Lady in Red, Again and Again

The topic of the thirteenth annual New York Fashion Conference has been revealed: "Red: Allure, Style, and Significance." Who would've thought that the power of red was something large enough to be discussed at this yearly event — better yet, who thought it wasn't?

The dashing power color is a recurring favorite for many top designers, including Dior, Lanvin, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent. During the conference, the history of red will be examined, as well as its birth into the world of fashion and its psychological symbolism, which has a prime role in all cultures across the board.

The event is scheduled to take place at CUNY on the weekend of Dec. 3. Award-winning filmmaker Matt Tyranauer and InStyle Magazine creative director Hal Rubenstein will share a few words, along with the authors of Pantone: The 20th Century in Color, Leatrice Eiseman and Keith Recker.

If you could ask one question about the power of this ever-recurring color of fashion, what would it be?

Text Brittney Schering
Image Marie Claire

InStyle Hires New Fashion Columnist

While I am not one to applaud magazines that hire celebrities to be fashion columnists or contributors (ahem, Rita Wilson and Harper's BAZAAR, cough, cough), InStyle magazine just announced this week that they've brought on Rachel Bilson (of the O.C. fame) to write a monthly style column about trends. While this may seem like cheap ploy to get magazines off the shelves (or Bilson's career back in the limelight), that seems rather dubious since a) InStyle has dominated fashion magazine sales so far this year and b) Rachel Bilson is hardly a celebrity.

So, in other words, this partnership may actually work.

When Bilson was on the O.C., celebrity stylist Nicole Chavez used to style her on and off camera. But since those hey deys of having all the fashion footwork done for you, Bilson has actually been able to forge her way with some pretty interesting style choices.

Since InStyle has a tendency to promote $15,000 watches alongside $500 shirts, I would like to see a column that promotes new labels, forward-thinking designers, and trendy options that both readers and pseudo-celebritities can all afford.