Lee Matthews' work can look unfocused at first blush. But dig deeper and you learn that her bohemian sensibility blossoms from her impressive production process. Her collections are created from bits and pieces that are collected and sourced such as antique buttons, fabric swatches, Victorian postcards, artworks from around the world.

All of her work is hand painted, dyed or finished with local Australian labor. Her focus on unique dyes, washes, treatments along with handemade detailing make her a designer tailored made for a world newly aware of the need for conscious fashion consumption.

Her SS2008/09 collection was a delicious mix of comfort oriented clothing with a few harder metallics and silhouettes for added interest. Her florals in particular grabbed us with their vintage appeal.

Community member Fashion Indie turned us onto Awareness and Consciousness today. As much as we find jersey to be somewhat played as a fabric choice, we admit to being intrigued by the line. According to Fashion Indie, Christiane Gruber studied fashion under Raf Simons, Victor & Rolf and Jean-Charles de Castelbajac at the Viennese University of Applied Arts. Having won the fashion award of the BKA, she acquired international experiences working for Haider Ackermann and A.F. Vandevorst. A&C also stands for Acccessories and Clothing which we think is rather clever. The line doesn't feel as if it has its own unique identity yet but give her a few more seasons and we can see it evolving into a flowing collection just perfect for a certain kind of fashion woman that likes her clothing body conscious yet discrete.

Respecting the past while remaining current is a difficult task. To his credit Calvin Klein's Francisco Costa has that balancing act all worked out. While the brand continues to channel the minimalism of the mid nineties that made the line a household name one still feels as if Calvin Klein is a modern house. Perhaps it is simply the wave of nineties nostalgia that is overwhelmingly present in popular culture today but we feel like Calvin Klein has never been fresher. Please enjoy our video interview with Francisco Costa below.

We're backstage at the Karen Walker show right now, talking to the MAC team about the makeup (sweet, blanked out pinks and nudes) and shooting the girls during their run-through and preparations. The atmosphere is very calm, Walker is sitting front row, watching the girls walk the runway, with half finished makeup, combs sticking out of hair. The girls seem especially friendly, everyone's kind of goofing off together while an older woman approaches the microphone and asks them to listen to something they've heard a million times: walk to the end of the runway, turn, walk back. There are a few mom's here, reading books. In the pit the guys are catching up and talking about the shows, some complaints about back pain (we here ya buddy). Overall, a very nice vibe here compared to most. It would make us not want to return to the tents, except, we've Mastroianni to look forward to. Until then.

The views at 7 World Trade Center for John Varvatos are their own attraction. We are here a bit early to capture the madness of backstage but we find ourselves so mesmerized by the views from the 45th floor that we almost don't care that there are hot rocker boys half naked wandering about. They are going through their run through right now and Teenage Wasteland (we don't remember the real title of the song but we do remember from Freaks and Geeks that isn't it) is blaring loudly. We admit to loving John's goofy rocker memorabilia. Though we still don't know how to feel about him taking over CBGB's as as a new retail space. But we suppose its only poetic justice.