Video Arrives

(photo of the Henry Jacobson show, courtesy Olympus Fashion Week)

Finally, we have video and shots from this morning's runway shows at New York City's Fashion Week. Let's get to what I've been waiting for: Kenneth Cole. His runway show was great, once again. The Fall look includes big collars, whether we're talking men's lapel collars or women's turtlenecks. The belted trench also makes an arrival, and double-breast cuts (with the appropriate buttonwork) show up on men's and women's shirts and jackets. Good stuff! Not a lot of emphasis on the shoes, belts or watches, which are my favorite accoutrements, but hey, the runway is all about the shirts and pants.

Let's see what else has happened. Ah, Henry Jacobson, in his usual color palette. Wow, if someone really dressed like the guy in the picture above, he'd get his ass kicked every day. And what's with the guy wearing the Lando Calrissian-style cloak? Interesting Big Apple hats on the men...such hats are always stylish, but I think they should be worn puffed up, not all deflated and French-looking like on most of the guys.

But that's enough talking about the guys...can't wait to see what overly conspicious gems Baby Phat will be displaying for the ladies tomorrow...

And Speaking of Kenneth Cole...

While I wait for video of his Fashion Week runway show to post at X, I bought a new pair of Kenneth Cole shoes from macys.com the other day. They're called the I-Deal oxfords, and they look pretty sharp, although I haven't polished them yet like they are in this picture from Macy's. I was a little worried at first, because I've never gone the cap-toe route before, but when the shoes arrived that smooth look and super-comfortable soothed my concerns. I'm just hoping that, since the upper doesn't appear to be double-stitched to the sole (in fact, I can't find any stitches in that area--hopefully this wasn't a glue job, but Kenneth wouldn't do such a thing, would he?), the shoe will be durable enough to not come apart after months or years of walking. Luckily this is my fifth pair of dress shoes, so none of my shoes work the daily grind like circus animals.
I do have one gripe about Macy's shipping package, though. This is the second pair I've bought online from them (the closest Macy's to metro Detroit is in middle Ohio, tragically, and the store has better clothes than the local department stores). And while the shoes are in their Kenneth Cole box, Macy's merely places the box inside a gray plastic bag. A plastic bag! To go through the mail! So naturally the box, which I always save to keep my shoes in when they're not being worn, gets completely f'd up. Just to keep it together for shoe storage always requires duct tape--real sharp. And of course shipping the package this way puts the shoes in danger, making me really afraid each time I open up the newest, mangled box that they'll look broke-down like my 5-year old sneakers. Luckily this hasn't happened yet. Macy's, please just buy some packing boxes! I beg you!

Fashion Week!

My favorite event has started...no, not the Motown Winter Blast (although you just read that I'm impressed with it), but Fashion Week in New York City! A time for all the NYC-based designers to lovingly come together as family, gather round the fire, spin tails extraordinaire, and sell some clothes! All of the runway shows will happen through Feb 10, featuring the Fall collections that buyers (the stores) will purchase--or at least that's each designer's hope--en masse to display in their stores come Fall. Then we do it all over again in Fall for the Spring collections.

Naturally, being a huge Kenneth Cole fan--of both his aesthetic and his social consciousness--I'm eager to see his runway show. Always the first show, he's already gone today (9 a.m.), but the show isn't yet posted on the Olympus Fashion Week site. If you're looking for more, articles and critique are also at New York Metro. I'll be talking about it all week, if I can get some time away from working my company's sponsor booth at the Motown Winter Blast. Oh who am I kidding, I won't be able to resist!

Wait...Where Am I?

Thursday the Motown Winter Blast started in Detroit as part of the Super Bowl week festivities. And wow were the crowds big! I was there working since my company's a sponsor, and literally the hordes descended like locusts right at the 4:00 opening. People walking the streets like it's New York City. Reporters at every turn. Music bouncing from hip nightspots that have opened early. There was even a Times Square-style ad on the side of a building, brilliantly done by Cadillac to promote the Escalade. A giant image of the front of the SUV was posted on the building, and in the building windows all 360 degrees around it, 12 mannequins dressed to look like photographers were hanging out, camera bulbs flashing brightly at various intervals. Very cool, and definitely attention-getting. I should've snapped a picture, since the traffic is New York-style too. I'm actually excited to go back on Saturday and Sunday (mercifully, though, the Blast is shutting down well before kickoff).

Motorola also has some impressive marketing going on. It's more awareness marketing, since beach activities have nothing to do with their products, but Motorola's tents are still the hottest attractions so far. One has a real sand volleyball court inside, warm enough to wear trunks and nothing else. Another tent has a pool with mechanical waves so people can mount a surfboard and hang ten. In the middle of Detroit. In February. Needless to say, the line to get in both was around the block. And many of those people, like me, ran home to blog about it. So I think that's a big feather in Motorola's cap.

Cheapest Party Ticket?

The stars are out for Super Bowl week in Detroit, hosting or appearing in dozens of parties around town. Of course, the big dogs are thrown by Playboy (renting out the entire Detroit City Airport), Vivid and Maxim. And tickets are around $750. Don Barden is throwing an "ordinary person's party" featuring several R&B singers, but tickets still start at $75. Ditto for Usher appearing at Clutch Cargo's in Pontiac. What I want to know is, where the $20 parties at? Do they exist? Anyone?

World's Longest Slip 'n Slide...C'mon!

Three more days and the glorious Motown Winter Blast will be upon us, the celebration of all of winter's glory that's part of Detroit's Super Bowl celebration. It's filled with all the things we, uh, supposedly do in Michigan: snow shoe, dog sled, roast marshmallows above giant trash cans that have been set ablaze (ok, so that part we do). And the most glorious thing of all: the 200 foot long, 4 lane wide, 5 story tall snow slide! Sadly, however, the weather has been in the 40s and 50s, and will be above freezing for the rest of the week. That means no snow slide, even though 4 giant snow cannons are working around the clock trying to create this beast of an attraction. But I say why fight it...turn lemons into lemonade, put some latex or Saran Wrap down, and create the world's longest Slip 'n Slide right in the middle of downtown Detroit! It would be a blast...a Motown Winter Blast, that is....

I Must Have Dreamt I Had Vision Insurance

It was a sad state of affairs when I went to the eye doctor over the weekend. Let me give you some background...my company switched insurance providers, from VSP to EyeMed. Seemed innocent enough at the time. But then at the eye doctor I was told that the lenses and frames that I picked would run almost $500! Granted, it was a spiffy pair of rimless frames, close to what Steve Jobs is wearing in this picture from Forbes. But anti-reflective coating alone, which I need since my strong prescription results in a very curved lense, ran $99 (it used to be covered). And the lenses themselves were another $99 (meaning I was at $200 on lenses alone), and then the EyeMed only covered $92 of the frame's cost! With the quickness, I was like "just pop the new lenses in my old frames." So much for keeping up with the times. Next year my vision insurance will probably consist of a coupon for half off a magnifying glass. To boot, I'm sure medical will merely be a box of band-aids and some rubbing alcohol.

Anyway, I'd planned on getting a pair of circular glasses, in a nice medium size since the large lenses I prefer are out of vogue (hey, I like actually having peripheral vision, which you don't get with these teeny lenses these days). What are some cool glasses that you're wearing?