Peace and Love from the Second Row at NYFW!

by Emily Chandler-Westergreen

The 60s have been creeping up on us for the past several seasons, but coming up for Spring 2016, prepare yourself for a virtual Woodstock. Boho, fringe and tie dies were splashed all over the runways, along with that wonderful color orange (which has been back for awhile). So dig back through last seasons Goodwill bag and hang on to that orange jumpsuit that you HAD to have, yet never wore.  

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Oh orange, how we love thee...but the love is not always returned. Sometimes it's best saved for Tennessee fans or those who had too much fun Saturday night and get to engage in "community beautification." Heavy hitters like Prabal Gurung and Jeremy Scott disagree, so like a good fashionista, I will happily don my head-to-orangeiness, pallor be damned! 

Festival Chic couture style has a made a comeback largely in part of the coolness factor of all these big music festivals like Coachella, and the 40-year-old wanna be raver who can afford a $600 designer dress to stand behind the VIP ropes at TomorrowWorld next weekend and sip her rosé. (Which, if all goes well, will be me.)

Jenna Lyons & Emily Chandler Westergreen

Mara Hoffman

I watched the Mara Hoffman SS16 RTW show from the second row. Yes, I said SECOND, which would normally be a horror story too tragic to live to tell, but I got to sit directly behind Jenna Lyons, aka "the woman who dresses America." So I embraced my second tier status and the opportunity to chat with the quirky J.Crew goddess, who is just as funny and approachable as you would want her to be. She was intrigued with the concept of Underground Runway. I mean, obviously, why wouldn't she jump at the opportunity to get last season's J.Crew at a fraction of the price? Duh! 

So I sat delightfully in the NYFW equivalent of the Titanic's "steerage", hoping to absorb even 1/100th of her quirky mismatched style through osmosis. IT worked! Suddenly I have an urge to wear a full length sequin maxi paired with a flannel button up and topped off with a fur vest. Who cares that it's 92° outside? Apparently the osmosis was so strong it wafted all the way to Atlanta and transferred to my preschool age daughter. You know, come to think of it, that's eerily similar to what she tried to convince me to let her wear last week to soccer practice!

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