Hello Kitty and Barbie are both getting a fashion makeover.
Sanrio, the folks behind Hello Kitty, have teamed-up with MAC cosmetics for a limited edition line of cosmetics and to fete the collaboration — which will officially hit MAC’s website and MAC counters on February 10th, and select Northern American stores on February 12th – MAC has enlisted various big name fashion designers to design twenty couture pieces inspired by Hello Kitty. Those pieces were presented at an event held at Cedar Lake, in conjunction with V Magazine, on Thursday, February 5th.
The fashion designers involved in the MAC Hello Kitty Couture Design are impressive. They include Catherine Malandrino, Charlotte Ronson, Herve Leger, Kai Kuhne, Rosa Cha, Ruffian, Tadashi Shoji, The Blonds, threeasFOUR, Tibi , Vicente Villarin , Giles, Sinha Stanic, Blumarine, Dress 33, Elie Saab, Emmanuel Ungaro, Manish Arora, Bumseok Choi, Qiu Hao, Zimmerman, Kate Sylvester, and Shu Chi Huang. All the Hello Kitty-inspired couture pieces will be auctioned off on eBay on February 9th with the proceeds being donated to the Acquisition Fund for the Museum at FIT, the Fashion Institute of Technology (http://stores.ebay.com/
The event was set against a black backdrop with shirtless male models wearing oversized black Hello Kitty heads and polyether/leather, S & M-esque outfits greeting guests at the door – clearly Hello Kitty got a MAC-appropriate makeover. Once past the entrance room cocktails and bow-shaped cookies were served as guests walked around the center stage set-up with the couture looks. The Dress 33 gown stood-out as a favorite with its abundance of black tulle — so abundant was the tulle that the model told me that it was weighing her body down. Catherine Malandrino’s pink ruffled shoulder dress with a cut-out heart on the chest, as well as Elie Saab’s carefully pleated, and rouged piece were beautifully crafted as well.
Hello Kitty isn’t the only one getting makeover however, in celebration of Barbie’s 50th birthday, Mattel has commissioned 50 designers to design a look inspired by the iconic doll. Designers participating include Alexander Wang, Kimora Lee Simmons, Tory Burch, Calvin Klein, Bob Mackie, Vera Wang, Donna Karan and Diane von Furstenberg. The looks will be unveiled in a runway presentation at the tents in Bryant Park on February 14th.
Who will win out in the fashion battle? We can’t say for sure till the Barbie Anniversary show, but one thing’s for sure the Hello Kitty looks will be pretty hard to top.
Photos courtesy of Sharon Feiereisen.
