Tartan Two Ways and a Broken Clock

On Friday, I wore Zang Toi’s tartan dress to his Spring 2010 show, then changed into a tartan Francis dress for my Fashion’s Night Out after-party at Christian Francis Roth’s studio.

With Zang, in the mayhem after his show.

With Christian, in the mayhem of a blogger invasion.

Zang’s presentation was in his showroom. Before it started, I was pondering Miss Universe’s French pedicure until Ivana Trump sat down in front of me, blocking my view with her ponytail. I asked my Twitter followers if I should take a picture of Ivana’s ponytail. They said yes. Here it is:

Sorry for the cell-phone camera quality.

The models had to walk down a flight of stairs, which reminded me of M.C. Escher.

M.C. Escher's "Relativity."

Whatever you do, ladies, don’t look down. Oh noes! Too late!

"Shrek, I'm looking down!"

Short skirt? No problem. But some gown-wearing models had a hard time climbing back up.

Zang called this his Toreros collection. He was inspired by bullfighting costumes he saw in Spain. Did I just say “bullfighting”?! That’s a good excuse for some more Bugs Bunny.

The Spanish influence meant lots of black beading, epaulettes, flamenco skirts and voluminous sleeves.

It also meant strong brows and bright red lips.

The makeup at Zang’s show reminded me to bitch about how red lipstick is, once again, the “in” look. One of the glossy magazines even had a page on red lipstick “for all ages,” which must have made How Not to Look Old author Charla Krupp weep youthful-looking tears. The periodic revival of red makes me feel like the broken clock that’s right twice a day, except I’m only right twice a decade or so. I keep doing my red lips year in and year out — for about 20 years now — and most of the time various fashion gurus are telling me that it’s aging and terrible and I need to switch to pink/nude lips. But then, suddenly, and usually for a very short period of time, red lipstick is fresh and chic. Same thing with leopard print, which I also wear year in and year out. So many people were appalled by the blue leopard print Lanvin dress that Maggie Gyllenhaal wore to the Golden Globes in January. She got all kinds of “worst dressed” comments. A few months later, that same Lanvin print was hot and tout le monde was wearing it. Anyway, I’ll be wearing both red lips and leopard when those looks go out again … and I’ll still be wearing them when they’re rediscovered. Again.The late Diana Vreeland knew what she liked and so do I: Red! And! Leopard! (Zang has consistently been a fan of red lips as well.) By the way, if you’re looking for a new red for yourself, the lipstick I’m wearing in the pictures is Chili by Kimara Ahnert. To get it, call 212-452-4252 and ask for Christopher. Tell him I sent you.

After Zang’s show, I ran through the rain to Christian’s studio to taste the Champagne before all the gorgeous bloggers arrived to see his spring collection. What?! Someone has to make sure the Veuve Clicquot is as bubbly as it should be.

You can read my version of the evening here. Jennine of The Coveted posted about it here. Isn’t she a talented photographer? I love her work. A lot of fashion photography — whether for magazines or blogs — seems cold to me. And people pose so pretentiously. Hello! If you’re wearing tiny denim booty shorts and a sleeveless t-shirt with giant armholes, you are not entitled to have delusions of glamour. Jennine’s pictures, however, have a intimate, quirky, fun feeling to them. In fact, Jennine’s photograph of my jewelry appears as the grand finale of the images that cycle through my website’s homepage. Feel free to tell her that she MUST get the Francis jacket she tried on. She looks great in it. I’m looking forward to seeing posts from the other wimmins soon. I had a hella good time with them, both at the studio and at our dinner at Marseille after, where I tasted a lot of Chardonnay. What?! I had to make sure the wine was good enough for all my friends. They deserve the best.

UPDATED TO ADD: Jennine took a cool picture of a picture I was taking of Christian showing the ladies a Fall 2009 skirt. I know, I know. I need a manicure.

UPDATED AGAIN TO ADD: The Zang Toi dress is from Zang’s Fall 2008 collection, but the tartan Francis dress is brand-new for this season. If you’re interested in getting it, holla at me at wendy at cfrnyc dot com and I’ll hook you up.

UPDATING GONE WILD!  I just found out that the lovely lady in the blazer and hat on my right in the picture with Zang Toi is named Candace.  Check out her blog here.