Opening Ceremony

If it seems as though I'm having trouble breathing today — it's probably because I got word that Opening Ceremony is selling select looks from Alexander Wang's Spring/Summer 2011 collection! I'm still having visions of the silky silhouettes and pale pastels floating down the runway. OC has handpicked some of the best pieces, which include Wang's famous strong-but-serene dresses, pants, and — wait for it — handbags. The presale event begins today at noon PST, so grab your wallets and set your browsers!

>> Pamela Love gave Opening Ceremony a tour of her vast jewelry collection — which includes a necklace made of nooses  — in June, and now she's opened up the Brooklyn home she shares with her photographer and musician boyfriend Jordan Sullivan to Todd Selby's camera lens. See their makeshift candle fireplace and peek into Pamela's closet at the link. [The Selby]

>> Laura and Kate Mulleavy recently announced that they're collaborating with Opening Ceremony on womenswear, menswear, shoes, handbags, eyewear, hosiery for Spring under the label Rodarte for Opening Ceremony. Laura sat down with the retailer to talk about creating prints for their own label — "For the new [Spring 2011] collection, we did about 20 prints and 12 of them were off '70s wood paneling, different floorboards" — and their month-long quest for the right button: "We used a button for the first time, and that was traumatic! We needed one for this pair of shorts because it looked cute. And I hate buttons. So, we looked for buttons for a month at every source of buttons in the world and we never found one we liked. So, eventually I was talking to this tailor when I was picking up my dry cleaning, and I was like, 'Well, what do guys use for buttons?' and he said, 'Just make a covered button.' So, that's what we did. But it was flat, so it doesn't look like anything!"

She also explained how the Black Swan collaboration came about: "Someone in LA said to us, 'I don't know if you've heard about this secret script that's going around Hollywood, but I think it would be perfect for you to do something with this film.' It's basically a ballet horror film, which we had done a whole collection of. It went really well. I think what we do aesthetically worked for what he needed for the film. It's like a whole Swan Lake with a demon and everything, it's really cool. I think when you see it, you're gonna freak out."

When the classic-chic aesthetic of Repetto meets the edgier Opening Ceremony, perfectly cool kicks are born. In this case, the collaboration is bringing animal print, pony hair, and patent via sweet flats and lace-up booties. But it's not just the collaboration we're crushing on, it's the whole shopping experience. Now, when you head to Opening Ceremony stores in NYC, LA, and online, you can shop the special edition line, as well as the whole Repetto collection — suede ballet flats, riding boots, and heels — even Repetto's other designer collab with Rodarte. Double the Fab footwear, double the shopping pleasure.

To see the rest of the Repetto collection at Opening Ceremony, just read more.