MOUNTAIN MAYHEM: HAUTE COUTURE; May Selby, March 14th, 2009

Aspen Fashion Week celebrated its inaugural run from March 1 – 4 at various venues around town.

Designed to show case and market winter resort, ski and technical outerwear, the destination event was appropriately set in the home and playground of the most stylish consumers. With informal presentations, après showings, on mountain events and late night fashionable soirees, it put a spotlight on the booming skiwear industry, involving many local clothing boutiques.

Spearheaded by Lisa Johnson, Oliver Sharpe, Frances Gregos and Laurence LaVingne, Aspen Fashion Week debuted with a Sunday night kick-off party at The Sky hosted by W magazine, Burberry, and Jaegar Le-Coultre. On Monday evening, the acclaimed documentary, “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” was screened at the Wheeler Opera House. The legendary designer participated in Aspen Fashion Week as a special guest, lending instant credit to the event week simply by association. Valentino’s fashion house is among the world’s most famous haute couture and prêt-a porter clothing empires.

The festivities concluded with an Aspen Peak Runway Finale on Wednesday night at Belly Up, presenting 2009-'10 winter, ski and snowboard collections from Moncler, Fendi, Rossignol, Ed Hardy SNOW, Under Armour, Obermeyer, Isaora, Gabriel Conroy, Kaestle, Osklen, and Circe Snow.

PAUL E. ANNA: HIGH POINTS; Pheromones and Fashion; by Paul E. Anna; March 6, 2009

The first Monday of March saw another of those “only in Aspen” kind of nights. On an evening that began with an Olympian and ended just blocks away with an Emperor, I was once again reminded how special this place is.

The night began shortly after sunset as a distinctly local crowd surged into the Hotel Jerome’s ballroom in numbers that would have tested the fire code. All had come to watch Greg Poschman’s compelling documentary film “A Call to Action. For the Forest.” Presented by the Basalt-based nonprofit organization called, fittingly, For the Forest, the film outlines the inevitable march of the mountain pine beetle into our local forests and the options used to prevent the destruction of our trees.

Introduced and narrated by 2002 Olympic Bronze medal winner and Aspen local Chris Klug, the film was a powerful call for all of us to get on board and help fix this potential calamity. Two speakers who had helped the community of Merritt, British Columbia, fight the mountain pine beetle with great success followed the film. Tom Lacey, a fire-control specialist, showed video of just how quickly stands of the red, dead pine trees can erupt into fireballs if left unchecked. Dr. Nancy Gillette presented her studies on how the use of “push/pull” techniques with natural pheromones attract and/or drive the pine beetles out of the forests.

The crowd was clearly made up of tree-huggers, but as I left the room and looked back at Red Mountain I couldn’t help but think how no area in our community is at more potential risk from wildfire than that densely populated, heavily treed hillside. Let’s hope the message resonates before a catastrophe hits. You can find out more at www.fortheforest.org.

Over at the Wheeler Opera House a well-coifed crowd converged to watch Matt Tyrnauer’s film “Valentino: The Last Emperor,” a presentation made in conjunction with Lisa Johnson’s extremely successful Aspen Fashion Week event.

The film is a documentary about the final two years of the esteemed Italian fashion designer’s 45-year career, but the narrative covered so much more. It told the story, or rather the principals told the story, of the half-century collaboration between Valentino and his friend, lover, caretaker, business partner and yes, even muse, Giancarlo Giammetti. The two built an empire that since the completion of the film has been overtaken by the same financial interests that have changed the world of fashion forever.

As the final credits rolled the audience erupted into a standing ovation for Giancarlo and Valentino, who were in the first row of the Wheeler’s balcony. Tyrnauer, who debuted the film at the Venice Film Festival and then screened it at the Toronto and Chicago festivals, commented that the Wheeler was “by far the most beautiful theater” the film has played in.

Congratulations are in order for both Poschman and Johnson for taking ideas and turning them into reality.

They both inspire.

FENDI GETS GEAR, by Carol Han; March 9, 2009

"Fendi looks were a favorite in the Aspen Fashion Week grand finale."

On the last night of Aspen Fashion Week, I attended the grand finale fashion show that combined the best snowy-weather looks from a variety of designers, including Ed Hardy Snow, Circe Snow, Rossignol, Under Armour, Kaestle, Isaora, Obermeyer, Fendi, Gabriel Conroy, and Dennis Basso. All of the designers had some amazing pieces to show, but the ones that had me dreaming of retiring my Macbook Pro and spending the rest of my days in a chalet on the snow-peaked mountains were the ones from Fendi. They were EXACTLY what I would want to wear head-to-toe on a day of snow sporting. Think Kate Moss on the slopes. Chic.

Top Three Parties: New Yorkers for Valentino, Performance Anxiety, and Girl Power by Vanity Fair; March 6, 2009

New Yorkers for Valentino
What: A Valentino party for New Yorkers for Children.
Where: The Valentino store, New York City.
Who: Bebe Neuwirth, Fern Mallis, Selita Ebanks, Geraldo and Erica Rivera, Maggie Rizer, Erin Fetherston, Tinsley Mortimer (who cut a rug last week with husband Topper at the Frick Ball), Real Housewife Alex McCord and her husband, Simon van Kempen, CNN’s Alina Cho, and Maggie Betts.
Why: Because Valentino is hot right now.
Talking Point: The Valentino movie screening at Aspen Fashion Week, and Beatrice Inn’s Paul Sevigny (victorious at Tuesday night’s Art War Party), who was manning the turntables.

Best in Snow Style: Isaora

One of my favorite parts of attending Aspen Fashion Week was getting introduced to a new snowboard-inspired line called Isaora that takes the typical look of snow gear and cleans it up, making it much more streamlined and sophisticated than anything else I've seen on the market.

I love snowboarding, but the clothes that go with it? Not so much. I'm not exactly one for donning snowflake-patterned baggy pants and brightly striped oversized jackets. When I met Marc Daniels, the co-founder and CEO of the Isaora, he told me that "snowboarding used to be known as an alternative sport and the attire really matched that mentality. Now, it's much more mainstream, but the clothes just haven't caught up. We wanted to make gear with a grown-up aesthetic without sacrificing technical performance."

Well, it looks like that mission was well-accomplished. The models making their rounds through the presentation space looked like they would fit right in hanging out on the streets of Williamsburg or the LES--in some cases, one woudn't even be able to tell that the clothes were designed specifically for snow, unless you looked closely at, say, a thinly padded insular lining on a plaid men's jacket.

Eiher way, one thing's for sure: this is one line that's getting me excited to get suited up for some winter sport.

FASHION WEEK HEATS UP ASPEN by Peter Kray

Aspen, Colo. (Ski Press)-The first-ever Aspen Fashion Week put a spotlight on the booming skiwear industry with four days of special events, including parties, in-store presentations, a film screening, and an exclusive runway event on the final evening.

Highlights of the four-day event included a kick-off party hosted by W magazine, Burberry, and Jaegar Le-Coultre, daily presentations by designers at luxury stores throughout downtown Aspen, and an exclusive screening of the acclaimed documentary, VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR.

The inaugural event concluded with a runway event at The Belly Up Aspen featuring 2009/2010 winter, ski and snowboard collections from Moncler, Fendi, Rossignol, Ed Hardy SNOW, Under Armour, Obermeyer, Isaora, Gabriel Conroy, Kaestle, Osklen, and Circe Snow.

7th Avenue Freeze-Out

New York? Paris? Milan? They all have their fashion weeks, true that. What they don't have is the gorgeous Rocky Mountains, sweeeeeet powder snow, 3,267 verts and Aspen, Colorado's singular style.

Aspen Fashion Week (AFW) kicked off its inaugural season with a HUGE bang this week. The whole town was glam-o-rama --- to the max.

Fashionistas abounded and models were everywhere, and we loved it. The AFW style squad: Lisa Johnson, Oliver Sharpe and Frances Gregos created a new and exciting series of fashion events, right here in Aspen. Resources such as Fendi, Obermeyer, Gabriel, Ed Hardy Snow, Rossignol, Isaora and more showed off their "stylie" lines for next season. The schedule was filled with parties, fashion shows, events, open bars etc, etc. Did we mention the models---it was awesome, we liiikeeeeee. Don't miss the pix of our new pal, haute couture fashion icon, Valentino (scroll down). He was in Aspen in conjunction with AFW to host a "sneak peak" of the new documentary film Valentino: The Last Emperor. It doesn't get more fabulous than that.

We need to thank AspenSpin.com's own fashion sponsors KJUS, CLOUDVEIL and IBEX. These outdoor oriented fashion brands will surely make a splash at next Winter's Aspen Fashion Week. Mark it on the calendar boyz, bring the heat to Aspen, ....and bring the models too.

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