“The pop-up store is perfect for the times,” said Convenience Store owner Andrew Ibi. “There’s no lease to negotiate, no rent to pay, and not a lot of stock to clear at the end.” Not that Ibi, the dreadlocked “fashion-mista,” needs to worry about clearing merch: His store, which is normally located in Notting Hill but has now assumed pop-up form at the sleek Covent Garden Hotel in St. Martins Lane, has that elusive ka-ching factor. Anyone for a Rick Owens backless jumpsuit or a Felder-Felder leather harness dress that would make even a dominatrix blush? At the opening party last night, Pam Hogg, the legendary sixties rock star and designer (whose T-shirts and mugs are available at the shop), said, “Kinda adds a new twist to the meaning of boutique hotel, innit?”—Afsun Qureshi

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—jconnors

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After taking his show on the road to Paris the past two seasons, Zac Posen is bringing it all back home to New York. He’ll present his mainline collection at Lincoln Center on September 11, and last night, he cut the ribbon on his first-ever retail store, for the Z Spoke diffusion line, in the Meatpacking District.Measuring just 725 square feet, the space didn’t take long to fill up with a coterie of Posen muses like Coco Rocha, Crystal Renn, and Anna and Pat Cleveland. Despite its compact size, the store manages to pack in the entire Z Spoke spread, including Illesteva shades and bags that look way more expensive than their under-$700 price tags. Posen brought in storied book collector Michael Gallagher to add a few rare fashion reads to the boutique’s shelves, like Cecil Beaton’s Memoirs of the 40’s and Isabella Rossellini’s Some of Me. “I collect old issues of Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue and grew up haunting his store,” the designer told Style.com. Now that he’s set up his own shop, Posen can focus on putting the final touches on his namesake collection for its reintroduction to the bedlam that is NYFW. “I’m incredibly thrilled to be back,” he said. “I’m excited to appeal to the fantasy side of the American woman again.”Z Spoke by Zac Posen, 875 Washington St., NYC. For more information, visit www.zspoke.us.—Brittany Adams

Photo: Courtesy of BFAnyc.com

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—Matthew Schneier

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Gerald Genta’s Special Royal Oak with Gold Bezel

If you’re a watch geek replica watches I’m sure you either attended or heard about Audemars Piguet’s celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Royal Oak. One of the pieces released in honor of the birthday was the Openworked Extra-Thin Royal Oak Limited edition.

What you haven’t seen or heard is this special interview with AP art director Octavio Garcia done at SIHH a few months ago. He gives insight into the history of the Royal Oak and its impact on the watch landscape as well as why AP decided to reposition themselves and change their message.

Against the backdrop of footage taken at the exhibition held at the Park Armory Garcia gives us a window into the world of Audemars Piguet through the Royal Oak. He speaks about the watch that shook up sport watch category for its bold and audacious design—and price.

For the show replica replica iwc watches Audemars Piguet commissioned avant-garde artists to transform the space. Dan Holdsworth took sumptuous pictures of the Vallée de Joux wholesale mechanical multifunction movement watches where Audemars Piguet’s home of Le Brassus resides; Sebastian Leon Agneesens provided an otherworldly sound installation seeming to emanate from organ pipes set around the room; while Davide Quayola transfixed with his experimental film playing with sculpture photography and geometry assembling and disassembling over a mirroring pool.

Enjoy!

You may also like the following articles related to Audermars Piguet on The Watch Review Site http://www.thewatchreviewsite.co.uk/audemars-piguet-skeleton-royal-oak-selfwinding/ or http://www.thewatchreviewsite.co.uk/audemars-piguet-royal-oak-offshore-diver/

Article provided by Meehna Goldsmith you can also follow Meehna on Twitter @thewatchlady

Original article can be viewed at http://www.watchmatchmaker.com/brands/audemars_piguet/video-the-royal-oak-anniversary-park-armory-and-audemars-piguet-art-director-octavio-garcia.html

Jessica Simpson was the surprise guest judge at the Project Runway Finale fashion show, which was held at the Lincoln Center during New York Fashion Week this morning.

I have no problem with Jessica’s new body, but I do have a problem with the way she dresses herself.

She opted for a Michael Kors Fall 2010 dress paired with grey suede YSL Trib Two pumps.

Her sparkling beaded long sleeved dress with cut-out arms detail and ruched banded cuffs, is the most unflattering dress she could’ve picked from this collection.

The elasticated waist makes her appear wider than she is. Had she opted for a belt like the model she would’ve achieved a narrower silhouette.

Shortening the dress was the only good decision she made here.

Oh to be in the mind of Michael Kors when she saw this look.

Credit: Style.com & INFEvents

Despite that fact that Matthew McConaughey and Ryan Phillippe were both on the red carpet at the LA Premiere for “The Lincoln Lawyer,” it was Camila Alves who had me drooling.

The beautiful TV host looked stunning wearing a Camilla and Marc asymmetrical black satin ‘Astaire’ floor-length dress.

Normally when you think of Camilla and Marc you think of cute mini dresses, but this look changes that.

The luxe dress has a beautiful pleated detail which drapes from the hip.

I love how she swept her hair over bare shoulder, plus her complementary black satin Kotur clutch and Pomellato jewels.

Camila has had an amazing 2 weeks on the red carpet. Let’s pray she gives us many more BDOTW worthy looks in the future.

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Credit: Fame Pictures

This is the Penelope Cruz I love.

Elegant, unstated, effortless and simply gorgeous.

She was by far my Best Dressed at this premiere looking angelic wearing a Ralph Lauren Spring 2010 vintage chambray georgette beaded gown.

For such a big occasion there may have been a temptation to over do the bling, but her Chopard diamonds complemented the sparkling details on her gown.

She completed her look with a Ralph Lauren lizard flower clutch.

Kate Hudson wore a stunning white Atelier Versace Fall 2009 strapless gown, with a beaded bodice and sculptural skirt, paired with silver heels.

This stunning creation should’ve been enough to be my best dressed, but I didn’t like her hair.

The hair is typical Kate Hudson.  It’s the same hair we see in candids out with her kids or her boyfriend A Rod.

I would have expected more in that department since she was wearing such an amazing gown.

Shout if you think it’s BDOTW worthy.

I expected Nicole Kidman to blow me away, but she didn’t.

I was so disappointed with her look and I really wish she opted for a stunning gown instead of this white Azzedine Alaia Spring 2010 ensemble.

Hopefully she will knock it out of the park for the following premiere’s.

Film Director Rebecca Miller arrived wearing the same Alexander McQueen Pre-Fall 2009 dress she wore to the “The Private Lives Of Pippa Lee” New York Screening.

Shingai Shoniwa of The Noisettes arrived with her bandmates Jamie Morrison and Dan Smith.

She left them in the shade wearing a David Koma Fall 2009 black dress with those distinctive tube details on the skirt.

I love that cropped red satin jacket she wore with her look.

Jasmine Guinness’ red velvet shawl and burgundy pumps through me off loving her Christian Dior Resort 2010 black gown with leopard print theme.

I like the red lips though.

Dame Judi Dench chose an understated lime green Betty Jackson full-length dress, which she paired with gold accessories.

Vivienne Westwood’s muse Tolula Adeyemi arrived wearing a sexy baby blue bustier gown, whilst carrying a Louis Vuitton clutch.

Credit: Style.com, Bauer Griffin & London Features

When Yigal Azrouël opens his first Cut25 store in Soho this spring, it will be awash with Technicolor. The designer, an avid wave rider himself, reaped inspiration from eighties surf culture for his diffusion line this season. As the 25 models made their Cedar Lake-choreographed movements within a designated square space, they showed off clean-cut pieces in electric tangerine and yellow, tamed down by more neutral shades of army green and black. The bright colors even extended to the shoes—the designer paired up with Frye to create poppy lambskin lace-up ankle boots and pink lambskin clogs—and the custom jewelry by Holst + Lee. The look is familiar—both athletic chic and neon bright clothes have popped up repeatedly throughout the week—but his “modern eighties” clothes are wearable. Azrouël devotees are likely to flock to the basic silk sleeveless tanks and dresses and the jet lambskin pieces. Caution: The citrus orange maxi is not built for the board.—Kristin Studeman

Photos: Courtesy of Yigal Azrouël

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—Kristin Studeman

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Last night Brit actress Emily Blunt walked the red carpet for the LA premiere of her new movie “The Wolfman”.

On her special night her plus 1 was actor fiancé John Krasinski.

She looked beautiful wearing a one-shouldered Kaufman Franco navy Grecian dress with a bejeweled waist band and an asymmetrical hem.

I love the feathered hair accessory, her flawless make-up and those sexy Sergio Rossi cut-out sandals.

A lot of you haven’t been impressed with a lot of Emily’s choices lately, but I’m confident that this look will get you back on side.

Am I right?

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Credit: Getty

There’s fiction—Ugly Betty, The Devil Wears Prada. There’s “reality”—Project Runway, America’s Next Top Model, The Rachel Zoe Show, and so on, ad nauseum. Now comes reality. Tomorrow night, the Sundance Channel debuts The Day Before, a documentary series portraying the final hours before the Sonia Rykiel, Proenza Schouler, Fendi, and Gaultier Haute Couture fashion shows. Commanding access that should make the hair of any fashion aspirant stand on end, director Loïc Prigent takes pains to show the real life of fashion, as sublime, as surreal, as high-stakes and as prosaic as it is, day-to-day. Dresses unsewn mere minutes before the lights go up on the catwalk. Missing models. Technical mishaps. Whacked-out seamstresses staging a 1 a.m. runway show. Alongside The September Issue, the series effectively counterpunches the prevailing public image of fashion people as a community of shopaholic psychotics, replacing it with something richer, stranger, and—yes—realer. Prigent himself is no stranger to the scene behind the scenes: Together with Agnès Boulard, Prigent produces a popular fashion-themed show for French television, and he directed the the miniseries Signé Chanel and the documentary Marc Jacobs & Louis Vuitton, both of which previously aired on the Sundance Channel. This evening, the network fêtes The Day Before, and the multi-platform Full Frontal Fashion initiative it tentpoles, with a party hosted by Nathalie Rykiel and Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough of Proenza Schouler. Here, the director talks to Style.com about fashion geekdom, fur machismo, and filming for a nation of drama queens.OK, I have to start by asking—how on earth did you convince these designers to let you and your camera crews in on their last-minute show preparations? That’s a high-pressure situation as is. And for that matter, how on earth did you convince Karl Lagerfeld and Marc Jacobs to let you follow them around—camera in tow—for months on end?

You know, I think the decisive moment, when I began really to have access to this world, was at the first show of Tom Ford for Yves Saint Laurent. Everyone else was filming the celebrities, but I had always one eye for Yves Saint Laurent, because he was there in the front row, and I was like, totally starstruck. And so I never panned to the movie stars, I just kept my camera rolling on Monsieur Saint Laurent. The mic was on, and I got Monsieur Saint Laurent saying to Bernard Arnault, “Monsieur Arnault, please get us out of this scam.” But in French, he used a very bad word—not a word you would expect out of Yves Saint Laurent. Of course, he was referring to Tom Ford coming to Yves Saint Laurent, and the Gucci Group buying the label, and he was upset about all this. A very revealing conversation. And everyone was like, “Oh my God, you can’t use that!” But to me, I mean, Monsieur Saint Laurent had never spoke about any of this in public, and it was such a great story, I had to use it. So, since then, it seems like people give me more access.Well, presumably because they’re afraid of you.

Maybe there is a little bit of scared-ness, yes, but also the people I ask to film, they know I love their work and they know I love fashion and that I’m looking for a truthful way to report about it.How did you get interested in fashion in the first place?

I’m just a total fashion geek. I have been since I was young. I don’t get into wearing labels, but I love the politics and the process. It’s a fanzine mentality, you know? One of those 20-year-olds with a blog, that could be me. Except I’m not 20, and I don’t have a blog. But it’s really the same idea. I’m always trying to answer this mystery of fashion: How do you do it? How do you make these things appear? With Signé Chanel, I was hoping that if I spent more time inside the atelier, I would find the answer. And then, after watching the hands at Chanel, I went with Marc Jacobs, so I could follow the eye. The way Marc sees, the way he scans everything to make fashion happen. This time, for The Day Before,, it’s more about this energy before the show. It’s an interesting time to film, because there is so much to finish, so many tricks to invent, that it’s impossible to wear a mask.I’ve been backstage before shows, and I was still completely taken aback by how much gets done at the very last minute. I mean, it’s always a mad scramble, but…

Oh, I mean—at Gaultier, an hour before the show they have 23 outfits that aren’t ready!? It’s crazy. But they keep their calm, they’re all super-calm. And then, bang, the dresses are there. For me, still, the only explanation is that someone in heaven snapped a finger and made a collection appear. Really, it makes you believe in magic.How did you choose the designers featured in the series?

Sonia Rykiel was a given to me—I love her whole universe, and I knew Nathalie Rykiel would open the doors, and I knew also that there was this big event coming up, the 40th anniversary, and that this would be a strong story. You know, Sonia Rykiel, she’s so Paris; similarly, it’s evident to me that Proenza Schouler is all about America, and I wanted to explore this American kind of creativity. And I was also curious, with Jack and Lazaro, how they work together; how four eyes become one look. Fendi, that was an easy choice, because at Fendi there is Karl, and it’s always good to have Karl involved when you’re pitching a documentary about fashion. Plus, I was curious about the fur atelier at Fendi.Yeah? Why? Did you find out anything that surprised you?

I found out that Italian men are very macho.That was a surprise?

No, it’s really interesting—all the men are cutting the furs, but not one holds a pin. They won’t sew. And when I asked about it, they all said—hey, it’s been this way since medieval times. That was so crazy to me. I mean, I guess I’m always surprised when men are macho; I can’t believe they get away with it.Sorry, I interrupted you before you told me why you decided to shoot Jean Paul Gaultier.

Well, for a couple reasons. Like I was saying—Sonia is Paris, one idea of Paris, and Proenza is America, and Karl to me is postwar European, and Jean Paul, he’s a child of the ’70s and ’80s in Paris. They all have a very different sensibility. And with Jean Paul, I was also interested in him because he is relatively new to the haute couture, and after filming Chanel, which is like the Rolls-Royce, I thought it would be interesting to see this new couture car in action.I’m actually quite interested in what you chose not to show. We never see stylists, for example. And you don’t focus at all on the look of the collections—the silhouette, the style. Which is, of course, the whole point.

I wanted to show the stylists. I know how important they are—I ve seen how much direction Katie Grand gives at Vuitton, for example. But the person the designer is talking to the most before the show, that’s the head of atelier. Anna at Fendi, Andrea at Proenza; these are amazing women, they make everything happen, you know? They didn’t want to be filmed, but it was essential to film them. And what they do, you can show—it’s not easy to show, but at least it’s physical. They’re working on the clothes. The stylist, what she does, or he does, is so immaterial. And so often, they communicate in this way that’s above words. It’s a look, a stomp of the foot. Very difficult to get on film. In terms of the collections themselves, the look of them, part of the decision to stay away from talking about that is that I wanted to focus on the process. This wasn’t a project about inspiration. And anyway, you know, I watched a lot of fashion television when I was growing up, and the thing I hated—really hated—was the way they would cut from this hair and makeup footage, which is for some reason the most boring footage in the world, to an interview with some designer saying, oh, “I wanted modern, I wanted feminine.” They always would say the same thing. Of course they want modern and feminine! It’s obvious. I never wanted to ask a question that would get me this media-trained bullshit.This series definitely feels vérité. In fact, I have to admit—I watched one of the episodes with a friend of mine who works in the industry in Los Angeles, and he’s a smart guy, but he kept asking, “What’s going on here? Is this a competition?” And I kept having to say, “No, you dink, this is fashion.” And that made me wonder—did you get any pressure to conform this series to that American reality-show idea of how fashion works, and who works in it?

Pressure? No. You do have this thing here that we don’t have in France—”notes.” The people at Sundance are brilliant, they gave me hundreds of notes, incredibly precise, that helped give me a sense of this American kind of narrative. There’s an interest in stakes and drama that we don’t care about in France. You’re a country of drama queens, I guess. And kings.That’s certainly the impression you’d get watching Bravo. Do you watch any of that stuff?

Eh, I’ve seen a little bit of these reality shows, and whatever they’re about, they’re not about fashion. Competition, making fun of people, but not fashion. It’s very hard to convince people to do a real fashion show—there’s a prejudice against fashion people in TV, even in France. I blame William Klein. After Qui Est-Vous, Polly Magoo?, he made fashion people ridiculous forever. It is quite a funny business, but I see the humor from the fashion-geek perspective. I mean, right now, I’m so excited for the Paris shows—I am desperate to interview Hannah MacGibbon, who never talks to anyone, and I can’t wait to see what Phoebe Philo will do at Celine, and Peter Copping at Nina Ricci. That’s a dramatic series, to me. I want to see how the story goes.

Everywhere I go, I’m seeing mini bags. It always makes me wonder what you can actually fit in them—a lipstick and some keys? But here’s something you can: Chloé’s new folding Dionée sunglasses, which bend down into a tiny little package and fit in their adorable egg-shaped case. (They’re the first foldable sunglasses the label has made, and their compact size makes them perfect for traveling, too.) Ever since I first laid eyes on them, I’ve been obsessed. I love the utility of the foldable shape, but even more than that, I love the round, retro style. It will go perfectly with my long summer dresses and work equally well in early fall, when I change my daily uniform to high-waisted pants and button-downs.Chloé Dionée folding sunglasses, $398, available now at Chloé stores nationwide, chloe.com

—Marina Larroude

Photos: Steven Torres

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—Marina Larroude

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