via Refinery29

In what is perhaps the best thing to happen to New York City since the Statue of Liberty, Sandro and Maje have finally set up shop on this side of the globe. See what I just did there? France! The Statue of Liberty was, durrrrr, a gift from just there and has arguably become the single most recognized representation of our city. Alas, it's time now we adopt another gift from the French and embrace the effortless and utterly chic nature of their innate style. Yes sure, we've seen a taste of it engulf our inhabitants via Isabel Marant, who has been carving a path since but two summers ago when the unanimous street style photographer's wet dream come true set up shop in Soho. Obtaining the I-don't-even-care-what-I-look-like-I'm-just-so-damn-chic though, has come with quite the hefty price tag, enter Bleecker Street and more popularly Bloomingdale's most prized new conquests. Still not cheap per se, but at least slightly more attainable. Now, earlier this fall, I worked with Refinery 29 to help celebrate the newly renovated Bloomingdale's which meant one thing and one thing only: vive le French labels. It's dangerous, really. See below.

The installment we composed came in three flights. Number one included a styling session by me, for me: several moto-silhouettes, combinations of bold color, and spiked details were involved.  

The second flight included myself styling none other than M-M-M-Molly, the superstar intern who can tap dance, juggle and trend forecast in one. She got the kiss of brocade pant, snake print blouse first, and then an awesome velvet figure skating dress worn over a dark denim blouse. And then finally:

 

Refinery 29's own Gina obtained her crash course in repelling which included the most rad pair of Rebecca Taylor leopard print wood heel booties on planet earth. I was particularly keen on layering a plaid blouse and leopard print sweater under a sequin embellished jacket (right). All in all, fun was had and that's always the ultimate goal. Should you want to, you can peep the full stories on Refinery here, here and here. All photos by Mark Iantosca.