Barneys New York; Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus' director of fashion; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion reporter Robin Givhan; and the Rucci label's dear friend, Martha Stewart. This is a discriminating, austere, almost emotionless bunch. Still, when Rucci sends a dramatic piece down the runway, he manages to elicit a round of applause, sometimes a standing ovation. But after the clapping, the backstage handshakes, and the reviews that praise Rucci's artistic genius, the love all but disappears.

I giggled last week when Betsey Johnson led models through a mock workout routine wearing froufrou sportswear - carrying champagne bottles as weights. The next day, I dreamed of owning my own cap-sleeve sheaths that Badgley Mischka sent down the fall runway. And the day after that, I was surprised that the collection by the usually light and airy Nanette Lepore was edgy and black. During New York Fashion Week, I tweeted about clutch bags, blogged on hairstyles, and didn't have to guess whether any of the models were wearing red or pink lipstick.

New York Fashion Week insiders may get invitations to runway shows for free, but folks who are willing to pay definitely have a more posh experience. When Mercedes-Benz's twice-a-year fashion-palooza begins Thursday, style reporters, newspaper and magazine editors, specialty store buyers, and models will elbow their way through crowds of celebrity bottlenecks to their seats. Paying invitation-holders will be escorted to primo vantage points, handed cocktails, and allowed to chat with designers.

Philadelphia Fashion Week - which begins tomorrow evening at the 23d Street Armory - offers all of the industry's familiar bells and whistles: lithe models, chic clothing, VIP lounges, and of course, after-parties. But in addition to the divas and designers, the City of Brotherly Love's latest version of Fashion Week will include another element recently deemed equally important - access, by everyday consumers. And other cities are setting up similar runways, promoting their own vibrant regional fashion communities.

NEW YORK - Sitting under the tents at New York Fashion Week, it's often hard to picture the glamorous ensembles on anything but a lithe, 5-foot- 10-inch adolescent frame. But that's exactly what What2WearWhere.com founder Karen Klopp was doing as she watched models expertly swathed in flowing vibrant pastel frocks make their way down Tadashi Shoji's runway Wednesday. Known for his celebrity red-carpet gowns, Shoji's floral prints that opened his Spring 2012 collection show are just lovely for garden parties, the botanical gardens, or spring formal, Klopp said, while jotting down notes in her mini-Moleskine notebook.

NEW YORK - For 17 years, New York Fashion Week in Bryant Park was just as much about previewing next season's styles as it was about balancing hot coffee through crowds, running in high heels on concrete, and crashing runway shows attended by celebrities. But insiders on the first full day of runway shows agreed its new Lincoln Center home - 30 percent larger than Bryant Park - was a sophisticated upgrade for the American Runway. Lincoln Center, on the Upper West Side, feels more like a residential neighborhood - where the streets are wider and taxis have more space to maneuver - than its midtown Manhattan predecessor.

Ralph Rucci's New York Fashion Week show attracts the industry's elite: Simon Doonan, the creative ambassador for Barneys New York; Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus' director of fashion; Pulitzer Prize-winning fashion reporter Robin Givhan; and the Rucci label's dear friend, Martha Stewart. This is a discriminating, austere, almost emotionless bunch. Still, when Rucci sends a dramatic piece down the runway, he manages to elicit a round of applause, sometimes a standing ovation. But after the clapping, the backstage handshakes, and the reviews that praise Rucci's artistic genius, the love all but disappears.

I giggled last week when Betsey Johnson led models through a mock workout routine wearing froufrou sportswear - carrying champagne bottles as weights. The next day, I dreamed of owning my own cap-sleeve sheaths that Badgley Mischka sent down the fall runway. And the day after that, I was surprised that the collection by the usually light and airy Nanette Lepore was edgy and black. During New York Fashion Week, I tweeted about clutch bags, blogged on hairstyles, and didn't have to guess whether any of the models were wearing red or pink lipstick.

NEW YORK - It's been a bit hard to tell the difference between men's and women's runway presentations at the fall 2013 fashion shows. Nautica's Black Sail collection had its male models in banana-yellow skinny pants rolled at the ankles. Coats with oversize fur collars featured a slight A-line flare. Designer Patrik Ervell's presentation last Sunday included an iridescent, emerald-green cape with a wraparound, cowl-neck collar. Even Michael Kors - whose manly clothes are typically classic American with a dose of Old World sophistication - dressed a model Wednesday in a fuzzy, short-sleeve sweater and skinny slacks, while another wore a bright-orange, belted trench.

After six years of toiling, not to mention the fierce fight they won to brand a single fashion week in the City of Brotherly Love, Kevin Parker and Kerry Scott seem to have finally perfected their formula. The duo - who run FBH-The Agency, a modeling and fashion-show production company - presented five days worth of sleek events last week that featured an accessories party, a networking cocktail hour, a black-tie gala, and two runway shows, all under the well-earned label FBH-The Agency Philadelphia Fashion Week.

Inquirer fashion writer Elizabeth Wellington will report from New York Fashion Week on her blog, "Mirror Image," at and on Twitter, @ewellingtonphl.

Prima-diva fashionista Cheryl Ann Wadlington decided it was high time she passed on some of her girly-girl knowledge. So she teamed up with veteran journalist Sonya Beard and wrote a new book, The DivaGirl's Guide to Style and Self-Respect (The Elevator Group, $15.95). It's a good fit: If there's anyone today's young stylistas will listen to, it's someone who is thoroughly convinced of her own grandeur. "I'm unapologetically fabulous," said Wadlington, CEO of Evoluer House, a local nonprofit that coaches young women on day-to-day life.

THIS PAST week my Street Gazing eye has taken me out of town, to New York for the Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at Lincoln Center. I checked out the runway shows, attended lots of parties and most importantly, checked out the street styles of New Yorkers. I spied celebrities, fashion magazine editors, bloggers and many fashionistas rocking their sky-high, red-soled Christian Louboutin heels, Hermes Birkin bags and statement shades. The best-dressed gentlemen wore patterned overcoats that were easily complemented by scarves, hats and wing tip shoes.

New York Fashion Week starts Thursday, and it appears the runways will be popping with a fashion flair that's unmistakably all-American. Levi's is planning its first appearance on the runways next week. And J. Crew - a favorite of first lady Michelle Obama - will return to the Lincoln Center tents Tuesday for its second year in a row. American sportswear stars Michael Kors, Diane von Furstenberg, Max Azria, Lacoste, Tibi, and Anna Sui appear as if they will even be more heavily attended - invitation lists have closed already.

New York Fashion Week insiders may get invitations to runway shows for free, but folks who are willing to pay definitely have a more posh experience. When Mercedes-Benz's twice-a-year fashion-palooza begins Thursday, style reporters, newspaper and magazine editors, specialty store buyers, and models will elbow their way through crowds of celebrity bottlenecks to their seats. Paying invitation-holders will be escorted to primo vantage points, handed cocktails, and allowed to chat with designers.