“At least it’s not snowing this year” was a phrase heard repeatedly at Fashion Group International’s 15th Annual Rising Star Awards luncheon, held today at Cipriani 42nd Street. There were several FGI veterans in attendance, including Catherine Malandrino and past winners Thom Browne, Christopher Coleman, and Monica Rich Kosann (all three were also presenters today), [...]

Marie Steiss—née Marie de Villepin—has bona fides any of her fellow Euro socials would kill for. The daughter of the former French prime minister Dominique de Villepin, Marie modeled for seasons using the name Steiss, gracing runways for DVF, Catherine Malandrino, and Givenchy and eventually becoming the face of Givenchy’s Ange ou Demon fragrance.Her absence [...]

Nicholas Kirkwood is setting up shop in the States. The British footwear designer will open his first U.S. store in New York on Washington Street early next year. [WWD]Taavo Somer (left), the man behind Freemans restaurant, Freemans Sporting Club, and the Rusty Knot, opens his highly anticipated Brooklyn restaurant, Isa, next week. What should we [...]

This week marks the official start of the U.S. Open tennis tournament in New York. Tennis players continue to up their style game, and their outfitters—like Nike and Fila—are reciprocating. Nike players Maria Sharapova and Roger Federer are stepping out in bright red, pink, and blue—not your traditional whites. Fila’s players, like Svetlana Kuznetsova, are [...]

“Ooh la la, I was such a little girl that I can’t remember my first Lacoste piece,” Catherine Malandrino told Style.com last night, at the Mondrian Soho for a party celebrating her capsule range for the storied French brand. “It was probably a little white polo, but I have been growing up with Lacoste—my grandfather, [...]

“At one point in my career, I had $98, a mattress, and a floor,” Norma Kamali told us at the Fashion Group International’s 14th Annual Rising Star Awards luncheon, hosted by Condé Nast Digital editorial director Jamie Pallot. “There’s always going to be something that tests your ability, so get past it and then get [...]

For most of us, macramé conjures up images of hemp-loving hippies, not the master of minimalism herself, Phoebe Philo. But Spring found the Celine designer channeling the festival set with woven vests and jackets. And she wasn’t alone. “Macramé is effortless,” said Catherine Malandrino, who knotted thin strips of leather into a linen T-shirt. Easy, [...]

Drew Barrymore hit L.A. last night to promote Going the Distance, her new (guess!) rom-com co-starring her sometime paramour Justin Long, and she’s looking every bit the precious metal. Barrymore’s been experimenting with ombré tones in her hair lately, and she’s still working the dark-to-light locks, but as for her gown, it’s all golden. She [...]

There were proud parents aplenty at last night’s 2010 Pratt Institute Fashion Show. The evening’s honoree, Catherine Malandrino, gave a heartfelt speech thanking the fashion folk in her adopted New York City, then humbly handed off the baton, telling the young designers backstage that it was their turn to move fashion forward. One suspects they [...]

The 40th anniversary of Earth Day is still a few weeks away, but “eco” as an accessory adjective has assumed something of an evergreen quality among fashion folk. Catherine Malandrino’s kicky new—you guessed it—eco totes are a wallet-friendly $25 each and is made of 95 percent recycled materials. The “J’ai Deux Amours” tote gives shout-outs [...]