Fashion News: Betsey Johnson Given Lifetime Award

By Liz Donovan

Tastefully outlandish designer Betsey Johnson was awarded the 2009 Medal of Honor for Lifetime Achievement in Fashion by the National Arts Club in Manhattan. The award was given at a black-tie presentation last month, which drew a large crowd of fashion editors and insiders, and even Betsey’s childhood dance instructor (possibly the same woman who taught the 67-year-old designer how to nail that famous runway cartwheel). “I’m so excited, honored, and thrilled,” said Betsey. “It doesn’t get any better than this.” Congratulations, Betsey!

Photo:
Associate editor Liz Donovan with designer Betsey Johnson. Dress by Mill Crest Vintage in Lambertville.

How to be Fabulous

By Brianne Harrison

Those who weren’t able to get into the tents at Bryant Park can take heart: Downtown Millburn is hosting its own fashion week, and kicking it off with a fashion show at the Chanticleer this Thursday.

Featured in the show will be the latest styles from many of Millburn’s top fashion stops. Tickets run $60 each and include the show and a sit-down dinner. Proceeds from the event will be donated to three local charities: the American Red Cross, The Education Foundation of Millburn-Short Hills, and the First Aid Squad. For more information, call 973.379.2341.

For those who can’t make the show, fashion week will run October 30 through November 5. Participating Millburn retailers will offer special in-store events and promotions.

If you love both animals and fashion, you’re in luck! Devon Fine Jewelry is hosting their Jewelry Sale & Showcase to Benefit Pets October 29-31. Browse the selection of charms that can be custom-colored to match your pet’s markings and enter your pet in a photo gallery for a chance to win a $100 gift certificate. Ten percent of the revenue from the event will be donated to the Ramapo-Bergen Animal Refuge.

Chic Crowds, Stiletto Blisters, and Anna Wintour at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week

Photo by Peter Stigter and

Jonas Gustavsson for The Times

By Liz Donovan

Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, in all its glory, is admittedly a little intimidating. The crowd at Bryant Park is tough to please, which I learned the hard way during my first venture into the tents last fall. (One comment from a fellow attendee I tried to introduce myself to: “I didn’t know there was a life in New Jersey.”) But for the Spring/Summer presentations, September 10 to 17, I arrived in Manhattan confidently prepared to shine — and snub, if necessary. I managed to pull together a chic outfit, which required me to ditch my glasses so to not compete with my hair accessories. Vision-impairment aside, I fell into the herd, strutting from Promenade to Salon to the main Tent, taking in the newest and hottest designs set to hit stores and fashion rags over the next season. Here are some highlights from the week:

• On Thursday, September 10, Tory Burch made her debut in the tents. Burch opted for a presentation instead of a runway show — a packed house of attendees circled around the runway, where models posed clad in the designer’s newest looks.
• Shopaholics and fashionistas alike hit the streets on Thursday, September 10, for Fashion’s Night Out, sponsored by Vogue. Shops across the city offered cocktails and entertainment, among other perks, to encourage shopping and boost the city’s economy.
• NJL spotted a fierce-looking Anna Wintour leaving the Michael Kors presentation on Wednesday, September 16.
• Steven Cox and Daniel Silver, co-designers of menswear line Duckie Brown, teamed with event sponsor McCafe to launch a limited-edition glove line that will benefit the Ronald McDonald House Charities. Actress and philanthropist Holly Robinson Peete was a guest speaker at the unveiling on September 10 in the Bryant Park McCafe booth. To purchase the gloves for a suggested donation of $50, send a Twitter message at twitter.com/
  mccafeyourday.
• Funktastic designer Betsey Johnson made an appearance at the Sharpie booth Monday, September 14 to design a one-of-a-kind tee-shirt that will be auctioned off to benefit cancer research center City of Hope. Fashion week attendees were given exclusive Sharpie tee-shirts, also designed by Betsey, and were invited to create their own designs by stenciling and doodling on bracelets, headbands, ties, and clutches.

By the end of the week, I had gained one traffic ticket, countless stiletto-induced blisters, and tons of material for New Jersey Life’s fashion pages. Stay tuned for the latest trends and looks you’ll love.

What Were They Thinking?

By Brianne Harrison

We’ve all been there: seen someone walking down the street, in a movie, or--dare we admit it?—looked at old pictures of ourselves and cringed, wondering what on earth made that outfit seem appealing at the time. When it comes to fashions of the past, that reaction becomes very common indeed. What made the giant shoulderpads of the 1980’s or the torturously corseted bodies of the 19^th and early 20^th centuries seem like a good idea?

That’s the question “What Were They Thinking? 160 Years of Bad Taste” sets out to explore. The show, currently on at the Carriage House Gallery at the Emlen Physick Estate in Cape May, leaps nimbly through fashion history, touching on the hoopskirts of the mid-19^th century to the crinolines and beehives of the 50’s to 90’s bling and millennial pocket dogs. See how fashion evolved with the times, becoming looser or more rigid as society dictated.

If you’re in the mood for more history after seeing this exhibit, stop by “HERstory”, a new tour at the estate that explores the changing roles of women in the Victorian era, a time when, even though a woman ruled the largest and most powerful empire in the world, her contemporaries were told to stay in their parlors and be pretty and quiet. Not all of them were content with that. Learn about both the ideal Victorian ladies and the tough women who fought against their traditional roles and created the first Women’s Movement.