Blige, Malandrino Stage Runway Show

By Rosemary Feitelberg for WWD

NEW YORK - Dedicated to the idea that fashion and music empower women, Catherine
Malandrino and Mary J. Blige joined forces Tuesday night for their first runway show for their FFAWN clothing label.

A crowd that included Estelle, Loulou de la Falaise, celebrity chef Todd English, museum curator Thelma Goldin, Robert Burke and Gloria Gelfand lingered over drinks in the sculpture garden before heading upstairs for the show.

See all the looks from Catherine Malandrino Resort 2011 >>

Backstage, Malandrino and Blige each had a glass of wine and “all the nerves went away,” Blige said. The Grammy winner also sang a capella for a select few to lighten the mood.

Preparing for a fashion show isn’t all that different from gearing up for a concert, Blige mused. “You have to be passionate about everything you do. This collection builds on the success of our T-shirts which have sayings like ‘I am love,’ ‘I am power,’ ‘I am life.’ This is what we should be because we’re women.”

Cash-strapped but college-bound Bronx teenagers were the beneficiaries, with most of the 600 guests having paid upwards of $1,000 to attend.

Estelle said Blige has been an inspiration to her: “She’s my role model and like my big sister. She has always shown me so much love. I listened to her music growing up. It is almost surreal being here tonight. She has always been a support for me and I will support the hell out of her.”

Estelle also seems to share Blige’s design aspirations. Once she goes on tour this fall for her forthcoming album “All of Me,” concert goers will be able to buy Estelle’s customized capsule collection. “I want to create things you want to keep and wear - not another T-shirt,” she said.

View the original article on WWD.com.

Catherine Malandrino And Mary J. Blige: BFFs, Collaborators

By Darrell Hartman for Style.com

“I dress a lot of celebrities, but I never had the connection I have with Mary,” Catherine Malandrino said last night at Avenue. That would be Mary J. Blige, who was seated next to her on a banquette with the designer’s hand in hers. “It’s like when you meet somebody and say, ‘I know this person will be in my life forever.’ ” That moment happened almost a decade ago, after Malandrino saw Blige wearing one of her dresses in a magazine and got in touch. By the time she saw Malandrino at the designer’s 2001 show, Blige said, “I knew that what I felt in my heart about her was real.”

Now the two of them hang out, commiserate, make each other laugh. And sometimes, they collaborate. “When you love somebody, it’s like in a couple—you want to create something. Sometimes, it’s a baby,” Malandrino explained. Other times, it’s limited-edition T-shirts splashed with proclamations like I’M FREE and I’M POWER. The motivational tops are very on-message with Blige’s charity for women, FFAWN (Foundation for the Advancement of Women Now), which receives a portion of the profits the tees generate at Bloomingdale’s and Catherine Malandrino boutiques.
“Catherine is the bright light at the end of the tunnel. I’m the person that revisits the past to bring people to the light,” Blige explained. The shirts, appropriately, are available in black-on-white and vice versa. There’s also royal blue on the way, and Blige explained why: “It means you’ve reached a point where you know you’re enough, you’re worthy. That’s where we are, and that’s why we’re able to do what we’re doing.”

View the original article at Style.com.

Mary J. Blige and Catherine Malandrino attend the debut of the limited-edition FFAWN & Catherine Malandrino T-shirt collection at Bloomingdale’s .

View the original page at New York Post.