—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

—PHOTOGRAPHY BY JEREMY KOST

Reader Aaron sent us this documentary on the life of BCBG pre-Fashion Week.

The rough cut documentary gets up-close and personal with Lubov Azria, Max’s wife, as she heads to New York to prepare for three major fashion shows: BCBG, Max Azria and Herve Leger.

She discusses the importance of celebrities wearing their clothes and delves into the major differences between the three brands. It’s interesting to see, as an outsider, how six months of work culminates in ten minutes on a runway.

As for Max? His main point of discussion is his wife’s perfectionism. Between the two of them, it’s no wonder Herve’s revival’s been so wildly successful.

Parts II & III after the jump.

—CARSON GRIFFITH

Getting to a fashion show, especially in Paris, is a little bit like running a gauntlet.

First, you have to find where you’re going, then you have to battle your way through the really good street style photographers who hang out on the perimeter of the venue to get the best shots, then you encounter a literal mob of Japanese photographers before dealing with the French security guards who couldn’t care less who/what/why you’re there.

Tim Blanks tackled the issue for
Style.com - or at least attempted to. He caught Sarah Rutson, Anne Christensen and Natalie Massenet discussing the pros and cons of the street style phenomenon but didn’t manage to talk to a single street style photog.

The best part comes when he asks Anna Della Russo why it’s such a thing now and she says, “People want to see fashion on the real people.” Seriously?

I spent an inappropriately long time hanging out with British designers at the Centre For Fashion Enterprise pop-up showroom at the Soho Grand this morning.

With coffee in hand, I caught up with Hannah Marshall, Richard Nicoll, Jean Pierre-Braganza and the team behind Aminaka Wilmont - also, I got up close and personal with Anna’s favorite Meadham Kirchoff dress.

Let’s start with Hannah, the name on everyone’s lips this season. The tightly edited collection - her fifth, actually - includes armored dresses, textured pants and snakeskin harnesses. “I’ve just made this catsuit for Beth Ditto and it’s confirmed she’ll wear it in her new album artwork! Actually, she called me and was like, Can I order eight of them? Or no maybe like twelve?”

Post-Hannah, I literally fell into Jean Pierre-Braganza’s furs. The Canadian/Brit designer’s been showing in Milan for the past couple seasons and for Fall 09 he went with a futuristic Native American battle theme.

“It’s the first time I’ve done furs,” he said. “Saga sponsored me and the furs were really important to my design vision. I don’t think I actually thought they’d really sell so well but they’re doing amazing with buyers.”

“Is that often the case?” I asked.

“Yes!” he laughed. “Honestly I’m always surprised by what sells best. It’s kind of fascinating.”

That trend continued throughout the morning. Marcus Wilmont of Aminaka Wilmont said the exact same thing.

There was a mini-debate going on in the comments section of a Paris post.

One person decreed that blogs aren’t press and therefore shouldn’t sit in the press section of a show while another pointed out that we obviously aren’t buyers which together puts us in a rather awkward category. Blogs are, according to most publicists, considered press, and our seating assignment is usually a testament to that classification.

However, this season we noticed a new seating trend pop up. For the first time, those reporting for blogs and magazines’ online departments were often seated together which meant we had daily run-ins with reporters from Elle.com, Papermag.com, Glamour.com, Showstudio, DazedDigital, Fashionologie and more.

For example, at Marios Schwab, bloggers had their own Front Row section (alongside the Conde section, the ELLE section, etc), which created a real commune-style discussion of, “Well, I can’t report this for my site, but you totally should use what I heard earlier!” Fun, and certainly effective for spilling your thoughts onto Twitter in mere minutes.

Which makes us wonder, are the days of acting like bloggers aren’t real media members finally over? Because it looks like they are, at least in fashion. Especially now, when major editors from The Times are tweeting and Vogue editors like Filipa Fino are writing for Vogue Daily and WWD posts multiple times a day. We’re just saying, the line is getting awfully blurry.

Last week, Lydia Hearst told me she’d be walking two shows this season: An unnamed exclusive in Madrid and of course, Pringle of Scotland in Milan as one of the brand’s new faces.

But you guys noticed that Lydia was MIA in Milan, even though Pixie, another new Pringle face, sat front row.

Apparently, it’s because she’s off to Cairo on a mission for Operation Smile with her sister and brother-in-law. The heiress and model is this year’s official ambassador for the charity, and we guess she got her date book a bit mixed up.

Anyway, as for us, we’re off to Paris! Tomorrow look for tweets on just how many LVMH-ers are in Gareth’s front row.

There’s been a buzz around Alex & Eli for the past few months and we finally caught up with the designers behind the brand at the Bryant Park Hotel this morning to sneak a peek at their Fall 09 collection.

The line’s designed by Anna Zeman and Aja (pronounced Asia) Singer, both Parsons grads and together alums of Zac Posen, Carolina Herrera and Rodarte. Alex & Eli comes from their middle names, Alexandra and Elizabeth - masculinized for their line of suiting.

But there’s nothing really masculine about their clothes. It’s more about the idea of stellar, old-school, attention-to-detail tailoring usually reserved for custom made men’s suits and not a $500 price point.

Their Fall collection’s inspired by stained glass and Mommy Dearest which means panel-cut jackets (which we’ve never seen before) and mostly dark colors with pops of fuchsia and burnt yellow. There are raw silk, high-waisted trousers and a swingy, nude tank top with a sheer white back. Technically, it’s for the customer who has to wear a suit but wants to look chic and fashionable doing so. But we would never ever wear a suit and we’d wear all of this.

The girls are busy meeting with a long list of buyers but as soon as we know where you can try on their awe-inspiring suit-jumpsuit, we’ll let you know.

That recession thing everyone was obsessing over during New York Fashion Week? Well, in London, they have no idea what you’re talking about.

From our first show, Ashish - which featured a raging live performance, acrobats and gift bags packed full of makeup - to the last, there wasn’t even the slightest sign of an economic downturn. Champagne and food flowed, beer, wine and liquor, too; coffee in the mornings, water, Vitamin water, and Godiva chocolates everywhere you turned.

Gift bags popped up at almost every show - two at some like Roksanda and PPQ - totes packed with cosmetics, hair products, magazines, t-shirts and Barbies. And it felt like every single designer had an after party - including magazine and store parties, there must have been at least seven events a night.

And the photo pits, which we noticed were considerably smaller in New York this season, were huge. Not just at shows like Vivienne Westwood, but at Charles Anastase and Krystof Srozyna, too.

More importantly, no one even talked about it. Except for us of course, desperately running around asking everyone both British and American why it felt different on this side of the Atlantic. No one had an answer.

So we’ll leave it up to Paris - let the French have the final say in just how much the industry’s letting its inner turmoil reflect in its public face while we recover from London’s rollicking week-long party.

We’re not exactly sure who Tony Cohen’s client is.

First we noticed a woman in a faux leopard beret with matching faux leopard vest atop a rainbow sparkly blouse posing for the photogs. Next, in walked a woman wearing a pink bustier, destroyed tie-dye flared jeans and a very Pam-Anderson hair do with matching lip job (among other things) and I thought, “I know this woman, where do I know her from?” Aha! Angelique from Rock of Love. Not only is she, well, even here at Fashion Week (can we mention again the pink bustier?) but she’s front row.

Other front row were the MisShapes, dressed as sleek and dark as always which seemed to be more on the mark for Tony. We could totally see Leigh rocking those leather pants or one of the short, black dresses. While the pants and jackets were kept very angular and tough (we sort of died over the leather jacket), they were perfectly countered by the soft draping of the dresses and tops. The dark plum color and the black and white veiny pattern were a nice break from all the blacks and grays we’ve been seeing so far.

And to pull it all together, the models were sporting straight hair, completely combed back on one side, sort of like a straight version of the Proenza Spring ‘09, which means that the Alice Dellal is here to stay.

—HAYLEY PHELAN

It’s the last time a mini-fashion village will be built atop Bryant Park and IMG’s going out with a bang.

The canvas tarps that build the tents, the ones plastered with brightly colored “VOTE” buttons last season, will be designed by the designers showing within their flimsy walls.

According to Nylon, they’ll be made to look like an inspiration board complete with sketches, scribbles and swatches from designers including Erin Fetherston and Dennis Basso.

If only they could give us outfits at the door, too. Or is that asking too much?

True story:

After we learned that McDonald’s was the new “official coffee” of New York Fashion Week instead of the usual Lavazza or Starbucks, Natalie said, “So, tomorrow they’ll announce the Budweiser open bar, right?”

Which doesn’t make us snobs - it makes us really excited that the tents are turning into a giant frat party complete with cheap beer and hangover food.

Sure enough, Budweiser’s the official sponsor of Costello Tagliapietra, which is kind of the most amazing pairing ever because the boys are so burly, their clothes are so girly and their show is already kind of like a party. Oh, and also the interns will be running around in actual Budweiser tees.

So when we see Agyness drinking Bud backstage, we absolutely promise to take pictures.

There’s always a flood of e-mails pre-Fashion Week: How can we get tickets to fashion shows?

Well, you can buy your way in via American Express - though you’ll be seeing last season’s collections - or you can be a socialite, an actress, an editor, a buyer, a pop star, a photographer or you can stand on the 6th Avenue sidewalk and watch everyone leave the tents which is kind of like a fashion show in its own right.

Or, if you want to go to the NIcole Miller show you can answer both of these questions correctly and McDonald’s will give you two tickets. They’ll also give you a $250 Visa gift card (a new outfit maybe?) and a $100 gift card to McDonald’s, which is a whole lot of McFlurry’s - or McCafe’s, “the official coffee” of New York Fashion Week if you can hang on to that gift card until this summer.

1. Which 90’s sitcom revolved almost an entire episode around a Nicole Miller dress?

2. Which designer used to work at McDonald’s? (Hint: Said person’s showing in New York next week.)

If you know the answers, email us: work@fashionista.com (first person with both correct answers wins the tickets!) and we’ll see you next week!

Update: The winner is reader Willie - thanks for playing!

What will be the Electric Feel of Fall 09?

Not sure yet, but just in case you thought the band of Spring 08 had fallen off the fashion radar, they’d like to remind you that they’re still going strong.

The Virgins will kick off New York Fashion Week with a performance at the Mercedes Benz party at Shang this Friday, making it (we think) their fourth Fashion Week appearance in a row.

Which means we know we’ll be running into Stam and Behati all over the place and dancing to Rich Girls like it’s summer of 07.

We knew there’d be good Fashion Week news eventually: Full Frontal Fashion might’ve been cancelled but you’ll still be able to get a behind-the-scenes look at New York Fashion Week via a new TV show called Videofashion Daily.

They’ll be covering shows on and off site - from Rag & Bone in Chelsea to Narciso Rodriguez at the tents - from February 15th to the 26th.

No word on a front row host, though backstage beauty coverage will be led by Glamour’s Editor-at-Large Suze Yalof Schwartz. Fabiola’s got her New York Magazine front row act down pat, so it’ll need to be someone equally bubbly and nice. Suggestions?

The show will air on NYCTV from 9 - 11pm every night. Full schedule after the jump.

Gareth Pugh showed his first full menswear collection in Paris last night.

The “visionary” collection - super skinny pants, platform patent boots, chain mail vests - might’ve sparked LVMH’s interest, according to The Telegraph. Delphine Arnault, Bernard’s daughter, sat in the front row and personally congratulated Gareth on his show.

The editorial darling could be a big financial risk for LVMH (whose stable of fashion brands include the more reliable likes of Fendi, Louis Vuitton and Marc Jacobs) and a much needed breath of fresh air on the heels of their Lacroix sale.

If forced, we’d have pegged Gareth for Gucci Group membership, but it’s hard to imagine him under anyone else’s control, financial or creative, and answering to a larger body who demands a certain measure of commercial success (because we’re pretty sure Michelle Lamy, Rick Owens’ wife and Pugh’s current backer, loves him just the way he is).

Meanwhile, if Pugh joins the luxury conglomerate, shoes and bags are guaranteed and the thought of Gareth Pugh shoes knocks the wind out of us.

Fall 09 Fashion Week’s theme is turning out half-Barbie, half-recession.

While more and more designers pull out and scale back, Barbie’s taking on New York with all the force her tiny waist can muster.

First up, it’s two days of Barbie makeovers at the 5th Avenue Sephora. To celebrate the doll’s golden anniversary, Stila’s releasing five limited-edition Barbie Beauty Cans. Each one’s full of all the make-up you need to make your face look like either Ponytail Barbie, Malibu Barbie, Foxy Barbie or Jewel Barbie.

Stila’s make-up artists will be there Friday, February 6th and Saturday, February 7th from 12pm to 6pm.

So if you see us out and about looking a little too Malibu for a New York winter, just know we’re revving ourselves up for this kind of unusual Fashion Week.

If you have to announce you’re closing a New York office - the morning the world’s talking about Jason Wu might be the best time to do it.

Yohji Yamamoto’s closing his thirteen-year-old stateside press office at the end of this month. One person will stick around until March - probably to help the Adidas team with February’s Fall 09 Y-3 show and make sure all press operations are smoothly transferred to Japan.

Unlike a lot of designers making strategic changes, the Japanese brand has no qualms attributing the close to the rough economy, blaming “the economic situation in the U.S.”

Not to worry though - as of today, Yamamoto’s still planning his Paris shows, and the celebrity extravaganza Y-3 show in New York is definitely still on.