Goons and Graces

This is one of those days when I witness the best and worst of the fashion industry. The worst revealed itself at the Christian Dior show this afternoon, in the form of a large burly man in a suit who could best be described as a goon. He was serving as some sort of security guard for the editor of Vogue. Now I've got no issue with folks who require security, want security or have been given security. I do have an issue when those security guards behave like goons and quite literally shove people -- me -- out of the way.

I tend to try to make the speediest of exits from fashion shows and so found myself actually ahead of the man who henceforth will be referred to as "the goon." Pretty quickly, I felt a giant bear paw on my back pushing me out of the way, even though I was moving pretty darn briskly toward the exit. I am not one to dawdle. What gives with the obnoxiousness?

I have this nasty habit of thinking rather highly of myself and just hate it when people push me out of the way for no good reason. I've witnessed a lot of security for all sorts of folks. And I have seen guards make way without making jerks of themselves. Somebody needs to go back to hired-muscle school.

Later in the day, after escaping a mammoth traffic jam (Parisians apparently have never heard the phrase "Don't block the box"), I arrived at the Undercover presentation. The designer Jun Takahashi decided not to have a show -- instead showing his collection, inspired by the mythological Graces, on mannequins and in photographs. Takahashi conceived the photography and it was executed by Katsuhide Morimoto.

The collection was a series of fragile and beautiful dresses in layers of white gauze, silk and cotton. Sometimes they were covered in delicate eyelash fringe. There were trousers that gathered at the ankle; dresses with delicate rows of ruffles at the neckline and satin tops embroidered with bits of poetry.

The best way to describe the collection was soothing. The clothes come in other colors, but I enjoyed the all-white presentation. It came across like a soothing balm in troubled times. The clothes had real character to them without being abrasive or projecting a cynical sensibility. It was a lovely pause in the late afternoon.

And then I went and waited an hour and 15 minutes for the Maison Martin Margiela show to begin, thus killing my warm fuzzy glow.

Deal of the Day-Shop Intuition

Wear your art on your sleeve (or at least your torso) with this Crew Neck Dress from Shop Intuition.

Layer it over tights and a motorcycle jacket or under a belted cardigan for a punch of color all season long.

It's only $71.99 down from $145.

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Making Room for Lenny Kravitz

I arrived in Paris Saturday afternoon after throwing a hissy fit at the Air France counter in Milan. I've said it before and I'll say it again: I hate Air France. First, the guy at the counter told me that my single bag weighed too much and I had to remove two kilos before he could check it in. After I did that, he then told me the big bag was 15 kilos over weight and thus I had to pay 12 euros per kilo. I won't do the math here, but let's just say that I could have bought the bag the economy seat next to me and it could have flown in the cabin. Honestly, just charge more for the ticket and stop nickel and diming people all along the way.

Oh, but the sun was shining in Paris on Saturday. So I checked into my little hotel, unpacked and did a smidge of shopping. Uh, huh. I went to the Dries Van Noten store and it was bustling. And I say: Good for the designer. He's been getting lots of press lately. There was a piece featuring him in the Wall Street Journal over the weekend, for instance. And I'd already written my Dries story a while back. His show is Wednesday and one of the sales representatives noted that it was a "different" kind of collection. I'm not sure what that means. Perhaps, bye-bye florals?

Saturday evening there was a cocktail party celebrating Suzy Menkes' 20th anniversary at the International Herald Tribune. The veteran fashion editor's work was the subject of an exhibition and an impressive cadre of designers was on hand to congratulate her. Several, such as Domenico Dolce and Donatella Versace had flown in from Milan. That's clout.

There was video tribute in which various designers shared a few memories of Suzy. Olivier Theyskens of Nina Ricci had the crowd laughing because he'd taken a hank of his long black hair and rolled it up in a pseudo pompadour to match Suzy's signature hairdo. Alber Elbaz of Lanvin was also very funny saying that rain, sleet or snow, Suzy is always at the show: "Always complaining, but always there." Very funny and very true.

It was nice to see Suzy's grandchildren sharing in the festivities. Of course, they are off the charts cute and very fashionably dressed. I was enjoying my glamorous evening out in my sparkly top and peau de soie slingbacks when it soon became clear that I was not going to find a cab back to the hotel. So I took to the Metro, thinking to myself: Where, oh where are my Conde Nast car buddies? Ha!

Sunday afternoon found me sitting next to Lenny Kravitz at the Rick Owens show. Lenny was very tardy for the show, arriving with his daughter at about 5:40 for a 5 p.m. show. So all the seats were filled. A publicist came over to our area and asked if we could scoot together to make room. Before most of us had a chance to mull the question, the woman next to me piped up with "Ab-so-lutely!!!!" The sad thing is that she had to move to the other side of the runway where she could only view Lenny from afar. He arrived and chatted up my seat mate Michael Roberts from Vanity Fair. He introduced himself to me like a good gentleman and then snuggled in with his big ol' fur vest spilling over into my lap. I'd like to point out that it was about 70 degrees outside. But he's a rock star. I guess he's naturally cool.

Deal of the Day-Samantha Pleet

Samantha Pleet's frocks are always girly but never too sweet. And this Lovely Dress by the petite designer (who also has a line for Urban Outfitters dropping in October) is a great piece to have for fall.

Work the rust hued number under a blazer and some tights. It's $250 down from $495 at Honey in the Rough via refinery29.com.

Deal of the Day-Samantha Pleet

Samantha Pleet's frocks are always girly but never too sweet. And this Lovely Dress by the petite designer (who also has a line for Urban Outfitters dropping in October) is a great piece to have for fall.

Work the rust hued number under a blazer and some tights. It's $250 down from $495 at Honey in the Rough via refinery29.com.

No Versace Ticket, No Dolce & Gabbana Beefcake

It wouldn't be fashion season in Europe if I didn't spend at least one afternoon in a mental muddle. Today, the last day of the Milan shows, was that day. I threw my Versace invitation in the trash. This was not a commentary on the show. It happened during a frenzy of handbag organization when I began tossing out pretty much everything in sight except my wallet and my umbrella.

I discovered my lack of an invitation as I was walking up to the entrance of the show. Luckily, the nice PR person from the New York office smiled in empathy, cleared a path and pointed me towards the bar. Yes, virtually every show in Milan offers some sort of libation or nibble. New York likes to leave goodie bags on the seats at shows. They're typically filled with giveaways from whatever company is sponsoring the show. If I took home every goodie-filled sack, I'd have a year's supply of Redken shampoo in my closet. In Paris, where I'll arrive on Saturday, few shows offer anything additional other than attitude.

One of the tragedies of the jam-packed Milan schedule is that I have so little time to visit showrooms and small presentations where designers present their work on mannequins or in other intersting displays. I did manage to get to the Roberta di Camerino presentation of handbags. The company was founded some 50 years ago and has been relaunched under new ownership. Founder Giuliana Coen was on hand and talked about how she created her first bags, which introduced such ideas as trompe l'oeil.

The frame bags are made from fabrics such as velvet, but also exotic skins like crocodile. The velvet ones are particularly lightweight. One of the bags, called the Bagonghi, was carried by Grace Kelly. Next to Audrey Hepburn, I'd say that is the ultimate celebrity fashion endorsement.

The bags are pricey, 'natch. They run in the $1,000 vicinity and higher.

While we were there, we chatted with the fashion director of Bloomingdale's who was REALLY excited about the bags and pretty much told Giuliana: We want to buy these! I was thinking the same thing.

This afternoon, I went to the Dolce & Gabbana show where I was treated to an unobstructed view of celebrity row. Among the famous: Jennifer Lopez, Marc Anthony, Matthew McConaughey, Dita Von Teese and a very tall brunette who was wearing the sparkly high-heeled brogues from the fall collection, which I happen to know cost more than 2,100 euro. That's like $3,000, people. For a pair of shoes!

The ladies all posed on the runway for the photographers. The men went directly to their seats. Frankly, I'd rather have gotten a good full length view of McConaughey rather than J-Lo, but the photographers are mostly men. So there you go. Robbed of the beefcake.

Starving for a Handbag at Tod’s

What a strange evening I had at the Tod's party. The event was organized to celebrate the debut of a film/commercial for the company's "Pashmy" handbag, which looks something like a nylon bowling bag. The commercial was filmed by Dennis Hopper and star actress Gwyneth Paltrow, who also attended the dinner in all of her tall, slim, blonde glory.

The strangeness began when I arrived at the 8:30 dinner sometime in the vicinity of 8:40 to find that the doors were not open. This was not a fashion show; this was dinner! Aren't you supposed to be on time for dinner? (When my mother has a dinner party and she tells guests to be there at a certain time, by golly, they better be in their seats at the appointed hour or there is going to be hell to pay if her food gets cold.) To me this was akin to arriving at someone's home for dinner and having to stand out on the sidewalk until they finished combing their hair. Miss Manners and Mother Givhan would not have been amused.

When the doors opened we headed into a large open space with flashing lights, a bar, a disc jockey platform and various monitors showing behind the scenes footage from the filming of the commercial, which the brand insists on calling a film. I noticed that as the cocktail party wore on and the guests grew restless, the bartenders started pouring bigger and bigger drinks.

I ran into Derek Lam, who designs a ready-to-wear collection for Tod's. He'll be in Paris showing his own collection to international editors. Also chatted up Thakoon Panichgul, who is collaborating on a collection for Hogan, which is part of the Tod's empire. I congratulated him on having Michelle Obama wear one of his dresses on the night her husband accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. He was still giddy from seeing his work on such a big stage, especially because she bought it herself and wasn't "styled" into it.

Around 10 p.m. we were finally seated for dinner. I was ready to swipe the bread from the plates of every person at my table. That's how hungry I was.

We finally saw the full length commercial, which was modeled after "La Dolce Vita" and featured Gwynnie being chased by papparazzi, losing her bag and having it returned to her by a charming reporter. How nice. The reporter is the hero! There were lots of close-ups of the bag, of course. Loving, glorious close-ups.

The first course, shrimp on a little puddle of tomato soup, appeared on my plate sometime around 10:30. It was delicious, but meager. If I could have stuck my entire face in the plate and licked the sides I would have done it. I was ready to gnaw on my own arm by this point.

I left before the main branzino course. I had to. There were about 250 people at the party and I needed to get a cab. I had to beat the crowds. While it was an odd evening and more glamorous in theory than in reality, I will say that I admire Diego della Valle - he's Mr. Tod's - and his forthright behavior. The evening was about promoting the brand. There was even a photographer following him around toting a veritable photo studio.

And all was not lost. I got to wear my new gold and silver metallic snakeskin Dolce & Gabbana heels that I bought -- half price! -- at an outlet on Capri. Yeah, I know. Like I needed to be buying sparkly shoes when the econonmy is tanking. I figure if it gets any worse, their reflected glow will keep me warm this winter.

Deal of the Day- VPL

With its neon elbows, this sweater is a fun and edgy take on the tweed blazer leather patches.

The sleek sweater by VPL will be the perfect casual brunch sweater for the fall. Pair with slouchy boyfriend jeans or wool trousers and layers of chunky necklaces.

It's $90 down from $225 at West Village boutique, Mick Margo.

Deal of the Day- VPL

With its neon elbows, this sweater is a fun and edgy take on the tweed blazer leather patches. The sleek sweater by VPL will be the perfect casual brunch sweater for the fall. Pair with slouchy boyfriend jeans or...