Mercedes Benz Fashion Week 9/8/07-Temperly London

The invitation for the Temperly London runway show at the Promenade in the Bryant Park tents was a textured white cardboard with elegant, black script lettering and a black and photo photo of 1920's bathing beauties sitting on an old jalopy. Really cute! And the Temperly London Spring 2008 collection could be called cute and elegant, too. The program notes suggest that the Temperly Spring/Summer 2008 collection was inspired by French seaside scenes of the 1930's, from Deauville to Biarritz. "Spring/Summer 2008 includes a new array of new silhouttes and plays on volume and proportion. Voluminous sleeves are paired with constricted waistlines and corsetry details whilst fabrics are manipulated with layers, frills, drapes and folds."

Of course, there were celebrities, supporting the British look. I believe the front row sported Demi Moore and Molly Sims seated next to stylist Rachel Zoe, but don't quote me on it! What I did notice were the cute "beach" umbrellas framing the runway entrance.

The collection, in my words, was youthful, diverse, and sophisticated. There were a lot of swingy short dresses, and quite a few designs with what I'd call "flamenco" ruffles, poet sleeves, and defined waists. The Black Label design for evening included stones and crystals, mounted like jewelry and decorating straps and waistbands to catch the light. A long, clingy, gold lame gown (walked down the runway to a modern musical mix of "Fever") was completely a nod to 1930's movie glamour, I would wager a bit that some of the evening dresses in this colelction will be snapped up by young Hollywood to wear to movie premieres and awards shows next season. Photography was a challenge at this show, but here is the hot, hip fashion model Agyness Deyn in the first dress of the collection, the white Cecelia Dress and White Bow Belt. A "miss" for me were unusual turbans with twisted braid in bright colors created by Patricia Underwood for Temperly that just looked to casual, too chunky and mismatched with the filmy, clingy, lightweight clothes on the runway.

Charlotte Tilbury did the makeup for MAC, which featured bold red lips in a warmer red than Fall's "dragon lady" tones. I'll get the actual details of the makeup later, but it looked like the eyes featured a metallic copper. he hair by Alain Pinchon for Aveda was quite interesting although I didn't get a good photo of it. The style was half up, half down, but brushed very close to the head on top and then twisted elegantly down the back of the head to leave a "rat tail." The look was a bit like a modern mullet, but mussed up on top to keep the "beachy" theme of the clothes. Christian Louboutin and World Tone provided the shoes.

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