Ah New York. The city of fashion, grooming and Anna Wintour. New York Fashion Week always has the nonchalant glamour of the Sex and the City girls: you’ll find something in one of its many guises to fall in love with. Editors, bloggers and fashionistas may have been up against more than they bargained for trying to get even get into the city (deep in snow and, according to almost everyone, very, very cold) but they persevered to be a part of the first week of the biannual fashion marathon and to get immersed in the hype and imagination of the likes of Wang and Wu. The fashion week season may have been irrevocably by the death of Alexander McQueen, but the shows did indeed go on, albeit in a haze of mourning from many in the audience. I have spent the past few days perusing images from the shows to give you my opinion on the most interesting bits and pieces from the Big Apple.
Rarely does a show exceed the expectations of those coming to see it. It is either hyped up and liable to fall flat, or cause a fashion stir that is tempered by the very fact that everyone hoped it would cause a stir. After all, fashion people are a hard bunch to please. But either I missed the hype surrounding Preen, or the collection did indeed wildly exceed expectations. It has always been popular, and the talents of the designers Justin Thornton and Thea Bregazzi often commended, but this season they finally did their creative minds justice with a collection that seemed to unanimously please editors and give a real sense of a fresh aesthetic when we finally get around to autumn. The overriding look was ‘peekaboo’ skin through cut-out panels, mostly on the torso, leaving a strapless-bra shaped section of fabric left. Despite the flashes of skin the pieces were understatedly sexy; nothing as overt as the corseted, sexual shapes created by Berardi et al during the last shows, but silky slips of fabrics were still popular here. One of my favourite outfits came courtesy of a silky negligee style slip under oversize, mannish blazers.
Playing with different volumes of fabric and shape was a success for Preen, as it was for Fashion Week darling and Anna Wintour-approved Alexander Wang. Vest tops and other flesh-flashing pieces were teamed with blazers, tailcoats and thick ribbed leg-warmers which gave an interestingly chic yet desexualised femininity, again in contrast from the flirtatious sheer fabrics used by designers for spring/summer. In fact, the use of heavier pieces such as masculine coats and jackets and thick fabrics is giving a distinctly androgynous, layered aesthetic to New York Fashion Week: is this a winter trend emerging? Another definite trend, one that has grown in use since its appearance in the spring shows is for velvet. I’m not altogether a fan of velvet – slightly too reminiscent of a six-year-olds birthday outfit but if anyone can make it work, Wang can. And he has legions of fans to help make his designs work in real life: a fashion starry front row turned out, including Scott ‘Sartorialist’ Schuman, Garance Dore, Tavi, Alice Dellal, Pixie Geldof and Diane von Furstenberg.
Speaking of the design doyenne, DvF was also showing a penchant for the masculine look with her own collection. The quote at the top of the show notes read, ‘I’ve always wanted to live a man’s life in a woman’s body’, which explains the contrast in this collection between masculine shapes and feminine fabrics. Yet another fan of menswear pieces in a womenswear collection was Jason Wu who, like von Furstenberg, teamed many of his looks with tuxedo jackets, but the outerwear message was also extended into parka-styles and oversize cashmere coats. Although his now trademark sportswear message was still evident, and the outerwear was admired, many editors weren’t feeling the Irving Penn inspiration behind the collection, with Cathy Horyn saying that the homage ‘just didn’t work’. From my humble, lowly blogging opinion I’m inclined to agree: many of the pieces just looked a little confused and the textures appeared jumbled rather than artfully contrasted. But it doesn’t stop certain individual looks from working, and the ladylike outfits (cocoon skirts and delicate blousers with oversize necklaces and grey tights) were a break from the harder masculinity.
Going right over to the other side of the masculine/feminine spectrum, Victoria Beckham – the Woman Who Knows Her Dresses – showed yet another clean, crisp and much coveted collection, still holding off those editors who are dying to peg her a fashion one hit wonder. For those lucky enough to see it first hand, Victoria talked them though each dress confidently and with an easy fashion vocab. She is no ‘face’ of this brand; she is checking every visible zip and curve of fabric to mould it to exactly what she wants. The inspiration was 1940s femme fatale, the signature aesthetic for the collection much like her own personal style these days; smooth lines, elegant curves and vintage sex appeal: more Jean Paul Gaultier perfume bottle than flesh-revealing WAG.
Another designer paying homage to a vintage era (I was getting a strong Kristen Scott Thomas in Gosford Park aura) was Carolina Herrera. If I’m honest I’m no diehard fan of Herrera’s, but this collection was beautifully traditional for her, playing to her design strengths in elegant shapes, amazing shapes for sleeves and a distinctly ladylike feel, even with the trousers. One of my top models, Karen Elson, was the perfect vessel for this look: effortlessly working the Forties aristocratic heroine nonchalance. Also for the first time I took notice more of the daywear than evening gowns, something Ms Herrera is often noted for. I would much prefer to take afternoon tea in one of the delicate floral tops and voluminous trousers, teamed with (in my case definitely fake) fur, than work the red carpet in one of the statement dresses.
Ever since the likes of Keira Knightley et al wore their beautiful creative dresses, Rodarte have been causing a fashion week stir with their focus on layering delicate materials and their fairytale heroine appeal. Their autumn/winter collection did have many of these trademark pieces, but with an earth, Mexican look (the girls explained that their inspiration was a desire to learn about their Mexican roots). I have to admit, I wasn’t such a fan, owing mainly to the fact that I kept Rodarte in the ‘ethereal goddess’ section of my fashion vocabulary and I wasn’t ready to see the collection follow so closely to a theme. However, the pieces were still individually beautiful and, as always, had the exquisiteness of a Renaissance artist’s imagination and talent.
Completely at a contrast to the acres of artistic fabrics and intricate talents of the Rodarte girls came a much coveted and surprisingly sure collection from Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen, for their label The Row. The clothes have not come cheap, the fledging label pricing itself far out of reach of the Olsen’s original fan base, but they are now becoming known for a luxury quality in the simple yet expensive looks of their fabrics. The collection was almost exclusively black, each piece individually wearable and styled well with other pieces. A long leather t-shirt here, a tuxedo jacket or voluminous silky trousers there, it can all be seen as effortless daywear for those lucky enough to afford it.
Going back to the big-timers, one of the best shows came from fashion’s favourite maverick Marc Jacobs, who this time refused to let the showmanship overcome the clothes, specifically not inviting any celebs that may detract the attention from his work. It didn’t stop his usual audience pleasing set design though, which this time had a distinctly post-modernist feel, designed like the inside of a cardboard box. At the start of the show, Marc and his business partner Robert Duffy tore off the brown paper from a large box at the back of the catwalk to reveal all the models inside. He may have been metaphorically stripping back the pretensions that often come with fashion week, but he certainly didn’t do away with his fashion magic – the collection was hailed universally as a success. Colours came either in the dark palette of dark blue, black, charcoals and greys or golden cream hues. There was no specific theme to the show, nor any major trend. Jacobs focused on the shape and style of individual pieces, which meant they stood at on their own and worked as part of the outfit shown on the runway.The most talked about aspect was how wearable everything was, a strange concept to us mere mortals, as surely one hopes that your collection would be wearable or no-one would buy it. But whilst many judge a collection’s success on how much artistic license was stretched, perhaps in a Viktor and Rolf or Gareth Pugh kinda way, the very fact that Marc Jacobs kept his collection full of pieces that could be worn individually or as the perfect catwalk outfits was the key to its success. And if I could find a way to get my paws on one of the grey winter coats, I would be very happy indeed.
The Marc Jacobs show is always hotly anticipated, but this season so was Halston, with Marios Schwab at the helm. Many commented on how, although Schwab didn’t seem overly preoccupied with using the Halston archives for inspiration, he did succeed in creating strong, statement pieces for the women that covet the strongly feminine yet chic Halston attitude of the 1970s. After yet another feminine/masculine aesthetic (this time less androgynous, more power woman: bold colours and clean lines that complement the female figure), I couldn’t help but think that feminism and a female strength seemed to be inspiration for New York this season, and that we like to see.
Marios Schwab may not have used an overt Seventies creativity for Halston, but Zac Posen, despite his label’s financial woes, showed a colourful, flirty collection that had, to me at least, the Studio 54 Seventies Bianca Jagger style that I had previously expected at Halston. But apparently I was a few decades out and the inspiration came from the 1940s, with fur detail, flippy skirts and party dresses alongside elegant trousers. Now I’m not usually a trouser sort of gal, but the soft, full legged slouchy versions (not quite high-fashion trackies, not really wide-legs or pegs) were flattering and had the ‘easy to wear’ styling that should be so desirable for winter.
And of course, where would the New York fashion scene without Donna Karan? Her signature label is twenty-five years old this year, which meant she could delve back into her many years of show experience for some Donna Karan nostalgia. Her seminal Seven Easy Pieces collection was mostly black, as was the majority of the pieces on offer this time around. The draped dresses were particularly effortless, fantastically flattering skirt shapes, hemlines and plenty of black tights. She also played with the contrast of shape – huge flouncy ruffle collars against skinny shirt shapes and smooth coats. In fact I really loved the proportions of many of the looks, huge coats over skinny black trousers and bell shaped skirts with ankle boots and cropped jackets. The best shows from New York all played with shape and contrast this season, a great way to play with layering fabrics and colours for the winter weather and a trend that I look forward to playing around with.
Don’t hate me if your favourite show wasn’t reviewed here! Just let me know and I’ll give you my very humble opinion. Now let’s gear up for London baby….
