7 posts tagged "Jenne Lombardo"
Baring It All for the CFDAs
There’s a trace of irony in the fact that at last night’s CFDA Awards—a ceremony honoring clothing and accessory design—the standout red-carpet wares were those that were barely there. Skin was in, in a very big way—namely via torso and dorsal cutouts (and in one precariously tall model’s case, a seriously plunging halter). Swarovski Award for Womenswear nominees Carly Cushnie and Michelle Ochs (of Cushnie et Ochs) led the bare-bodied pack, the former arriving in a vermillion gown with an abdominal diamond-shaped cutout, and the latter donning a dress with oblique accenting slashes across the front (naturally, both wore their own designs). “Michelle and I are big fans of the upper midriff, and always have been,” Cushnie told Style.com. “It tends to be an area that a lot of women can feel comfortable showing.” Their date, Karlie Kloss, left little to the imagination—her outfit careened from plexus to navel. All in all, the trio formed a sinewy vision of primary colors, smartly balancing peekaboo highlights with diving cuts.
And while the Cushnie et Ochs train didn’t stop there (Jenné Lombardo also appeared in a hip-bone-underscoring number from the pair’s Spring ’13 collection), a slew of ladies in other labels turned up with their dermises out. Linda Fargo gunned for a racy noir Michael Kors column cut with triangles across the bust and body. Erin Wasson wore a linear, sheer striped Spring ’13 Alexander Wang piece, and Jessica Hart carried a waist-flaunting Rachel Roy frock to fun and flirty effect. Michelle Harper simply chose to eschew midriff dressing entirely—the provocateur pulled off a vintage Yves Saint Laurent look comprising an ornate black skirt and what we can only describe as a glorified collar.
New York Welcomes A New Wang
While it takes a cranked party to drown out the sound of World Trade Center construction, such was the scene at last night’s W Hotel Downtown soirée for Chinese designer Uma Wang (pictured, right), who turned heads this past fashion week in Milan, where her namesake label made its Italian debut. Hosts Meredith Melling Burke and W Hotels global fashion director Jenne Lombardo (pictured, left) took it to eleven, with help from guests like Peter Som, Alejandro Ingelmo, and Kate Foley. Wang, who is here for a month as part of the CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund China exchange program (a new initiative targeted at expanding opportunities for CFDA designers in China and vice versa for Chinese designers like Wang), kept a noticeably low profile. “I was so happy to come to New York, but I had no idea what to expect,” she said. “I’m just following the schedule.”
She’s right on time for a breakthrough. Wang’s design vibes combine the almost-goth moodiness of Rick Owens with the sharp utility of that other Wang, Alexander. Or, as she puts it: “I only wear black, unless I’m wearing white.” On that note, Lombardo said, “Look at her, she’s wearing all these black layers with long hair and a nose ring—it’s so right-on. She’s more New York than all of us!”
Byrne Baby Byrne
The Byrne Notice—a brand-spanking New York lifestyle site—may be monikered after Fiona Byrne (pictured, left), but it’s not another personal branding exercise. “I don’t want to put my diary on there,” says Byrne, the British expat journalist whose last project was Naag.com, which she launched with Agyness Deyn. “It’s for me and my friends and people who are growing up like us, but it’s also authoritative. We say ‘we,’ not ‘me.’ “
Judging by the flock at last night’s Byrne Notice launch, co-hosted by J Brand, it’s a very royal “we” as far as downtown sovereignty goes. The designer posse that turned out to Acme for the fête included Eddie Borgo, Chrissie Miller, Rebecca Minkoff, and Christian Siriano, whose Chelsea lodgings were just featured on the site. “I didn’t mean it to be as fashion-y,” Byrne said as Jenne Lombardo and Opening Ceremony’s Kate Foley passed by, “but it just seems to come to me.” Though good old fashion makes up the bulk of the content, Byrne seeks to make the site a comprehensive guide to the styled life. Of her epicurean philosophy, she said, “If you have a salted caramel anywhere on your menu, I will go there. I like Laboratorio di Gelato, I love Miss Lily’s. But I’ll also go to Starbucks and get one of those caramel iced things—I’m not a Blue Bottle snob.” Swag aspirations tempered with populist good humor? Noticed.
Work Hard, Play Hard
“We call Jenne [Lombardo] the fashion fairy godmother—she’s amazing at putting creative people together,” said Nomia designer Yara Flinn last night at the W Union Square, where the hotel group was hosting its Fashion Next bash for Flinn and the rest of the designers in the program. Lombardo, W’s global fashion director and host for the evening, was on hand, along with the likes of Waris Ahluwalia and DJ Chelsea Leyland.
“Talent will only get you so far in this industry,” Lombardo told Style.com. “You also need a strong sense of business. We help them with that extra boost,” she explained of the program, which supports emerging designers. This week, they will host presentations for Fashion Next labels Suzanne Rae, Nomia, Haus Alkire, and Rochambeau. Bibhu Mohapatra, also a participant in the program, is set to stage his first runway show next week. “I’m ready to see things come to life,” he said. “We just did the second round of castings and I’m really excited—we have some beautiful girls walking the runway.”
As for post-show plans? The designers agreed market sales are first on the agenda, but that doesn’t mean all work and no play. “I’ll steal away to my little house upstate,” revealed Mohapatra. Meanwhile, Lombardo waxed pragmatic about fashion week’s parade of parties. “Every night we let loose and every morning we go to work,” she deadpanned. “It’s a high-stress, maximum-impact job, but you’ve got to take it with a grain of salt.”
W Hotels’ Fashion Next: Jenne Lombardo
Jenne Lombardo, the director and curator of MAC & Milk, and the founder of The Terminal Presents, has a new title to add to her résumé: W Hotels’ global fashion director. For the past 12 years, W Hotels has dipped its toes in various fashion initiatives, from collaborations with the likes of Simon Doonan, Michael Kors, and Diane von Furstenberg to its own program in support of rising designers, Fashion Next. The trendsetting hotel is now looking to Lombardo to elevate its fashion program to a whole new level.
“I’m walking into an incredible infrastructure,” Lombardo tells Style.com. “At an early stage in their brand, they were able to identify the need for support and funding in music, fashion, art, and design, and it’s continued to evolve with the right players who are really supporting this growth.”
Now, it’s Lombardo’s turn to make some noise. She hasn’t wasted time making moves. Already, she has selected a promising group of six designers for this year’s Fashion Next program, including Juan Carlos Obando, Nomia, Bibhu Mohapatra, Michael Angel, Rochambeau, and Electric Feathers.
“Right now, it’s in the infancy of what we are going to do,” she says of the W fashion program. “The important thing for us is to understand where the designers’ strengths lie and where they need additional support.”
Already, W Hotels is underwriting the entire cost for the designers’ runway shows, providing funding for hair and makeup and free catering. Lombardo also stressed using the hotels’ stores as distribution points and collaborating with the designers to create hotel staff uniforms, as “W Hotels has done in the past.”
W Hotels is leaning on Lombardo expand its global fashion presence, but the former MAC exec says it’s a symbiotic scenario. “A room at the W Hotel Union Square—it’s my ultimate fashion week survival tip,” she admits. “I have three kids, so it’s nice to have somewhere to go that is clean and quiet to go afterwards that doesn’t have peanut butter on it.”