BRAVO TV ALERT & "The Mighty Macs" Movie Premiere

WE'RE ON FASHION HUNTERS!

We oughta be in pictures, as the song says, and we're getting our start by being on television. That's right! Your very own Idiosyncratic Fashionistas will be on television this coming Tuesday night, October 18. Tune in to your local Bravo TV station, and catch us on their new program, Fashion Hunters. We appear in the show's third episode. It will be on at 10:30pm in New York. Check your local listings! (Scroll down for the sneak preview video.)

At the taping, we dutifully brought our cameras with us, but what with all our inexperience, getting miked up (see how we already know the lingo?), and desire not to put a foot wrong in an unfamiliar environment, we did not see a good opportunity to whip out our digitals and ask someone around us (in our usual modus operandi) to please take a picture of us (and be sure to get the feet in). The result is that for this posting, we had to resort to freezing frames from the sneak preview (with Bravo's permission).

In April, as part of the show, we both brought some of our favorite vintage clothing to consign. Jean brought two Betsey Johnson cherry-print disco dresses from the 1980s (from Jean's infamous hoarder's storage boxes -- which still had the original price tags!), both of which got snapped up for consignment right away, and Valerie brought a two-piece Issey Miyake suit circa 2000.

Sometime after the first taping, the Bravo producers called and asked us to bring in the Issey suit again, so they could photograph it on a mannequin.

Valerie, in doing her own research years ago, was told that the suit was apparently not marketed in the U.S. and was only sold in Paris and Japan. Here is a nearly identical suit worn in by Foglia Gischia, a woman even older than we are, at the Paris fashion shows in 2000. The photograph, which appeared in the New York Times, was taken by Bill Cunningham.

We had a blast during the taping and neither of us was at a loss for words (what a surprise!).

The manager, Tara, and assistant manager, Ambria, both liked the Miyake suit but, unable to find any information about it online, could not price it, and said they'd have to call in their expert, whose identity they were very coy about. They asked if we could come back once their expert had had a chance to look into the suit, and that's where we left it on our first day.

So we departed Second Time Around, having had what we thought was a most excellent adventure.

Here's Second Time Around's storefront on Mulberry Street. Second Time Around has branches nationwide.

Here we are, in June at our second time around at Second Time Around, awaiting the expert and his expert opinion. On meeting us, the expert exclaimed that the circus must be in town.

The sneak peek is pretty friendly, but preview commercials for the show hint at controversy. For full frontal mayhem (well, the women of a certain age version of mayhem), you'll have to watch the show. So will we, actually. We filmed for probably a full two hours, all told, and have no idea what winds up in the final cut, and what winds up on the cutting room floor.

Wanna see the entire peek preview? Here it is, from Hulu (just under two minutes long).



You might also be able to watch it on Bravo.com by computer. Here’s a link to Bravo TV.

AND NOW FOR SOMETHING COMPLETELY DIFFERENT ...

THE MIGHTY MACS

On Friday, October 14th, Jean attended a red carpet gala premiere of "The Mighty Macs" at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. The movie was written and directed by Tim Chambers, a Philadelphia native. Carla Gugino ("A Night at the Museum", "American Gangster", "Faster") stars as Kathy Rush, Head Coach of Immaculata College's Mighty Macs. The film traces the struggle by the coach and the players to become the first NCAA Women's National Basketball Champions in 1972. (They scored a three-peat, winning the title for 3 straight years -- 1972-1974.) David Boreanaz (everyone's favorite FBI agent in "Bones" and another Philadelphian) plays her husband Ed Rush, another Philadelphia coaching icon and professional basketball referee.

There have been no inspirational movies for female student athletes -- until now! There are countless examples out there for men: "Rudy", "Remember the Titans", "The Miracle" ...

GO SEE THIS FILM. TAKE A FRIEND. TAKE A STUDENT. Take my word for it. You will not regret it. If you or your sister or niece or daughter or grand daughter is an athlete or thinks about being one or just needs inspiration, try this movie on for size.

Philadelphia Style Magazine, one of the sponsors of the event, photographed me and my friends on the red carpet that evening with one of the nuns from Immaculata (now a university): Sue, Ginny, Rosemary, Mary Joy, Peggy, Sister Marie Albert, Pat and yours truly. Eagle-eyed readers of our blog may recognize Ginny and Rosemary from our Ace Hotel Advanced Style fashion week party posting.

We’re not tech savvy enough to embed the video (any little anomaly throws us right off, till we do our research), but you can click here to see a sneak preview of The Mighty Macs.

See this movie. Spread the word. 'Nuff said.

An Evening with Jeffrey Williams

And (waaay below) Valley of the Dolls



















On September 22, we attended an exhibition of designer Jeffrey Williams' latest collection, hosted by Elisa Goodkind of the fashion-forward website StyleLikeU. Her Lower East Side loft provided the intimate salon-style setting.































The world at large learned about Jeffrey and his total mastery of evening gowns when he appeared on season 2 of Bravo's "The Fashion Show: The Ultimate Collection" hosted by Isaac Mizrahi and Iman. Jeffrey won the grand prize of $125,000 to help jump start his next career move. Needless to say, the publicity was well deserved and highlighted both Jeffrey's talent and his flare for the dramatic.

The color red was the focus of Jeffrey's winning collection, in honor of his mother who died in 2004 of breast cancer. Since October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, we say "bravo" Jeffrey!













Here are more of Jeffrey's clothes featured on Bravo's show:

























Here is a picture of Jeffrey and Mary J. Blige (wearing one of Jeffrey's gowns) from the February 2011 Harper's Bazaar article.




















The long white column is a great counterpoint to the short black cocktail dress. Their contrasting zippers were a clever touch.


















This beautiful sleeveless dress looked both minimalist and elegant.



















This dress was a show-stopper. Having impossibly tall, thin models stand on pedestals made the dresses look long and lean --and gorgeous.


















This black and white two-piece outfit was crisp and graphic.



















The Elisa connection brought things full circle since we'd first met Jeffrey last April at the book launch party hosted by Vanity Fair Magazine for StyleLikeU in honor of its eponymous tome - in which all three of us appear. The April 14th party at The House of Bumble in the Meatpacking District was fabulous. (For details, please see our April 24, 2011 posting.)


PARTY CROWD:

Here's a shot facing away from the show of the crowd of supporters and onlookers. Hostess Elisa and her dog are in the center of the shot.














We thought it was truly ironic when we learned that Elisa's rescue dog doesn't like photographs, since she and her SLU crew record the images of the most stylish people all over the globe. The gentleman with her is wearing a Comme des Garcons jacket with a huge numbers print.



















Lily Mandelbaum, Elisa's daughter and co-author of the StyleLikeU book.



















Jean and Mona from SLU. (LOVED her short boots!)



















Here's a shot of Jeffrey with one of his models after the show.



















Photographer Marisa Crawford and her daughter.


















Jeffrey's gorgeous and witty roommate (right). As winner of Bravo's Fashion Show, Jeffrey won the first prize of $125,000 (pretax, natch). For most struggling creatives, following one's passion often means a room of one's own, but not an apartment of one's own.



















After the show ended and the party was winding down, this gorgeous young woman retired to a corner to text.



















Jeffrey must have posed for as many photos as his models.



















Jeffrey's very own rooting gallery!
















Jamarcus cut quite a figure, looking most dapper in his hat, jacket and shorts. He was quite charming and had a terrific sense of humor.



















Jamarcus' Cesare Paciotti chain mail footwear.



















Jeffrey and Valerie.


















Jeffrey and friends celebrate after the show.




















Jeffrey and Brandon Acton-Bond survey the crowd.



















We caught up with one of the models, Sharri, outside on the street and cajoled her into posing in front of the graffiti.




















Valerie does her own graffiti thang on Houston Street before we headed home.


















* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

FIFTH AVENUE: VALLEY OF THE DOLLS

For a brief moment a few weeks ago, the short stretch of Fifth Avenue between 53rd Street and 58th Street could very well have been renamed Valley of the Dolls as three major shops decorated their windows with dolls and doll clothes!

Walking north, you would first have come across these near life-size Bottega Veneta dolls.













If you had crossed the street and walked all the way up to 58th Street to stop at Bergdorf Goodman's, you would have seen just the opposite. Hundreds of little tiny doll clothes were hung on clothes lines criss-crossing the display window, and nary a doll in sight. Okay, okay, there were mannequins, but not DOLLS.



















You have to wonder who took all the time to collect these. Are they from someone's private collection, or did the display department use the whole year's budget, and spend two weeks solid on Ebay to buy every last doll's outfit online?

































Check out this gorgeous little dress, lovingly hand knitted, and probably designed by the knitter. One of a kind!


















Right across the street from that is the Louis Vuitton building. The other windows have changed, but this one is still up.


















If you've been reading your fashion mags, you know that Louis Vuitton's latest ad campaign features women in chauffeurs' caps. These ladies didn't get the memo about chauffeurs sitting up front in the driver's seat. (Or perhaps in the spirit of Halloween they are merrily conjuring up Mellors, the best beloved chauffeur in English literature, the creation of D.H. Lawrence.)















Let's get a closer look at the dolls. They all seem to be walking the catwalk, but there are stairs and mirrors. It's as if they were inserted into an M.C. Escher drawing.


















You probably can't have one of your very own, but we thought you'd like to know what they look like close up. How are these for clever marketing?! (Jean asks sweetly: "Whom exactly do I have to kill to get two?")