The weekend and a blizzard called Nemo didn't stop New York Fashion Week - especially because Alexander Wang, Victoria Beckham and Altuzarra were showing. Naturally MyDaily's Carlene Thomas-Bailey was runway-side, backstage AND at the after-parties...
As designer Alexander Wang opened his show with the Rocky theme tune, rapper du jour A$AP Rocky closed the Hood By Air runway at Milk Studios. It's safe to say the weekend at New York Fashion Week was awesome, and that's before I start talking about the blizzard called Nemo, the clothes from Victoria Beckham to Altuzarra and of course the after-parties.
First up, I hung out with Brit make-up maven Hannah Murray backstage at the runway show for Louise Goldin - who "loves a bit of hair and make up" Hannah told me. Don't we all?
The girl in mind for the collection was "tough, cool and masculine" – which translated to "strong brows, a warm chocolate brown from MAC on the eyelids, and then toughened up with a black kohl in the inner rim, on clean polished flawless skin". And is the strong brow a trend for winter? You bet.
Here's Hannah's tips on recreating the look at home: "Brush the brows up and outwards to get the natural shape and then with a MAC pencil follow the motion of the hair with the pencil and add tough eyebrow gel".
Running from show to show I made it to Mara Hoffman who had Angela Simmons (reality star and daughter of Rev Run from Run DMC) sitting front row. Her tips for stylishly surviving blizzard Nemo? "I don't know how to do it, I have my toes out, I don't really believe in the winter. I guess jackets are key, but I don't like covering my outfits." Only in New York.
Special mention goes to designer Billy Reid who had signature warming cocktails with Bourbon and rye whiskey to heat up guests. The show was also pretty stunning – in particular, I loved the burnt orange A-Line leather skirts, a perfect winter staple.
Jason Wu - a Michelle Obama favourite - wowed with his collection and Brit model favourite Cara Delevingne rocked the catwalk. Over at Rebecca Taylor, I spied Shailene Woodley on the front row who is gearing up for the new Hunger Games rival movie called Divergent.
Then, it was off to Altuzarra on where I caught up backstage with another favourite Brit of mine, nail guru and global ambassador for Butter London Katie Hughes. She's done everything this fashion week from a nude, minimalist buff nail at Altuzarra to serious embellishment at Libertine where she created a long, gold nail, sprinkled with crystals from the runway collection.
Her nail trend for winter is "grown up nail art and simple accents like studded nails. Nails will be more streamlined and sophisticated to accessorise your outfit."
The Moncler Grenoble show was another highlight, held in the dark, gothic setting of Gotham Hall, the whole place lit up to reveal the models standing still on a five level set, wearing the collection. What a wonderful spectacle, but then that's to be expected from the label that displayed a collection two years ago in the city's Grand Central train station.
Then there was Victoria Beckham's show on Sunday morning, with a proud David sat front row as always with Anna Wintour. Oh to be best fashion friends with them both...
My top show had to be Hood By Air, a label favourite of Kanye and Rihanna. The entire crowd was filled with people who looked as if they were under 30 and from Hackney. It was enough to make this London girl in New York feel a little bit homesick.
After dark, after parties were still in full force despite the weather, from Charlotte Ronson's party at 1Oak club with her twin sister Sam on the decks, to Suno's after party at the Jane Hotel Ballroom.
Another Brit, DJ Chelsea spun tunes from Aaliyah to Azealia Banks, to help erase any memory of the slush covered street. A truly fabulous weekend. Now, if you'll just excuse me, I have to get my beauty sleep – there's a whole more week of this go.
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