Shop Talk

Forget lights. See your name in jackets, bags, dresses…

For the self-promoting designers out there who have always dreamed of having their own initials printed on fabric, a la Louis Vuitton, Fendi or Coach, Hewlett-Packard has brought you a step closer.

“Anyone could design their own fabric” with HP’s new TouchSmart notebooks and PCs, said Emilio Sosa, an independent designer and contestant on Lifetime television’s reality show ”Project Runway”. Sosa won Thursday night’s episode, in which the designers were challenged to design their own textiles using the computers, and then use it to design an outfit.

“To me, branding is so important,” Sosa said at a champagne brunch on Friday morning. ”That’s why I went with my initials and a heart on a bright blue background.” He used a cotton sateen to make his printed fabric, which he used for a slim halter dress, paired with a black jacket.

“In just 24 hours, I went from concept to printed fabric,” added Sosa, who plans to make his debut with a collection at New York Fashion Week in September. “With sketches, you have to FedEx them to a factory in the Orient.”

The HP TouchSmart tm2 notebook ranges in price from $699 to $899, while the desktop version — which can also be used as a television — goes for $1,599 and up.

from Fan Fare:

Front row at NY Fashion Week

New York Fashion Week kicked off on Thursday with designers showing collections for spring and summer 2010. Here's the view of the journalists and department store buyers from the front row at the Ports 1961 show at Fashion Week headquarters - the Bryant Park tents in Midtown Manhattan.

And here is what it is like for the photographers.....

Birds of a feather at NY Fashion Week

Fashionistas do flock together, but one bird always stands out at New York Fashion Week – often because she’s wearing a crown of black ostrich feathers that she made herself.

Rosemary Ponzo, a New York stylist and hat designer for movies and TV shows,  attracts photographers from her perch on or near the front row of designers’ shows in the Bryant Park tents.  Just before the start of the show by the Academy of Art University in San Francisco, Ponzo talked with Reuters about her favorite designers, Comme des Garcons and Junya Watanabe.  

Feathers were so big at New York Fashion Week, which wrapped up on Friday, that it makes you wonder if the Audobon Society will cry “foul” – er, “fowl.” Preppy New York-based designer Tory Burch, known for her colorful Reva ballet flats,  will go edgier for fall with a spiky black feather choker.  She unveiled the piece for us before her trunk show this week for American Express cardholders, who also got personal shopping advice from Bergdorf Goodman’s fashion director Linda Fargo.  Australian designer Toni Maticevski, who created Sheryl Crow’s long blue gown for the Grammys, liberally sprinkled sequins and feathers throughout his fall runway collection. That drew a rave from celebrity stylist Kithe Brewster.

 ”What I love about Toni is that he doesn’t hold anything back,” Brewster said backstage after Maticevski’s show downtown in the Altman Building, once the home of one of New York’s poshest department stores.   

from Fan Fare:

‘Practical’ black’s back at Calvin Klein

Listen up, all you Oscar fashion watchers.

Black is back in a big way because "it's practical," New York designer Francisco Costa told Reuters after his fall Calvin Klein Women's runway show at New York Fashion Week, which ended on Friday. Black is also among the "in" colors for gowns on the red carpet this year and will very likely make a major appearance at the Oscars on Sunday. Kate Winslet already has been showing a penchant for black during Hollywood's awards season.

Actress Kate Beckinsale, in a skintight black leather dress, was among the celebrities who packed the Calvin Klein showroom this week to see Costa's fall collection of  tailored coats and sculptured dresses. Many had asymmetrical hems. The horsehair boots and shoes featured high rectangular heels that were open in the middle.

Vogue's editor at large Andre Leon Talley said after the show: "It's hard to do an almost all-black collection, but he pulled it off! These are clothes for women who have some place to go and don't want to look like everybody else."

Costa talks to Reuters below: