Cocktail dresses, opera coats and enveloping golden shirt dresses mean Fall for a certain kind of woman. That woman is Isaac Mizrahi's woman. Quintessentially urban in its expectations of the autumnal wardrobe, Isaac Mizrahi's Fall 2008 collection speaks to the needs of a city liver. As Isaac reminded us in our video interview at his Fall 2008 show, this collection "its a classic thing." And indeed his "everyday life, everyone's everyday life, the way I observe things" hint at a kind of classicism unique to New York.


"The millions of inspirations that go in the top" as Isaac quoted to us, come out evoking a world of sophisticated parties, soul searching late nights, and a twinge of hard knowledge that comes from staying out late in the city that never sleeps. And even while day looks from the collection have cheery moments of whimsy with fall motifs of leaves and pears, the reminiscing about crisp mornings to us has more to do with awaking to them after long cold nights. And while one can easily say that Isaac's girl is enjoying Wagner at night and Central Park in the morning, we think she is a bit more knowing about her pleasures. Our exclusive original photo editorial with Isaac's Fall 2008 looks suggest at evenings of nuance, inspiration, longing, and maybe even pain. Because everyday life doesn't just happen during the day.

Despite Isaac Mizrahi's noncompete with Target a few of his sketches for Liz Claiborne have made their way into the open. The consensus from WWD is that they are fresh and very much in the spirit of Isaac.

Lynn Yaeger prepares for Fashion Week at Zara in order to avoid the fuel versus food dilemma.

Which might be fine since apparently it's all just a case of history repeating with this season's trends.

If we are all just lemmings then its no surprise
Japan Fashion Week is being called quirky and derivative.

Or Japan's independent shows are getting lambasted because its just too expensive for many designers to show in the traditional style, taking away valuable resources for real creativity to spark. Even a bare bones show costs $100,000. To which we say just host a nice intimate presentation guys, your editor REALLY prefer the low key stuff. Though we still prefer at least a market appointment not just an video.

In retail news, Chanel is getting more space at Saks and Bergdorfs, ostensibly because they need sage superstar brands in this downturn.

Moschino has opened a new Meatpacking District Flagship. It will carry the full collection as well as diffussion lines like the inappropriately named Chic and Cheap which is only one of those things.

Tom Ford opened his first stand alone store in Milan yesterday. Much excitement over the venture was expressed by the fashion press. "It's more contemporary than New York, which is in a 1930s building," he said during a walk-through. "We used the same vocabulary and colors, but this one is housed in a Fascist building so it's more linear and modern."Measuring nearly 12,000 square feet over five floors, its Ford's largest store to date.

Liz Claiborne is working on a new logo and ad campaign for the spring launch of Liz Claiborne-brand women's clothing under creative director Isaac Mizrahi. No one is saying anything and naturally the whole thing is quite tight lipped. As big fans of Isaac Mizrahi we are certainly hoping for the best for the designer and his new label.

Jemima Khan, daughter of Lady Annabel Vane-Tempest-Stewart and the late tycoon Sir James Goldsmith, has designed a capsule collection for Paris fashion house Azzaro which will include ready-to-wear and accessories. It will be presented in the showroom during the Paris couture. accessories line.

Jimmy Choo is going to Japan with a new Ginza location. The 1,700-square-foot store will be set over two floors, with a mirrored staircase leading to a salon space on the second floor. The unit will carry the brand's handbags, leather goods and sunglasses, along with its most complete selection of shoe styles in its stores in Japan.

We never much enjoyed spending time in malls but everyone's favorite fast fashion retailer Forever 21 is doing their best to change that. They have decided they are now large enough to anchor entire malls. We aren't quite sure they are Macy's material but really now that its all high low why don't we just have Forever 21 and Louis Vuitton co-anchor malls and get rid of Federated entirely?

Like we noted in Brian Reyes' collection, pastels are huge for cruise.

"Powerful men know how to dress themselves and often stick to a uniform. Each of the men in our list has given a teasing twist to traditional tailoring and made the look entirely their own." Esquire's fashion director, Catherine Hayward, said that all the men had been chosen for their idiosyncrasies.

Supermodels are back in fashion! No really, except its the same damn super models from last time around. Isn't there anyone from the new generation with a little personality?

Isaac Mizarhi makes his own hair pomade. We really love this man and not just because its 3am and we are writing these from JFK.