phi

>> INSIDER WIRE —There were a lot of designers missing from last night's festivities — Karl Lagerfeld, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce, Christopher Bailey among them — but even more notable was the lack of certain designers on the red carpet: Balenciaga, Prada and Miu Miu weren't represented at all (though Dasha Zhukova wore vintage Prada), and typical heavyweight Giorgio Armani had one sole wearer — Claire Danes.  Meanwhile, Phi emerged as a dark horse — watch out Proenza Schouler, Andreas Melbostad is taking over your crowd — Erin Wasson, Natasha Poly, Lauren Santo Domingo, and Vanessa Traina all chose the label last night. [Style File]

These two sisters, Julia and Natalia Alarcon, have experience at Oscar de la Renta and Phi to back them up--though their design experience only began in 2005, when they enrolled at Parson's New School together. We first heard about their line, Lialia, at the Fresh Faces Gen Art fashion show this season. Lialia started the show off on a strong note and we were intrigued by the duo. Today, while going through the lovely brands at Edite Showroom, we met Lialia again. This Spring 09 there were no washed out colors or unabashed silhouettes, the mood was decided and strong--something we are not surprised to see from a two Oscar de la Renta and Phi alums. Click below to see our showroom snapshots of the Spring 09 Lialia collection, and, click here for the Fresh Faces Gen Art Spring 09 video clip. 

Hair is a touchy subject for a lot of women, the accepted wisdom is that the naturally curly wish for straight hair and the naturally straight wish for curls. Blessedly the hair you are born with can now be manipulated into just about any style you might wish. IDidTheHair stylist and Redken man Gregory Alan showed us just how possible it is to play with your locks in our Top Five Fall Trends photo editorial.

As a straight haired woman, this editor was duly impressed with Gregory's variety of luscious curled styles. From brunette and short to blond and long, Gregory did it all. And thanks to Gregory's Redken knowledge we learned that Redken Fresh Curls line is a great option to help prep and maintain curls no matter what your natural hair type. Our favorite is Redken's Fresh Curls Boost; shooting during the summer meant we were fighting frizz but the battle was easily won with this handy anti-frizz spray.

But we didn't just stick to the curls. We had some seriously stick stick straight action happening on set on both models. Gregory used the PHI KWOF Hair straightener to achieve these almost improbably straight styles. Unlike traditional flat irons, the heating plate has an angle of 30 making it ergonomic and versatile. The angling also makes it just as effective for creating curls. In fact, every single style on set was created with the help of this super iron. It costs $200 but given its efficacy and flexibility if you are serious about styling its worth it.

And of course with shooting so many looks we had a lot of hair changes that needed to happen fast. Solution? Redken Quick Dry Finishing Spray.