Lingerie Show at New York Fashion Week

Models showing creations from the GS Shop Lingerie Show during New York Fashion Week

NY Fashion Week - Even models love their Spanx.

The retail giant - GS Shop, based in Seoul, South Korea, sent the skinny ones down a runway on Tuesday in teeny boy shorts, Wonderbras and stretchy shapewear which helped make Spanx inventor Sara Blakely a very rich and famous woman.

Models walking on the ramp during the presentation of the GS Shop Lingerie show featuring Spanx, Wonderbra, and Playtex during NY Fashion Week

Victoria's Secret Angel Miranda Kerr was on hand for the lingerie show that offered an early start to New York Fashion Week's official kickoff on Thursday.

A model wearing a creation of GS Shop Lingerie Show during New York Fashion Week.

In white, black and neutral tones, some of the models were wearing one-piece peekaboo Spanx that revealed off their legendary lifting Wonderbras, while others sported animal prints, lacy pinks and blues. A few flaunted Playboy Bunny-like black bowties. Playtex, another giant in “foundation garments,” also ensured some skimpy looks.

Compared to Wonderbra, founded in 1935, Spanx is the kid. Blakely launched her brand in 2000 and added Manx (Spanx for men) in 2010.

Tips to make friends and influence people at New York Fashion Week

Atmosphere gets crazy during New York’s biggest week in fashion. The heels. The hair. The heat. The heartache. And that is only for standing in line for the after party.

An example: Tommy Saleh’s NYNY party at Le Baron was occupied to instant capacity Monday when the W magazine and Donna Karan shindigs downtown ended and everyone streamed over en masse. We counted 4 doormen – not the typical friendly 2 – manning the crowd, constantly asking everyone to move back, move aside, move out. To no benefit.

Few lucky ones who did get in (think models, New York City DJs and the kids from Public School) had a great time, as expected with any Saleh fete. But there are ways to mitigate the horror. And win friends in the process. Here are some some those.

Carry cigarettes and a lighter. Fashion people smoke. I do not see this changing. Even if you do not smoke, you will be asked for a ciggy or a lighter (or both) if you are hanging around outside any of these events. Be a good one and carry a few extras. It helps made easy conversation.

Or – and this is tried and true – step outside with your group of smoking friends when they go for a smoke. You will meet the most interesting people.

Share your car. Are you a member of Uber? Great. Be a pal and call for a car the second you feel the energy shift and can tell people will want to leave in T-minus five, four, three, two….

Put names on lists. Got the hookup at Tribeca Grand, PURPLE, Vanity Fair, The Standard, Electric Room, Acme or The Jane? Make the call (and by call we mean text) to your guy on the inside and put some names down. It is more fun to roll with a crew than with a plus-one anyway.

Carry a charger. The anxiety journalists, models, bloggers, promoters, DJs and business people feel when their battery goes dangerously low is palpable. Some carry portable chargers that prove invaluable when your phone dies halfway through the evening. Or, you could just try to enjoy the evening as a fully present individual blissfully untethered to a device. But that is an advanced move best enjoyed deliberately, not by dead-cell-phone default.

Keep you hands down. Take 2-3 photos during the runway show and then put the phone down. Otherwise your raised hand will be immortalized in the shots of everyone behind you, and they will hate you for it.

Don’t pinch seats. By which we mean do not sit in an assigned seat which doesn’t belong to you. Far better to stand in the back and then be called to a place of honor than to assume a seat up front and face public removal when its rightful owner arrives.

Go with the flow. Plans change. Traffic stops. People get tired, hot, hungry, sick or love-bit. It is completely okay. There will always be another season, another show. Think ahead...think of the future.

10 Trends you'll See Next Winter

Next winter? Are you mad???, it's not even officially spring yet.

Valid point, but dozens of the finest local fashion labels literally strutted their stuff at New Zealand Fashion Week few days ago, and in this digital, seasonless world you could soon see one of the key trends finding way into a chain store near you!!!

Here are the key trends for winter 2014...

BOMBERS
Short sleeved bombers layered over knits; bombers in luxe fabrics; a wild stud-emblazoned one at Cooper by Trelise Cooper - high fashion undeniably still loves this sportswear crossover.

EVOCATIVE PRINTS
Beautiful, appealing florals from Salasai and Sheryl May; swans from Andrea Moore, herons from Cooper. Feminine, pastel and somewhat haunting prints were everywhere.

COATS
We got an indication of this trend right from Fashion Week's first show by Twenty-seven names, and coats from almost every other brand followed. Never have we seen such a wide range of styles, most of them grandeur. We hope these relatively expensive garments are indicative of an economic upturn.

FUR
For pioneering types, Lela Jacob's reversed, recycled furs were a moment of breathtaking beauty. For an easier to wear option Hailwood's furry zip front jacket, or Andrea Moore's possum fur 'harness', combined with an artfully coordinating knit dress will give one a classy style.

PINK
Not a colour one would necessarily expect to see for winter, but intense bright pink showed in various collections, primarily in statement dresses and coats as well as teamed with other rich shades.

PLAID
Fave of the week was Stolen Girlfriends Club's reworked vintage tartan, but if you like your fashion more glam then you will love COOP's plasticised, glittery plaid. This trend was also spotted at Salasai and Cooper.

PUNK INFLUENCES
Fashion Week attendees sensed the hand of punk queen Vivienne Westwood during the Cooper section of Trelise Cooper's show, and then instantaneously afterward at Stolen Girlfriends Club. Take the afore mentioned plaid, and add a generous serving of body piercings (fake is ok), studs, fabulous removable thigh-high chaps, pirate sleeves and ripped jeans and you are ready :)

HATS
From 'a hat offering which would make Sid or Stevie proud' at Stolen Girlfriends Club, to hand crafted felt bonnets at NYNE, from bowlers at Twenty-seven names to wide-brimmed numbers at Company of Strangers, hats made a booming statement throughout Fashion Week. If you are not already a 'titfer' wearer, better start figuring out what hat suits you - come next cold season, your wardrobe won't be complete without one.

INTERESTING HEMLINES
Floaty fabrics lent themselves to hemline assymmetry at Company of Strangers and NYNE. Note the hosiery and footwear becomes very important - Company of Strangers took the occasion to showcase a new footwear collab with Bay of Plenty brand Chaos & Harmony.

RED
Nyne win the prize for the best red of the week - they layered it up richly in varied textures of the same shade.  Zambesi's mostly dark show finished with a complete red section, and red (riding hood) coats from Andrea Moore and Twenty-seven names were definite stand-outs.

India Fashion Weeks: Behind the Scenes

Lakme Fashion Week 

Some of our findings about the Fashion Weeks held in India are:

• Getting a slot at a fashion week requires many other things than just merit. It helps to have good connections. Surprising? Someone said it is all a bit like the BCCI. Also, the leading names a designer gets—either to walk the ramp, or to just show the face in the front rows—the easier it is.

• The Delhi Vs Mumbai catfight plays out here as well. Delhi’s Wills India Fashion Week beats Mumbai’s Lakme India Fashion Week comprehensively in terms of business. The bigger designers, the non-Bollywood ones, thumb their noses at superficial Mumbai and stick to the capital, attracting the prized buyers. But nobody can do Bollywood better than Mumbai. So if you want to see bollywood stars on the ramp—and therefore in newspapers and glossies—Mumbai is where the action is.

• Ever wondered who buys the outlandish garments you see on ramps? There are some, of course, who want that exact lehenga which Katrina Kaif wore. But, generally, what’s strutted on ramps are worked-up versions of the designers’ creations. Leaner interpretations are kept for serious buyers.

• Afterparties are big, with the who’s who hob-nobbing over deals and insider goss.

• If new designers can’t afford a slot by themselves, they share it with another designer. But, it looks, the biggies don’t even need to pay for their slots sometimes—they just need to show up with their collection. Some even get sponsorship. So, while a newbie is scraping together money for the show (and rope in a TV actor as showstopper), a veteran glides through with lot more ease.

• Given all the craze around fashion weeks, how much money do they typically make? No one’s telling. There aren’t really that many foreign buyers. And there will always be that one designer who will claim deals worth Rs 30 crore (no way to verify it, of course), pushing others to mutter reluctantly about similar success.

• And all this for a grand 15 (to 18) minutes of fame to showcase a collection. But it’s enough for 36 to 48 items. That means about 3 items a minute. Too little? No one wants to look at any outfit for longer than that.