Today’s Spring 2011 collection by industry veteran Tadashi Shoji had its highs and its lows. It was in a venue called The Box in a format called a “presentation”, which means no runway and no music. Instead the collection is showcased by a group of 25 models standing (mostly) still against a theatrical backdrop. I was not expecting the collection to be showcased in this way so my heart sank when we walked into the room.

A catwalk show is so exciting — the lights dim, the music explodes and your heart races in anticipation as you wait for the first few models to walk down that runway. When a collection is showcased in the form of a standing presentation such as this one, you don’t get the same rush of excitement at all. The clothes don’t move, the collection is revealed in one go, and the lack of music feels bizarre.

I was also rather surprised to see a particularly young model take center stage in the presentation (short lace ruched sleeve oyster frock). She couldn’t really fill out the dress and seemed a little shy compared to her peers. Perhaps that was the persona Tadashi wanted her to project, but to me it felt out of place.

Viewing a collection presentation style does have it’s advantages too. You get to see the clothes up close and I savored every detail. Tadashi Shoji’s fairly unstructured masterpieces were inspired by the Renaissance frescos of Piero della Francesca and Botticelli. They are extremely soft, feminine and romantic. Tiered layers, ruching and draping, one shoulder styling, ruffles and rosette detailing dominated the silhouettes. That is totally opposite to the rigid military and menswear inspired themes which are all over stores right now.

Tadashi kept his palette pastel using varying shades of oyster, beige, antique pink, grey and lilac. Its only the first show, so I don’t know if this means that pastels will be strong for Spring. Even though the overall look of the collection was not to my personal taste, it was inspiring to behold.

The best, best, best part of this collection was getting to within a few feet of Tadashi himself. A killer moment! This would never have happened during a runway show. The man has an infectious smile and looked so hip in his ink blue military jacket and tinted specs. I had to restrain myself from not jumping in on other people’s camera action to give him a hug. I did manage to stand right behind him though. Very fab!

There were also a few celebrities at the show and one of them is embracing Tadashi in the picture. Apart from the fabulous model in the lilac dress, I think that the celebrity looked better than any of the models in the collection. She was stunning!

Nordstrom has an entire style category devoted to “boyfriend boots” on its site for Autumn and Winter. It’s the first time I’ve heard of these boot styles described as “boyfriend”.

The boyfriend boots category groups together styles like combat boots, biker boots, spat booties, haute hiking boots, clog lace-ups and desert boots, in both flat and higher heel heights.  As you can see from the examples below, most of the boot styles have a rugged and masculine edge, hence the term “boyfriend”.

The 00’s might go down as the decade of the boyfriend. For several seasons now it’s been all about  boyfriend jeans, the boyfriend blazer, the boyfriend cardigan, the boyfriend watch, the boyfriend shirt – and now the boots.

We are jet lagged and tired, but it’s still FABULOUS to be in NYC! We’re staying at the Hotel Belleclaire on the Upper West side and are marvelously settled in for the week.

After breakfast, which was tea and a pastry for me and coffee and a squagel for Greg, we headed off to a quick business meeting before picking up our all important Fashion Week press credentials. You CANNOT enter any of the tents or shows without an official press credential in hand, so standing in a queue to fetch them is how Fashion Week starts. Although the process was efficient, the wait was long and we ended up missing the Anne Bowen show because we couldn’t get our credentials in time. Oh well! Onto the next show.

This season’s Mercedes Benz Fashion Week is in a new location: Lincoln Center. The new venue feels larger and fancier than Bryant Park, but somehow not as cozy. There are still tons of people checking out the shows and fashion both on and off the runway. Plenty of fashionistas dressed in black from head to toe wearing sky scraping heels, but far fewer than in February. This season there are just as many women in gladiator sandals and ballet flats. Clothing colours are still very neutral, but there’s a lot more denim, white and grey than last time round.

Today I was in a casual mood, so I wore my jodhpur jeans with a tucked in, silk Versace-inspired shirt, belt, vintage pearls and low heeled red pumps. Ms. Valentino speaks for herself.

I spend a good amount of the working week out and about with clients and scouting retail stores. But I also spend a portion of my time working from home writing content for YLF and participating in the forum.

My work from home days take one of two forms:

1. Part of the day at home and part of the day with a client
2. Working at home the whole day

In the first case, I shower, put on a work outfit and leave off the shoes until I venture out because I prefer to wear slippers at home. That means that I work at my computer in my work outfit until I see a client. My dress code is usually smart casual or business casual depending on the client and my morning mood.

In the second case, when I’m not venturing out, I’ll still shower first thing and put on a work outfit, but it’s usually smart casual. I am NOT comfortable working at my computer in lounge clothes. It stifles my creativity and productivity. YLF work at home is just as important as working with clients and I need to feel well put together when I sit at my computer.

How you choose to dress when you work at home is really a matter of personal preference. For example, Greg who works from home frequently, feels perfectly fine in his very casual T-shirt and jeans (or shorts). Unlike his wife!

A few years ago I wrote a post on looking fab when you work from home and I still feel the same way. I suggested a comfortable and relatively casual, yet put together look that’s not your sweats. I choose to look a little dressier than these suggestions when I work from home for the reasons that I mentioned above. But that doesn’t mean that you have to. If you’re really productive wearing sweet sweats while you work from home – then that works too. The productivity is the important thing. Just remember to change when you nip out for a break or errand during the day.

What is your work from home style?