Nina Garcia at Large 'At the Moment'

“What’s an editor-at-large?” a clueless fan asked Nina Garcia, who gracefully fielded the question with a quip about her contributions to Elle “at the moment.” The diplomatic phrasing was just one in a series of awkward replies to questions about her much–discussed role at last night’s Tribeca Barnes and Noble signing of The One Hundred, her new book on style staples.

Garcia engaged fashion-related queries with delight but dodged our questions about rival and former Elle colleague Anne Slowey and treated her Marie Claire fashion director gig as if it wasn’t about to begin next week.

If she harbors any resentment about getting the boot from Elle, she’s trying really hard to hide it.

We’ve got the details after the jump…

A fashionable 10 minutes late, the bookstore presented Nina as “editor-at-large for Elle,” though we couldn’t gauge Garcia’s reaction as she fidgeted with her highlighted hair before taking the stage. Garcia breezed through an intro to her book before opening up the floor for Q&A. She advised the (decidedly unfashionable) crowd to “forget about it,” when it comes to Crocs (“They’re awful!”) and confessed that “flats have become more of a reality,” since she became a mother (despite the towering heels she stood on). She riffed on the perils of being “matchy-matchy,” and gave a fall fashion forecast of LBD’s, incredible costume jewelry, and a resurgence of ’50s and ’60s Mad Men attire, citing Balenciaga as “the show to watch.” Her male publisher stood on the sidelines the whole time, clutching Garcia’s black “it” bag with two hands and smiling at us — up until we asked Garcia for her take on Anne Slowey and her new show Stylista, after which our gaze was met with an unamused glare.

To an aspiring fashion editor, she said, “Stick with it. Have a lot of patience and drive.” In the fashion world, “things change so quickly,” she said, stressing the importance of “a wardrobe that is grounded,” since some may “disregard” the trend next season — a possible allusion to her own recent career transition?

One of the few guys in the audience asked what a woman’s style should say to a man, to which she laughed and said, “Whatever she wants it to say.” In a black dress with a high, gathered neckline by her “friend Michael Kors,” accented with a slim patent leather belt and a giant black rectangle on her ring finger, Garcia projects that she has as much staying power as the little black dress itself.

Customers flip through Nina Garcia’s books at Barnes and Noble in Tribeca

Bringing the last stack of Garcia’s book to eager fans