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What Wendy Wore: New York Fashion Week

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I barely thought about fashion during New York Fashion Week because I was distracted by my work on a non-fashion event. But I still got out to support two of my friends.

Gorgeous blogger Jennine — the founder of Independent Fashion Bloggers — held her Evolving Influence Fashion Bloggers Conference at MAC & Milk Studios on February 10. The all-day event featured a series of panels and, as Jennine describes it, “a glorious group of 500 some odd conference goers made up of the IFB community, general IFB fans, our lovely panelist and moderators, sponsors, brand ambassadors, volunteers and staff.” I’m so impressed by how this event has grown since September 2009, when we all squeezed into a bar for a couple of hours!

I was there to interview the panelists — including designers Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez of Proenza Schouler — backstage. Every season, I try to come up with an amusing vintage dress to wear to this event. Here are my past efforts:

September 2009. Vintage Patrick Kelly dress from eBay.

With Pamela from Market Publique in February 2010. Vintage dress from eBay.

September 2010. Vintage Moschino Jeans dress from Shrimpton Couture.

I didn’t know how I was going to top that last one till I spied another wordy Moschino dress at KatyKane.com. I was a little hesitant about using gold sequins to declare myself a VIP, but it did seem to fit my IFB outfit pattern.

Photo by Vyque of Fasshonaburu.com.

What Wendy Wore to Evolving Influence
Dress: Vintage Moschino Couture from KatyKane.com
Tights: Fogal
Shoes: Prada (2010)
Ring: My own Cleves design in the Black Swan style
Lip color: Lasting Lust by MAC

I got those shoes unexpectedly, having noticed them while I was trying on some plain black boots. It had been weighing on my mind that my gold Louis Vuitton sandals, worn with practically everything since I got them in 2004 or so, aren’t so spry-looking anymore. But I couldn’t bear the thought of letting them go unless I found something even more extraordinary. And I did! That said, I still haven’t let the old shoes go. I’m just going to wear them on less dressy occasions while saving the new ones for “special.” (I never did get the plain black boots.)

Meanwhile, the hot thing in the blogging world seemed to be red legs. One of the IFB panels had two red-legged ladies. That’s Chiara from The Blonde Salad on the left and Karen Robinovitz from Digital Brand Architects in the middle.

I didn’t get a picture of Rebecca from The Clothes Horse wearing her red tights with red shoes, but you can see her here. I once wore red tights and red shoes with an Ossie Clark halter dress, so I went looking for the photo. I can’t believe this was in February 2004! Shizz. Time flies.

February 2004. I'm wearing red fishnets over the red tights.

Across the pond, Queen Michelle from Kingdom of Style is wearing red legs as well.

Getting back to the here and now, my second Fashion Week event was my designing friend Zang Toi‘s Fall/Winter 2011 show. It’s always easy to know what to wear to Zang’s show because he tells you! This time, he told me to wear the cowboy dress from last season. He even gave me a Stetson hat to wear with it.

What Wendy Wore to Zang Toi’s Show
Dress: Zang Toi, spring 2011
Boots: Jil Sander (pre-2005, previously seen here)
Ring: My own onyx skull ring
Watch: Hermes (2002)
Lip color: Lasting Lust by MAC

All my gorgeous non-blogging friends were there in their Zang dresses, including Christine …

Christine is also wearing a WendyB ring. More about that in a future post.

… and model Deborah Fenker. It can be damaging to one’s self-esteem to pose for a picture with Deborah. I got up on my toes to try to look taller. It didn’t help.

"Howdy, ma'am. How's the weather up there?"

I was seated close to a nice lady from Texas who said she’d also gotten the cowboy dress. I asked where she planned to wear it and she said, “My boat.” I thought that was an excellent answer. Unfortunately, the show started before I could finagle an invitation. Now my dreams of my new friend and I wearing matching Zang Toi dresses and Wendy Brandes jewelry on a yacht will be forever unfulfilled!

As always, Zang got a standing ovation. (Read more about his show at Fasshonaburu, BonBon Rose Girls, The Quest for “It” and Maria Pulice.) Jill Zarin of The Real Housewives of New York City closed the show. Zang has been into the Housewife scene for a while; he was even turned into a cartoon thanks to the ‘Wives. Here is a glimpse of Zang and Jill taking their bow.

Both before and after Zang’s show, I enjoyed some drinks with bloggers right across the street at the Empire Hotel. Lady Cameron of 33 avenue Miquelon was visiting from Kentucky. I’ll have to devote another post to the great gift Cameron brought me. Below Cameron is posing with “Pen” of de la Pen whom I had just picked up at Zang’s show. In the crush to congratulate Zang, I couldn’t help but stare at the screen of Pen’s phone. She was tweeting nice things about Zang, so I invited her out to drinks just like that.

Cameron (left) and Pen.

And here is a group shot. Note that everyone is doing the WendyB pose! From left: Stacy Lomman of taffetadarlings, Kristin of BonBon Rose Girls, Cameron, Audi of Fashion for Nerds, me and K-Line. (Mardel of Resting Motion escaped my camera.)

Check out K-Line’s legs: red tights. Told ya! It’s the season for red legs. Send your own red-legged pictures to me wbjewelry at hotmail dot com and I’ll do a big post on all of you.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Ahhhh! Je vous remercie madame ! And I cannot wait to see that special post… *giggles mischievously*

    And thank you for writing the title of my blog correctly, too; just now have to convince the LALM editors at IFB to get it right, and I can die happy! 😀

  3. Ooooh what a great post! So many outfits!
    Hotsie Totsie in 2004 — red fishnets — vixen!
    I love love love your VIP dress. So glad you wore it.
    You killed Zang’s dress and it should have been YOU strutting the runway, not Jill Z.

  4. That VIP dress is awesome and I’m swooning over those gold shoes – wow! Your cowboy dress is wonderful – I’m so envious of everyone who got to meet you!

    I’ve done red legs – I’ll dig up the picture.

  5. Oh WendyB, I want to fly over and steal all your clothes! That VIP dress is so cheeky and just perfect. You look fantastic in everything you wear.
    I have no red tights, I need some. xxx

  6. Dear Wends,

    I like the way you March to the Beat of Your Own Drum Fashion Wise.

    Good for you.

    Meanwhile it is so hot here people are literally wilting.

  7. Ahhh more living nyfw vicariously through others! I love how your friend has the same Zang Toi dress you wore in the other post, she looks great in it! Your VIP dress could have fooled me, it looks like Jeremy Scott no?

    • I was totally thinking Christine was wearing the exact same Zang dress as me but now that I look, I think she is wearing the A-line version in the same fabric, while I have the sheath. I’ll have to ask her. Either way, it’s an awesomely flattering color, isn’t it!

      And yeah, Jeremy Scott does that kind of whimsical Moschino thing too with words. Don’t have any of his stuff yet but I’d like to!

  8. Wendy, your IFB Con ensemble was one of my faves. I swear you gave me my mojo before going on stage. I seriously kept thinking, “if you freak out, look at Wendy’s shoes.” They were my happy place! Prada might be a happy place for many a lady, come to think of it.

    You looked AMAZING, woman. Amazing. You know how sometimes you meet people IRL and they disappoint? (You’d know this since you rub shoulders with VIPs in NYC like, daily.) Well, in your case, you were so flawless in person. That red lipstick with your fair(ish) skin is divine. I wanted to put YOU on stage so badly.

    ••V••
    http://www.gritandglamour.com
    @gritandglamour

  9. I get that red tights are the tights of the season but this red weasel is green with envy!! What a fantastically fun time you must have had. And how fun to be with all those gorgeous bloggers. The VIP dress is brilliant!

    • I was totally embarrassed about that dress like, “Are people really going to think that I think I’m a VIP?” I’d been looking at the dress a while and didn’t get it because of that, but then I NEEDED something with a word on it for IFB!

  10. Those gold prada shoes are almost hotter than you and thats saying something.
    Am jumping on the red-legged bandwagon first thing tomorrow.

  12. What a great week for fashion! I love the cowboy dress and hat. I think the hat trumps the model’s height.

  13. In truth, I like to call the tights “deep fuchsia” and I wear them with everything. They’re as neutral as gold shoes!

    PS: Remind me never to stand next to you (aka the most photogenic human on the planet) in a photo again. You have to tell people I don’t look like a box in real life! 🙂

    • You are CR-AZ-EE about the photo. You looked hot to trot in that sexy dress. I’m ready to order one of those dresses from you.

      P.S. I’m going to insist those tights be “red.”

  15. So many fab photos! Those gold Prada shoes are hott! And I love that Zang told you to wear the cowboy hat with his dress.. so fitting!

    I also love red pants and just wore them, but it was more for a Valentine’s Day-themed look. 🙂

    xx, becs

  16. That post is chock full o’ fabulosity! Love your Prada shoes, VIP dress, Zang dress…and I even thought Jill Z looked great. That is a gorgeous gown!

  17. I LOVE THE VIP dress! The gold Prada shoes are to die for! I love how you wear whatever makes you happy! 🙂 I need to invest in some red fishnets and red tights.

  18. “Howdy ma’am. Wow’s the weather up there?” You crack me up :-).

    I love the cowboy dress, and the VIP dress with those prada sandals. Now I want to see the Vuitton sandals.

    Everyone looks wonderful. Never mind what Kristin says, she looks hot in the burnt orange dress.

    Thanks for sharing the fun!

    • Here’s my best shot of the Vuitton sandals. http://wendybrandes.com/blog/2010/01/ringing-in-2010-two-by-two/

      The leather is just peeling off in a lot of places now. They’re really quite a mess. But now that I have a replacement, I will probably wear the Vuittons even more, just casually, you know? Until that wobbly, oft-repaired heel gives out and I’m sprawled on the sidewalk. It’s hard for me to let go of things. I’m a fashion hoarder!

    • Franco Moschino had a great sense of humor. He made fashion seem happy. His successors have done a great job of keeping his spirit alive but I still miss him!

  21. Hi my dear-wow, you really are a VIP in this stunning dress, its very unique and chic you look gorgeous indeed!! Love the Zang Toi dress and stetson too and aren’t your Prada shoes just awesome, they are certainly showstopping!! xxx

  22. The whole red legs trend reminds me of grades 6 and 7 when my mom wouldn’t let me wear jeans, then finally relented but bought me red and purple jeans only, no blue ones. I still remember wearing a relatively new pair on a canoe trip and getting soaked in the rain; after I took them off my knees were stained pink!

  23. Oh Wendy I love you in that dress and in those awesome gold shoes. Also loving the red tights/shoes combo. I just need to find me some red shoes now….

  26. YOU are pretty rockin’ chica! In ALL of your ensembles!

    I am laughing at the red leg phenom, as I’ve been craving red tights all winter, and I know it’s from seeing so many bloggers rock ’em (the Clothes Horse being a perfect lovely example) and when I saw the black top/red legs on the IFB panel I KNEW we were in for a big red legged tipping point!

    I can marvel at your grand style and look forward to next IFB’s dress. How can you top VIP?

  28. I have been rocking red tights regularly as well! I will definitely send a picture. On my last post I did a WendyB pose, but it didn’t look as fab as yours does. Oh well, try try again they say!

    also .. i LOVE that VIP dress. such a great pick.

  29. I love the VIP dress and those amazing gold shoes!

    My Zang dress is indeed the A-line version of your more fitted sheath dress. I think I’ll be doing some alterations to the dress though. I have no doubt you’d win the “Who Wore It Best” contest!!!

    Loved you in the Zang cowboy dress and hat! You definitely stood out in the show!

  30. hahaha! I loved this post Wendy! Especially, b/c it is so true! A great summary of a fun night. It was awesome meeting all of you! XOXO

  32. I’m going to be honest, I skipped over most bloggers NYFW posts because they bored me to tears. Your post however, I read every word and loved it! The VIP dress and the Prada shoes <— to die for!

    I don't have any red tights or pants but now I'm thinking about them!

  35. You looked GREAT at Evolving Influence event!! Love your new golden shoes and it’s a great choice of dress as well. Your red-legged photo is adorable and I love how you wore the cowboy dress too. LOL at your “dreams of your new friend and you wearing matching Zang Toi dresses and Wendy Brandes jewelry on a yacht” to never be fulfilled now, haha