Peter Do’s debut show as creative director of Helmut Lang will formally kick off the American Collections on Friday, September 8, and Raul Lopez, the 2022 CFDA Fashion Awards winner for Accessories Designer of the Year, will close the week with the LUAR show on the evening of Wednesday, September 13, 2023.
The preliminary schedule features more than 71 confirmed designers, with additional collections being presented digitally and by appointment.
Returning brands include Altuzarra, Anna Sui, Area, Brandon Maxwell, Carolina Herrera, ChristianSiriano, Collina Strada, COS, Dion Lee, Eckhaus Latta, Elena Velez, Gabriela Hearst, Jason Wu, Khaite, LaQuan Smith, Michael Kors, Palomo Spain, Prabal Gurung, Proenza Schouler, Puppets & Puppets, Sergio Hudson, Theory, Tibi, Tory Burch, Ulla Johnson and Willy Chavarria.
Ralph Lauren makes his comeback to the New York runway. Jonathan Cohen and 3.1 Phillip Lim also return to the week.
First-time additions to the schedule include Advisry, Chan Chit Lo, FFORME, Grace Ling and Sho Konishi.
This year’s CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalists Colin LoCascio, Diotima, Kim Shui, Kozaburo, Melitta Baumeister, Sami Miró Vintage, Tanner Fletcher, Who Decides War and Zankov also join the week with collection showcases.
“New York Fashion Week is an integral part of New York City’s vibrant culture and sense of constant evolution and discovery,” said CFDA CEO Steven Kolb. “This season’s official New York Fashion Week schedule plays to this sentiment and will once again showcase the best of American fashion, both emerging and established. We’re excited to see the return of Ralph Lauren, Jonathan Cohen and 3.1 Phillip Lim to the New York runway, adding to the week’s energy.”
Spring Studios will continue to be the central hub for IMG’s NYFW: The Shows. The preliminary Official NYFW Schedule is in partnership with IMG’s NYFW: The Shows.
The shows and presentations will continue to be presented via Runway360, CFDA’s centralized digital hub and business tool to support American fashion brands’ collection releases year-round.
It’s a Barbie world, and Nicole Houff is living in it.
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StarTrib:The Minneapolis-based artist has made a specialty of posing dolls — Mattel’s most famous, to be exact — and photographing them around the state, in miniature midcentury modern sets and sometimes cheeky positions. (Picture a naked Ken doll with a strategically placed surfboard, or a holiday scene with Barbie posed on a couch with a martini in hand and nearby Ken tied up in Christmas lights.) She has even crafted a First Avenue Barbie and a State Fair Barbie.
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Renée Jones Schneider, Star Tribune
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Nicole Houff creates painstakingly detailed Barbie-sized scenes and photographs them, creating fun and retro-inspired photos that she then sells at art fairs. She was photographed in her studio in Minneapolis.
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Houff scours Etsy and eBay for the outfits, furnishings and accessories for the more than 100 Barbie dolls she owns. And then she builds a theme, creates a backdrop and positions them ever-so-delicately in her home studio.
We talked with Houff about her photographic homage to Barbie, Barbie’s big moment and why she’s not a diehard collector.
Q: Describe your art.
A: I do fine art photographs featuring Barbie and Ken dolls. In a nutshell, that’s what I do. I’ll have a general concept for a scene or a theme. Then, in my Minneapolis studio, what I do is I’ll pull together the doll accessories, anything that I need for the shoot, and I set them up, and then I design lighting around it.
Q: How long have you been doing this? A: Sixteen years.
Q: So, why Barbie? A: I think Barbie’s journey from 1959 to where she is now is incredibly fascinating. Not many toys are relevant 65 years later.
Q: How do you find the pieces to make these elaborate scenes? A: That’s really the most fun part. I have about 100 dolls, but finding all the little accessories and all the little details is like an adventure leading up to the actual shoot. I can use eBay and Etsy and Facebook Marketplace, anything like that. Even from Mattel, some of the stuff I use is directly from them, but way more stuff is made through a third party.
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Renée Jones Schneider, Star Tribune
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Nicole Houff creates painstakingly detailed Barbie-sized scenes and photographs them, creating fun and retro-inspired photos that she then sells at art fairs. She stores her dolls in an old card cabinet in her studio.
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Q: Are all of the accessories you have official Barbie accessories? A: There’s more than just Barbie stuff, because it’s the size that matters. There’s dollhouse scale, model train scale, and Barbie scale, a 1:6 scale. I can do searches for the right-sized items. Especially nowadays with 3-D printers, people make accessories that you wouldn’t have been able to find a few years ago, so the sky’s the limit.
Q: Are all of your dolls Barbie dolls? A: They’re all Barbie. I use a lot of reproduction dolls or vintage-inspired dolls because I like referencing the aesthetic from the 1950s and ’60s. I do have one doll made by Mattel that’s actually a Julie doll. She has the same face as one of the Kristy dolls, which is one of Barbie’s friends. That’s just me being a little overshare-y now.
Q: Please, overshare! Are you a Barbie collector on top of a Barbie photographer?
A: I get asked that all the time. I manhandle the dolls, I don’t have dolls that are still in the box and I use a lot of reproduction dolls. So, I wouldn’t be considered a classic collector, but I still do collect the dolls. I have around 100 Barbies and Kens in total, and some of them would be considered solid collector dolls, even if they’re out of the box.
Q: What is it like for a Barbie lover to see people go crazy over Barbie again? A: I do art fairs, and I’ve done them for around a dozen years. It’s one of my favorite ways to interact with people because people don’t tend to have filters at an art fair. You get to see some real emotions, expressions and reactions.
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Over the years, it’s been fun when people see my art and it spurs a lot of questions and excitement. This summer has been next level because Barbie is so in the ether and on top of the public consciousness. The movie has generated this newfound audience for me, which has been incredibly exciting.
Q: How did you make my favorites, Grain Belt Barbie and State Fair Barbie? A: What I do is I go to the location first, and I get the photo. Then I print it on a matte, non-reflective paper and hang it like a backdrop in the studio and set up the dolls so they look people-sized. Of course, it gives me a reason to go out and have some fun in our city.
Q: How do you get Barbie to do things like hold a drink?
A: There’s a lot of trickery, if you will. I can suspend things with a little bit of wire, because Barbie hands aren’t that functional. I get these little clear glue dots that crafters use. They’re very easy to hide. I don’t add things digitally to my photographs.
Q: What do you hope to see in the Barbie movie? A: It’s obviously well put together, very thoughtful, and the aesthetic is very over-the-top. I mean just the extra, extra, extra pink. I don’t do a ton of really pink pieces, but I’ve noticed this summer people are really gravitating to more of my pieces that have pink in them. I’m looking forward to seeing the movie to see if I’m inspired. I’m definitely going to make some new work on top of the pieces I already have.
Teen fashionista Ava Motl stands for a portrait wearing her duct tape prom dress inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s Starry Night Saturday, July 1st, 2023.
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What can you do with 23 rolls of duct tape and 227 hours?
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A 17-year-old from Robbinsdale, Ava Motl, managed to create a prom dress. That dress has made her one of 10 finalists in a national contest to win a $10,000 scholarship.
Since age 8, Motl has been fascinated by fashion design, especially dresses. Inspired by Van Gogh’s post-impressionism masterpiece “The Starry Night,” Motl crafted a yellow and blue dress with rich, oil-painting-like textures by layering — and then painting — strips of tapes.
She also used duct tape to transform a pair of sloping heels and made a handbag-style accessory to add the finishing touch to her ensemble.
In her submission for the Stuck for Prom Scholarship Contest, Motl said painting has always been a way to calm the anxiety in her life “and hopefully, I inspired some of you to use art as an outlet for some of your personal struggles or emotions,” she wrote.
You can check out Motl’s design as well as those of the other contestants and vote for your favorite. Vote early and often (you can cast one vote per day): The deadline for voting was July 12th. Winners will be announced around July 19th.
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‘Congratulations to our grand prize winners who will each be awarded $10,000! See the full list of winners and runners-up here.’
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AARON LAVINSKY, STAR TRIBUNE
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Ava Motl assembles a dress in her kitchen that she’s producing for her portfolio Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Robbinsdale, Minn.
RF29: What’s new in hair color right now? We’re so glad you asked. There’s a whole spectrum of shade options, which is both exciting and overwhelming when you’re planning your next appointment. To help, we asked some of our favorite colorists to break down the exact tones and styles they’re excited about for summer — like a surprisingly low-maintenance platinum-adjacent blonde, or a tone of gold that reads as almost pearlescent.
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Whether you’re heading in for a bi-annual refresh on your summer highlights or looking for something completely fresh to go along with a new short haircut, we’ve got your inspiration ahead.
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“Raw” Blonde
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When asked about her favorite color trend of summer, colorist Alex Brownsell immediately mentioned her recent client, model Iris Law. “I love Iris Law’s bleached hair,” says Brownsell. “This blonde is ultra-pale, but not quite as cool-toned as pure platinum. I’d call [it] a ‘raw blonde’ as the bleach is left untoned, keeping the color super bright and fun for summer. “
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Here’s how to ask for it: According to Brownsell, you want to ask your colorist to lift the hair with bleach, but skip the toner. “No toner — instead, Silver Conditioner was used to remove some of the yellow tones,” Brownsell explains of Law’s color. “The whole process takes about an hour to apply and then the bleach is left on for 45-60 minutes, depending on the depth of the natural hair. After this is all washed and shampooed, the silver conditioner stays on for five minutes, which helps neutralize any warmth but not overtone the hair.”
For maintenance, you’ll want to refresh your roots every six weeks, either at home with a bleach kit or (ideally) at the salon. Between touch-ups, you can alternate Bleach London Silver Conditioner with a bonding shampoo and conditioner to keep your color looking fresh and your strands healthy.
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Midsummer Brunette
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Richy Kandasamy, a colorist for R+Co, says that a shiny, dimensional brunette is designed for a natural summer growout. “The midsummer brunette is an amalgamation of rich deep brunette hues with light mid-summer reflects for dimension,” he explains. It’s a “natural” and “minimalist” color trend, as compared to your dramatic bleach blondes.
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Here’s how to ask for it: You should bring photo references to your appointment. But beyond that, the word you want to use when describing this kind of color is “seamless.” As for what to expect with the appointment: “It will take an hour and a half to two hours,” Kandasamy explains. “The technique is a classic seamless highlight.”
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Strawberry Red
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When thinking of red color, the undertones are especially important, as that’s what differentiates strawberry (a gilded red-orange) from copper (a darker, true red). Moroccanoil’s Color Ambassador Matt Rez explains the exact tone to aim for right now as “a copper red base color with super-fine strawberry blonde babylights.” He explains, “Having the orange undertone to red hair color gives it the most natural result. I stay away from purple or blue tones when it comes to redheads.”
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Here’s how to ask for it: Ask for highlights and midlights to be woven simultaneously, Rez explains (midlighting is a technique that blends the root color to the ends). “This is the only way to get the perfect natural results in most hair colors,” Rez says.
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All colors fade with washes over time — but red in particularly is notorious for its quick fade. “To keep your color vibrant and shiny between salon visits, I suggest using Moroccanoil’s High Shine Gloss – Color Depositing Mask in Clear,” Rez says. “[It] gives the benefits of an at-home deep conditioning treatment with a professional-strength gloss service.”
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“Oysterette” Gold
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Kandasamy calls blonde with reflective gold undertones an “oysterette” shade, and he’s loving it for summer. “It’s a clean, rich blonde,” he explains, “not warm or cool, but balanced.” This example on model Kae, a client at Bleach London, shows an oysterette blonde with a warmer base that gives it the illusion of a “golden hour” glow.
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Here’s how to ask for it: This is a single-process blonde that will require bleach and toning. However, the key is to bring reference photos of someone that looks to have a hair color and texture similar to yours. That way, your colorist will be better able to achieve the tone of blonde that has the reflective quality by going a touch warmer or cooler, depending on your base tone. For maintenance, Kandasamy recommends a purple shampoo and color-protective hair mask.
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Caramel Glow
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Maryann Hennings, a film and TV hairdresser who most recently worked as the lead stylist on Daisy Jones & The Six, tells us that well-placed highlights can make fine or thin hair appear fuller. If your base tone is brown, you’ll want to ask for a “dimensional” brunette. “Highlights give hair texture, which is great,” says Hennings. Colorist Justin Anderson agrees: “I love a color you can live in, and it still looks expensive weeks after the salon,” he says. “I’ve noticed a big trend with variations of chocolate and caramel hues to add a bit of depth in a very natural yet noticeable way.”
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Here’s how to ask for it: You’re looking for a colorist who specializes in fine, hand-painted highlights — and your job is to come prepared with plenty of visuals. “The number one thing you should do is bring in lots of example photos to your colorist,” says Anderson. “This will better explain your vision so your colorists can bring it to life.” One of our favorite examples, shown above, comes from Carla Lorenz, a NYC-based colorist at Jenna Perry Hair Studio.
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Natural Chocolate
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A bit of an anti-color color trend, “natural chocolate” conveys a minimalist vibe and can help get previously color-treated hair back to a baseline tone. Here, NYC-based colorist Angela Soto shows her client, photographer Stephanie Mei-Ling, after receiving “natural chocolate” color and a keratin treatment. Soto’s technique is adding hand-painted highlights for sun-kissed dimension that reads as natural.
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Here’s how to ask for it: How you approach this trend will depend on what state your hair is in currently. If your hair is already a shade of brown naturally, this might be as simple as a hair gloss. Colorist Rita Hazan says that the tone should be one shade lighter or darker than your natural base shade — she prefers darker for the added shine. On the other hand, if your hair is in need of a color correction, it might require a single process, a cut, and a bit of highlighting.
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Earthy Blonde
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We don’t often see a bleached tone described as “earthy.” However, this blonde shade on Moses Sumney feels grounded because there’s a bit of warmth that keeps the platinum tone from turning icy. It’s similar to the aforementioned oysterette gold, but more beige-yellow in tone.
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Here’s how to ask for it: Ask for a shade of beige blonde that’s not over-lifted or too pale and incorporates a balance of golden and purple tones while keeping some of the natural warmth in your hair, recommends Cherise Wilson, a colorist at Marie Robinson Salon. The key word is “neutral,” so that you don’t lean too warm or too cool.
Coalesce Collective, an Asian American Pacific Islander-centered fashion production, will co-produce the inaugural Asian New York Fashion Week this fall.
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MSPMAG: After three Fashion Week MN shows, AAPI-centered production Coalesce Collective will relocate its runway to New York City in the fall. The production, which made its debut less than two years ago, is migrating east to co-produce and participate in Asian New York Fashion Week’s (NYFW) inaugural show from September 8 to 9 in Chinatown.
Coalesce will bring a cohort of seven Minnesotan, AAPI designers of diverse backgrounds, including Hmong, Vietnamese, Cambodian, and Taiwanese, whose designs will hit the runway on the 9th. Additionally, Coalesce will bring along other creatives—models, hair and makeup artists, and producers. This opportunity, says producer Mao Xiong, will extend beyond the designers to showcase other AAPI talent from Minnesota.
“We’re going to be able to bring a pretty large group of Minnesotan creatives with us to New York Fashion Week to do this show and we’re just super excited for the opportunity,” she says.
The Asian NYFW will feature at least 12 AAPI communities from around the globe. There have been some AAPI-centered fashion shows in New York City, but none at this scale, says Xiong.
Not only will this NYC production take the place of a fall Fashion Week MN show, but it signals Coalesce’s leave of the organization entirely. The intent behind it is so Coalesce’s identity remains distinct from Fashion Week MN’s, she says.
“After our second show, we really talked a lot about where we wanted to see Coalesce go. The main thing with Coalesce is that we always wanted to continue to connect with more AAPI creatives,” Xiong says. “We’ve invited designers outside of the Twin Cities to be a part of our productions and that has been such a positive influence and experience for our team.”
The opportunity came about through Coalesce’s application in May to the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA). The not-for-profit organization, which is dedicated to amplifying American fashion, connected Coalesce to Asian NYFW.
Currently, Coalesce’s next steps are finalizing models, team members, and fundraising, says Xiong, “It’s been kind of like a whirlwind since we found out about it. We’re just pinching ourselves every single day, ‘Like, is this real?’”
She adds: “When I sit down and think about it, I get a little emotional. Our team has created this family, where everybody’s so supportive of each other. When I think, ‘Oh wow, we’re going to New York Fashion Week and we get to be a part of this huge AAPI show that’s going to show so many different types of AAPI communities,’ it’s just overwhelming in a very positive and emotional way.”
AARON LAVINSKY, STAR TRIBUNE
