Friday:5ive with rena REBORN's Rachael Rush Green

One of FashionWhirled's favorite shopping haunts is rena REBORN. And not only because it's just down the block from me. This East Village style gem is filled with fashionable finds at amazing prices. You could dress yourself for a stylin' good time for under $20, if need be. Trust me. I've done it.

 

The beautiful Rachael Rush Green, at work before Sia's arrival! 

So what better focus for this Friday:5ive feature than

Calling All Accessories for New York Fashion Week

To quote Patsy from the timeless Absolutely Fabulous series, "You can never have enough hats, gloves and shoes." 

To ensure that we will always have a fresh supply of the newest and latest crop of seasonal accessories, my friends over at Product-n-Press and Style360 have teamed up with the Accessories Council for the debut next month during New York Fashion Week of the Accessory Lounge at the Metropolitan Pavilion. As of today, there are 3 spots left, says Jono Waks at Product-n-Press, who is currently recruiting brands to participate in the February 13-15th event being staged at the West 18th Street venue and showcasing 20 accessory designers to over 6,000 fashion week attendees.

Toms shoes hand painted by Allie Bailey, possibly
a new up-and-coming accessories designer

Accessories Council members receive up to a 50% discount, while new members get to buy into the Accessory Lounge at a super low discounted price. Contact Jono@Product-n-Press.com for additional details. The Accessory Lounge is a joint effort between Susan F. Sidor / Product-n-Press production in association with the Accessories Council and Style360. The producers say they intend to heavily promote the lounge to editors and reporters in advance of fashion week -- there's already a Twitter account @AccessoryLounge that's now active -- and editors + reporters will be invited to meet designers on site, while all participating brands will be included in all outgoing social media communications.

Accessories, darling, accessories. Yeah. Cheers! Thanks a lot!

BOOK Homme and the PONY Life Operatic

So it wasn't at Lincoln Center. 

It was still about performing art. And, of course, fashion.

Joel Yapching's Spring 2012 menswear collection, BOOK Homme, opened with Alison Cheeseman and Nicholas Tamagna, above, modeling and emoting passionate operatic phrasing Wednesday in Chelsea. 

The countertenor (he) and mezzo soprano (she) were part of the Pocket Opera of New York's PONYmobile, the company's new nomadic lab experiment that, lucky for Fashion Week, found its way to the intersection of art and design, giving jaded fashion show-goers a subtle break with a portion of Monteverdi's Il ritorno d'Ulisse in patria.

Designer Yapching, who interned with Giorgio Armani Le Collezioni here in NYC a decade ago, has been compared to Dries Van Noten and Yohji Yamamoto. With his half-stance asymmetrical styling on jackets, raw selvedges, old world hand-stitching techniques and French seams, plus a dark and ivory neutral palette, one can see why. Fisherman's netting for tanks, cowl neck draping, capris, striped trousers and flowy fishtail jackets that draped to the floor in the back or side were inspired by Greek fisherman, according to Yapching, taking his bow below.

Andy Warhol Throws A Party

The new Andy Warhol statue facing Union Square Park,

pre-soup can toasting and...

IFBcon Today

Attending ~ via computer ~ live streaming broadcast of the Independent Fashion Bloggers conference being held all day today at the Helen Mills Theater.

Great tips + business advice. Panelists have all been incredibly interesting + intelligent, with astute points of view. Last panel of the day wrapping up right now ~ Tavi, BryanBoy, Lauren + Britt from fashionista.com, Susi Bubble of Style Bubble, Phil Oh of Street Peeper. Really insightful commentary on the fashion world + the future of fashion bloggers in general.



Tavi entering IFBcon
Twitpic courtesy of Fasshonaburu

Thank you everyone who participated, and, most especially, super thanks to the IFB and Jennine at The Coveted for organizing and making it all possible!

xoxokimmie