Brizo Faucets and Jason Wu Fashion Show Recap

Last week a select group of interior designers, architects and bloggers swooped in on NYC, officially crowned as The Blogger 19, as guests of Brizo for a whirlwind of design education capped off by attending the Jason Wu Fall 2012 fashion show and a private reception with the designer.  Yes, that was a mouthful but there is no better way to articulate 2 1/2 days of non-stop events.  Empire State Building as seen from Eventi Hotel room – a chic place to stay on 6th and 30th with great staff.   Unable to wait until the official start of the event, a Twitter date was set for 1 1/2 hours prior in Bar Basque.  Bug hugs were exchanged by Twitter friends upon meeting in person for the first time. Erica Islas, Jennifer Duchene, Shay Geyer, Lisa Ferguson and Carrie Leskowitz. The start of the pass the camera… for our own pics on the way into the opening reception.

The following day was jam packed with design centric events with the marketing and design brilliance responsible for Brizo.  Always the skeptic and never one to drink an ounce of corporate “kool-aid”, I couldn’t have been more impressed.  I’ll show you more about Brizo faucets in a later post, since it fits right in with my kitchen month, but for now let me just say this is a company and design team who does their homework and cares.  They spent hours soliciting our opinions on top secret products early in the design stage and on others set for final tweaking.  To Brizo, the customer experience is paramount.  Next we were whisked off to to a hands-on experience with Brizo’s Smart Touch technology and pasta making at the brand new Sur la Table kitchen studio.  No need to touch the faucet handle with messy hands!  We made three separate sauces and three different pastas, those Brizo faucets got a serious workout. What did we learn?   Making sauce and pasta from scratch is very simple, messy and it is nice to have a extra hands when rolling out the dough – angel hair, fettuccine and maltagliati (badly cut pasta).  Not having to touch the faucet handle when turning water on and off was very cool. Amongst giddy squeals, Friday morning we received our official invitation to the Jason Wu Fashion Show with our coveted seat assignments.   Which were right behind Jason’s proud mom and Elle Decor Editor, Margaret Russel. Carrie Leskowitz, Ronique Gibson, moi, Cynthia Hernandez, Shay Geyer and Jennifer Duchene.

Here we are all primped and polished in our new attire.  Cindy and I were the two hold-outs on wearing black.  Yeah, like there is a better reason for a new Chanel suit? We hopped out of our car right behind bow-tied cutie, Brad Goreski and made our way through the paparazzi – they do take pictures of anybody.  Amidst hundreds of fashionistas, socialites (clearly in need of a meal), editors and other distinguished fans we sat in awe as the heart pounding sounds of militant drums drew our attention to the opening of the enormous red doors. Style.com has a detailed look at the full Jason Wu Fall/Winter 2012 collection. Wearable and tailored are a perfect description.  Take away trends:

• military influences (epaulets, styling & belted jackets);
• burgundy and red with black;
• fur embellishments along with tassels and trim details offered appropriate focal points;
• lace as texture, draped fronts and curvaceous dresses all added up to crisp, clean and authentic fashion.

But wait there’s more…  In the evening we were treated to an intimate cocktail party with Mr. Wu and a few of his friends.  It was his first opportunity to view the show from in front of the doors.  It was just as captivating a second time.  I can’t begin to explain how special it was to listen to him talk about his designs and inspiration.  After his all his accolades and celebrity he remains a humble individual, passionate about his craft and authentic in his being.  We were honored to have this experience. Thank you Brizo*!

*Disclaimer: As a participant in the Brizo Blogger 19 this post is written as a sponsored post in that Brizo provided our food, travel and entertainment related expenses for the Blogger 19 events.  However, all content, ideas, and words are my own.  Thanks for supporting these sponsors that allow us to create new and special content like this for Decor Girl Media..