Sidewalk Catwalk - Isabel Toledo

There is a new fashion display in New York City.  Walk down Broadway, from West 42nd Street to West 34th Street, by Macys, and you will see quite a sight.  Top fashion designers have presented their interpretation of their take on fashion.  Called “Sidewalk Catwalk”.

Follow my postings and photos as I present a little background on each designer to accompany my photos of each mannequin on Broadway transformed into the NYC Sidewalk Catwalk.

Our first featured design and designer is by Isabel Toledo.  

First Lady Michelle Obama picked fashion Isabel Toledo, (born April 9, 1961), to design her Inaugural ensemble. The resulting design was a creamy yellow dress with a matching overcoat,  made of satin-backed wool guipure (a type of lace sometimes used in French Haute Couture).

Isabel Toledo was born in Cuba; later moved to New Jersey where she attended high school and met her future husband and collaborator, Ruben Toledo. After high school she attended two famous and fashion colleges in New York City – the Fashion Institute of Technology  and Parsons School of Design.  In college she studied painting, ceramics, and, of course, fashion design. Toledo showed her fashion skills as seamstress from a young age.  She has been designing for over 25 years with various fashion houses.  In 1985, Toledo presented her first collection

As a prominent Manhattan-based fashion designer, who works out of a studio on Broadway and 28th Street along with her fashion-illustrator husband, Isabel is not a typical mainstream fashion designer. In 1998 she broke with tradition and stopped presenting biannual fashion collections, instead choosing to create on her own schedule.

The hat/headdress is definitely an eye-catching look.  Perhaps depicting the many faces we present to the world, as a mask?

 Isabel Toledo has received a number of awards over the years.  In 2005 she, along with her husband, Ruben Toledo, was the recipient of the Cooper-Hewitt Design Award for their work in fashion.  In 2008 Isabel Toledo was presented with the 3rd annual Couture Council Award for Artistry of Fashion from the Museum at FIT.  The fashion award event was held in New York City’s Rainbow Room atop Rockefeller Center.

The Isabel Toledo for Payless line is set to debut this September, (2010) and will average about $40 an item.

 Complementary fashion commentary regarding the NYC Sidewalk Catwalk can also to be found at http://worldvillage.com/fashion-to-be-chic.


Be sure to return to read and see the next featured designer and TRULY UNIQUE display, on the NYC Sidewalk Catwalk down Broadway.