Nordstrom GQ Menswear Collection - Bellevue Fashion Week

When you see runway shows, the majority of the looks are all for women, but what about the fellas? Doesn't a Jaunty Gentleman deserve to feel stylish and be a fashionable standout?? Nordstrom and GQ Magazine was the match made in heaven at this year's Bellevue Fashion Week. For the last few years, the Nordstrom show has always been one of my favorites, putting some really beautiful ready-to-wear looks together, reminding you that you don't have to do haute couture to make a statement. This year, they made the bold choice to go with nearly all menswear (as you can see from this shot of the final runway lap, there were a few ladies in the mix!). This was a great decision, not just for bolstering the spirits of fashionable fellows wanting inspiration, but for this annual fashion week as a whole, mixing things up and showing that style is not owned by any single person or gender, it's an expression we can all participate in.

The Birdy's all aflutter -- there's a busy week ahead, because my-oh-my, it's time for Fashion Week in Bellevue again! It's a sign that the year is truly flying, because it seems last year's shows were not that long ago. And perhaps that's just a reflection of fashion itself -- it moves fast, it's unrelenting, and beauty can truly be fierce.

You can just hear Madonna's song, Vogue, playing in your head when you think of the Front Row Fashion runway show, presented by Vogue Magazine. It's the show that sells out the quickest, given its Vogue pedigree, it's a trend-driven vs designer runway show, it has the widest array of clothing from different shops throughout The Bellevue Collection, and of course, there's the marvelous goodie bag they have for each attendee. Front Row Fashion is like the big Saturday night fashion party, where people get inspired by the runway and immediately head out to "shop the show" with new ideas over how to give their wardrobe a refreshing hit of style. 

Vogue's Anne Vincent was back to introduce the show, as well as talk trends with style expert and television host, Lawrence Zarian, who was a Fashion Week special guest. As always, there can be no style without substance, and this year's tickets went to benefit The Moyer Foundation, a favorite local charity that reaches out to families in need and provides them the support they need during difficult times.     

As always, this is the most crowd-excited show. It's a Saturday night, you see groups of girlfriends in their highest heels and most favorite new outfit, getting together to get excited about style. It's the night I have the most fun for Fashion Week, as I usually get together with a group of friends and we wander the stores and make an evening of it. I kept the merriment to a minimum this year, but still had a great time with runway photos. The show selects wearable trends and it's meant to make fashion feel accessible. I think sometimes high fashion becomes almost too theatrical, which makes it feel unattainable to most people who just want to feel put-together. I love edgy looks and high-concept ideas, but I do agree that at the end of the day, we live in the clothes we wear, and sometimes five-inch platform heels studded with jewels and spikes might be a bit much for a quick trip to the grocery store. So let's appreciate fashion for its wearable quality, as much as its innovation, shall we? 

These are some of the favorite photos from Front Row Fashion. There were many more outfits, but these looks had the most impact, interest or best represented the trend themes the show was divided into. I hope you feel inspired to give some of these looks a try!

Layer Logic: fall-ready combinations that mix textures, materials and lengths to create interesting layered looks. L to R: Talbots, Eileen Fisher, Vince


Sport Chic: active wear mixed with everyday casual; making fitness fashionable and giving an everyday look a sporty, urban feel. L to R: Lucy, Hugo Boss, Lucy


Power Play - Suiting: traditional suit styles don't have to be boring. Use unusual layering, accessories and material/color choices for interest. L to R: Banana Republic, Hugo Boss, Banana Republic 


Power Play - Dresses: the daytime dress can be as strong as a power suit. Colors and materials ensure a dress means business. L to R: Nordstrom (Cynthia Steffe), Hugo Boss, Nordstrom (Robert Rodriguez)


Bold and Beautiful: a monochromatic or neutral look is a perfect canvas to showcase bold accessories. L to R: Nordstrom (Kristen Blake, Vince Camuto), Nordstrom (June, J Brand, Marc Jacobs), Nordstrom (Haute Hippie, Michael Kors)


Urban Mix: don't fear mixing prints and patterns! Use them as you would color blocking,  making sure one print is clearly dominant over the other, and that they compliment each other in color or pattern. L to R: Ann Taylor, Aritzia, 7 for All Mankind 


Coat Crusade - bold colors and shapes: say goodbye to the all-black overcoat; embrace different silhouettes and colors/materials. L to R: Ann Taylor, Hugo Boss, Hugo Boss 


Coat Crusade - outerwear as a statement: let your outerwear be as fierce as your outfit with leather or fur (faux is fine). L to R: Hugo Boss, Vince, Hugo Boss


Show Stoppers - color and texture: use an all-over jewel-toned color or a luxe-textured material to light up a room for your next special occasion. L to R: Hugo Boss, Hugo Boss, Nordstrom (Abi Ferrin)  


Show Stoppers - classic shapes with sparkle and detail: never let a cocktail dress or LBD be "basic." Seek out dazzling details to be the hit of the party. L to R: Macy's (Xcape), Nordstrom (Sean Collection), Nordstrom (Sean Collection)


Jaunty Fine Print: photography by Denise Sakaki, shops/designers listed above

The house lights dim, a hush blankets the crowd. A blitz of color and light appear from the background and a booming sound of percussive beats and electronica fills the air. Tall, lithe models walk along the u-shaped catwalk, swaying in step to the music with focused stares towards a faraway place. The proverbial curtain has risen on the modern theater of Nordstrom's Fall 2009 Runway Show. Let the drama begin.

The French popularized salons in the 17th and 18th centuries, creating public spheres of intellectual and cultural gatherings, as well as showings of art. It was a place to see what ideas were presented as much as it was a place to be seen, and the fashion catwalks of our 21st century continue to keep that flame alive. The Bellevue Collection's Fashion Week presented yet another dazzling event on Wednesday night, with Nordstrom unveiling pieces from the fall 2009 collections from ten designers, including: Vince, Boss Orange, Elizabeth & James, Milly, Rag & Bone, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Leifsdottir, Haute Hippie, Boss Black, and Diane von Furstenburg.

Runway shows exemplify why fashion is exciting. The music, the excitement of the crowd, the clothing itself -- it's truly an expression of the mind's concept of style, fully realized in a physical form. It is performance art, rooted in emotion and aesthetic. A glint of light off a silvery sequin or the subtle sheen of hammered silk against a moving form are amplified in the public sphere of music, rhythmn and an eager audience. The heightened senses elevate the experience far beyond wandering through a department store.

Overall, the show presented a wide display of very wearable styles. Nothing too avant-garde or wild, which is respectful of the audience -- most people want to be inspired off the rack and not try to decipher a conceptual or absurd menagerie straight out of Derelicte, Mugatu's arcane collection from the movie Zoolander. This was a show to elevate everyday and evening wear, influencing people towards thinking smarter and making intelligent choices.



The presence of layering has been apparent across the fashion board, and the menswear of Boss Orange and Marc by Marc Jacobs really exemplified the visual interest of incorporating a variety of materials (knits, silks, leather) in smart combinations and slim-fit silhouettes. These looks stood out in comparison to looks from Rag & Bone, which went for safer pairings of loose, casual pieces, which seemed dull in comparison to the more bold choices. The womens' clothing of Rag & Bone were more compelling, with confident tailoring and sleek layering that did not add extra heft to the outfits, while maintaining their urbane look.

Hipster-nerd chic appeared in several collections -- thick-rimmed glasses were worn by several of the models, adding a distinctive but purposeful edge to looks. This particular accessory has been making the rounds of late, both on and off the runways. While more visual decor than visual aid, it's a fashion prop that is both delightfully self-aware, and with a sense of Pacific Northwest humor this Bird can appreciate.



Similar combinations of materials and detail were present throughout women's pieces in the collections: refined silks and crushed faux furs from Elizabeth & James, chunky-tweedy coats woven with metallic thread and crisp ruffles from Milly. A tactile presence appeared on several items, ranging from soft and feathered bohemia to rock and roll metal hardware. Women of course have the delightful dilemma of a wide array of options for clothing styles, and the variety of textiles and fit made it clear that in this season, individuality is celebrated, and there is an encouragement to break rules and wear pieces that can span seasons. The presence of tights and leggings continued their reign, giving summer sandals a second life as autumn footwear options, and grounding the silky, diaphanous pieces from Haute Hippie for layered outfits in winter's chill.


Not that this Bird likes to play favorites... but she will. The collections that were most vibrant and full of stylish life were the pieces from Leifsdottir and Haute Hippie. With their graphic bold prints and vintage flourishes, Leifsdottir is like the smart, romantic art student who dreams of strolling the rain-soaked streets of Paris, and Haute Hippie is the free-spirited socialite who spends as much time in London as she does New York, swathed in a dramatic swirl of fur, feathers and sequins to herald her comings and goings. The fashion show crowd definitely gave Diane von Furstenburg's pieces the most audible support of cheers, especially the final tah-dah piece of a black and white 60s style paillette dress, but Leifsdottir and Haute Hippie were the ones that truly stole this Bird's jaunty heart.

Not to forget the real show of the night -- watching over five hundred of the Eastside's elite, dressed in their finery, showing off their fashion sense in the wide expanse of the Hyatt Regency's Wintergarden wing. It was an interesting thing to see that the runway looks were not much different from what the guests were wearing, as the style mood was bold and intrepid. Even the young children in attendance were adorned in their precocious best, as if they stepped straight from a page of The Sartorialist. People wove about the displays of items from Nordstrom, laid out on tables and pedestals like rare art. Colorblocked cashmere scarves with butter-soft leather gloves folded over each one like delicate hands, pumps and boots set up along tables like scupltures -- an appropriate decor that was both aesthetic and available for purchase. Observing all the beautifully-dressed guests inhabit the space, it was hard not to expect someone to break into song, and everyone suddenly step in time to a number reminiscent of the Ascot Race Day sequence in George Cukor's film, My Fair Lady.

The most fashionable thing about the evening was of course the $35,000 raised to benefit the Detlef Schrempf Foundation. Now in its fourth year, the Nordstrom runway show has proven yet again that fashion and goodwill are a most stylish pairing, indeed. Great thanks to Nordstrom for putting on an exciting show and raising awareness for a worthy cause.

Famed American photographer Richard Avedon had once said, "Fashion is how we live in the world," and director R.J. Cutler cites it as an answer over the role fashion plays in a seemingly unadorned reality. For as much as one wishes to believe that clothing does not, in fact, make the man, it is a difficult argument to pose against the statistics that one in ten Americans will purchase the fall issue of Vogue magazine, and that the industry of fashion is a pivotal factor behind cultural and economic influence. Clothing is individual expression, and it is both the armor and invisible cloak with which one adorns themselves every day before facing the world, and Cutler's new documentary, The September Issue, seeks to examine the surprising frailty within the ivory towers of haute couture.

So how does an acclaimed documentarian like R.J. Cutler, who holds credits with such projects like The War Room, American High, or 30 Days, find social relevance in the seams of hemlines? Much like the chronicling of a political team taking a candidate to the White House, taking an influential magazine to press is much the same -- it is driven by its people, obsessed with a passion to succeed and accepting nothing less than excellence, amid emotional sacrifices.

Now in its fourth year, The Bellevue Collection Fashion Week played host to the premiere of director R.J. Cutler's documentary, The September Issue, at the debut of Bellevue's six-day celebration of style. Already this year's film festival darling, the movie had the unprecedented freedom of taking cameras into the venerable halls of Vogue magazine to film the making of their prominent fall issue, and rarer-still, a strikingly genuine glimpse at editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, a figure as renowned for her influence over the fashion industry, as she is her inscrutable personality. Along with Wintour, a rogue's gallery of style figures are brought forth, and through the film's patient narrative, the fine viscose of pretense is peeled back to reveal a vulnerable texture more complex and sublime than any woven textile.

At the beginning of the film, amidst a mad rush of sumptuous images and a flurry of celebrity flashbulbs, Wintour's crisp, cool voice rings clear: There is something about fashion that makes people nervous. It is something not fully understood or realized, so it's easier to ridicule it or pass it off as frivolity. People are scared of fashion. A bold statement, but the visual parade of soundbites and anxious co-workers scrambling to prepare for her entrance into the building are proof of Wintour's reign as the all-knowing steward of this publishing vessel. The story establishes her public image as an icy regent lording over the style masses, a nod to the caricature in Laura Weisberger's The Devil Wears Prada, but the facade drops away and an executive-minded leader emerges. Sharply intellectual, decisive to a fault, cameras follow Wintour as she clips through her daily decisions with nary a hint of hesitation, nor a brandishing of the mythic claws she is so infamously known for concealing beneath a mink sleeve. The film does not seek to pander to public expectation. In a scene at a Yalta-like brunch of fashion industry moguls, a brusque comment by Neiman Marcus CEO Burton Tansky over the need for retailers to be able to manage the finite supply of luxury goods against the strong demand the magazine creates, elicits a shrewd acknowledgement from the fashionista. While peers would rather discuss stylish details, it is Wintour who agrees with Tansky that less is more, and the bottom line of commerce cannot be ignored. The distinct void of absurdity in the way she operates Vogue makes it ironic that it is a magazine that bears so many slings and arrows of facetious excess.

A curious portrait of a woman who is very much her strict Victorian father's daughter takes shape. Director Cutler makes note in the press conference that one can tell a lot about a person when they talk about their family, and Wintour shares a surprising amount of her personal background. Her daughter eschews her mother's legacy, looking towards a future in law. Wintour's siblings, all equally influential figures in publishing and the world at large, are described as simply being "very amused" at what their sister Anna does, a pedantic remark that is quoted lightly, but clearly the sentiment leaves razor marks in Wintour's passion. A delicate vulnerability is revealed, even if only for glimpses throughout the film, but they are compelling reminders of the soft underbelly of this sphinx-like figure. Those rare moments are both poignant and scalding in their honesty.

To balance the judicious yin of Anna Wintour comes the artistic yang of Vogue's creative director, Grace Coddington. A wild mane of ginger hair contains the artistic mind behind the magazine's most conceptual fashion spreads for over thirty years. Having a similar background to Wintour, Coddington started out as a model before becoming involved in the publication and moving steadily through the ranks to eventually establish her directorship title. Where Wintour's view of the magazine is a measured balance of aesthetic and commerce, Coddington speaks of the magazine through the dreamy looking glass of adolescent memories and its escapism from life in a small Welsh town. It's no wonder that her distinctive layouts are panoramas plucked from an imaginarium of surreal delights, as they speak to her own passion behind fashion's ability to transport a person to somewhere truly otherworldly. It's also little surprise that her abstract concepts are often at odds with Wintour's editor initiatives. The two women spar often, sometimes with veiled glee, and other times with genuine animosity -- most notably when a key spread, art directed and shot under Coddington's helm, is surreptitiously cut by Wintour. It is easy to brush off her anger as the tantrums of a frustrated artist, but Coddington's counterpoint is reflected in a poignant quiet confession. While on location at the palace of Versailles outside of Paris, she stares out at the lonesome horizon of the celebrated gardens, musing that she felt she got left somewhere behind, and that she was still a romantic. The clothing, designers and photographers disappear from the audience's mind. Coddington's brilliant artistic insight is presented like a delicate insect trapped in amber, preserved for future generations to marvel at, but trapped all the same, as her passion and devotion to her vision will never release her from a struggle to reach that artistic ideal. One cannot help but feel grateful for her art, and the passion to wrestle this beast every month, and hopefully for many years to come.

This is not a movie simply about expensive clothing and an excuse to moon over catwalk glamour. Real people inhabit the story, and a particularly compelling relationship between these two halves of Vogue's braintrust is defined. Neither Wintour nor Coddington can thrive without the other. In the pre-screening discussion with R.J. Cutler, he describes that his takeaway from shooting this film is the relationships, and the same level of trust he and his crew patiently earns from his skeptical subjects is a hard-won victory for the benefit of audiences' delight. Spanning the quiet, introspective moments of subject interviews to the dry gallow's humor of the magazine's office nearing their final deadline, the aloof world of fashion becomes tangible and human. After seeing The September Issue, it is difficult to look at an issue of Vogue without recognizing the world Richard Avedon spoke of, acknowledging the very real faces that populate this landscape of fashion and how their lives influence and inspire our own.

A very special thanks is extended towards R.J. Cutler for presenting his film, Vogue magazine for partnering with The Bellevue Collection for this year's fabulous Fashion Week, STIR Martini + Raw Bar for hosting the stylish afterparty, and a big merci to Bellevue.com for providing the media pass that let me experience this amazing film.