NYFW: Tadashi Shoji, Costello Tagliapietra + Rebecca Minkoff SS2013

Pictured: A Tadashi Shoji elegant  fitted black lace gown (photo: M. Hall via livestream)

Almost two full days into New York Fashion Week Spring 2013 and  I’m back on the crack cocaine of drinking Diet Mountain Dew and several Starbucks coffees a day just to try to keep up.  It’s ridiculously hot and humid on the east coast with rain and thunderstorms now bearing down on New York City.  For bloggers & fashionistas ( like myself) there’s so much ground to cover it’s hard to keep up.  Here’s a little round-up of what I’ve seen so far that I am loving. For each show, I’m linking to the replay where available so that my readers can see what I’m taking about and enjoy the fashions.

Pictured: One of Tadashi Shoji’s blue drop waist dresses for Spring 2013  Photo by Mike Coppola/Getty Images for Mercedes-Benz)

Tadashi Shoji:  This Los Angeles based designer achieved significant media attention this year for dressing Octavia Spencer beautifully for her red carpet and Oscar appearances.  For Spring 2013 the designer’s collection is heavy on lace, silk and tulle.   The theme was East meets West, and that seems to sum up the designer’s perspective on fashion, not just Spring 2013. For Spring 2013, the Mr. Shoji showed his usual beautiful gowns, but there were also 1960s looking baby doll dresses & dresses with Peter Pan collars that reminded me of Mia Farrow in Rosemary’s Baby.  There was even a black diaphanous pantsuit like the one Barbara Streisand wore when she won the Oscar back in 1968 for Funny Girl. Bottom line for Tadashi Shoji, Spring 2013 is all about lace dresses and vintage styles. There were a lot of midnight blue and light blue dresses along with the long elegant gowns.  This is not an edgy fashion forward collection, but it’s infinitely wearable and will be commercially successful.

Pictured: Costello Tagliapietra blue dress with keyhole top and ruching at waist

Costello Tagliapietra: How do two guys in flannel shirts and suspenders come up with the most amazing dresses for special occasions, cocktails and sometimes even work?  You can’t tell by looking at them, but these two grown up Teddy Bears are fashion magic. Their Spring/Summer 2013 collection is full of  beautiful prints with hardly a mini-skirt in sight.   These dresses are clearly targeted for the working woman, with longer hemlines and some fantastic maxi dresses.

Pictured:  Costello Tagliapietra mixed floral print dress with ruching.

I bought most of the Costello Tagliapietra dresses for UNIQLO and their Spring 2013 show bore the same trademark touches:, faux wrap dresses with tie and bow tie belts,  dresses with plenty of shirring & ruching around the bodice and waist, plus almost regal looking draping at the shoulders. Unlike my impression of Clint Eastwood at the RNC, when I saw 12 minutes of Costello and Tagliapetra, I just wanted to scream, “Give me MORE!” UNIQLO, please call these amazing designers for another affordable capsule collection.  We need more of these amazing designers!

Pictured: A dress from the Rebecca Minkoff SS2013 collection(photo: M. Hall via livestream

Rebecca Minkoff: This collection ran the gamut from whimiscal 60’s flower power, hot looking min-dresses and an um, interesting (wink) floral shirt paired with a white jumper.   The collection was a bit uneven in my opinion, but when it was good, it was really good.  There were some beautiful blue prints on bright summer white jackets, pants and dresses. And oh those handbags. I want them all. Of course, that’s how Ms. Minkoff started in the fashion world, so it’s expected that her bags will be fabulous.   Almost as impressive as Ms. Minkoff’s handbag designs is her team’s use of social media to engage with bloggers, consumers and the trade press.  Her show was live streamed with it’s own hashtag #RMFashion show with aggregated tweets running along side the show live stream.