All Things Fashionating by tracy mausser

Michael Kors Collection (Image: MB Fashion Week)   With the temperatures sizzling across the United States, it is not hard to envision oneself wearing all the hot new Spring 2013 designs which debut last week at the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York. Nearly 200 designers made statements by previewing spring collections which included a lot of leather, skirt suits, black-and-white, below-the-knee coats, cutouts, corsets and color, color and more color. The collections in the tents at Lincoln Center were bold and beautiful, but three designers stood out. I have always been a fan of Michael Kors; however, the contemporary construction and clean lines of his newest collection have really hit home with me.   I can see myself wearing almost every piece (in my real fashion life…not the fantasy one) that went down the runway. His look was a very glamorous Sixties mod which embodied every vibrant hue of the rainbow.   Sheath dresses in leather or crep...

I am a glass half empty kind of gal. With the beginning of August upon us, I can’t help but feel that the summer is almost over.   But I’m not really sad about it; it just means that it is time to get excited about up-and-coming fall/winter fashions like chunky sweaters, tall and sturdy boots, and all that yummy folkloric fur – real or faux – that is so en vogue. But how do we get from here to there – especially while living in Southern California – as it takes time for those temps to begin to drop. Well, I’ve got some tips for you: The first – and quite obvious I might add – is layering your current summer dresses, skirts and jumpsuits with sweaters and jackets in mixed-media.   With warmer temps still rocking the days, a fun jacket or chunky sweater, with bright tights to add a pop of color, and some fun boots can take your summer frocks far. Rebecca Taylor FW12 Growing up on the East Coast, there was a strict rule of thumb:   No whit...

DVF at NYFW FW12   Last week, it was with great anticipation that I awaited to be a voyeur – since I am here in LA and had nary a ticket – into the runway shows of the Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week in New York City. However, an amazing opportunity to contribute a fashion article as a guest blogger for a new digital magazine, which will launch later this month, introduced a tight deadline and changed my plans. Albeit a tad late, I am happy to (finally) post my fashionating feedback about the best of the New York Fashion Week Autumn Winter 2012 collections. As fashion week progressed, it became profoundly apparent to me that – for women – next season is all about being feminine. So many of the collections at NYFW offered impressions of femininity and age-appropriateness, which is a super-hot topic for me personally right now.   I had already made a vow to introduce more ladylike silhouettes into my wardrobe and, even though I do have grandiose visions of loo...

Today, I am going to launch a new segment call Fashionably Fashionating Fridays in which I plan to cover trends, looks for less and, well, anything Fashionating about fashion that I come across. My first post is about color and, I must confess, I “borrowed” the concept Pop of Color – or POC – from the new Bravo show “It’s a Brad, Brad World.”   POC, the use of accessories to add a pop of color to an outfit in a more mainstream way, was coined by stylist Brad Goreski, the star of his own new reality show.   Brad was the right-hand man for celebrity stylist Rachel Zoe and, surprisingly, left the successful Team Zoe when the network offered him his own program.   Zoe’s camp certainly didn’t seem thrilled about this sequence of events – as mentioned last season on her own show, The Rachel Zoe Project – which interestingly airs on the same network. But fashion is about trends, and sort of deriving from others, so I am going to use this impressive acronym to reveal some of ...

On the eve of Mercedes Benz fashion week, my DVR and I had a fashion date; And it is one I've been looking forward to for a long time. It's been a year, but my girl Rachel Zoe is back. I tried to stay awake on Tuesday night to watch the season premier of The Rachel Zoe Project at its regularly scheduled time on Bravo but, sadly, 10 p.m. is just too late for me these days. So, instead of living vicariously through my fashion idol, I was dreaming of Marc Jacob's 2011 Spring collection. Well, maybe just visions of Marc – I mean, have you seen his body. Speaking of bodies, it is no secret that, since last season, Rachel and her husband Rodger Berman are knocked up. But, I was shocked when the show began with the stylist to the stars six months pregnant and, shockingly, Brad gone from the team. Although the show does not make it quite as dramatic as Taylor's grand – and extremely drawn out – exit; Yet, it certainly felt like a quickie and left me wanting more. So, in B...

Have you ever wanted something so bad it hurt and you just knew there was no way you would ever get it. Ok, I’m not talking about love – well at least not the kind of amore between lovers – but the love of something so materialistic, that you know it will make you feel euphoric if you owned it, that it is borderline obsession. That is exactly how I felt when I saw Gucci’s Fall 2011 Ready To Wear (RTW) collection. I fell fast and I fell hard. Gucci Collection There is just something about Gucci Creative Director Frida Giannini’s collection that inspired me.  Perhaps it called upon that hippie chick that lies within me or simply the love of anything Marlene Dietrich; one can’t really tell where the ‘40s end and the ‘70s begin. So, when I picked myself up off the floor, I tried to discern what it was that had attracted me to the Italian fashion house’s Fall frocks as I am not usually titillated by high-end apparel.  It was an extreme toss-up between the fur, the pyt...