Temple of Glam

Another fun New York Fashion Week moment was hanging in the suites at the Empire Hotel. First stop was the Nintendo DS-Benefit Cosmetics-Essie nail polish suite. The girls and I stopped by, noshed, played a new Nintendo game, and got mini makeovers and new products in the Benefit Cosmetics room.

We also sat down for a manicure in the Essie room. Here's a picture of one of the best beauty reps I've ever met. She was so knowledgeable and passionate about the brand. I had to take a picture.

After that, we went down to the Lia Sophia suite. We spotted Reshma Shetty from USA Network's "Royal Pains" and drooled over the gorgeous Industrielle jewelry. I had my eye on the Concentric Square Ring in matte gold with black diamond crystals. It is phenomenal, no?

Rather than go to the Nautica Men's Fall 2011 presentation and report which boys were the cutest, I figured I'd enlist a dude to actually *gasp* look at the clothes.

Enter Brian. Brian is my infamously-awkward-yet-unquestionably-stylish marketing-genius friend. In fact, his nickname was once,"Google Man". I challenged him to describe the collection in 155 clever words or less. He succeeded.

These Are the Pops

"They really did a great job of highlighting the Nautica lifestyle. It's about the basics: white, black, navy, gray, and camel with added "pops." The pops of color were the orange (I loved) and the Nautica-branded pops."

The Prince & the Pea (Coat)

"Nothing says classic outerwear like the pea coat. And theirs was well made, tailored, and on point. Easily the highlight.

I also liked their trench. Comes in the obvious navy as well as a brown-knit pattern featuring a collar with a plaid undercarriage (guess it's made to be popped)."

Who's Afraid of Eavesdropping? Not Bri!

"I briefly got the ear of Nautica Creative Director Chris Cox. And by "got the ear of", I mean I patiently waited and eavesdropped on his conversation with real fashionistas. He talked about the luxurious sophistication of the Nautica brand.

My take? Nautica should "own" outerwear for fall '11. Be basic and deliver high quality styles. If this winter was any indication of weather to come, America needs more pea coats."

Ty from Hey Bella Blog was kind enough to give me a ticket to Christian Siriano. The fashion gods though, had something else in mind for me. I was late for the show because I was at the Kim Crawford wine bar meeting one of my favorite supermodels...Pat Cleveland. I know, I know. Huge!

Nichelle from 55 Secret Street said, "Oh Shaunequa, let me introduce you to Pat Cleveland." Luckily there was no time for me to spazz out (well, I did tell her I illegally used her image as my Facebook profile picture).

She turned around and said I was "so glamorous"...PAT CLEVELAND!!

My heart stopped.  My blood stopped circulating. My brain synapses stopped synapsing. All I could do was reach into my bag and take out my hot pink camera holder. I snuggled up, rested my head on hers, and posed. After that, it's all a blur.

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