The Lacoste x MTTM Hiromi Lace Sneakers are available now: To purchase, contact Lourdes Castro in Customer Service at 212.273.3361 or lourdesc@mttmnyc.com.

A while back I was asked to weigh in on Stylesight’s “Next Big Question” for the January newsletter. You can read my answer below and you can read the full article on Stylesight.com.

“It seems like everyone in the business is collaborating with someone, but the projects that make sense are usually few and far between. Target and H&M are the most notable and consistent, and though the projects produce great designer clothing at affordable prices, I think these types of partnerships are getting a bit stale. Celebrities are also collaborating with many brands, such as Kanye West for Louis Vuitton, but I find the product uninspired.

I think consumers will start to get bored by these projects, and I think we’ll see more partnerships that are really true to the essence of collaborating – where a company taps a designer, from an entirely different field, to design a product they have never created before. For example, when Target or H&M invites leading fashion designers to design clothes, you know the end result: beautiful clothing. But, when you have an artist who has never designed a particular product add his personal touch to that product, the end result is usually genius.

My favorite example of a true collaboration is Frank Gehry’s jewelry collection for Tiffany & Co. Frank Gehry, the renowned architect, is a master at creating breathtaking structures. Though he never designed jewelry before, his ability to create 3-D sculptural pieces enabled him to lend his artistic eye to creating jewelry. I also enjoyed Vivienne Westwood’s recent collaboration with Cole & Son to create wallpaper, architect Zaha Hadid’s designs for Lacoste and Melissa Shoes and Sylvie Fleury’s “Stolen Kisses” wine glasses and champagne flutes for Dom Pérignon. These types of projects utilize the designers’ innate talents to create something they don’t normally produce.

As far as my ideal projects, I think Pantone should collaborate with a cosmetics and fragrance company, and I’d love to see what kind of furniture and home accessories Frank Gehry would create. Apple has really clean product design; it would be nice to see them apply their look to non-technology-related products.”

Hey folks. Spring press previews are in full swing right now, and I’ve been hitting up my fair share of them. I got the opportunity to check out the footwear by the keepers of my favorite little Crocodile, Lacoste. So make like you’re Dundee, and take a gander at the Lacoste Spring 2010 footwear line!

Do you remember those super fresh, peep toe – open heel canvas booties from the Lacoste runway show at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week this year? If not, back up your mouse a little bit and refresh your memory. Those shoes were on my “Spring Dream” list – I imagined myself all breezy toed, and heely danned in cool, crisp canvas rocking one of those bright snappy colors with mad confidence. I thought they were the perfect alternative to another spring and summer likely to be dominated by leathers, gladiators, and those awful ubiquitous u-shaped thongy toe wedgie sandals that were everywhere this year.  Well, I  hate to open with bad news, but they’re not being produced for consumers. I’d like to find the people that made that decision and let them know that my crocodile tears are sincere.

Lacoste however, has done a really nice job with the rest of their canvas offerings in the style and color departments. There are a few varieties of both high tops and low tops that remind me of Keds, but like 200% better. They will range in price from around $65 for the simple model to  $70 for the open toe and other low top and $90 for the high top model.

There are some other more athletic looking options that range in price from $75 to about $130. The more luxurious, club collection shoes that will be carried in stores like Neiemen Marcus and other high end stores will  include the sandals and the boat shoe wedge  and will range in price from $130 to $160. The flip flops will range in price from $30 for the terry cloth model, and go up to $60 for the leather edition.

If your sneaker loving man is sitting nearby, coax him over to take a look at the men’s offerings in the gallery below. Attractive leather offerings range in price from $90 to $130, and go up to $170 for the more sophisticated club collection styles.

Lacoste Spring/Summer footwear will start hitting stores in February 2010 and will continue dropping through June.

For Spring 2010 Lacoste presented clean looks in white, black, and refreshing primary and powdered blues and finished the show with a burst of yellows, with model after model walking at each others heels. It wasn’t traditional Lacoste but a rather modern version of it. I’d even go far enough to say it was a collection where little reference was made to the past, save for the few tennis outfits. Otherwise, everything was revamped to fit this age we live in.

Everywhere in the collection you’ll see drops; dropped shoulder seams and dropped waistlines. They make for a loose fitting and sporty look, which is especially cute on the dresses, jumpers, and tops. Aside from the hit-the-courts clothing, more classic styles were presented in black and white, where at one point two models rocked the runway together to show off black and white striped dress, giving a somewhat inverted image visual effect.

All the bases were covered clothes-wise. Lacoste had polos, tees and shirts, slim slacks and loose pants, sweaters, cardigans, sport coats, skirts, jumpers, dresses and of course swimwear (because what’s Spring without a trip to the beach?). Hopefully detailed shots of the shoes will hit the web soon because from where I’m sitting, Lacoste looks like it has some sweet ankle-wrapping peep-toe wedges.

Image Source

#NYFW

Colette has a bevy of gorgeous goods about to hit the eshop, ready for us to snap up. We have chosen a few of our favourite things for you to keep your eyes on upon their release;

With each shade named after a different airport code, USLU Airlines nail polish is made to apply smoothly, fill the nail surface, hold well and dry quickly. The glittery goodness that is USLU’s LAS (Las Vegas Airport) polish quickly caught our eye. Perfect for a splash of colour in this cold winter us Aussies are enduring here in the southern hemisphere. 

Shoes, shoes, who doesn’t love shoes? Originally made for ballerinas, french brand Repetto has continued making shoes to appeal to the masses since their first launch in 1947. Their simple and dainty designs are a perfect option for those who have some spare cash to put down on great quality shoes. Colette is featuring various styles to indulge in – our favourites are the Python Ballerina shoes which come in three different colours.

The Lacoste and Zaha Hadid collaboration is one of a kind – ergonomically designed to adapt to the shape of one’s body and crafted in italian calf leather, this shoe comes in both purple and black. These shoes are also a limited edition run exclusive to Colette, with only 850 pairs made in the world.
Tabitha Simmons is also about to release her new collection in the Colette shop, the line features a balanced mix of opened-toed, wedged, stiletto-ed goodness with each pair crafted in leather and exotic skins.

Comme Des Garçons have created a crocodile/python print baby pink leather bag exclusively for Colette – this gorgeous piece is limited edition and they have only made 30 copies, so if you love it, grab it now!

For the more eco-conscious, beautiful model Liya Kebede has launched her own line of  scarves made of 100% cotton. All scarves are manufactured in Ethiopia, Liya’s native country, so upon purchase of one of the gorgeous LemLem pieces you can take pride in the fact that your money is being used to drive economy and create jobs in a third world country.

Australian company Zip Zip has created a very cute building brick USB key. It’s a piece of lego with a USB stick inside!Rejoice! A practical, funny little 8GB gift.

Ladies, save your pennies and spend well in the Colette store. Just ‘browsing’ the store for this article has loaded my cart with 7 items already..