Postcard from Barcelona: Antique Car Show

This little boy was dressed in an outfit reminiscing the early 1900s at the antique car rally from Barcelona to Sitges last Sunday. He was one of many others who dressed in period-appropriate attires for the start of the race.

I will be heading back to NYC today. Regular programming resumes tomorrow.

Don't Let A Broken Foot Cramp Your Style

This guy didn't let a broken foot cramp his style while waiting for someone on the steps in front of Bryant Park. I loved the way he propped his crutches together to make a temporary rest for his foot.

So do you let anything or anyone cramp your style?

New York Fashion Week: The Models

These two photos were taken minutes apart at the Anna Sui fashion show at Bryant Park yesterday evening. Both photos focused on different aspects of the show based on the camera's shutter speed. The top photo was taken at 1/50 second (higher shutter speed), which was perfect for the model who had a spotlight on her but not so great for the front row audience (low light). The bottom photo was taken at 1/30 second (lower shutter speed), which caused the model to look blurry and overexposed but perfect for the front row audience.

So which photo do you prefer? The focus on the model or the audience?

N.B.: I did another double-photo post a couple months ago using different ISO's.

How Cold Was It?

I was at Bryant Park yesterday afternoon because it is New York Fashion Week. I saw this pretty young girl wrapped in layers because of the cold, windy weather. I asked if I may take her photo and she nodded.

So do you usually wear a hat and/or a scarf?

Fashion Shoot in SoHo

I happened on this fashion shoot on Lafayette Street in SoHo recently. The weather was pretty warm but the two male models were dressed in Fall/Autumn weather attires -- leather jackets, long sleeved shirts and jeans. Interestingly enough, they did not sweat at all despite the heat. They posed by the Vespa scooters without moving for the 5 minutes or so that I stood there watching them work.

Notice the guy on the left in his sandals/flip-flops? I wore those last summer and ended up with my foot being cut by a piece of glass on the street. Never again will I wear those things.

So do you wear sandals or flip-flops?

Red Hair Is The New Black

This beautiful lady was handing out free stockings to guests at the New York Fashion Week. When I asked for permission to take her photo, she graciously posed for me. And NO, I didn't get a free pair of stockings.

So do you know anyone with red hair?

The Sartorialist 2008

So guess who I saw at the New York Fashion Week on Sunday afternoon? It was Scott Schuman or The Sartorialist. He was gracious enough to let me take his photo. And he has a really nice camera with him.

So what kind of camera do you have? How long have you had it?

New York Fashion Week vs. Super Bowl

New York Fashion Week is here again. The twice annual event at Bryant Park showcases the latest fashion by over 100 designers for Fall 2008. Here is a photo of the entrance to the show tents.

I apologize for the tardiness of today's post. After spending the afternoon shooting photos outside the tents of New York Fashion Week followed by a Super Bowl party in Brooklyn, I finally got home after midnight. When I tried to post a photo, blogspot was acting up so I gave up and went to bed instead.

So if you had to choice of attending the New York Fashion Week at Bryant Park or the Super Bowl game in Arizona, which would you pick?

Fashion Walk of Fame

Los Angeles may have the Hollywood Walk of Fame but New York City has the Fashion Walk on Fame on 7th Avenue, also known as Fashion Avenue in the Garment District. To be honest, I didn't know about it until I came across this plaque on the street pavement between 38th and 39th Street last weekend.

Speaking of fashion, I just bought two new pairs of stress-free (i.e., wrinkle resistant) and stain-resistant khaki pants on GAP.com. I literally live in them because they require minimal ironing and retain the non-wrinkle look for days afterwards. Also, one day a kid on the bus accidentally spilled half a can of juice on my pants and it wiped off completely without staining or wetting the fabric. Ever since then [2005], I have bought all my khaki pants at GAP. But GAP discontinued the line recently and a salesperson at the store suggested search online. So I did and I found them ON SALE.

So where do you buy most of your clothes?

Disclaimer: I do not work for nor own stocks in GAP or its parent company.

Easter Fashion

In addition to the fancy Easter bonnets, some people were decked out from head to toe in retro fashion. Women wore gloves and carried granny purses. Men wore beautiful fedoras while carrying walking sticks.

This photo above is one of the more colorful costumes at the Easter parade. I especially love the Nana Mouskouri glasses on the lady in purple. My mom wore a pair of those when I was a kid.

Check out The Satorialist by Scott Schuman. He has two beautiful photos of people dressed like Cary Grant and Katharine Hepburn in The Philadelphia Story. I think they look absolutely stunning.

Also, check out Rafe New York by Rafe Totengco. His mother took some spectacular photos from the Easter Bonnet Parade too. He's such a mama's boy!!

New York Fashion Week: The End

New York Fashion Week finally ended yesterday following 10 consecutive days of fashion shows by 77 designers/brands from around the world. Most of the shows took place inside the Bryant Park tents, but smaller showers were held in other showrooms around the city.

For international fashionistas, New York Fashion Week is only the beginning of the Fall 2007 season. Next Monday, London Fashion Week begins (Feb 12-16) and it is followed immediately by Milan Fashion Week (Feb 16-24) and Paris Fashion Week (Feb 25 - Mar 5). I hope our friends in London, Milan and Paris will post at least one photo from the events.

The gentleman in the first photo is Tim Gunn from the Bravo Channel television show, Project Runway, hosted by Heidi Klum. I waited for him to finish a conversation with another fan before asking for permission to take his photo. He was quite popular because after I was done, two more fans wanted to have their photos taken with him.

The gentleman in this second photo is Cresencio from Operations, a two-year old New York based designer label. The photo was taken at the showroom/store in SoHo.

Starting tomorrow, we will go back to normal programming, i.e. no more New York Fashion Week photos.

New York Fashion Week & The Models

Aside from the clothes and celebrities, another popular target of photographers at the New York Fashion Week are the models. However, this year there was a controversy surrounding the weight (or lack there of) of girls walking down the runways after a young Brazilian model died from eating disorder.

Unlike the steps taken by Milan and Madrid recently, where models were weighed in and required to meet a certain BMI (body mass index) criteria, New York City instituted its own non-binding requirements for the models: girls under 16 will not be allowed to walk the runways, and no alcohol or cigarettes are allowed around the models.

According to Diane von Furstenberg, President of Council of Fashion Designers of America, the aim of the program was to bring awareness of eating disorders to the people working in fashion. When asked what she thinks of mandatory weigh in of models, Ms. von Furstenberg said, "Over my dead body!"

The first (blurry) photo above was my only shot of a model walking towards the tents at Bryant Park. The paper bag she was holding is from PAX, a deli around the corner from the park. So is that her lunch??

The second photo was a series of lighted advertisement panels near the subway station in Bryant Park. They were sponsored by the New York Times newspapaer.

So what do you think of this controversy about super skinny girls? Should fashion shows have a minimum weight requirement for the models?

New York Fashion Week & The Tents

The New York Fashion Week has been held at the Bryant Park since 1993 where huge makeshift tents are erected to house three showrooms, cafes and bars, bathrooms, a business center and an exhibition space.

Each showroom has a catwalk/runway with special seatings for guests and a section for the press. The showrooms, called The Tent, The Salon and The Promenade, range in size from about 5,000 sq feet (455 sq meters) to 15,000 sq feet (1,394 sq meters).












The first photo (above) was taken late in the evening. You can see the tents have taken over most of the park. The second photo was taken earlier during the day. The generators (over a dozen of them) pipe heat into the tents because the temperature outside is below freezing.

New York Fashion Week & The Press

Photographers and television crews from around the world are here for the New York Fashion Week. Most of the major news agencies have special access to film and photograph the event from inside the Bryant Park tents where the fashion shows are held.

A few independent television crews and paparazzi who do not have access into the tents (including people like me) are left to wait outside for a chance see celebrities and models arrive and leave the shows.

These photos taken outside the Bryant Park tents show a young lady taping a video segment for her show (first photo) and a group of paparazzi (second photo) eagerly waiting for some celebrities to come out of the tents.

Although I was not able to get inside the tents this year, I did go to a couple of shows (Luca Luca, Lacoste) two years ago with my neighbor who works in the fashion industry. I have since moved to a new apartment and she is no longer my neighbor.

If you are interested to see some of the photographs from the fashion shows, click here.

New York Fashion Week & The Crowd

According the the Mayor's Office, the biannual New York Fashion Week generates 150,000 jobs for more than 15,400 businesses in the city, especially those involved in the hospitality, garment, transportation, entertainment, and service industries. The economic impact of the fashion shows alone is estimated to be around $177 million annually. That does not include the additional millions of dollars generated from wholesale apparel merchandising that takes place after the shows are over.

These photos examplify the fashionable crowd that congregate outside of the Bryant Park tents before and after the fashion shows. Only invited guests and fashion industry people are allowed inside the tents. The rest of us, mere mortals, have to wait outside to see what everyone is wearing.

New York Fashion Week & The Sartorialist

New York Fashion Week, the biannual spectacle of expensive clothes and beautiful people, descended on Bryant Park this past weekend. For the next 10 days or so, every local and foreign newspapers and television shows will be reporting on who and what is being sent down the runways. This event is a huge contributer to the city's economy, as well as a major tourism advertisement for the city.

So this week, I will be bringing you photographs from the New York Fashion Week.

The gentleman in this photo is Scott Schuman, the professional photographer/blogger who writes The Sartorialist. He is also a regular contributer for GQ magazine and Style.com. The brilliance and originality of Mr. Schuman work is that he photographs regular people (well, okay...beautiful people) on the street who examplify fashion and style around the world.

I was standing outside the Bryant Park tents, where the fashion shows are being held, when I spotted Mr. Schuman walking up the street . I snapped this paparazzi-style photo before running up to say "HI!! I'm your biggest fan!" I asked and he consented to a couple more photographs but none of them turned out as well as this first shot. He is definitely a snazzy dresser.

So what is the most expensive piece of garment you ever bought for yourself?

Men's Bags

Lately, I have been following The Sartorialist, a daily photo blog by fashion photographer, Scott Schuman. The photos on his blog are absolutely amazing. So as an ode to Mr. Schuman and The Sartorialist, I decided to post a photo on men's fashion today.

Men in New York City carry bags!! Oh yes, we do. We carry all kinds of bags -- computer bags, messenger bags, gym bags, backpacks, briefcases, European carry-alls (as Seinfeld called it), etc. We carry bags because we have to tote everything we need for the day when we leave the apartment. And since most of us commute on buses and trains, we do not have the luxury of temporary storage in the trunk of a car.

The type of bag a New Yorker carries largely depends on his fashion aesthetic. The hip and fashionable yuppie may prefer a Jack Spade messenger bag. while the conservative business executive may carry a Tumi computer case. The college student usually carries a backpack and the retiree, a PBS logo canvas bag. It is as much a statement about your personal style as it is what you need to carry in it.

So what kind of bag do you guys carry?

Prada

This is a window display from the Prada store in SoHo. I was immediately drawn to it because of the explosion of colors, which is not something we see a lot of in NYC, especially during the winter months. Most New Yorkers prefer to wear warmer colors like greys, browns and blacks. Also, Muccia Prada is not always known for her use of bright colors like these.

The store in SoHo, which opened in 2001, was one of a number of Prada stores around the world designed by Dutch architect, Rem Koolhaas. The concept for this store was highly experimental at the time it opened. It was intended to be a showcase for clothes and accessories during the day and then easily converted into an exhibition/gallery space for social events in the evening. The store was partially destroyed by a fire earlier this year but has since been renovated and opened for business.

UNIQLO

This advertisement was on a temporary wall surrounding a construction site in Chinatown. The ad is for UNIQLO (pronounced you-KNEE-coo-lo), a Japanese brand of medium priced clothes that just opened its first NYC store in SoHo. It is supposedly the largest UNIQLO outlet in the world, with over 35,000 sq ft of retail space and serves as the brand's global flagship store.

The store was designed by well known interior designer, Masamichi Katayama and boasts a 5-storey high display case filled with unique t-shirts created by artists from Japan specifically for the store opening.

The advertisement depicts cashmere sweaters and wraps that retail for $89.95 and $59.95 respectively. I'm thinking of getting the sweater in brown (on the zebra) or dark blue (on the right pengium). Or if I'm really lucky, I may find one under the Christmas tree this year. *wink* *wink* I've been a good boy this year; really I have!!