Style.com, Vogue.com

Last night the New York fashion scene celebrated this year's edition of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund Awards. I have been avidly following the progress of the contestants through Vogue.com's weekly videos. You might remember a mention or two about this lately.

As soon as I woke up this morning I logged on the website to read who the winner was. I happily found out that Joseph Altuzarra was the lucky winner. I had no doubt that the was the most worthy out of all the nominees but I was glad to see all the CFDA judges (that's including Anna Wintour) agree with me –or vote in the direction I would have.

This not only makes me ecstatic because Joseph is one of the most talented young designers –he did train at Givenchy and Proenza, after all– out there but also because I reviewed his first collection two years ago during my first gig as a writer. I can't quite explain why but I feel I have a connection with his clothes because of that.

I thought it would be nice to choose one of my favourite looks from each of his collections. I tried to pick the ones that were, perhaps, more representative of each season. It's great to see the progress when you put all the looks together.

Collage Sunday, 13.02.11: Anoraks and fluffy heels

That time that comes every six months that makes Giulia and I so happy is here again. Fashion Month kicked off last Wednesday in New York and we've already seen quite a lot of the usual NY blandness but also some of the genius names that show in the big apple. My favourites so far have been rather unexpected —Lyn Devon, Jenni Kayne, Jeremy Laing and Suno all amazed me in different ways, something which I rarely experience with NY shows. Rag & Bone keeps walking in a straight but really creative line and making collections full of hit. Alexander Wang and Joseph Altuzarra, two of my absolute favourites from NY, showed yesterday and I was happy to find many parallelisms between their collections.

Anoraks had been denied entrance to the fashion world for years until Remo Ruffini took control of Moncler and made Thom Browne creative director. The latter reinvented the idea of luxe sportswear and centred his collections for the French brand around anoraks cut in shapes and produced in fabrics that were previously only related to tailoring. The success of Moncler in changing its perception made everyone change their mind about anoraks, which has designers turn their efforts towards this garment and made it protagonist of several FW11 collections. Wang and Altuzarra have interpreted the anorak both in its traditional coat shape but also as parkas and capes or ponchos. Wang even went as far as making a tuxedo blazer out of it. The other common element on both collections, which will also become a trend if it hasn't already, are the furry heels we saw at both shows. I wonder if they are warm even though they're pretty much sandals. Although, if Prada's chandelier sandals were a hit, why not these?
I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com]

CFDA 2010 awards

I feel like I haven't posted in years and today I am so inspired I could make about 12 posts. Alas, I am only human so I'll stick to a chronological order to relevance so neither of us go mental. Let's start with the CFDA awards from Monday night. This year I was quite excited for one of my favourite new designers, Joseph Altuzarra, to win the Swarovski Womenswear Designer of the Year award. But, apparently, it had to go to the more unoriginal Jason Wu. I was also disappointed by Marc Jacobs' win as I feel slightly iffy about him, both as a person and as a designer. However, the fact that Richard Chai and Alexander Wang won the Swarovski Menswear and Accessories awards, respectively, made me very happy.

Fashion wise it wasn't a super exciting edition. I was happy to see the Olsens on their first official appearance at the awards as CFDA members but, even though they looked great, I always expect them to outshine everyone else. Something that didn't happen this year. My list of best dressed at this year's event even surprised me. My favourite above all was Vogue's Tonne Goodman, who won the Eleanor Lambert Award, in a Michael Kors outfit that pretty much epitomised classic East-coast style. Jessica Biel showed she can actually get it right every so often. She looked absolutely stunning a 30's glamour version of Diane Von Furstemberg's classic wrap dress. I can't explain why I like it so much but I look at it and it just feels right. Iris Apfel totally made my day by wearing one of Nicolas Ghesquière's Balenciaga jackets from SS09. I simply love the fact that a lady of her age can be so fashion-forward and still look appropriate. I really wish she was my grandma.

What I always love about both the Met Ball and the CFDA awards is the fact that designers attend with their muses dresses in their designs. I thought Hayden Christensen in Richard Chai was absolutely genius, they both look so not-bothered. Pretty relaxed as well looked Altuzarra and Vanessa Traina, in a custom-made dress from the SS10 collection turned black for the occasion. Zac Posen looked better than his companion once again. He is a bit of a roller coaster when it comes to collections but he can dress, there is no doubt about that. And then we have Dakota Fanning, who gave Marchesa such a spin it didn't even look it had come from the hands of Georgina Chapman.
I'm off.

[Pictures: Style.com, Zimbio.com, JustJared.buzznet.com, Tommy Ton for Style.com]

Met Gala 2010: The afterparty

As you know, I am addicted to the parties section of Stye.com, so I panicked when I didn't find any pictures of the Met Gala afterparty there. Luckily, I remembered that there is life outside Style.com and found them on the WWD website. And these are no ordinary party pictures, they are all full of First of all, Blake Lively stripped down to a t-shirt (presumably Alex Wang, haha) and a pair of converse! Completely genius, and sexy. Changing for a party isn't actually unprecedented but it kind of is to me since I have never seen graphic evidence before. Then, Matthew Morrison from Glee dancing with Natasha Poly, which was simply genius if you ask me. Although nothing wins over the picture of Sienna in jeans and a tank top looking (allegedly) hammered and Jude's face of love-meets-drunkard-sympathy.

Check out the rest of the pictures from the WWD website here. And have a look at this video below for a bit of the dresses in motion.

I'm off.

PS. Is anyone coining a term such as Jenna for J&S? I feel like we really need it.

[Images & video: WWD.com]