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“Why are there so many pretty women around?” A simple question posed by a young Frenchman to his friends after doing a double-take on Broadway has a few answers.   “This is Manhattan” could satisfy on most days but he answered himself a few moments later with; “It’s Fashion Week”.  The New York City beauty quotient is raised by a few degrees when Fashion Week comes to town, not only with an influx of traveling models but with journalists, stylists and industry divas.

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The main event was taking place 40 or so blocks uptown in Bryant Park, where Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Fall ‘09 was getting started.  Charlotte Ronson resurrected grunge (again) and our favorite celebrities donned scarlet for heart health awareness at the “Heart Truth Red Dress Collection” Fall 2009 fashion show. (Top) Models walk the runway at the Yigal Azrouel Womenswear Fall 2009 fashion show at The Promenade while Jennie Garth is prepped for a walk down the runway (middle).  Amanda Bynes almost bares it all for Heart Truth Red Dress Collection (below).

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In January 2009 alone, the color teal has been splashed across the runways at Valentino and Strenesse to red carpets worldwide.   Evan Rachel Wood wore a very deep shade of the watery hue at the SAG Awards this weekend. Elisha Cuthbert, Alyson Hannigan, Mary-Louise Parker and model Lena Gercke also embraced the flattering color in recent weeks.

Teal is described by Glidden as a color that indicates stability and resistance to change.  If you like the color, you are optimistic and trusting, you have a high degree of faith and hope.  Does it make sense that we are seeing it everywhere in uncertain times?  Absolutely.   People who lived through the 1980’s are reluctant to embrace the color that was omnipresent two decades ago, but today’s teal is deeper and highly textured.

Pantone picked Mimosa as the color of 2009 and it flooded red carpets and runways a year before that, so is it safe to bet that this calming shade will be the color of 2010?  It’s a little early to make predictions but if the rest of the year is anything like the past month, it’s worth gambling on.  Get the blue/greens here.

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Dita Von Teese and Mischa Barton have never claimed to be ” normal folks” but  this photo taken  backstage at the Christian Dior fashion show during Paris Fashion Week Haute Couture Spring/Summer 2009  only emphasizes the fact that they are anything but ordinary (on the outside at least).

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Models walk the runway at the John Galliano fashion show during Paris Fashion Week Menswear Autumn/Winter 2009 in Paris, France.  While the majority of the menswear collections were as dreary as ever, Gibraltarian designer, Galliano took the  ominous tone of the times and exaggerated it to almost ghoulish proportions.  He set the stage for Gothic drama with a sparkling, hard lit, red runway flanked by a sea of candles. Vampiric  models wore classically tailored separates and suits with romantic, almost Victorian flourishes.  Backstage and out of context the deathly pale and Sabbatic goat-like models looked ridiculous but in Galliano’s theater they awed.  See more of Galliano’s collection and the bleakest pieces from Kenzo, Rick Owens and more here.

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CULVER CITY, CA – OCTOBER 15: Rocco G. attends the Spring 2009 Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week held at Smashbox Studios on October 15, 2008 in Culver City, California. (Photo by Katy Winn/Getty Images for IMG)

Rocco G and I (Katy Winn a photographer for Getty Images) catch up at Mercedes-Benz Fashion week in October. Click here to find out what we chatted about.

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Here, accessories are the great equalizer, it seems. They can almost transform Katie Holmes on the street in New York this weekend into Jackie Kennedy-Onassis when over-sized sunglasses are paired with a headscarf. Zoe Kravitz at the Chanel show in Paris last week echoes Bianca Jagger with the help of a beret and shades. Recipe to convert Jane Doe into “suspected starlet”?  Combining the ultimate trio of sunglasses, headscarf and trench coat.  What is your accessory secret weapon?

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Models walk the runway during the Maison Martin Margiela show, part of Paris Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2009 on September 29, 2008 in Paris, France.  A few seasons ago Belgian designer Martin Margiela offered a pair of perfect pants for ready to wear.  Simple, high-waisted, black cotton with the slightest hint of a fuller thigh and a slouchy leg tapering towards the ankle.  I would have picked them up them if they were available at a deep discount in my size.  I had no idea what a terrifying aesthetic I would have been buying into!

This is the stuff of nightmares, and though the blank faced and twisted head models are disturbing, they are  perfectly done.  One can only marvel at the impact that something as simple as a stockinged face or backwards wig can have on our belief that these models are not human.  Illusion is the game and Margiela plays it with with a macabre hand, hinting at certain element of bondage and fetishization of femininity by erasing identity and isolating  hair .   The show’s finale included brass instruments and confetti.  A joyful bright release after a lot of dark mystery on the catwalk.  See it all here.

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