Talk of the Tents

Tommy Hilfiger created a world all his own at the Park Avenue Armory Sunday night, where he constructed a manicured park, complete with gravel path, benches and tables, even trees — live ones.  (OK, the leaves were wired into place, but still.)  And all inside the Armory's massive, vault-roofed atrium.  On a freezing, cold night — outside — it was such a pleasure to sit down, take...

Derek Lam’s models walked past large, mirrored structures, like giant picture or window frames, at his runway show at a warehouse in SoHo by the Hudson River. Abandoned artwork?  Portals to another dimension?  The meaning of these structures wasn't clear.  In fact, the set was rather cold and austere.  The collection, however, was anything but.

Lam found a way to infuse...

Don’t mess with Catherine Malandrino. Her Black Label line, revealed at a presentation in a large warehouse in Chelsea on Sunday, is named “La Feline,” and is a marriage, she explains, of “virtue and vice.”

Virtue comes in many forms — a fuzzy mohair and vinyl bomber, sweet, soft and nostalgic, or perhaps the royal blue wool and patent leather trench coat with fox fur collar and purple skinny...

Invitations to Diane von Furstenberg’s packed house at the tents on Sunday afternoon featured puzzle pieces. Her excellent runway show, a bit more scaled back than usual in the bells-and-whistles department, provided answers.

The puzzle? Age-old. What do women really want to wear?

For von Furstenberg and her three season creative director, Yvan Mispelaere, and we’re thinking a whole...

The runway at DKNY’s downtown Sunday show was screened with skyscrapers and,  appropriately, the collection was lean and distinctly urban, but like a city sidewalk, Donna Karan allowed some cracks in the veneer – it was feminine and subtly flirtatious, too.

Called in program notes, a “Poetic Rebellion,” and described as "sweet and strong, pretty and tough, smart and street,"...

Duran Duran’s John Taylor took time out from admiring the Skaist-Taylor fashion presentation Sunday — his wife, Gela Nash-Taylor, of Juicy Couture fame, is co-founder of the new brand — to discuss the death of Whitney Houston. His take on the Queen of Pop?

“It’s one of those surprises that isn’t a complete surprise,” said Taylor. “I don’t think anyone felt too comfortable when she was on ‘Oprah,’...

How civilized! There were steaming cups of herbal tea for the press pre-Victoria Beckham, who held her show at the New York Public Library early Sunday morning for a small group of media. In a loooong, dark cavernous room with a wide-plank wood runway, Beckham presented a sharply edited collection designed, she wrote in notes, “to create an emotional attachment between the garment and the wearer....

Hey, guys — a Mena Suvari alert. Seems the sexy young thing has an opening in her calendar come Feb. 14. When asked if she had Valentine’s Day plans, she said, “Nooo, not yet,” blushing (almost) as bright as her hot pink dress.

The dress is from Christian Siriano’s Fall 2012 Collection, and she wore it to his runway show Saturday — even though she’s more a basic black gal, herself.

“I...

Gwen Stefani’s L.A.M.B. presentation was packed, shoulder to shoulder, as curious attendees strained to see her models, lined in a row and pouting with attitude.

Everyone’s fave chola girl champion has been showing off her line in much more modest presentations (and much smaller rooms) than her blowout shows from a few seasons past. The idea is nice — you actually can get up close to the clothes...

Maybe it’s sort of like headlights. Sometimes you have to flick yours on and off to get the driver of an approaching car to kill the brights and pass without blinding you.

Monique Lhiulllier’s collection included some intriguing prints, snatched from the textbook of a geology class — with a close-up rock pattern aswirl in abstract color, and fiery lava prints on a chiffon blouse, pencil skirt...