New York Fashion Week Fall Winter 2012: Week in Review

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It's customary to dissect fashion weeks according to trends. That's the easiest way to tell people what's going on in a cacophony of style sensibilities.

But in recent seasons, fashion has become so rife with diversity and innovation that a list of "what's hot" isn't right or relevant. Fashion's dominant trend now is no trend at all.

Designers and the women they dress are engaged in a passionate love affair. It's an intimate, romantic dialogue that reflects designers' growing understanding of what women want and need.

A whopping 116 labels showed collections in New York and I saw a healthy cross section, including a very cool show by Jeremy Laing, a talented Canadian who has shown at New York Fashion Week for several seasons.

Sure, some collections were similar: there was colour, digital prints, lots of leather, plenty of shine and sensational evening wear that left more to the imagination were just some of the recurring themes at play. But the word for the season — really, for the way we're all dressing now — is eclecticism. That made for a joyful week.

"It's really all about feeling cosy and sexy," said Michael Kors, just before his show.

It's about feeling rich, too. Stock in Kors' company has more than doubled in price over the past two months. The realization that the company is now worth roughly $8 billion is mind-boggling. Maybe it's no surprise: Kors was one of the first designers I met who was intent on listening to his customers. And among his many talents is his ability to put glamourous spins on classic items.

For fall, Kors showed lots of red and black buffalo checks and plaid. Capes and ponchos were perfect for cuddling up in front of a ski-chalet fire. A-line skirts and delicate lace skirts were paired with chunky sweaters and sleeveless pea coats. Fur coats and vests, leather trenches, tweed and herringbone added to the collection's luxurious feel, while slinky, sparkly gowns and big furry bags created an air of decadent drama.

It's hard to say what I found more impressive backstage at Oscar de la Renta's show: the sumptuous clothes hanging from the racks, or the legendary designer himself, who turns 80 this July yet remains as humble as he is creative.

Many garments featured large, digital prints of heirloom brooches and giant crystals. Inspiring plays on texture included rich, sparkling tweeds and fine Chantilly lace appliquéd on nude chiffon. Sporty little fur jackets and vests added luxury to a youthful collection, while pastel shades of soft pink and icy blue never looked so rich.

Zac Posen's stellar collection was inspired by the time Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor, spent living in Asia before moving to Britain. Geisha makeup and updos with spiky crests were dramatic, but the impeccable cuts of Posen's gorgeous cocktail and evening wear speak volumes on their own. Body-conscious dresses in satin and brocade, dressy retro suits and breathtaking gowns told Posen's story of sophisticated old world glamour. It's easy to see why Tinseltown has embraced the talented designer.

Marc Jacobs paid homage to eccentricity with a collection that was spirited yet sophisticated. Fabrics were luxe, shapes sculptural and the hates — courtesy of British milliner Steven Jones — big and crazy. Pilgrim-style shoes with big crystal buckles anchored the whimsical looks. Jacob's palette included rich shades of purple, green and red, but it was the black cocktail dresses that made the most elegant statement.

For his younger, more accessible Marc by Marc Jacobs collection, Jacobs showed fuller, below-the-knee skirts in felt, lame and velvet. Flat little boots gave the look a combat feel. Plaid coats and a little plaid cape, print dresses, a leggy romper and trim tweed pants surfaced.

If the Marc Jacobs girls had a cool, wayward vibe, the age-defying Betsey Johnson delighted in giving her girls a sweet, upbeat direction and an enchanting history lesson. Her collection channelled the 1960s,List of affordable Breitling prices for used and authentic Breitling in cheapchaneljewellery. '70s and '80s, a spirited romp through some of pop fashion's best moments.Best replicahandbags Have you spent a lot of time looking for the best replica watch for you? From a black and white windowpane check coat to a plaid cape to a pink and black striped pantsuit to great little tweed suits, Johnson's eclectic pieces charmed, as did she.

Experimentation was key for Narciso Rodriguez, another designer passionate about pushing his own boundaries. His fall collection played with bonded fabrics to create exciting new patterns and textures. Rodriguez dished out voluminous, sculptural coats and slinky silk dresses in rich russet, tangerine and chartreuse. Fabrics folded and layered in imaginative, asymmetrical ways gave the collection a Japanese edge.

Exotic destinations have often informed Proenza Schouler collections. Designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez found inspiration in Bhutan and Everest. True to the duo's spirit of experimentation, they attempted to create a fall/winter 2012 collection without a trace of wool or cashmere. Their resulting black, cobalt and crimson garments were beautiful, with ties and zips used to hold some together. Matching boots and shoes completed many of the looks, with high and low chunky black boots lending a punky-chic edge.

Marchesa's Georgina Chapman found inspiration in an 1878 plaiting. William Adolphe Bouguereaus' "A Soul Brought to Heaven" might be esoteric, but Chapman her partner Karen Craig took romantic, spiritual imagery in that work of art and hit it out of the park with a collection of lighter than air dresses that took our breath away.

There were angelic wing-like embroideries and feather embellishments, some tucked under hemlines, in heavenly white and cream, gold,Buy authenticlouisvuittonhandbag from top rated stores. red and silver blue.my wife's gift for my mom was authenticmonclerjackets . My favourite dress: a cream tulle skirt with peacock-blue embroidery on its transparent mesh top.

High-end fantasy fashion aside, the best news about fall is that there will enough out there to satisfy everybody's needs, and at affordable price points too.

J. Crew is positioning itself as one of the best mix-master labels in the business. The great little pieces that will update our wardrobe are only an online order away. For fall, J. Crew showed various fabrications, eye-popping colour and unusual pairing of separates. Judging from the brand's spirited presentation, half the fun of fashion is simply mixing it all up.

Feminine frills and pretty pussybows

Feminine frills and pretty pussybows: Alexa, Nicola and Pixie lead the very fashionable front row at Topshop show

They're famed for their alternative senses of style, but the fashionable front row at Sunday's Topshop Unique Autumn/Winter 2012 catwalk show today was filled with some very ladylike starlets.List of affordable Breitling prices for used and authentic Breitling in cheapchaneljewellery.

Alexa Chung ditched her androgynous look for feminine frills, Pixie Geldof went demure in a midi-length shirt dress, while Nicola Roberts was pretty in a pussybow dress.Buy authenticlouisvuittonhandbag from top rated stores.

The front row regulars were joined by model Poppy Delevigne (equally ladylike in polkadots and tweed) and rather more edgy Jameela Jamil and Laura Carmichael.

She said of the collection: 'I absolutely loved it, there was so much quality in the fabrics. It looked really expensive in the silks and the velvets.

'It's easy to wear. Designer can be daunting but Topshop is so easy, there's a piece for every girl out there, they always get it right. I loved the winter coats,Best replicahandbags Have you spent a lot of time looking for the best replica watch for you? the jumpers, the two-toned fabrics.'

American reality star Olivia Palermo wore spring's colourful trend with a bright yellow top beneath a black blazer and floral print trousers with leopard-print heels.my wife's gift for my mom was authenticmonclerjackets .

Alexa Chung, fully recovered from being hypnotised and levitated in front of the A-list crowd at Saturday night's Stella McCartney presentation-come-magic show, wore flared jeans and ballet flats with a frilly cream blouse and bright red bag.

She was pictured chatting away with her seatmates Pixie Geldof, who was unusually understated in a demure, albeit utility-style, shirt dress, and Poppy Delevigne.
Having hired British Vogue's former fashion director, it's no surprise Topshop Unique's show was hailed by critics as one of the strongest to date.

Kate Phelan, who was appointed creative director in April,Our leatherhandbags look, work and feel exactly like the originals. delivered a highly wearable but modern collection.

The military theme, continuing from New York, featured throughout offset with feminine detailing and high-waisted hot pants.

Heavy utilitarian coats and leather biker jackets contrasted metallic dresses - all teamed with vertiginous heeled ankle boots.

Designer Emma Farrow said: 'We were looking at how to reinvent the uniform but we wanted to offset masculinity with femininity. There were heavy coats with shirts undone quite low and thigh splits in the kilts to make them younger.

'I think khaki is really key for the season, sometimes colours just seem to come up and feel important. But we had ecru to lighten it up and a gorgeous claret.

'We want the collection to have a life after the catwalk so we created a capsule wardrobe that could be worn by any girl that loves fashion.'
At the Mathew Williamson show on Sunday evening, Holly Valance sat front row and chatted to Poppy Delevigne, who transformed her look from ladylike to bold and bright in a fur jumper and red jeans.

Olivia Palermo, Tess Daly and Irina Lazareanu completed the front row at the Royal Opera House presentation.

Twiggy and Jodie Harsh were also spotted inside the venue.

New details released in murder of newborn

Pointing to a row of tan and green apartments Becky Spears shudders.The reliable Aquatimer cheapchaneljewellery.

"It's right over there," she said, pointing. "It's pretty close to us. It could have been a friend for my kids to play with."

But the little girl who was born just down the street from Spears was not given that chance. Investigators say she was killed at her Trimble Street apartment by her own mother. Just minutes after she was born, the baby girl was thrown into a plastic shopping bag.

"She just discarded that blessing," Spears said of her neighbor's alleged actions.

It is a blessing Sgt. Brian Laird with Paducah Police said the young woman, 17 at the time, was not ready for.

"We believe she did a good job of concealing she was pregnant. Her mother stated she did not know,The coachhandbags offered by our store are made following the original technology . as well as she did not know her daughter had given birth inside her apartment."

It is what happened next that investigators say is both shocking and disturbing: the young woman snapped a few pictures of the baby with her cell phone and then allegedly killed the little girl she had not taken the time to name.

The cell phone pictures, as it turns out, were later deleted.There is one amazing online store with 100s of schoolbagfactory . The suspect told only one friend of the pregnancy, later telling her the baby had died and that she had buried her in the backyard. It was that friend who called authorities.

"We think she made some choices and she really didn't have a plan or know what she was going to do," Laird said.We need the Department of replicauhrenwatches green to decorate our line of sight.

Initially, when she was first brought to police headquarters, the girl denied the story, saying the baby survived for just 20 minutes.

"What she told us was when the baby stopped breathing, she placed the child in a bag," Laird said during a Tuesday morning news conference.

Police will not go into details but say the autopsy shows otherwise.Buy goodbackpackfactory from top rated stores.

"It's really sad somebody didn't value what they were given. I don't even know what to say," Spears said.

Cramer's Mad Money: Why Tiffany and Coach Are Not Trading In Lockstep

With conspicuous consumption on the rise, one would expect Coach (COH) and Tiffany (TIF) to be trading in lockstep. In fact, Coach is just a few points off its 52 week high and Tiffany is 19 points below its 52 week high.Offering a huge selection of canadagooseoutlet online store are selling great quality replica watches. Tiffany lowered guidance, and the holidays were slow for the retailer; same store sales rose just 4% for November and December when The Street was expecting a high single digit number. Tiffany is down 2% for the year and Coach is up 19% year to date. Both companies get 20% of their sales from Japan and have strong demand in China. While Tiffany's exposure to China is larger, with the country generating 18% of sales compared to 4% for Coach, Cramer thinks Coach has more potential to grow in China. The main factor in Tiffany's decline was the reduction of Wall Street bonuses, a development that cut into its customer base. Coach has a larger market share, 29% of handbags, but Tiffany doesn't dominate any specific category, and tends to be for weddings or only for very high-end customers. Tiffany was hurt by European woes,Our goodbackpackfactory are inspected and confirmed genuine and come with a new watch. because 12% of its sales are from the Continent, while Coach has barely any exposure to Europe. Tiffany will not discount to move merchandise, and this is a disadvantage, since customers are often looking for bargains. Its gross margins were only 58% compared to Coach's of 73%. Both stocks trade at 19 times earnings, but Coach has stronger growth and better fundamentals.

Cramer's Calls:

Harry Winston (HWD) does not have the earnings and is not a great stock.

Macy's (M) guided up when it reported, and this move might have stolen from the upside, but the company still has more momentum than Nordstrom (JWN). Cramer would buy Macy's on a pullback.

Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), Netflix (NFLX),Most replicahandbags can ship the same day FREE via Ground shipping. Whirlpool (WHR), Coinstar (CSTR)

With the Dow dropping 17 points on Monday, some stocks unexpectedly rocketed higher, including Green Mountain Coffee Roasters (GMCR), Netflix (NFLX), and Whirlpool (WHR). While Whirlpool reported a strong quarter, the 16 point move in 4 days seemed hyperbolic. WHR has been disappointing for a while, and there were even rumors of a dividend cut. Short sellers held 10% of WHR's stock going into the quarter, but when Whirlpool delivered a knockout quarter and raised estimates,Best cheapchaneljewellery Have you spent a lot of time looking for the best replica watch for you? the shorts had to cover their positions.Buy canadagoosecoat are becoming popular. GMCR and NFLX have also been disappointing stocks to own, but short selling drove them up. Their moves are a question of supply and demand of available shares, not of fundamentals.

Chinese are up to speed with life in the fast lane

Barely a decade ago, Beijing bicyclists pedaled down alleys here lined with courtyard houses that had no indoor toilets. Now the alleys have been replaced by a wide avenue lined with Lamborghini, Ferrari, Bugatti and Rolls-Royce dealerships.

In 2011, Chinese bought more Lamborghinis and Rolls-Royces than anybody else in the world. In time for Chinese New Year this month, Rolls is unveiling a "Year of the Dragon" model with hand-embroidered versions of mythical animals on leather headrests. Prices start at $1.6 million.

China is on the verge of becoming the leading market for just about everything over-the-top expensive.

Companies obsessed with China a few years back for its flagrant counterfeiting now see it as their most promising customer, especially at a time when so many other nations are scrimping.

Gucci's sales in China in the first half of 2011 were up 39%; Bottega Veneta's more than 80%. Prada plans to open 50 shops over the next three years.

Chinese fashionistas are displacing those immaculate Japanese women in their Burberry scarves as the world's leading consumers of luxury goods. The consulting firm McKinsey & Co. projected that China will bump Japan out of first place by 2015 as the leading market for pricey goods. Even with the softening of China's real estate market, the source of much new money, some analysts believe the Chinese already top the luxury market.

In fact, the sales figures understate Chinese spending because the rich here do much of their shopping abroad to avoid high taxes on luxury items and electronics.

So far, the Chinese haven't approached the excesses of the so-called New Russians, who after the Soviet collapse were quickly flaunting diamond-encrusted baubles and mega-yachts. After all, China is still at least nominally a communist country and the culture is rich with proverbs about the terrible things that can befall you for showing off. ("A tall pine attracts more wind" and "Man should avoid fame like a pig avoids fattening," to name two.)

Yet for some, conspicuous consumption, particularly in the social media era, does not seem to be a problem. Young women post photographs of themselves on microblogs with their Hermes handbags. The son of an auto tycoon uploaded on the Chinese equivalent of YouTube a video made from behind the wheel of his $4.5-million Bugatti Veyron sports car as it wove through traffic in the southern city of Chongqing.

"People are more extroverted. They have no problem showing off their wealth,Take advantage of our authenticsunglasses today." said Klaus Paur,Publique anuncios sobre cheapchaneljewellery gratis. an auto industry analyst and managing director in the Shanghai office of Synovate Motoresearch. He recalls that when he came to China in 2003, the wealthy drove large Mercedeses and Audis, invariably black.

Chinese officialdom has something of a love-hate relationship with luxury goods, officials relishing their own creature comforts while deploring anyone else doing it too flagrantly. China still has 150 million people living on less than $1 a day. And it maintains some of the highest taxes in the world on luxury goods, adding as much as 60% to the cost — which is why rich Chinese have become such prodigious shoppers abroad.

The word shechi, or "luxury," is banned in advertising and company names,Buy chloehandbag from top rated stores. said Ouyang Kun, who runs a trade group in Beijing called the World Luxury Assn. "The government feels luxury items are only affordable for a few people. They don't want to create unharmonious feelings among the people," he explained.

The Chinese equivalent of Rodeo Drive is a four-block strip in the heart of old Beijing along Jinbao Street,This rolexshop in berlin is one of the most renowned watches in the world. whose name appropriately means "gold treasure." The street was built in 2002 out of two traditional hutongs, or alleys, one named Jinyu, or "goldfish," and the other Yaba, or "mute man," part of a larger redevelopment project that displaced more than 4,000 families.

Along the same row as the luxury car dealerships is a branch of Hong Kong's Jockey Club and a seven-story mall where a Bottega Veneta handbag made of African crocodile skin can set you back $51,000 and a jewel-encrusted cellphone $132,000.

Expensive simply for the sake of expensive is all the rage. At a trade show on the resort island of Hainan in November, promoters unveiled a gold-plated toilet costing more than $200,000.

The recently opened Black Swan Luxury Bakery (that's the English name; it's the Black Swan Art Bakery in Chinese because of the ban on shechi) made headlines with a multitiered, cream-swathed wedding cake in the front window with a $314,000 price tag.

The phenomenon isn't limited to Beijing. Drive through most dusty provincial capitals now and you'll see high-end shops in the center of town, often alongside the People's Square — a popular name in deference to communist tradition. In Chongqing, a city once famous for its revolutionary zeal, a five-story Louis Vuitton shop opened in September, overshadowing the iconic Liberation Monument.

Chinese buyers of luxury goods are generally young adults, in keeping with the relative youthfulness of the country's millionaires (about 15 years younger than those in the West), according to the Shanghai-based Hurun Research Institute, which maintains a so-called rich list.

"Our customers are super-rich,Our authenticlouisvuittonhandbag are the highest quality and most durable replicas available . second-generation young people who have inherited money or whose parents buy them cars," said Wilson Ho, whose company, Hong Kong-based Sparkle Rolls, runs the Lamborghini dealership in Beijing. "Chinese parents love their kids. They'll buy them whatever they like."