Even in Death it Becomes Her

Hey Y'all,
I attended the Century of Mourning Attire exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum's Anna Wintour Costume Center. The pieces ranged between 1815-1915. It was interesting to see the progression of fabrics accepted by society as the years passed.
You were expected to follow the rules of etiquette when mourning for a loved one. They even provided catalogs on the subject; explaining what dress to buy, the length, how long to wear the garment for, how to conduct yourself in public (or I should say how long you should seclude yourself from public life, etc). This was especially true for women. When traveling you were expected to bring your mourning outfits with you in case someone passed away on the trip. Having such a tragedy occur and not having the right attire would be a huge sign of disrespect.

As we all know the color for mourning is black. Eventually the longer you mourned the lighter the color your ensembles would become.
This both encouraged sympathy from the public and allowed gentlemen to know when you were publicly available again. This was extremely important for everyone to know because a sexually experienced woman without marital constraints was considered a potential threat to society's order (courtesy the MET). 

Women were required to wear this crape (a hard scratchy material) veil over their faces. It was difficult to dye clothing to black and the material used for this crape would irritate the eyes and sometimes cause blindness. Gentlemen didn't have to suffer such risks; they just needed to wear a dark suit.

It must be noted that regardless of what purpose these pieces served, your wealth was still present in determining your social class (Funny, even in a death you are still labeled).
As years passed these outfits became more modern: laces were introduced, different color embroidery on dresses, silks and satin were added.
It's interesting how these dresses have changed and how society still makes me poor!

Jacob Taylor

Hey Y'all,
I attended the launch party of Jacob Taylor clothing line created by Fashion Stylist Fatiah Rebbekkah partnered with Destiny Melendez and Mayra at Basha Studios. The Ready to Wear line is colorful and shows a lot of skin for the Spring time.

Milly Fashion Show at Lincoln

Hey Y'all,
I was finally able to make it to some Fashion Week shows. First up is the Milly by Michelle Smith show at Lincoln Center Stage. Her style has a lot of texture and the colors are rich. She started her line in 2001 and has done wonders with it. Her collection includes bags and accessories and a line for younger fashionistas.
Milly's Spring 2013 collection has a great contrast of soft hues with bold and edgy dark colors. She has this one dress in a soft pale white with black pattern design that looked like wisps of smoke when the model was walking. She mixes black and bold yellows and greens while adding sheer and fishnet material. Her line appeals to both the sophisticated and flirty women. Milly has a flagship store in New York located at 900 Madison Avenue. I really like her style; I feel like I can wear them anywhere.

Added perk to this show was Olympic gold medalist Ryan Lochte; who was an EXTRA TV correspondent! The girls were all over him.

I'm not sure which venue I like better--Bryant Park and Lincoln Center--but there definitely is a lot more room at Lincoln.

They have an outdoor patio where they set up a Diet Pepsi DJ booth and photo backdrop. People were allowed to smoke there. Caboodles (celebrating their 25 year anniversary!), Maybelline, WGSN, Style, TRESemme and of course Mercedes-Benz were some of the sponsors that had booths set up in the vestibule area. I spotted Joan Rivers there.

Photography by Margarita Acevedo