At The Shows With Mina-Jacqueline Au

Yesterday after coffee and toast at Sant Ambroeus, I took a quick cab ride to have my hair washed before my first show. They curled my hair and two seconds after leaving the salon, the humidity was so overwhelming, my curls were gone. Completely gone!

And though, I didn't attend the Diane Von Furstenberg show yesterday, I decided to wear a simple little DVF charcoal tank dress with wool with satin ruffles. If you've read my last posts, I'm pretty sure you can guess what shoes I wore. I couldn't help it! I have about 15 pairs of Bruno Frisoni shoes lined up against the wall with my Fashion Week outfits and I just couldn't keep my hands off of the python ones. And for such a cloudy day, I had to use my new Jimmy Choo Malena bag for my mountain of daily essentials which included a pocket- sized umbrella.

My first show was Carolina Herrera which lures the reigning social doyennes, dowagers and divas, as well as the younger set. They sit across the aisle from one another, separated by a general of fashion sensibilities. Ten minutes before the show, the tent was filled with fashion-loving celebrities and socialites, young and old — swanning around like butterflies. In between camera flashes, I watched Vogue's Anna Wintour file in — half the room's photographers rushed to get a shot of Wintour, while the other half of the several dozen photographers surrounded Tinsley Mortimer who looked like an adorable school girl.

In the middle of the photo frenzy, I spotted my friend Lauren Rockefeller across the runway and we waved hello. Herrera's Spring collection was so precisely crafted. Very much like Herrera herself, her clothing is sophisticated, classy and offers a modern chic within an old-world charm. I found myself oddly, gravitating more toward the classic pieces than to her trendier ensembles. The show raises the bar, What will the rest of the fashion designers do?

After Carolina Herrera, it was Jill Stuart. Immediately following Jill Stuart was Oscar de la Renta at the very controversial location of Park Avenue. You see, as much as all the Park Avenue princesses love wearing Oscar, having a fashion show so close to their homes (with the traffic and buzz the show brings) was frowned upon by many. It would have been an interesting show.

But late on Sunday night, I received a phone call from the Argentinian designer that I am collaborating with to design and create the ultimate carry-all bag for Bon-Luxe. She had changed her flight to an earlier flight due to personal reasons and thus our meeting at 4 p.m. was moved to the early afternoon on Monday. So, I missed the Oscar show, but heard it was fabulous.

After my meeting, I had just made it on time to the Poltock & Walsh show, followed by Anna Sui. After Anna Sui, I had to rush downtown to Vivienne Tam's flagship store opening and her Spring 2008 presentation. En route, I started feeling faint and realized I needed to eat. I've been so tired the last few days, I hadn't eaten anything except for (lots of) coffee and shakes. My friends always seem to think going to Fashion Week is uber-glamorous. But indeed it's not. It's a lot of work, a lot of remembering, unfortunately, a lot of pushing and shoving ... and very draining.

The Vivienne Tam flagship opening was monumental. It all began with an army of straight-faced models dressed in communist-like grey suits marching down Mercer Street and then finally wrapping around the store like prison guards. If those weren't models but men, I would have actually been frightened. After a couple of shots in front of the army of models for First Wives World and a couple of other publications, I proceeded inside through the darkened doors. They made it seem so secretive, so private ... so A-list.

Upon my entrance, I was greeted by an overwhelming amount of international press. I have never in my life, attended an event with that many press. Good for Vivienne! Then from afar, I see the always fabulous, always skinny Vivienne. We said hello and I congratulated her on such a success. We took a few shots together for photographers and I headed straight to the Veuve Clicquot bar.

The inside of her store was bare for the event. It had models displaying vignettes of her Spring 2008 collection and a wooden Asian-inspired structure in the center. I posed for some shots around her store and reviewed her Spring collection. It was amazing. There were three model vignettes — a cream display (my favorite), a black and gold display and a bright, technicolor group of clothing. I give Vivienne a lot of credit for creating that group. I see a lot of designers attempt to have bright purples and bright greens as a color group and the end result is nothing but tacky.

Vivienne, on the other hand, skillfully mixes colors and texture and somehow the final item is a masterpiece, very much like her entire Spring collection. Her flagship store opening also brought out some famous faces like the ever so tall and graceful supermodel, Irina Pantaeva and Olivia Palermo, a fixture in the New York social scene. I also noticed actress Elizabeth Rohm among a few others.

An hour into the event, I met up with a friend and headed to yet another fashion party in Chelsea. When the cab pulled up to the venue, there was such mob outside we had both decided against going in. I think we'd had enough fashion partying for the night! So we took a brisk walk on over to Gramercy Tavern for a quiet dinner and called it a night. FWW photos by Frank Siciliano.

Update: We have added extended photographs of the shows. Click on the links below to view each image.