Check out NYFW Fall 2013: A day in the life of our editor-in-chief, part 1, and part 2. Photo by ImaxTree.com.

3:45 p.m. I was 30 minutes late for an appointment to see Chanel’s Haute Couture spring/summer 2013 collection. And I was 30 minutes away from getting there. !!??$#&$ I threw caution to the wind and descended into the subway. Big mistake. I ended up on an express train headed for Queens. Nothing a costly cab ride couldn’t undo. !!??$#&$

4:40 p.m. The elevator opened, and the ever-charming Iann from Chanel greeted me. Behind him were the two “lesbian wedding dresses” that had generated buzz at the couture show earlier this month in Paris. Although the most gorgeous men in town had been hired to serve petite treats and drinks, I demurely declined. (Even though at that point I was beyond starving!) I couldn’t imagine drinking anything in a room full of a gazillion dollars’ worth of couture. The craftsmanship defied words. It was pure fashion magic. (Iann also let me know that the Chanel bag we shot for our February trend report could now be purchased for $10,500. There are only two bags in Canada, so act fast, ladies!)

I tried to take a photo of one of the dresses, but my phone suddenly died. The black screen of death! I knew that Thom Browne was my next show, but my electronic invite had vaporized and I didn’t even know where the show was. !!??$#&$ !!??$#&$ !!??$#&$ !!??$#&$

Screen grab of ELLE Canada’s Spring/Summer Trend Report page on the oh-so-fabulous Chanel Hula Hoop bag.

Click through to read the full post, including the experience of getting booted out of backstage at Marc by Marc Jacobs…

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It’s that time of year again
Happy New York fashion week, everyone! Can’t believe fashion month is here already. In honour of the occasion, Buzzfeed’s Amy Odell has put together a list of the things you’re most likely to see at the shows. Making things extra interesting this year is the apocalypse-style weather that bearing down on New York. (Some shows, like Marc Jacobs, have already been postponed because samples didn’t make it in time.)
Verdict: Slow clap for fashion week! Follow our editor-in-chief, Noreen Flanagan, who is out and about at NYFW @Noreen_Flanagan

Car trouble
“I had two terrible accidents—it was in a Jag and a Mercedes. I fell asleep twice. I was not a good driver.” That’s Karl Lagerfeld, explaining why he doesn’t drive anymore.
Verdict: Probably for the best, yes?

Country strong
Call it a battle of the ELLE Canada cover girls: Apparently Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood hate each other. An insider has reported to Us Weekly that Grammy execs were ordered to keep Swift and Underwood from “crossing paths” at the show because the two “hate each other.”
Verdict: Single tear—looks like T.Swift’s good-girl rep is getting torn down fast.

Click through for more of this week’s fashion and entertainment gossip…
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The natural look at DVF. Image via Phyto.

I’m still reflecting on the primary beauty message that came across at the New York Fashion Week Spring 2013 shows. It would seem that OTT nails and bold bright lips, are going the way of the dodo.

Read more of Vanessa’s NYFW dispatch…

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Photography by Barbora Simek

Lisa Miyaski, snapped in Toronto

Style: Business Casual

Occupation: Owner of Kol Kid business boutique

Wearing: French silk dress with Smythe jacket, boots from Specchio, Furla purse

Occupational Inspiration: “Children’s clothing, especially for girls, is a lot more creative and full of colour so it always inspires me. Another inspiration is seeing how my daughter dresses: she just mixes things together and a lot of it is fun and works out though sometimes it really doesn’t”

Click through to see our Montreal street style pic of the day! Read the rest of this entry

Image via IMAXtree

It’s been an interesting week so far in New York. We’ve had bloody nails, Edie Sedgwick inspired beauty workstations and even guinea pigs on street corners.

(Really. Guinea pigs. I don’t even question anything I see in this city anymore.)

When it comes to makeup, the Spring/Summer shows tend to be when bold pops of colour show up everywhere, from lips to cheeks to eyes.

Yet, we’re seeing a serious wave of bare faces (Narcisco Rodriguez), nude lips and nails, and even skin is stepping up in a starring role. I think this return to simplicity is a fantastic trend –it seems very fresh and ahead of the curve to scale things back sometimes. But, that doesn’t mean we should go without colour. Nuh-uh.

Thank goodness for the inimitable Donna Karan sent her girls down the runway at Donna Karan New York with a seriously bright beauty message.

MAC artist Charlotte Tilbury described it like this. “We wanted to do something that would be a strong juxtaposition to the collection,” she said, referencing the colour palette of dreamy creams, blues and greys in Karan’s clothes. “We’re using this magenta eye, which is created with a really bright pink/purple lip liner, and we’re drawing it in a straight line across the eye. It’s a modern shape, quite wide in the center, quite square. Then and then underneath there’s a blank space in the inner corner of the eye.”

Tilbury and her team also used a bright pink pencil as “a mascara, painting the lashes bottom and top. Of the overall message, Tilbury was philosophical. “I feel like bright colour done in modernist ways is very interesting right now,” she said. “It’s a strong look and it encapsulates the season.”

Key product: MAC Lip Pencil in Magenta

Runway Image courtesy of ImaxTree

Celebs at DVF: Oscar de la Renta! Valentino! Sarah Jessica Parker! Google’s Sergey Brin??? There was a little card titled “What is that?” tucked into the show notes to explain why many of the models (and even Diane) were wearing high tech “Glass by Google” glasses with their turquoise and tangerine colour-blocked caftans and jumpsuits.

Runway Image courtesy of ImaxTree

At Timo Weiland, oversized herringbone and houndstooth prints got mashed up into bright and playful combos of acid yellow and taupe. The prints were also done in an innovative copper metallic embellished with Swarovski bits which made for a pretty sharp pencil skirt. These pieces would look cute on Chloë Moretz, who was sitting front row at the show.

Runway Image courtesy of ImaxTree

Tommy Hilfiger earned his stripes this season—literally—in every possible fabric and direction. (The colour palette, not surprisingly, was red, white and blue.) The show almost started without a number of key editors who made a mad dash to the High Line show set from Zac Posen, which started late at the Lincoln Center.

And finally, just because Saturday’s Altuzarra show is still on my mind, here is the breakdown of the stirring runway soundtrack:

1) Alexandre Desplat – “Prologue”

2) Alexandre Desplat – “The Rendez-Vous”

3) Alexandre Desplat – “Letter”

4) Alexandre Desplat – “Under A Spell”

5) Cat Power – “Cherokee (Nicolas Jaar Remix)”

Now, I’m off to download some Alexandre Desplat!

Backstage image courtesy of ImaxTree.com.

Tom Pecheux had the following to say about the soft, elegant look he created using Estée Lauder at Derek Lam today.

“The look is very, very, very pretty. Very transparent. I wanted to recreate the feeling of the light of the sunrise on top of a lake. That’s why I wanted the aqua colour. It’s all very subtle, a very luxurious makeup. You know, the most luxurious women are the ones who don’t try too hard. You try too hard, it looks like you’re having a panic attack. This makeup today, it doesn’t hide or create a different personality.”

Key product: Pecheux used Estée Lauder Advanced Night Repair, a skin serum, mixed in with two new eyeshadow pots (out in Spring 2013) to create the transparent eye look.

Now, onto more important news!

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Let’s get the worst out of the way first. I didn’t have such a great start to my first day covering New York Fashion Week’s spring/summer 2013 shows, but the day did end on a high note thanks to Altuzarra (we’ll get to that, I promise!).

First off, I ended up at the Lacoste show sans my Blackberry—which makes it pretty hard to live tweet. Oops. I’ve never been one of those people who can’t function without my phone, but this time, I felt the pain of tech withdrawal. Thankfully, I didn’t forget my trusty paper notebook and a pen. Unfortunately, the cobalt-blue ink pen (which just made a round trip to Australia without any problems!) chose this very moment to explode. Thankfully, I was wearing mostly black—but my hands did not look so pretty. The ink stains wouldn’t simmer down, even after a good scrub. (I consoled myself with the thought that, “Hey, at least the colour splattered all over my fingers is fall’s hottest shade.”) The experience put me so out of sorts that somehow I missed the fact that the techno soundrack at Lacoste was actually infused with the sounds of thwacked tennis balls and screeching sneakers—and I love this kind of show detail!

A quick cab ride back to my hotel to recover my phone made me feel much better. As did finally tweeting a couple of slightly delayed thoughts on the Lacoste show. I love to tweet pics, but since I didn’t take any photos at the show—I am not one of those annoying people who blocks everyone’s view by taking pics with my iPad—I tweeted images of the tennis racket pattern included in the show notes as well as a snap of the invitation.

You can view those images here:

@ellecanada.com: Head-to-toe printed shirts, pants and fanny packs (yes, they were cool!) in this tennis racket print at Lacoste #NYFW pic.twitter.com/hJnBEsRq

@ellecanada: Leathers embossed with tiny Lacoste crocodiles (like the one on this invite) were pretty cool too. #NYFW pic.twitter.com/lmOkchzJ

Admittedly, in the grand scheme of things, these were pretty minor hiccups. But combined with the sweltering weather and a morning downpour, I was ready to melt in more ways than one.

So now, on to the good stuff. Here are my top three highlights from the day:

Click through for Christina’s top moments from NYFW so far!

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This is Antonio Corral Calero, Artistic Director for MoroccanOil, backstage at Cushnie & Ochs. Sadly, his amazingly shiny patent leather shoes aren’t in the shot. But, as great as his shoes were, that’s not the interesting bit.

The hair Calero created for slinky, stylish show was super straight and shiny, with a center part — very wearable and very flattering. When I asked him what the inspiration was for the strong graphic look, he said, “Imelda Marcos.”

Yes, he’s talking about this lady.

“The designers got inspired by Imelda Marcos. So, they wanted something that looked opulent, rich and confident,” he explained, “and Michelle [Ochs] was very much that way. The Cushnie et Ochs collection for Spring/Summer 2012 is about having confidence, looking your best, great lines. It’s healthy looking hair with a little edge. It’s sexy and simple at the same time.”

Key product: Moroccanoil Glimmer Shine Spray.

Hair at Rag & Bone

Backstage at Rag & Bone, the mood was a little frantic. For a start, the temperature was at least 400 degrees. The floor was packed with models, PR reps, press, photographers and security people, and the numerous floor fans did little to dissipate the humid, liquid-air conditions. Both Guido Palau (Redken’s master of all that is hair) and Gucci Westman (Revlon’s gorgeous and down-to-earth key artist) were cracking the whip to get the models in a show-ready state.

Here’s what Guido had to say about the look for the hair, which was raked back with a wet, helmet-like front and left in soft waves at the back. “It’s sporty with a little 90s feeling,” he explained. “It’s this idea of easy sophistication but in a minimal way, using wet and dry. This is all about big drama, big forehead, there’s the toughness of it going back, but it’s not completely hard. Very dramatic, but soft at the same time, and very impactful.”

Key product: Redken Hardware 16 Super Strong Gel.

Bonus! Here’s an image from Rag & Bone backstage of Gucci Westman and one of my favourite models because she’s so gosh darn nice, Liu Wen.

Food backstage at Rag & Bone

And finally, my fashion week challenge is: I pledge to eat food from every single catering station backstage this week.

This may not sound like much of a task, but trust me, the risks of missing your interview slot because you’re shoveling a spinach wrap down your gob are high; plus, eating is very un-fashion.

Still, someone’s got to do the in-depth reportage, and here I am.

Every backstage area has food stations – some consist of a few paltry, lifeless sandwiches, and others are happy-making, life affirming set ups. Today’s winner? Rag & Bone. Look at that spread. Admittedly, it had been picked over by the time I got to it, but imagine more sandwiches and nibbly bits. The dessert station wasn’t too shabby either. There were Madelines!

Food backstage at Rag & Bone

New York Fashion week is coming to a close, but stylistas aren’t running out of fabulous looks. Today’s streetstyle photos capture three women who all give a modern spin to classic ’20s, ’70s and ’60s fashion touchstones.

THE GIRL: Kelly Choy is a host on NYC TV and Bravo.

SPOTTED: Lincoln Center on her way to the Alberta Ferretti show.

HER STYLE: Modern 1920′s flapper style.

WHY WE LOVE IT!  Kelly’s Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti look was all pretty in pink—one of the season’s go-to hues.

FASHION WEEK FAVORITE ADDRESSES: “My favorite spa is in Chinatown is called Relax Foot Spa. It’s great because you can get a one-hour foot massage. I particularly love it during fashion week!”

Check out the ’70s and ’60s streetstyle fashions.