Well, on 56th street, anyway. Neiman Marcus just unveiled what they consider to be ‘the best of Fashion Accessories for Spring 2004’ at the Chambers Hotel, hosted by Ken Downing, Vice President Corporate Public Relations and Sandra Wilson, Accessories Fashion Director. As usual, the duo set up camp in one of the modernist hotel’s suites, filling the rooms not with furniture, but with the shoes, scarves, bags, jewelry, and lingerie that they feel strongly about for the coming season.
What a nice treat on a dark rainy December day, to walk in and view the colorful and appealing prints and patterns (including florals, butterflies, an array of eye- catching and graphic versions from the house of Pucci, and Prada’s Venice travel prints); a well edited selection of Tanner Kroll and Luella Bartley bags (including the latter’s must have, classic, and timeless luggage leather satchel – see photo above); couture quality sports inspired shoes and bags (“sports are an entire category” proclaimed Ms. Wilson) which also included some really chic Chanel sneakers and some of the new and well priced offerings from Juicy Couture; linear and long drop earrings from Filigrani, Jose Barrera and Miguel Assis; and a very seductive display of girlie/romantic lingerie (especially corsets and bras) by La Perla, Bas Bleu, and Cadolle that are quite frankly, too pretty to hide. Of course, that is precisely the point- this season is all about underwear as outerwear, as seen on some of the most influential runways around the world- not the least of which was Proenza Schouler who did it in a completely un-vulgar way.
What else is high on Neiman’s list? The color yellow (all shades), shades of green (from grass green to offbeat lime and chartreuse), black and white (as in spectator shoes and bags) nude and flesh toned accessories, exotic leather and snakeskin, and let us not forget – gold and anything else that sparkles, shines, and glitters ( see photo ) . In fact, spring will be a time to shine if Neiman’s has anything to say about it (as of course, they always do).
-reported by Marilyn Kirschner
