CITYist

Season after season they shock and amaze us with boundary-pushing garments, causing us to question our definition of chic and the purpose of having a savings account. Here, our favorite designer finds that you can’t hang in your closet. Lagerfeld Coca Cola, anyone?

Cynthia Rowley has tapped photographer Tim Barber to shoot her spring ad campaign which can be seen in the Summer Fashion Issue of T Magazine, which hits stands April 15th. Click to learn more about the collaboration!

MOVE!, a series of performance-based installations created by well-known artists paired with celebrated fashion designers, opened at MoMa PS1 last weekend. Highlighting the event were Cynthia Rowley and Olaf Breuning, who dressed models in plain denim garments to function as canvas. The models were artfully doused with bright splashes of paint as part of the performance, and subsequently photographed as part of the exhibition.

Cynthia Rowley has been so busy with all her side projects and collaborations that its easy to forget the brilliant ready-to-wear collection she sent down the runway for fall. One feature we’re loving in particular is the use of feathers, which crop up on jewel-toned minis, sassy flapper dresses and funky accessories. While the use of color and texture does give off a certain modern vibe (à la Proenza Schouler), we can’t shake the 20s influence. This may be partially due to our near hysteria over HBO’s upcoming Board Walk Empire (Atlantic City in the jazz age? amazing), but mostly we’re just feeling the “looking backward in order to look forward” aesthetic, to reference Oscar de la Renta’s recent pearl of wisdom dispensed on (where else?) The Rachel Zoe Project.

Whoever said cool Band-Aids were limited to the 10-years-old and younger crowd was sorely mistaken. Doyenne of all things feminine, Cynthia Rowley, has teamed up with Johnson and Johnson to create ever-so-cool Band-Aids. These teeny fixer-uppers come adorned with prints—think jewels, chains and images of Rowley’s collection. You can pick them up at the Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum and Cynthia Rowley shops and site. Best of all? One dollar from each sale at Cynthia Rowley will be donated to mentoring program Design Ignites Change. Adhesive-covered gauze never looked so chic.

Okay, so obviously children’s clothing is not usually on our radar. But when said children’s clothing includes paisley-printed dresses, gypsy skirts and elbow-patched blazers by Cynthia Rowley, who put out a killer, fringe-filled women’s collection for fall, we have to acquiesce. Known as Hooray by Cynthia Rowley, the autumn collection for infants and toddlers includes velvet on jumpers and boys’ jackets, while corduroy and sweater dresses also crop up. Overall, we’re impressed by kids clothes that look like smaller, more twee versions of adult clothes—and these certainly fit the bill.

While most resort collections conjure up thoughts of yachts and private islands, with wardrobes suited for slinking around elusive white sand beaches off the coast of who knows where, the Cynthia Rowely 2011 Resort collection stays a little closer to home (read on to see a healthy selection of looks). Instead, it’s easier to imagine the playful prints and silhouettes somewhere a little cooler, and rather than being just another collection designed for a December-January escape, we imagine these pieces seamlessly transitioning into your winter wardrobe, even if you don’t have an elaborate vacation planned—just don’t forget a pair of tights under those sheer skirts.

If you’ve escaped this week’s oppressive heat for the seaside breezes of the Hamptons, then we’ve got some weekend happenings for you. On Saturday, stop by Intermix to meet Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Tori Praver and get a chance to shop her new swim collection. Later, stop The Memory Motel for a performance by Preacher and the Knife.

Everyone knows that the Fourth of July is all about the fireworks and the music—and if you’re in Boston, Chicago or The Hamptons, then we’ve got some plans for you.

Though she’s known for her liberating, free-flowing designs, Cynthia Rowley took it up a notch for fall with a collection of pure fantasy. Rowley’s inspiration seems to be a mixture of 20s flapper, ski/sports gear and lots (and we mean lots) of color. Altogether, the look is not unlike an über fashionable Na’vi from Avatar—if Zoe Saldana’s character danced the Charleston, that is. Deep purples and cobalt blues, as well as colors extracted from a vivid Spring palette (pinks, reds, yellows), are darkened down for Fall with black and grey hues.

To satisfy all the lingerie fans out there, we chose two designers who are taking on opposite aesthetics: one sporty and body conscious, the other classic 40s pin up. It’s up to you whether you want to look like Rita Hayworth or an Olympian, but either way, Cynthia Rowley’s upcoming line and new British brand Gilda & Pearl will be sure to strike your fancy.

Fashion and surfing are generally considered worlds unto themselves. So with the collaboration between Roxy and Cynthia Rowley, the American designer known primarily for her feminine frocks, we now get to see how these two realms collide.

For many, fashion is wearable art. So it shouldn’t come as a surprise to hear that Cynthia Rowley’s latest collection was featured in an exhibit at New York’s Gagosian Gallery. And no, this wasn’t merely Rowley’s ego talking. “It’s not art…it’s a concept,” the designer was quick to explain. And she’d be right: the installation (which ended last week) was in fact a commentary on the immediacy of fashion and the push for designers to ready their lines for retail at faster and faster rates. (And perhaps on the staunch competition from “disposable” clothing stores like H&M and Zara who churn out copies in a New York minute.) The designs, or, in fact, photographic reproductions of them, premiered at the Gagosian a mere three hours after gliding down the runway. But instead of gazing at the images on Style.com, Cynthia Rowley fans had the chance to buy the photos straight on the garment—and still do, through the Gagosian Shop.