Eric Daman

Stockings used to be a somewhat boring Winter necessity — until Gossip Girl came around. Thanks to Blake Lively and Leighton Meester, both of whom were spotted wearing pretty hues and textures on the popular fashion-heavy show, legwear has become a cool outlet to show off your sleek styling skills. Perhaps that's why DKNY just announced a collaboration with Eric Daman, costume designer of Gossip Girl, to design a legwear capsule collection for Fall. “I feel like I grew up with legwear in the '70s and '80s, and it’s great to see legwear being part of a woman’s ensemble, a defining piece of women’s ready-to-wear, said Daman. . . . “Hosiery is quite sexy. What we try to do in Gossip Girl is lots of texture. It makes the characters come alive . . . it gives a character like Blair life when she’s wearing a pencil skirt with distressed rib tights. It gives her look something special.”

Prices and more details on the collection.

• And it's Lady Gaga by a mile: the outré original wins best-dressed of the year — Vogue Daily
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• Need a stocking stuffer? I love the Gucci Mouse purse — Purse Blog
• Breaking: Anna Wintour reportedly went shopping in Brooklyn yesterday — The Cut
• This week's Unracked With Gilt Groupe: Eric Daman, stylist on Gossip Girl — Gilt Groupe
• Look of the day: Ciara — Stylelist
• Stella McCartney's Las Vegas store opens today — Racked

Eric Daman, the stylish force behind all those lust-worthy Gossip Girl looks, is putting his talent to greater use. He already has a book out, called You Know You Want It: Style — Inspiration — Confidence, and now he's expanding his reach via his own clothing collection. Starting Oct. 24, you will be able to score his affordable preppy chic pieces at Charlotterusse.com. "I really feel I know the Charlotte Russe customer so well. And I felt the need to do party dresses because there is such a void out there for cute, fun, not-superexpensive dresses," he said. Fabulous! And perfect timing with the upcoming holidays.

The cast of Gossip Girl took last night off from working on their show to toast their costume designer Eric Daman at an event for his book You Know You Want It in NYC. Eric had his leading ladies on the red carpet for support, with Blake Lively, Leighton Meester, Jessica Szohr, and Michelle Trachtenberg coming out for the bash. Ed Westwick and Sebastian Stan accompanied their girlfriends, as did a newly dark-haired Olivia Palermo. Leighton and Olivia have stepped out to celebrate Eric and his style guide before, but it looks like this time around they had almost the whole Upper East Side gang there to join in on the fun.

To see more from the party, just read more

If Eric Daman looks familiar to you, it's because he was recently posing pretty with Leighton Meester at the launch of his book, You Know You Want It: Style – Inspiration – Confidence ($20).

The Gossip Girl costume designer knows a thing or two about fashion, after all, don't we all covet Blair, Serena, Vanessa, and Jenny's fabulous Upper East Side ensembles? Daman says the trick to pulling off any ensemble is owning it, and in this book, he teaches us how to do just that via confidence and pizazz. (Side note, I think confidence is a woman's personal journey, I don't believe it can be taught.)

“A catalyst for the book was that I wanted to send the message that fashion and style [don’t] have to be scary — [they] can be totally accessible,” said Daman. "I always say style is 20 percent fashion and 80 percent confidence. You have to own it.” The book also includes a forward by the queen bee herself, Leighton Meester.

You know what the Parents Television Council doesn't like? Threesomes. Implicit or explicit, it says there's no place for a ménage à trois on network TV. Fair enough! The council has asked The CW to reconsider airing Monday's Gossip Girl episode, which will feature a threesome.

After an US Weekly interview about the sartorial splendor of Gossip Girl, Costume Designer Eric Daman took a jab at the controversy while talking to New York magazine's Daily Intel. He made a very valid point, saying:

"So, it’s okay for them to be doing blow and drinking Scotch when they’re 18, but it’s not okay for them to be having a threesome?"

I can't really argue with that! About a quarter of TrèsSugar readers have had a threesome, which sounds about right to me. In my experience, teen drinking is more about taking your vodka messy in Gatorade bottles rather than neat in martini glasses — forget thinking about threesomes! So while the Parents Television Council can take their argument to the network that brought us OMFG, I'd have to say GFL! What say you?

Photos courtesy of The CW

Leighton Meester posed in a punchy dress with her former costar Nicole Fiscella and Olivia Palermo in NYC last night at the launch party for You Know You Want It: Style-Inspiration-Confidence, a book written by Gossip Girl's costume designer Eric Daman. Leighton supported the man who puts her in so many fabulous clothes, which she was once again showing off on the set yesterday with Ed Westwick and a surprising reappearing costar. She, Olivia, and Nicole all looked fantastic on the red carpet and inside the party, so maybe they learned a thing or two from the book they were out to help promote. We caught up with Eric earlier this week at the ACE Awards, where he shared a little about dressing the show's stars:

• On who's most enthusiastic about their wardrobes: "Everyone goes with the flow. Blake has a little more opinions on it, because she's very body-conscious and knows what looks great on her. She's been in front of the cameras long enough to be able to say, 'This would be better if it was a half inch shorter' — which is great. It's a dream as a costume designer to have someone, who's like, 'Lets do this!'"
• On dressing the guys: "The guys are pretty into it. The guys just want to look good when it comes down to it, which is pretty easy. Chuck/Ed is really into it — he really likes to look amazing and he has been one of my favorites from day one. To be able to play with menswear in the way that we do and pioneer that men get to dress better, and that it's OK to wear a bow tie and a pink shirt and not be too gay about it."

To see more of Leighton and Olivia Palermo, just read more