For Current Fashion, JC Penney Wants to be Your Retailer

Who are you wearing? It’s a common question on the red carpet (as well as occasionally among us ordinary folk) and the answer is often some high fashion designer. But JC Penney (yup, JC Penney) is aiming to change that.
The mid-level retailer, which has a store at 901 Avenue of the Americas in Manhattan; (212 295-6120), recently held a fashion show at New York’s Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center. (Bet you never thought you'd read the words “Fashion show” "JC Penney” and Alice Tully Hall” in the same sentence…)
The store has teamed up with some big-name designers in order to offer designer fashion at affordable prices--and in the process, change their image from a store more aligned with Kmart than Bloomingdales in many people’s minds.
Current hot designers include Charlotte Ronson, Nicole Miller (who has dressed such celebrities as Halle Berry and Felicity Huffman) and Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen, who already have two successful clothing lines elsewhere. (They attended the JC Penney Discover Spring Style Event at Alice Tully Hall last week.)
Uber model Cindy Crawford, who also attended the show, has a line of furniture for the store, and is developing a jewelry line as well--and she swears that she mixes clothing from stores like JC Penney with investment pieces, and has been doing so since she was a teen. A number of high-society fixtures like Tinsley Mortimer also attended the show, to promote (you read about it here) the new reality show “High Society.”
Get thee to JC Penney, ladies!

Can't Get to the Academy Awards? This Year, They're Coming to You

Secretly longing to go to the Academy Awards? (Really, who isn’t?) Wishing you could jet off to the land of palm trees, paparazzi, and pampering like the stars? Well, we can’t promise you any of that unless you’re Angelina Jolie, but if you’re in New York City on Oscar Day (March 7) you too can have your taste of Oscar glamour.
This year, for the first time, a live viewing of the Oscars will be held at Alice Tully Hall in Lincoln Center, it was announced this week. The celebration, which comes complete with a cocktail reception (as well a minimum price tag of $150, depending on the package that’s purchased), is the final event in a weeklong celebration of Academy Award-winning movies that were filmed or took place in New York City; they’re being screened at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. (Tickets go on sale Feb. 11; call 212 875-5601) The website is nycgo.com/oscarnight.
It’s the first time that Oscar Night America, a series of events that take place across the country to raise money for various local charities, has set up shop in New York. Proceeds from the event will go to NYC & Company Foundation.
So quick--can you name any New York-centric movies?
For starters--pretty much anything by Woody Allen, as well as Taxi Driver, West Side Story, Midnight Cowboy, and even the recent Julie & Julia.
Who says LA has all the fun?

FiIm Buffs, Start Your Engines: The New York Film Festival Hits the City

Film lovers, rejoice: The 47th annual New York Film Festival is in the city. The Festival takes place at the newly spiffed-up Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center from September 25-October 11. (Call 212 875-5050 for information about purchasing tickets.)
The Festival offers film buffs, couples looking for a cool date night and the just plain curious a chance to see the breakout hits, indie films, small documentaries and foreign entries that pepper the more-than-two-week event. Some will make it to the mainstream; others will pop up at your local independent cinema or go straight to DVD.
Films include “Antichrist,” from the almost-always-controversial director Lars von Trier, about the repercussions of a tragic event on a couple; (Oct. 2; 9 pm; Oct. 3; 1 pm); “The Art of the Steal" (Sept. 29; 9:15 pm); a documentary about the famous Barnes collection of art and the foundation set up to protect it; and “Crossroads of Youth” (Oct. 3; 11 am), the oldest surviving Korean film (1934). It’s the story of a brother and sister who encounter life in the city; the film will have live musical accompaniment as well as a live offscreen narrator.
The Festival will end with “Broken Embraces” from director Pedro Almodovar, focusing on a blind screenwriter. It stars Almodovar muse Penelope Cruz, and will screen on Oct. 11 at 5 pm and 8 pm.
Created in 1969 to bring international films to an American audience, the festival screens around 28 movies and 12 shorts; it has no categories and no prizes are given.
It’s film for film’s sake, pure and simple.