Valentine’s Day in 2011 will once again be all work and no play for the fashion industry. The Fall 2011 collections will show this season at New York Fashion Week starting February 10. There are many exciting happenings in store for the season – including additional live-streaming videos and opportunities to place immediate orders from some designers (even if the instant gratification element is tempered by merchandise delivered several months post-show). Plus, with Pop Chips and Starbucks likely signing up as repeat sponsors for the Lincoln Center shows, who really needs chocolate and flowers?
Here are 10 noteworthy New York Fashion Week happenings.
1. Rachel Zoe‘s favorite shoe designer, Brian Atwood, will be launching his diffusion line, B Brian Atwood, at hot spot restaurant The Lion.
2. Jason Wu will be showing his ever expanding collection of womenswear; the designer’s latest pre-fall collection had 95 pieces versus 55 the year before, and a full season collection of bags is in the works for this year.
3. Libertine, a New York favorite since their Target GO International collaboration, will show their new collection after being absent on the runway since the Fall 2009 season.
4. Marlon Gobel will team-up with famed shoe designer Christian Louboutin for his Fall 2011 collection shoes – that’s right, the man best known for sky-high stilettos has ventured into men’s footwear.
5. Eveningwear and bridal designer Douglas Hannant will launch his first fragrance, Douglas Hannant de Robert Piguet.
6. Tim Hamilton, who has been showing a men’s diffusion line called Redux in New York since 2009, will be showcasing his first-ever Redux womenswear lineup.
7. Derek Lam will launch his exclusive eBay capsule collection. After the unveiling, the public is invited to vote on their favorite looks and the results will determine what goes into production for S/S 2011.
9. After showing a successful Theory capsule collection, Nina Ricci’s former creative director Olivier Theyskens will be back for his Fashion Week debut with Theory.
10. Billy Reid, who just won the $300,000 CFDA/Vogue Fund prize in mid-November, will show his collection.
