No French Fries for You
Fashion month survival mode is upon us; things kicked off Tuesday with Michael Kors, Bella Hadid, Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and the Zimmermann crew. BY KRISTEN TAUER, LEIGH NORDSTROM AND MAXINE WALLY
"You know how fast is life today?" Michael Kors asked — well, stated — on Tuesday night. "Life is getting faster and faster, whether we travel in real time or we travel digitally. And I think about a girl who's on the move all the time and always looks good on the move — hence, here we are with Bella."
Bella Hadid and the designer were holding court side by side inside the Dolby SoHo showroom, where the latest Michael Kors campaign was being celebrated in high-tech fashion. Each room of the space was turned into an immersive, interactive experience; as guests walked in, they entered a 360-degree-projected environment of the "MK" logo; continuing on, they encountered clips from the David Sims-lensed campaign, and a chance to star in their own Michael Kors campaign — if just for their Instagram accounts. Downstairs, guests were welcomed — after signing a release — to an MK playground of a seesaw and giant logo swing.
"You know, I always say what I love about working with Michael is he's so hands on," Hadid said. "It's such a big effort that he makes for the shoot to make it all happen — obviously to do the whole collection and everything — so it's really beautiful to be able to work so hands on with him. And he's such a big energy and on set, it's so fun."
For the week ahead, Kors is channeling all of that energy into his upcoming runway show.
"She just said to me, 'Isn't the weather amazing?'" said the designer, referring to the balmy mid-winter day in New York, which had left some sartorially confused. "I had no idea that it was nice today. I'm like a prisoner of fashion, I have no idea what the weather is — could be snowing, could be sunny. I mean, honestly, until the show is over, this is it: This is the one Michael Kors out-of-the-studio moment," he said, adding he had one other objective for the week. "No french fries for me. That's my goal: no fries for the week. But I will break it by Sunday, I know it."
While Kors is studio-bound, Hadid is all but destined to be a girl on the move in the days ahead. "I'm so focused on working," the model said. "It's fun to be able to do these events and be able to call this work and do it together, but then I think I'm just the same: back to work. And we start fittings for fashion week so it's a lot of time put in starting tomorrow."
Also getting in a little celebrating before the madness was Nicky Zimmermann, who has made a habit of kicking the week off with a casual dinner to gather friends of the brand. Tuesday night stayed true to form as she invited guests like Nicky Hilton Rothschild, Lady Kitty Spencer, Athena Calderone, Karolina Kurkova, Hilary Rhoda and more to the restaurant King in SoHo.
Ever the Aussie, Zimmermann was laid-back in the lead-up to her show, which will take place Monday.
“We don't work in a chaotic way,” she said. “It starts very calm and it picks up and you never know what is going to happen, but I'm not really a chaotic person. I'm quite an organized Virgo. Hopefully it remains that way, but you never know. Literally, anything can happen.”
Of her decision to throw an early party, she said it sets a nice tone for the busy week ahead.
“Obviously it's a very congested time for people and it's a nice way to start and kick things off,” she said. “For us it's very relaxed. We don't have a product or anything to sell, we just want to say, ‘Hi, and thanks for the support.'”
About 20 years ago, Ilene Joy made jewelry a hobby when she wasn't working her day job in the advertising business. That is, until she was stopped on the street by Sabrina Wright-Gilliar, the property master of “Sex and the City” at the time. Wright-Gilliar asked Joy what she was wearing, and the two went to a café to discuss details. By the end of the day, Joy was signed to do the jewelry for the last three seasons of “Sex and the City.”
Fast-forward to Tuesday night, when Joy, her daughter and business partner Rae Scheer, and a crew of celeb followers including Sienna Miller, Poppy Delevingne and Christina Hendricks attended the launch party in New York for Ilene Joy's
2.0 version of her original brand.
Delevingne is the face of the brand's campaign — the video of which was projected on a wall at the party. She said she's in town for a quick trip; she will attend the Tom Ford show Wednesday evening then return to her home in Los Angeles. Delevingne made a point to show off her choker with a pearl, and her drop pearl necklace, saying that pearls don't usually have rock 'n' roll qualities, but Ilene Joy's do.
"All the pearls are slightly disfigured. They're not round pearls. Because of that distortion, it makes it kind of edgy and something very different," Delevingne said.
Hendricks, who's in the upcoming film “American Woman” with Miller, said she heard her costar was going to be in New York, so she sent her an e-mail and hopped on a plane.
“I walked in and [Miller's] face was the first one I saw,” Hendricks said.