Fashion Illustrator Barbara McGregor, FW's Friday:5ive

Probably just about my biggest bff in the whole history of bff's, Barbara McGregor has been

 

Barbara McGregor, illustrator

Artist Joy Malin on FW's Friday:5ive

 Our sweet neighbor, Joy Malin, is an artist who most recently has discovered her amazing talent for animal portraits. We've seen her over the years, taking canvases of gorgeous florals or figures in and out of the building, sending off her masterpieces in the back of her clients' cars, conducting art classes in the park and in her apartment.

We mostly see her walking her amazing little guy, Charlies, the cutest little Yorkie you'd ever want to meet, around Tompkins Square Park. Joy and Charlie always have an ebullient hello for Mignon.

Artist Joy Malin and Charlie on the subway

Her darling "child" (she does have three

Loup Charmant fashion shoot behind the scenes

After having to reschedule the production several times due to weather and then model and photog availability, Wednesday's location shoot for Loup Charmant's website mood pix found us at Ft. Tilden and Rockaway beaches on the most beautiful day. Seriously. There couldn't have been a more gorgeous day. And styling with this professional and talented crew couldn't have been more enjoyable. Loved the opportunity to work with photographer Jonathan Bookallil, makeup artist Yuko Mizuno (both with Rona Represents), hair stylist Gloria Espinoza (for the second time!), Jonathan's right and left hand men Andrew and Will, LC assistant Quinne Meyers and, of course, the inimitabdes creative converter, Kee Edwards, designer & founder of Loup Charmant.

In between styling, I snapped a few behind the scene shots. Hope you enjoy!

Fern Mallis show on SiriusXM Wraps up New York Fashion Week

Fern Mallis rocks Fashion Week. 

She always has, since its inception, as she basically founded the week that moves New York fashion -- and New York City -- forward twice a year.

Fern Mallis surrounded by her panel of experts, Amanda Miller of Saks Fifth Avenue, fashion editor Ann Caruso, Dirk Standen of Style.com, Refinery29.com's Christene Barberich, Tom Julian Group's Tom Julian and The Daily's Eddie Roche.

I was lucky enough to be part of

Candela SS13

To paraphrase Rick Nelson, I went to a garden party...there was magic in the air.

Strapless pleated lace dress with rose gold gladiator tie-ups

 From Federico Fellini's quote on the run of show, "No matter what happens, always keep your childhood innocence..." to Candela designer Gabriela Perezutti cooing to

Mark McNairy's McNasty SS13

In Mark McNairy's Spring Summer 2013 New Amsterdam collection, McNasty, held at the Details magazine sponsored NYPL venue at Lincoln Center, the world is a mash up of Savile Row tailoring and Ivy League preppy eclectic, bold picnic plaids and polka dots amongst sweet daisies, vibrant hues with khaki neutrals and navies and, of course, fantastic footwear for him and for her. 

Unusual combos were completed by primary color quilted, Loro Piana-stamped or velvet shorts, pieced or plaid shirts, camo jogging sweats (for her!) and slogan T-shirts. Suits, even those blooming with daisies or stamped with eco planet logos were finished with slant ticket pockets and a veddy British accent. For the ladies, the "suits" blossomed into rompers, the green planet earth motif into short "sugar britches." 

 McNasty, if you wanna. But the message from the get-go, the first "Someday this war's gonna end" T-shirt, was -- can't we all just get along. With McNairy's sartorial rules, obviously, yes we can.

McNairy, at his show finale

Mara Hoffman SS13

We we serenaded by a trio of ukelele-playing beach babes, then taken to a happy Hawaiian state of 

mind at Mara Hoffman for Spring/Summer 2013. 

The designer, interviewed backstage after her runway show, said her inspiration was an "Aloha spirit!" And to wit, there was a mix of Hawaiian prints + color, which Ms. Hoffman said was "a natural place for me this season." Her favorite print? The medicine wheel "with the herbs represent healing..."

My favs were the modern, updated caftans, flowy, loose and long. The ultimate in "Happiness is a Bright Summer Dress" attitude.

There were lots of other options, too: board shorts, belly-baring bandeaux and bustiers, sexy side slit 

skirts and retro cut swimsuits. Long, flowing chiffon, crepe de chine in cheerful hues of poppy + 

magenta + coral, turquoise + sky with hints of vanilla, sand and black. 

Aloha, to all!

Missoni's David on FW's Friday:5ive

Recently, the Meatpacking District became home to an odd new visitor. Here, FashionWhirled visits Michelangelo's David, as re-thought by the artist dEmo and Luca Missoni.

FashionWhirled:  Would you be so kind as to tell FashionWhirled's readers what role fashion, or style, plays in your life? 

dEmo's David a la Missoni:  Con piacere!  Fashion never, ever, played any role in my life. Until now, I have been naked my whole 511 years!  

Sometimes I get to admire a stand-out sense of style that I might see pass me by as I stand in the Galleria dell'Accademia, but unfortunately, I see a lot of bad tourist style. How you call it? T-shirts, Tevas, tube socks. Eccola! My twin in the Palazzo della Signoria gets quite another view, the beautiful Italian women and girls that parade by him every day, with their amazing, inimitable style. E' un peccato!


FW:  Who is your favorite fashion designer? 

D's D:   Questo dipende. Currently, I would have to say Missoni, though that might be just because I am a little predisposed to their designs right now. I hear horizontal stripes make you look bigger, wider, but my body has been out of proportion for hundreds of year, so I think this helps give me an edge. The signature Missoni chevron flame stripe adds a bit of flair and flash to me, too, no? I have been wearing this since the collaboration between Spanish artist dEmo and Luca Missoni. Originally, I was installed in front of the Missoni boutique in Madrid in 2010 for Fashion's Night Out, making an appearance in Barcelona for FNO there and now for NYC's FNO. I think I prefer the Meatpacking District the best!

FW: Who is your muse or inspiration for your quiet demeanor?

D's D:  You may laugh at this, but for centuries it was the Mona Lisa. But now the world is opening up to me. I have seen a lot of beautiful models pass by me from my perch here at 14th and 9th Avenue. [Sigh.] It's quite a stylish corner of the world.

FW:  If you could have any notable individual -- dead or alive -- stop be to see you in your new attire in the Meatpacking district, who would it be and why?

D's D: Ovviamente, it would be Michelangelo. He created me, me -- one the world's finest pieces of design, most stylish pieces of Italian art to date. I would like him to see me modernized, fashioned, legitimized for this time, this era of fashion pop culture. It might kill him, si, but he is dead already. Non importa!

FW:  What fashion legacy do you hope to leave to the future?

D's D: Hmmm. This is difficult. But, Io suppongo di it would be that even a nude statue can look better with a little bit of fashion in its life. Mille grazie, Missoni. Mille grazie, FashionWhirled. Ciao, bella!

Nicholas K: Fashion Week SS13

The eccentric wind of a bedouin gypsy dressed for urban travel wafted through Nicholas K's collection at the kick off of Mercedes Benz Fashion Week at the Lincoln Center Thursday morning.  Layers, drapes, scarf prints and a desert-hued palette of neutrals and Sedona reds flowed throughout the men's and women's wear that the designer sent down the runway. Chambray and indigo were a highlight (I call chambray as the newest trend of the season!). Cool details like a laptop backpack pocket on the back of guys' hoodies were reminiscent of early Daniel Poole and Marithe et Girbaud....

Fashion Farmboy Bjorn Nasett on FW's Friday:5ive

If you've been reading up on your FashionWhirleds, you know that I was recently featured in a post on Bjorn Nasett's website, Fashion Farmboy (you can click here to read, if you haven't already). And if you do know that, you already may know that Bjorn and I met during New York Fashion Week a couple of years ago, during an IFB seminar. We hit it off swimmingly, as fashion compatriots, as fellow bloggers delving into new journalistic fashion waters and as lovers of thrift and style. He touched my heart and soul forever when he sent me a little book called "The Lady who was Beautiful Inside" (Edward Monkton).

Bjorn in cool shades during NYFW last season, when we met for coffee at a local Starbucks near Lincoln Center

Bjorn has a fabulous outlook on life and style, all smiles, niceness and clever creativity that truly

RIP Phyllis Diller, Helen Gurley Brown, Anna Piaggi

Our world of strong, inimitable, fashionable, fun and funny women has been shrinking as of late, leading us into a new era, indeed. 

The death of Phyllis Diller just the other day underscored what we have lost recently. It was a sad day for all of us who remember that laugh, those jokes, that delivery, that self-deprecation. Even that cigarette holder (P.S. Diller never smoked.)

 These women, icons all, paved the way for us younger gals, opening doors and shattering glass ceilings in the entertainment arena, changing repressed views on sex, dressing to educate, illuminate and entrance a jaded fashion crowd.

I never had the opportunity to meet the comedienne or the Cosmo magazine editor, but I used to catch glimpses of Anna Piaggi during the fashion shows, especially in Milan and Paris. I never saw her without her signature mini-clown hat and even included her in my novel, The Knock Off, at one point.

I will end with this funny, insightful anecdote my friend, the lovely Miss *M, found online about the late, great HGB: 

Indeed, Brown championed office sex. "I've never worked anywhere without being sexually involved with somebody in the office," she told New York magazine in 1982. Asked whether that included the boss, she said, "Why discriminate against him?"

 

Friday:5ive with Interior Designer Jill Danyelle

 Jill Danyelle is my hero. And for that, we are featuring her this week in our Friday:5ive.

 This former therapist who now counsels clients in interior design projects has produced a new project in such a highly stylized manner that I am dying over her concept. It's something I keep trying to do, but am thwarted by my lack of letting go (yes, even if in this tiny space I call home, where it's easy to curate and hard to not hang onto). She has edited down her closet - and of some of the most fabulous designer vintage pieces, may I add - of Prada, Comme des Garçons, Yves St. Laurent, allowing her amazing "cast offs" to be adopted by friends and fellow fashion lovers at a pop-up shop in the midst of her friend Kate McGregor's Lower East Side boutique, Kaight.

  

Jill Danyelle and Kaight boutique owner Kate McGregor 

Kaight, a retail pioneer in the eco-fashion movement, is all about sustainable fashion, so an upscale resale vintage pop-up shop is the perfect fit. And Jill is no stranger to

Friday : 5ive with Doll Perfumier Rocker Dana Varon

Dana Varon photo by Georgia Kuhn
Dress with faux fur by Octopi

Dana Varon is, in her own words, a rocker, an actress, a fashion writer and an animal lover (that's Jelly, her blind rescue dog, in the second pic, below). I've seen her perform, singing achingly sweet melodies with her signature

Friday:5ive with John Bartlett, Designer and Animal Activist

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Our fav interview of the week featured in our newest FashionWhirled series, Friday:5ive, of course goes out to John Bartlett, the nicest man you'll ever want to meet. Celebrated men's wear designer, John's a two-time CFDA award winner, the reason Hush Puppies became cool again in the '90s, collaborator with The Bon-Ton stores, helmer of his own eponymous West Village boutique (that unfortunately shuttered about a year ago), tireless and dedicated animal activist and philanthropist. 

The Ohio-born John

An Evening with John Bartlett

Designer and animal activist John Bartlett was the success story at Thursday night's dot429 and Wells Fargo "Salon Series: Conversations About Success" premiere. Held in the beautiful outdoor garden of The Yard at the Soho Grand Hotel, the enticing and inviting first of the series focused on investment as the topic and John gave his take on his multiple levels of success, from personal to professional to philanthropic.

"If you're doing what you love, you can give so much back to your community," John said, noting

Friday: 5ive with Author and Brand Consultant Tom Julian

Once again, FashionWhirled's installment of Friday: 5ive, our second column in the new series, posing 5 fashion questions to our fav interview of the week. 

 

 Tom Julian

Today, we pick the brain of Tom Julian, who

Friday: 5ive Featuring Grey Era Vintage's Sierra Fromberg

Welcome to FashionWhirled's newest feature, Friday: 5ive, where we pose 5 pertinent questions to our fav interview of the week and whose graphic design was influenced by our own lovely divine miss *m. Whaddya think? You likey?! Let us know and comment below!

Our premiere Friday: 5ive column debuts with Grey Era Vintage's owner and stockist extraordinaire, Sierra Fromberg, whom we had the pleasure to learn all about yesterday here. Major FashionWhirled thanks to Sierra for all the time she's taken to chat back and forth with us. Now, get out there and go shop at her lovely East Village boutique. Grey Era Vintage is conveniently located at 435 East 9th St (between 1st ave and ave A)...you can come hang with FW before/during/after!

The fashionable Sierra Fromberg

Photo by Jamie Newman

Friday: 5ive

FashionWhirled:  what role does vintage play in your everyday life?

Sierra Fromberg:  vintage shopping as a shop owner is

Grey Era Vintage's Sierra Fromberg: The Liquiteria Interview

In an alternate reality, Sierra Fromberg could be a poet. 

 In the reality we know and inhabit, this East Village boutique owner is a poet -- a poet of the past. As a purveyor of vintage clothing and part of 9th Street's ever-morphing vintage retail scene, Sierra imbues her East Village shop, Grey Era Vintage, with poetic elements, naturally utilizing flashback to its maximum capacity. 

Grey Era proprietor Sierra Fromberg, photo by Jamie Newman

The exposed brick railroad layout creates its own caesura of sorts, from the antique wooden bench out front to the fireplace to the backyard garden, in between  - pause - housing upcycled silk shells and camp shirts, long sheer on-trend dresses and floral maxis, denim cut-offs and long sweaters in an ode toward the '90s. New jewelry designs like Noise Girl's brass and zinc nut macrame bracelets and necklaces -- couplets practically, the way they're designed -- play foil to the main characters of  contemporary vintage. 

 

The window of Grey Era's adorable boutique 

I had the incredible luck to sit down with Sierra last week, as she treated me to

My Lovely Day with Loup Charmant

Lucky girl that I am, I got to spend practically a whole day earlier this week at the Red Hook homebase of the fabulous Loup Charmant clothing collection.  Designer extraordinaire Kee Edwards and I worked on a little copy, played with palettes and hues, and then I got to try on a slew of pieces from the SS12 Collection as well as some of the new Winter samples.

My appetite has been whetted and now I am hungry like the Loup Charmant -- for fabulous, lounge-y and lovely fashion from LC!

Check out LC's entire SS lookbook here (I love how I'm credited at the end: "Kimberly Cihlar -- all 'round awesome.")

Below, the ultra cool wool snap cape, organic cotton peasant top and wool jersey jogging, worn with Kee's adorable new alpargatas, or Peruvian espadrilles. Cute, no? The cape and le winter jogging are absolute MUST HAVES for this next fall. Get your orders in now!

Of course, you know me -- things normally have to be about shoes, so we kicked it up a bit and I switched to Kee's Isabel Marant suede cork wedgies. Wicked! Those sublime wool jersey jogging pants look just as great with heels as sneaks; I can't wait to rock this winter with short booties or straight up stilettos. We added her amazing Texan hat with horsehair braid, a prop that I would wear in everyday life. Finally, a pic of Kee's tootsies in the hippest pair of tasseled flats that she just found during a recent spree.