Fashion Week Diaries: Day 5

I went to the library today! It doesn't say much for my intellectual prowess that my first trip to the gorg New York Public Library after living in Manhattan for over two years was for a fashion show where there was nary a book in sight. Jill Stuart showed her spring 2010 collection today at the lobby at the Bryant Park location. Jill Stuart always draws an impressive crop of celebrities and today was no different as Kim Kardashian, Kelly Rowland, Rachel Bilson, Amanda Bynes, Nicky Hilton, more "Real Housewives" than I have ever seen in one place (NY: Jill, Bethenny, Kelly, The Countess; NJ: Caroline and Dina; ATL: Sheree), Gail Simmons from Top Chef, Tinsley Mortimer, and the unofficial high priestess of Fashion Week Fern Mallis herself were all sitting front row.

The collection carried a heavy inspiration of 80's fashion with structured shoulders, puffy sleeves, geometric shapes, ruched metallics, studs, cutouts, and lace. The color pallet was almost exclusively black, white, grey and silver, with hints of blue and magenta thrown in (because what 80's wardrobe would be complete without a pink metallic pseudo-prom dress?). And the hemlines were beyond mini status, making some of the more slinky metallic dresses appear a little less South Hampton, a little more South Amboy, New Jersey if ya know what I'm sayin. A weird but interesting accessory choice was a huge, dangling, flexible sheet metal earring that popped up in different variations in several of the looks. Notice my use of the singular "earring" as in one lonely earring in only one of the model's ears. I was almost surprised the weight of these bad boys didn't make the models' heads tilt to one side.

In the evening I attended the first ever NYFW runway show for Avril Lavigne's clothing line, Abbey Dawn, which will hit your local Kohl's soon. The looks were pretty much what you'd expect with hoodies, shredding, checkered leggings, and various other faux-punk pieces. However, there were a few "50's schoolgirl gone wrong" dresses and puffy skirts that caught my eye and could be made quite chic with the right accessories and beauty look. Though Avril's husband Deryck Whibley of Sum 41 was nowhere to be seen, a rather interesting celebrity turnout included Avril (obvi), Nicky Hilton, Olympic gymnast Nastia Lukin, and Ron Jeremy. Because clearly this is the right mix of people to keep the tweeners happy.