By Nadine Kam

Y and Kei’s Spring/Summer 2008 collection embraces the urban hippie.

Eased my way into Fashion Week, away from the tents and into the sedate setting of the New York Public Library Celeste Bartos Forum, where Y and Kei Water the Earth hosted a presentation of its Spring 2008 Collection. It’s a little jarring to be thinking about spring just when the fall collections have moved into the stores, but it seems fall’s cocoons, sheaths and chemises will still be with us at least for another eight months.

The presentation had 17 models arranged in a circle on a circular mirror with a sculptural arrangement of ladder-like pieces of blond wood behind them. Photographers, fashion writers and editors circled, studied, took notes, then stood by to watch everyone else do the same. The designs by Hanii Y and Gene Kei offer a modern interpretation of the carefree hippie girl who embraces love, peace and freedom, and just a trace of rebellion to make life interesting.

Tiah wears a gray-blue variegated jacquard
dolman-sleeve chemise with drawstring neckline.
Check out their Y & Kei shoes with bunchy hose.

Below, Lucyna wears a silver metallic cotton dress with
hand-cut and applique chiffon feather scallops.

The designers Hanii Y and Gene Kei.

They sent us back out to the world with lunch to go, a Tuscan chicken sandwich with pasta and chocolates, At lunch time, it was hard to find an empty table at Bryant Park. After snacking I headed for the tents to see what I could see. I spotted Fashion TV personalities Robert Verdi and Lauren Ezersky right away. The only show going on at the time was Alexandre Herchcovitch’s.

Carmen Electra hosts “Full Frontal Fashion” from the tent at Bryant Park.

Also working very hard was Carmen Electra, who’ll be hosting “Full Frontal Fashion” throughout the week. She was kept busy being perky while reading lines off a Teleprompter to be inserted between fashion segments.

Even the men carry huge purses.

Out front, they were giving away tons of magazines with fashion angles, including New York and Time magazines, and the New York Times fashion supplement that I didn’t have a chance to read before I left home. I was glad I had a giant bag and the giant bag thing all of a sudden came clear to me. What doesn’t make sense in Hawaii because we all have cars, makes perfect sense here where everyone’s a commuter and they have to carry their newspapers, gadgets, shoes, cameras, notebooks, etc. I am going to have some muscles when I get home. Of course not any old gigantic tote would do for the fashion crowd, hence the designer compliance in creating bags bigger than these women’s bodies.

Took in Elie Tahari’s presentation at 4 p.m., which
allowed editors to get up close to the garments and
metal and macrame jewelry.

I kind of hated to carry my big bag to a party later that evening but I wasn’t about to walk all over the Far Village in heels, so had to carry them somehow. The party at a new Cuban restaurant called Socialista marked the release of Nina Garcia’s “Little Black Book of Style.” Many of the women, including Nina, fashion director for Elle magazine and “Project Runway” judge, showed up in little black dresses … and carrying giant bags.

Elle’s Nina Garcia just may be giving some
style advice to Patrick McCullan.

Longtime NY scenester Patrick McMullan was there with his camera and a film crew to document the event, possibly for “Full Frontal Fashion” as well. About an hour into the event, host Diane Von Furstenberg showed up looking every bit as glamorous in person as in photos.

I was wondering if any people from “Project Runway” would show up. I didn’t see them. But speaking of that Bravo series, don’t forget to watch Tim Gunn’s new Bravo reality makeover series starting 9/6, “Tim Gunn’s Guide to Style.”

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 5th, 2007 at 4:47 pm and is filed under Too much excitement, New York spring 2008 shows, Pop, Shoes, Parties, Scene spy, Fashion shows. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.