Spring 2011 New York Fashion Week

>> Brian Reyes, who showed his first collection for the Spring 2006 season, failed to pop up as usual at New York Fashion Week last month for the Spring 2011 season. According to a source at Reyes, the designer did create a Spring 2011 collection, but he's now focusing on private sales, of which he has seen a major uptick in the last 18 months. When reached for comment on whether Reyes's main line had been discontinued, a spokesperson confirmed that the brand had shifted focus and is currently "working on different projects." [Fashionista]

>> Laura and Kate Mulleavy recently announced that they're collaborating with Opening Ceremony on womenswear, menswear, shoes, handbags, eyewear, hosiery for Spring under the label Rodarte for Opening Ceremony. Laura sat down with the retailer to talk about creating prints for their own label — "For the new [Spring 2011] collection, we did about 20 prints and 12 of them were off '70s wood paneling, different floorboards" — and their month-long quest for the right button: "We used a button for the first time, and that was traumatic! We needed one for this pair of shorts because it looked cute. And I hate buttons. So, we looked for buttons for a month at every source of buttons in the world and we never found one we liked. So, eventually I was talking to this tailor when I was picking up my dry cleaning, and I was like, 'Well, what do guys use for buttons?' and he said, 'Just make a covered button.' So, that's what we did. But it was flat, so it doesn't look like anything!"

She also explained how the Black Swan collaboration came about: "Someone in LA said to us, 'I don't know if you've heard about this secret script that's going around Hollywood, but I think it would be perfect for you to do something with this film.' It's basically a ballet horror film, which we had done a whole collection of. It went really well. I think what we do aesthetically worked for what he needed for the film. It's like a whole Swan Lake with a demon and everything, it's really cool. I think when you see it, you're gonna freak out."

>> Cathy Horyn is known for her acerbic take on fashion — in her review of Alexander Wang's Spring 2011 collection, she set tongues wagging after pronouncing: "Mr. Wang is not a great designer, though he probably would be happy to accept any laurels that people want to toss him, but he is clearly a shrewd guy . . . The designs were cool, but they didn’t have to stand up to much scrutiny — hey, didn’t Marni do those pants last season? — so long as the stuff was widely and easily available. Mr. Wang doesn’t really have courage in the traditional sense of trying something new and difficult, but he does have China. Nearly all of his clothing is now produced there."

Horyn more recently spent time at Azzedine Alaia's boutique during Paris Fashion Week — Wang also happened to be there, although no word on whether there was any interaction — and she explained to The Daily Beast that her goal is to bring a critical eye to those admired uncritically: "With Alexander, he's a smart kid, I admire the business that he's built, but you have to be critical of what he's done. You can't just say 'Oh well, he's young and he's working hard, he's putting a product on the runway.' I found that show boring. I may not have found other shows boring, but I found that one boring."

She's also critical of Fashion's Night Out: "I hope it doesn't go on. I don't want it to continue . . . You know, we're a nation of shoppers. That's how people spend their time, shopping online, shopping in stores, acquiring. And I feel like we perpetuate that with Fashion's Night Out. What are you really celebrating? Not art or great books. You're celebrating shopping."

Horyn sums up her critical approach as thus: "[I] want people to be better. [I] have standards. [I] want people to be not just good but very good. And I can be tough on people, sometimes too tough, especially with the most creative. I once called one of Tom Ford's collections freakish and ugly."

For all of Horyn's words logged on designers, however, The Daily Beast had trouble getting anyone to speak about Horyn: "During Fashion Week, I went from show to show, and party to party, asking about Horyn. Almost everyone declined comment or claimed that they don't actually read her reviews." A few did speak, however. "I prefer to look at beautiful pictures in magazines like American Vogue and French Vogue by editors like Anna Wintour and Carine Roitfeld," Karl Lagerfeld said. "I don't think reviews really matter anymore," Carolina Herrera said. Donna Karan admitted, meanwhile, that getting swiped by Horyn "still hurts. You can agree or disagree with her, but it's definitely passionate. She's not neutered, let's put it that way."

>> Proenza Schouler recently sent flat sandals down its Spring 2011 runway. "Sensible shoes," noted Lazaro Hernandez. "Tranny shoes feel old, everyone's wearing them." But that wasn't the case for the amped-up platform oxfords seen on its Fall runway, which apparently aren't going into production. Opening Ceremony has six pairs of the one-of-a-kind shoes, straight off the runway. They range $750 to $1,000 and come in size 39 or 41. [@openingceremony]