5 Style Lessons Courtesy of Cameron Silver, Steven Kolb, Glenda Bailey, Tadashi Shoji & Ken Downing in the American Express Skybox

20 Feb 5 Style Lessons Courtesy of Cameron Silver, Steven Kolb, Glenda Bailey, Tadashi Shoji & Ken Downing in the American Express Skybox

Here on The City, we are all about cultivating personal style, luckily, we can look to some of our favorite celebrities for a few style lessons.

Are you sick of me talking about the Skybox (ps, that ^^ is what the Tashadi Shoji show looked like from the Skybox–sigh), yet? I still can’t believe it. I actually miss it. In addition to dropping serious inspirational gems, there were style lessons dropped all throughout the q+as. And I lived for it. When else are you going to be able to talk style with someone of the most influential people in the fashion industry? No, seriously. Tell me when.

The thing that stuck out to me most was most of the guests who stopped by the Skybox after the fashion shows, were such champions for New York fashion. They all thought that we were viable against Paris and liiiiived for Marc Jacobs. And couldn’t be more excited about Alexander Wang heading to Balenciaga. It’s like all were saying hey world, New York is here! Don’t eff with us.

So perfect, right? Amidst all of the cheers for New York Fashion Week, I picked up some pretty indispensable style tips. Ready? Shall we get to it?

1. When Shopping Vintage, Ask if Your Body Type Lends Itself to a Decade

Everyone swears everything is vintage all of a sudden. I am often confused between about the difference between vintage and regular ole consignment, Cameron Silver–soon to be Bravo reality TV star and founder of Decades in LA–put all that to rest for me. I was worried that shopping vintage would make me look like Hannah from Girls, ill fitting clothing that did nothing for my body. Christian’s suggestion, figure out whether your body type lends itself to a decade. I’m all flat everything so I think I can get away with the style of dress from the 20s and big shoulders of the 80s. See more of his tips for shopping vintage here.

2. We are Moving Toward Season-less Fashion

One that thing was definitely reiterated by several different people was the industry could be heading toward season-less fashion. There is always this predicament during Fashion Week, you see these wonderful clothes but won’t be able to have them for another six or seven months and you have to ask yourself if you’ll still care. It’s important to also take into consideration fast-fashion havens like Forever 21 and Zara and the effect they have on the industry. CEO of the  Council of Fashion Designers of America Steven Kolb thinks season-less fashion is definitely the way of the future. Maybe not now, but at some point.  “Technology has really changed things, and eventually, I don’t know that this will happen in my lifetime, but we may go season less at some point,” he told guests in the Skybox.

3. Buy Pieces You Can Stretch Between Seasons

While Steven Kolb most definitely has a point in his assessment that fashion could be headed to the season-less, Glenda Bailey, editor-in-chief of Harper’s Bazaar has a simple solution. “One quick update for Fall is leopard’s skin,” said Glenda. “I see one lady’s already wearing it–ME!–looking very chic. It’s coming back in a major way, if you buy it now, you can have it for a whole 12 months.”

4. Choose Comfort. Always 

When Tadashi Shoji stopped by the Skybox, he was the absolute sweetest. What was so funny to me, how was removed he seemed from the fashion industry which seems to champion itself on the ideal that beauty is pain. Mr. Shoji–who couldn’t be more excited about dressing Octavia Spencer for her last couple of public appearances–told us a story about a reporter who had ‘dressed up’ for him in painful platforms and a too tight dress. “If you aren’t comfortable and the pain shows on your face, that isn’t beautiful,” he told us after describing the test that he gives his dresses. “Just be comfortable.” I think that’s a good rule of thumb don’t you? But how many of us will listen to that?

5. Get Thee Some Lashes. And an Orange Bag

Ken Downing, Neiman Marcus’ senior vice president waxed philosophical about Spring trends and broke down exactly what we need that won’t have us looking like a slave to fashion–just updated. An orange handbag is the perfect pop of color. You want your cheeks to look like Kerry Washington‘s, he didn’t really say that but that’s what I took “you want your cheeks to look like the sun kissed you but not like you make it your business to lay out in the sun,” to mean. Oh, and then there’s this:. Ken swears we all need to go stock up on false lashes. At least two pair.

So my friends, what do you think about this week’s style lessons? I think that they all have pretty great tips. I’m not going to lie, it’s very refreshing to talk about fashion from an intellectual place, too.