With sense of humour, and clever design elements designer Benedetta Bruzziches handbags won our hearts during a stylist preview hosted by Anthem Wares this week.  As a preview of her designs take a look at the ‘Pouchette Kiss’ featuring an  unexpected fringe detail in the back. If this is not a party bag extraordinaire, I don’t know what is! Take a closer look at details on the flip and see lots more at Anthem Wares.

Have no ideas where these two gorgeous/funny/smart (triple threat) women went for a minute but they’re baaaack and as amazing as ever. In the season two “Get In Get Out” video above they highlight “chopped stiletto” nails, dainty jewellery and “thug” beanies. So fun.

It’s been widely covered but don’t want to miss posting the Buzzfeed article from yesterday, asking why runways are so white. Five top casting directors responded and it’s clear from some of their answers that the simple answer is that they themselves are racists–sometimes it’s actually that simple! Barbara Nicoli, casting director for Burberry, Marchesa, Gucci, Emilio Pucci, Armani Privé & Saint Laurent was the most egregious, taking an old worldview on not only body types but what is sexy:

“It’s also true that, for example, Caucasians have a specific body type, black girls have a specific body shape, and Asian girls have a specific body shape. So I guess there are some collections where it’s more perfect for an Asian body shape because they are more flat and less sexy, in a way. Asians, they are not curvy, so to put an Asian [who's] very flat [with a] baby body shape in a show where normally the designer knows they love sexy, beautiful, curvy girls, it’s a bit of nonsense.”

But as bad as she was, casting director James Scully was amazing, calling out some of the heaviest hitters in the industry:

“I feel the Dior cast is just so pointedly white that it feels deliberate. I watch that show and it bothers me — I almost can’t even concentrate on the clothes because of the cast. And recently they’re changing from a very diverse, worldwide, multicultural cast to just a very Germanic-looking white girl. If I were at Dior tomorrow, there would be black girls in that show. I was also disappointed that Saint Laurent, Louis Vuitton, Chanel, and kind of every other important fashion house — not one of them were racially diverse at all this season. My own personal stance is that the more diverse, the better. A lot of my casts were indicative of that, especially Jason Wu and Tom Ford.”

This is why I laugh when old media “journalists” complain and kvetch from their front-row seats about fashion bloggers ruining fashion, meanwhile oohing and ahhing about Chanel’s globe for half of their so-called reviews and complaining about who was or wasn’t invited for the rest.  The truth is if new media didn’t come along someone would have had to invent it because old media coverage of fashion was failing badly and the unfortunate part is that its classist/racist world views still dominate and continue to poison the fashion environment of today.

Ihtgw by Samia Malik launched a capsule collection of tees and sweatshirt with the slogan “Fashion is Fake,” a statement against the negative aspects and practices of the fashion industry. See some of our faves on the flip. Some pieces are available here.

I had to share with you Diane Pernet’s op-ed piece on fashion critics called, “Who Watches the Watchmen,” from the blog, The Business of Fashion. Pernet covers lots of ground like the relationship between advertising and editorial coverage:

“It is no wonder that most ‘critics’ are not critics, but just give a report of what goes down the runway, without voicing any real opinion. It is also no secret that for more than the past decade, editorials have been ruled by advertisers. You place an ad, you get an editorial page, and if the advertiser does not get proper coverage, they pick up the phone and demand editorial coverage or they will pull their money. So, can you really expect a critic for a publication that thrives on that ad money to say that the Chanel or the Louis Vuitton show was crap? Not likely.”

Pernet concludes with her appreciation of bloggers, another reason why the woman is a #Boss:

“I find it amusing the way so many seasoned journalists are still threatened by bloggers. The bloggers are not masquerading as mature journalists. They are more like consumers excited to find themselves suddenly given access to the shows and along with that, a certain degree of credibility. The ones that write their content based on who is paying the bills are no better/or worse than the magazines that only report on their advertisers.”

Read the complete feature here.

Spring is taking it’s sweet time to make itself felt in New York. I’m finding nail art to be a fun way to channel warmer weather by wearing lighter colors when a coat and boots is still de rigueur. The Illustratednail takes the classic French manicure design and reduces it to a black outline on a white nail. The result is sleek yet edgy.

A few styles of the very covetable Polifonia footwear styles from Fendi’s Spring 2013 runway have landed at Saks. The sandals above have a disco feel, we find irresistible. On the next page , see a few favorites from Fendi’s website.

Asap Rocky graces the cover of French publication, L’Express Styles magazine. The simple pose and facial expression makes for  my favorite Asap cover so far!

A lovely assortment of Junya Watanabe just landed at Ln-cc.The Ester  Ponti top with the mesh details dies a fantastic job of elevating an athletic apprel detail into something high end and even a little conceptula yet still manages to be a little sexy. See  the details on the flip and purchase at Ln-cc.

Teyana Taylor and Joselynne Veras

This past Friday adidas launched the GLC pop-up nail salon in collaboration with Teyana Taylor and a crew of talented nail artists. The opening party featured the Misshapes and the incomparable Chromeo. It was refreshing to see an athletic brand devote an event to nail art and  women even though there were an impressive amount of men in attendance. Take a look on the next page for a peek at the ambiance. All images by Highsnobette.