NYFW & Convention Fashion Review

Whenever I think of New York Fashion Week, one scene comes to mind. It's when Carrie Bradshaw takes on the runway, clad in a royal blue trench, a jeweled pair of D&G undies and the stilettos that led her to her catwalk catastrophe. As she trips and falls on her face (literally), Heidi Klum comes out and walks right over her, leaving Carrie's GBF Standford to yell out, "Oh my God, she's fashion roadkill!" Priceless line. Luckily, I don't think that happens all too often in the real New York Fashion Week. A few very popular bloggers I follow have the great opportunity to go watch it in person, whereas people like you and I get to catch the highlights from E!News, Twitter and Instagram.

 

On another fashion note for the week (or perhaps the past two), because both The First Lady Michelle Obama and the GOP Nominee Mitt Romney's wife, Ann Romney, have both made their Convention speeches, I wanted to wrap up the week discussing their wardrobes.

 

Everybody is drooling over Michelle's custom-made silk Tracy Reese dress, and practically drowning in a puddle of their own drool over her toned arms. I loved her dress, and I'm a fan of her arms too, but I'm just stating the obvious obsession. The dress, not yet available for sale on the designer's site, will retail at just under $500. Her suede pumps were from J.Crew and her nailpolish-- a purple-grey hue called "Vogue," is by Artistic Nail Designs ($15.95, not yet available either).

 Ann Romney, who chose to wear red, the hue's usual place of prominence, at the RNC in Tampa last week. Ann wore a belted, knee-length Oscar de la Renta dress for the most important speech of her life. The dress had a small v-neck and cuffed sleeves, and was absolutely stunning for Ann. It was age appropriate, classy and sophisticated, just as Michelle's dress was. Oscar de la Renta has never been a stranger to First Ladies, dressing Laura Bush and Hillary Clinton as well. However, he and Mrs. Obama don't exactly have the same relationship. De la Renta criticized Michelle for wearing a gown by British designer Alexander McQueen (rather than that of an American) to a White House state dinner last year, along with a few other comments.

 

Ann's dress reportedly costs around $2,400, leading critics to point out the costly difference between the price of Obama's and Romney's dress. They forgot to mention the nearly $3,000 L'Wren Scott cardigans Michelle donned in April, or the $2,000 Sophie Theallet dress she wore on her Christmas Hawaiian vacation in December.

 

I think we can all accept the fact that both women can afford lavish, expensive clothing, can't we?

xxo

Menswear Wednesday: "The Romney Boys look"

I wanted to revolve the majority of my posts this week around the GOP Convention because I'm here, so when it came to Wednesday's post, I wanted to do something relating to men's fashion at the Convention. From what I've seen, everyone dresses very nicely here-- Lilly Pulitzer dresses and seersucker suits are everywhere. However, the Romney sons seemed to have perfected the jeans, button-down and blazer look.

My roommate and I have seen the five boys every day (and their beautiful wives/children) throughout the past few days, and they're always in a relaxed, jeans + blazer look. I'm sure that'll change once they're in the Forum for the Convention events, but as of now, they've perfected the style.

Four of the five Romney sons with Gov. Chris Christie. 

Menswear Wednesday: Paul Ryan's endorsement of gingham

The New York Times' Cathy Horyn is telling Rep. Paul Ryan to savor all of the attention he's garnered lately as Mitt Romney's Vice Presidential pick. TMZ released a photo of Ryan and his trainer, dubbing him the "hottest vice presidential candidate ever," and political website Politico wrote an entire "Ryan hot sheet." But after telling Ryan to "savor" it, Ms. Horyn goes on to note that most V.P.'s are forgotten before the next election.

Please. She couldn't be more wrong. Regardless of your politics, I think it is evident that Rep. Ryan will come back and run for president in the next election if Romney doesn't make it into office this year. I can't tell you how many people have said they'd rather have Ryan as the presidential pick over Romney in the first place.

Still, that's besides the point of this post, which is to point out just how much Rep. Paul Ryan likes his gingham/check button-downs.

The look originated in the 18th century in Manchester, England and the southern US when their factories were going through a financial slump. They began production of the shirts, and eventually it caught on with London bankers and Southern literary types, according to an article by GQ.

The gingham look is predominantly for the spring and summer, so how does Paul Ryan plan on changing it up once September starts?

Did they consult one another about matching outfits for this event?