Yesterday night, I went to Doo.Ri’s Spring 2010 show. It was elegant and though cutting edge for her, relatively tame in comparison to most shows, in a relatively tame year.

I was lucky enough to snap a few photos while sitting, but regrettably realised once I was pinned into my seat on both sides by eager Doo.Ri addicts that I would have gotten better photos standing.

These are the interesting platform netted shoes Ms. Chung showed. The nets somewhat obscure the silver sheen effect from the back, but from the front and sides, the sheen is much more evident. I liked all the views of the shoe.

Doo.Ri is a master at draping, and here, she masterfully drapes the shoe nets so that the models won’t trip over any wayward netting. I couldn’t help wondering, however, what would happen if one of those pieces of fabric came loose. Just one tiny little piece.

Heel detail is always so sexy and so dangerous! Beware the walker!

Like vines, the black netting turns into wiry, stringy bits that curl and twist around the top of the foot. It must be some kind of wire, not just string. This could be a DIY project for your own shoes at home. Grab some wire and twist it around the front of your shoe and attach - et voila! Result not promised to look like this.

The shoes were sometimes paired with similarly webby, meshy stockings. These looked almost glutinous, like they would come off like a facial peel or saran wrap that was sticky and jelly-like. Silver chain purses were de rigeur. A lot of thought went into the accessories and they played a big part in this show. (I hate when the accessories seem like just an afterthought).

As you can see, the color themes stuck to silver and grey with a smattering of blue and pink. Grey is my favorite color so I was well pleased. Grey, to me, is so dignified, ladylike and pretty. And grey shoes go with everything, don’t they? Perhaps grey is the new black, indeed.

Lips were greyish silver matte with just a tinge of violet on some of the models. Hair was loose and girlish. Doo.Ri is a restrained lady. That’s what a lot of people love about her. She’s the anti-Betsey Johnson, even the anti-Anna Sui in many ways. Not better, just different.

Doo.Ri was inspired for this collection by an installation by Annette Messager called My Wish Is Under Netting.

Outside of fashion, performance and art are my life, and sculpture and installation are my favorite forms of art. I can see why Doo.Ri was so moved by Messager’s work, which involves putting seemingly innocuous objects that actually emote strongly below netting or between string, as in these photos.

Doo.Ri is so restrained, so encapsulated by form and constriction, but the net she uses seems to be her toy. She plays with the very form that restrains her. Perhaps the master’s tools can dismantle the master’s house, in this house of fashion. Perhaps that’s the only way, in most fashion.

Doo.Ri’s necklaces and belts reflected these tendencies with string and netting as well. The necklaces were whimsical and lovely.

And sure, Doo.Ri does sexy and risque and edgy! She swears! (Well, at least, for her… but in comparison to the Italians, our fair lady of draping’s a practical nun!)

Well done, Ms. Chung! I hope I get a chance to buy these draped net/string/wire platforms someday! And P.S., thanks for playing a band I love, Passion Pit!

You can watch highlights in the video below.

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It was grey and raining outside Band of Outsiders Spring 2010 presentation. No one was please that it was going to start 15 minutes late and that we wouldn’t even be allowed inside the main building to escape from the rain before it began. That is, we were annoyed until we walked in and saw that Scott Sternberg and team had taken a bare NY studio and transformed it into Los Angeles, beachside. Models stood in the sand, wearing the fun English childhood collection that Sternberg put together. It was awesome! There were huge sand dunes with grasses “growing” out of them. A pond with model-controlled electronic boats was next to an abandoned sailboat. One model stood above the rest, atop a huge rock, while another scanned the sand with a metal detector. A clever scene from a man who took the time to thank both Snuffaluffagus and the Cookie Monster in his show notes.

And as for the shoes, they were clever too. The men wore Band of Outsiders for Sperry custom designed boat shoes in that particularly soft nubbly grey that you find in your favorite sweatpants, though I couldn’t quite see if it was, in fact, sweatpant material. Sternberg collaborated with Manolo Blahnik on the women’s footwear making some incredibly cute suspender sandals. Straps were wrapped around the model’s feet and hooked to the other side with a suspender clip. The same patter was used in some very cool miniskirts as well.

Take a look at this merry Band of Outsiders.

The guy on the left is my favorite male model of Fashion Week: Thiago.

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Yesterday, r5bales showed you Christian Siriano’s new shoe collection, which will eventually be reimagined for Payless. His last collection was toned-down considerably for sale to the general public, so it remains to be seen what will happen to his newest heel innovation: The Claw.

To recap:

But it seems that Siriano is not the only designer to have decided that The Claw is the way to go for Spring 2010. Tomy Cohen, who showed his deconstructed collection at Bryant Park yesterday, seems to have embraced a similar aesthetic. Check it out:

Admittedly, Cohen’s Claw is not nearly as pronounced as Siriano’s (we are talking about CHRISTIAN SIRIANO here), but it still doesn’t look that stable to me.

So tell me, what do you think of The Claw? And while you’re thinking about it, check out more of Tony Cohen’s collection as well as the Larare for Tony Cohen footwear collection.

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I’ve made my love for Bill Cunningham, the tweedy New York Times street fashion photographer and commentator, well known in the past. Well, Bill has gone to Fashion Week and has made a shoe declaration. (And no, he doesn’t declare that women are in grave danger of having their stilettos fall into subway grates, as this woman is. LA women have to weave adeptly through freeway traffic by putting stiletto metal to the pedal; New York women must constantly be on guard against their heels getting caught in a grate and catapulting them face first onto the ground.)

“This is Fashion Week in New York. In New York, everything is oversized, as always.

On Seventh Avenue, the models, hundreds of them, going to go-sees with designers, or to fittings. There was everywhere, all over the city, something was going on. There was Fashion’s Night Out, on Thursday.

The amazing part about the models, as they went to their go-sees, many of them, with the shoes with the heels. THERE’S NO QUESTION THE SHOE IS THE FORCE OF FASHION AT THIS MOMENT, and the higher and the most treacherous heel, is the one that everyone wants.”

“Except, on Wednesday, I saw something I never thought I’d see in my life, and I’ve been around 80 years. Shoes, platform shoes, without heels. Now you’ve heard of the Chinese binding feet. You want to see women in torture (laughs) — it’s unbelievable. You talk about loony bin.”

“Don’t try the shoes without the heels,” Bill warns.

I’m surprised Bill hasn’t seen heelless shoes yet, but it must have something to do with him photographing street fashion more than runway fashion, and being in New York rather than Hollywood.

I’m sorry, Bill, but I want a pair of heelless heels!

Watch this video for the full dosage of Bill.

Or here are a few of Bill’s rough thoughts on how people in fashion don’t like “pretty” and how Fashion Week is not at all about “reality.”

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In keeping with the theme of a lazy weekend at the beach, in 1946, we turn our eye to Rosa Cha. If you don’t know this line, you probably should; it’s an award-winning bathing suit line designed by Brazilian, Amir Slama. It has an insane following. And gorgeous criss-crossy wedge sandals set off the line fabulously.

Please excuse any fuzziness; these photos were taken whilst the girls were in motion.

I love that it kind of looks like a high heel embedded in a wedge. It’s the modern equivalent to the Roman bas relief sculpture, no? I don’t love the pantaloon tied around the food inside the shoe, but the shoe itself rocks. And the criss-crossy (I want to write the Kris Kross…remember them…Jump! Jump!) ones are even better.

On the other hand we have Jen Kao. She showed a very architectural collection paired with stunning jewelry and incredible shoes. Each model wore the same pair of shoes. Can you see why?

Jen Kao’s bathing suit is decidedly not 50s, we’re talking about 2050. The dress on the showcases several trends for Spring 2010. We have the body-conscious silhouette, the miniskirt, the pale pinks and greys, the strong shoulder, and the corset top. Welcome to the future.

Jen herself wore some leather ankle flames to her show. No, that is not a metaphor. See for yourself.

I borrowed the Jen Kao photos from style.com. Unfortunately, mine were just too blurry.

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