Fashion Week

“Excuse me. Sorry. Just trying to get by. Ow, my toe’s wet. Excusez-moi….” Last year’s Fashion’s Night Out was fun and all, but after repeating the preceding 5 phrases verbatim while fighting off the uptown scrum, I’ve resolved to take it easy this year. After all, Fashion’s Night Out is all about fun and scoring exclusives, free munchies, drinks, and that elusive picture with Kim Kardashian you can smugly upload to Twitter. Here’s our guide to maximize your ROF (return on fun) with minimal effort:

All-in-One

Ponytail bar, smokey eye station, DIY arm party bar and nail art from Rebecca Minkoff at Saks Fifth Avenue, 5th Floor at 611 Fifth Avenue.

One-upping her circus theme from last year, Stacey Bendet is planning an ’80s themed sleepover with chick flicks, braid bars, manicures, charm bracelet stations, tattoo bars, and palm readers at 80 West 40th Street. 

Beauty

The most iconic hairstyles to come out of Fashion Week (like last season’s side braid at Alexander Wang) come from the hands of Redken’s creative consultant, Guido Palau (just profiled in the NYTimes.) Redken stylists will be on hand at 565 Fifth Avenue between 46th and 47th Streets to give you the season’s trendiest hairstyles.

Come to Intermix at 812 Washington Street for makeup touchups from Benefit Beauty and music from The Knocks.

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Starting from the smoke billowing from the red-lacquered doors to the runway, Jason Wu’s Fall/Winter 2012 was full of modernized, sleek, Chinese iconography. He took his cues from China’s Mao collars, slinky cheongsams, military jackets, and flower prints to create richly tailored wearables that would still appeal to his most famous client, Michelle Obama. I love the strength and context added by the reinforced piping up and down skirt and coat seams. In the interest of furthering U.S/China relations, here’s to seeing Michelle wear one of these outfits a future Obama-Hu meeting.

Photos: Style.com

Photos: Style.com

Herve Leger = body-conscious bandage dresses. There’s no two ways about it. But for Fall/Winter 2012, designer Max Azria took it one step further and brought a seriously sexy, warrior-equestrian vibe to his lady.

The horizontal bandaging was sleeker this season, spliced into thinner strips that criss-crossed across the ribs and torso like skeletal armor. The highlight of the show were his made-to-measure leather bondage harnesses that fit so closely over the body you couldn’t tell where the dress and harness began. The harnesses went over the shoulder and cinched around the waist. I spied strict instructions back-stage for model fitters informing them, “DO NOT ADJUST BUCKLES” under any circumstances.

While there were some silhouette variations with A-Line and a wide sweeping, pleated finale gown, Leger kept most of his designs figure-hugging enough to please any starlet.  He kept to a popular color palette for Fall, with lots of maroon, taupe, and black, adding some metallic chain prints and threads of glimmer. Long, brushed ponytails and gladiator sandals finished the look. What are your thoughts–would you buy a bandage dress + a harness?

Photos: Style.com