Last night, Alice + Olivia held what is likely to be one of the strangest presentations of Fashion Week. The clothes were the typically girlie Alice + Olivia fare, however it was nearly impossible to see them owing to the cramped venue: Provocateur. The presentation took place not in the club portion, but the circus-tent portion, where, we understand, people eat dinner. However Provocateur is quickly shaping up to be one of the worst Fashion Week venues, since the door people seem to treat the events there the way they would the club on any other night. This created an appalling door situation at the rag & bone party Friday night. Last night, guests were being let in selectively when we arrived close to 8 p.m. When we got inside, we realized this was probably because the circus tent was so packed you couldn’t take a step in any direction, and not because we didn’t fit the club’s preferred Eurotrash aesthetic.
Outside the presentation, a carpet and press line was set up. This is not usually done at fashion shows. Movie premieres and other events, sure, but odd for a Fashion Week presentation. Gossip Girl’s Lily Kelly Rutherford and Rufus Matthew Settle were there, possibly to chaperon. Inside the models were difficult to see since the venue was so crowded and they weren’t standing on stilts. Mickey Avalon performed at some point with two girls wearing nothing but over-the-knee black patent-leather boots, fishnets, bikini bottoms, and triangle tops with fringe hanging down the front. They just stood on the stage behind him, alternating between smoking cloves and squatting with their legs open to the crowd. Kelly Bensimon worked the room doing video reports for Us Weekly, stalking the celebrities there for interviews (just like us!). She seemed unbothered by being sardined inside a nightclub known for renting stripper poles to its patrons. But then again, she seems unbothered by everything.
Kelly told us she chose her super-short dress because everyone else was worried about bundling up (you remember how cold it was last night) and she wanted to do the opposite. She accessorized with a very hipster feather earring in one ear and a brown leather cuff. She claimed she didn’t wear a coat (see above re: unbothered). When we asked about her jewelry collection, she said it had sold out! But she really wanted to talk about her Playboy cover, which we didn’t ask about. “It came out yesterday and it is selling out like crazy,” she said. “It’s a really humbling experience.” Okay. Did she have any other products in the works? “Yes, I do have plans to expand but I can’t tell you,” she said. “I can tell you it’s gonna smell good, though. Everything’s gonna smell really good.” That could mean a fragrance or a candle or — as she joked to us when we were leaving — air freshener.
