Round Up New York FW 2011

True fashion was passing by at the New York runways last week. Where most NY seasons were steady and quiet and new vibes where found in Paris, we now already picked up on some highly influential directions. Here’s our round up so far:

DIGI CRAFT, omnipresent digitised tribal inspirations in techno crafted fabric mixtures:

PRAIRY ROMANCE, touch of nostalgia, devoted to crafts, with some clear inspiration coming from ‘the west’:

Tacky DRESSED-UP looks, showing longer lengths, with quite a dose of reminiscence, here prim and curvaceous, in lovely lush lace looks:

TECH FAB, staging lovely mixtures of high tech fabrics like plastics and latex, mixed with precious wool, silk and laces:

Followed by LUX SPORT, series of luxurious, very feminine, city sportswear, with the parka as hot item, in again interesting mixes of textures:

That might have been IT at New York runway shows; fabric looks where eye-popping.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Calvin Klein Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

First View New York FW2011: Longer Lengths

Skirts swing long and gentle on the runways in New York. Well over the knees and in some cases even covering the ankles. Fluid layers, with tulle, trimmed slits and colourful ribbons. It’s dressed up elegance all over the place, reminiscent in most cases yet with lots of refreshing personal twists.

BCBG lowers the waist, where Rodarte contours. Hilfiger goes liquid, where Marc Jacobs sculptures in modern tech materials. Nothing boring about long skirts, as long as they are embellished with elaborate crafted details, layered in mixed translucence or just made in plain yet lovely materials.

Stylespot is a collaboration with Stijlinstituut Amsterdam

Izaac Mizrahi Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

Is there a real difference between a fashionshow and a dogshow? Not much really,  a group of poodles parading around before an audience that keeps on commenting on everything they see. Isaac Mizrahi mixed these two shows and put poodles alongside his models on Thursday in a show he called “Cake.”

There were several varieties — French, standard, miniature, pink and blue, most of them matching the outfit of the model. According to the designer the dogs were borrowed from friends or were rescue animals. The models had big black poodle poufs attached to their head. The collection was about voluminous coats made of padded foam with big bows, in the pastel green and pink colors that matched the dogs that guided the models.

Proenza Schouler Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

Jack McCollough and Lazaro Hernandez  of Proenza Schouler took their inspiration from a trip out West, to Santa Fe actually. Earthy desert colors, like orange, golden yellow and brown, dominated, and were worked into a graphic pattern. That pattern was created by the computer using Native American blankets. McCollough and Hernandez manipulated them into a strong urban-chic look.

The designers played their signatures with rich, highly engineered fabrics. The kaleidoscopic results looked unmistakably theirs. The slouchy cut of their pants, the undone way the back hem of a black suede camp shirt was shown untucked over a slim pencil skirt, or how a party dress with an asymmetric neckline was layered over a black tee.  The fabric innovation made things look quite new. Two great patent shearlings, pressed flat and cut with clean, sharp lines, required a double take. Chunky, viscose and leather knits worked a cozy street effect.  What was most impressive about this collection was that Hernandez and McCollough’s took traditionally homespun themes and made them look sophisticated and even edgy. When did crafted clothes looked so cool?

Jeremy Scott Catwalk fashion Show New York FW2011

Jeremy Scotts fall winter collection sure will result in some rip offs in cheap fashion-chains. A parody on American symbols and cartoons is always a nice subject on T-shirts. The collection looked campy, sexy and was as light as Barbie and bubblegum. But that’s just Scotts message: Fashion should be about having fun. There was a bombast of Nineties-inspired clothes: furry neon dresses in angora, plastic jackets, and pigtails. Bold colors like red, yellow and blue, shiny fabrics and provoking slogans like Enjoy God? and Milk Kills.But in these times those slogans look funny and a bit childish instead of shocking.

Michael Kors Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

It was a great Michael Kors Greatest Hits-show, with lots of topmodels wearing wonderful clothes with that typical Michael Kors casual accent.

You don’t have to tell Kors anything about a good fashionshow and -collection, especially after a remarkable 30 years in fashion.  Kors’ grit, grounded ethos and overarching optimism have been tested and retested, and have endured with great style. He has always gave women what they wanted. His anniversary provided an obvious occasion for reflection. Kors wanted to incorporate elements of each decade in his anniversary-collection:the sporty decadence from the Seventies, the athleticism of the Eighties, restraint from the Nineties and from the Aughties, a little exuberance. But above all he wanted this collection to show his core belief: making people look longer, leaner, leggy; showing off skin; comfort.

Even by Kors standards, this was the purest of collections, worked almost exclusively in a palette of neutrals and, tone-on-tone neutrals.  The prevailing line was lean and structured (a tricot tunic and trousers), languid (a jersey dress and pyjamas) and  racy (stretch jersey jumpsuits). For every clean charcoal flannel jacket and straight-leg trouser, there was a clingy cocktail dress or gown. He loves a tunic for Fall, but they shared the runway with bodysuits. The magic word here was sleek. Nearly every look in the show was monochrome, the better to create that long, uninterrupted line Kors favors. Eveningwear was sparkling and glamorous.

Narciso Rodriguez Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

The collection of Narciso Rodriguez was pure Rodriguez: smart, chic and architectural.
The lineup was rather refreshing. His focus was tight on all things geometric, structured and clean, and his clothes offered a great alternative to all the reworked and revamped sportswear seen thus far. Rodriguez’s show opener was a long black vest — a wide stripe of gray down the front, followed by a canvas dress, very graphic in its simple big block patterns. And so it went — almost every garment, whether coats, dresses or  pants, was precisely patchworked with bold squares, rectangles and trapezoids.
Rodriguez let loose with breezy silk dresses that added some edge to the collection. As for the palette, he kept things fairly minimal: neutrals, blacks and silvers, with the occasional shot of deep red and coral.

Rodarte Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

Like a breath of fresh air brought in from a meadow, Kate and Laura Mulleavy’s autumn/winter 2011-12 collection for their label Rodarte was a moment of quiet grace in a maddening world.

This season, set in a clinically white gallery filled with neon light sculptures, the Rodarte archetype – with her windswept hair – continued her mystical journey in and around nature. This time, the sisters focused on the pastoral imagery of the Great American Plains. It made for one of their more serene and straightforward collections, and that means they can give their label commercial strength too.

The clothing had strong ties to the prairies and pioneers, with long sun-dresses in flaxen, muted gold and sky blue. Often these sheaths were worn with equally long coats. Other looks were familiar from last season, like the high-waisted pants and blouses of intersecting panels of fabric. The sisters evoked early American settlers with colonial pony-skin aprons and cinched waists over A-line skirts. Fabrics had a handmade look and feel, such as boucle wool, rough-hewn wools, floral and guipure laces and mohair knits. The season’s geometrics came in Amish quilt motifs, seen in the sweaters and  tops (patchworked from leathers and pony hair) as well as the tough, tribal-looking footwear with Native American beadwork. Dresses, with their slight bishop sleeves and prairie vibe, looked chic, while the floor-sweeping coats  featured the occasional cutout and crisscross straps for visual intrigue.

The draped silk goddess gowns looked simply beautiful and highlighted their theme literally. They all featured a sky and wheat field scene in various hues, depending on the time of the day.

Marc by Marc Jacobs Catwalk Fashion Show New York FW2011

There was a forties meets seventies feeling in the collection of Marc Jacobs’ second line, Marc by Marc Jacobs. What that translated into was a primmer, nerdier version of the Seventies, but with Jacobs’ vibe. This came across in the glassy, polished blouses and dresses that left practically everything to the imagination. This was not a sexy collection, nor was it sexless, it just maintained a more professional, adult mentality. The chunky knits, effortless dresses and sizable pants in muddy fall colours of orange and brown had a thrifted, serious quality to them. It somteimes reminded of Annie Hall. Also attractive was the Navajo-style ethnic prints on jackets and a long poncho.

This was a very commercial and dressed collection, but done in a casual way. Elegant dressing the easy way. Don’t we all want that?

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