Our New York fall ’11 preview

FASHION WEEK PERMITS people from the industry to come together and celebrate new trends while exhibiting designers’ new season’s collections. The fall 2011 shows kicked off with the Heart Truth’s Red Dress Collection a day earlier, on the evening of February 9. Two main factors represented this fashion show: women and heart disease. Twenty starlets walked down the runway, each wearing a red dress designed by various designers from Zac Posen to Marchesa.
   Early next morning, the chaos and motion in the tents began to set in. Lincoln Center’s spark of fashion illuminated the Big Apple, creating the city into a virtual fashion district for a week. The new season’s collection ranged from classy, chic and alluring to sophisticated, elegant and graceful.

Venexiana
Venexiana’s designer, Kati Stern, put together a fantastic fashion show. Some models wore silver sparkling tights, fantastically glimmering and glistening, accompanied with delightful dresses and charming coats. Many of the designs were tight on the waist, perfectly embracing the body. As soon as eveningwear came out on the scene, an array of colours emerged. Invigorating bare back gowns and one-shoulder dresses appeared. The style focused on high quality fabrics and intricate detailed work.
   Flaming red lips and black-outlined eyes with considerably long eyelashes beautifully came together to form a spark of radiance. Tightly held back hair, worn into an elegant high bun, matched the style of the collection. It was a lovely and spectacular show; towards the end of the show, the designer merrily walked down the runway, attaining a well-deserved standing ovation.
   Stern’s “rock and roll haute couture” style created an absolute stunning and breathtaking effect, with edgy details and modern appeal. A wedding gown accompanied by a white flower headpiece, wonderfully concluded the show, a perfect cherry on the cake!

LAMB
Music and fashion have long been well acquainted bedfellows. Nowhere is this stronger than in the label by musician and designer Gwen Stefani with her label LAMB. Closing off NYFW, the show ran the gamut of Stefani’s own personal back catalogue of trends she has sported, from rasta girls to mod, high glamour to military. Pattern was a strong focus in the collection, with everything from leopard to spots, checks, plaids, tartans, and stripes were all shown. The stand-out pieces of the collections were the Navaho inspired prints worn by the Rasta Girls, and the impeccably tailored check suiting hitting all the right trends of masculine tailoring for the female form.
   Key colours were military green, navy blue, fire engine red, taupe, camel, grey, inky black and pure whites.

Marc Jacobs
From the padded walls to the reflective runway, Marc Jacobs went severe on us all, with plastic and Latex mixed with cashmere and fox and mock croc ensembles. Models sported Stephen Jones Latex berets strapped under their chins, kinky but sweet. Spots big and small were everywhere from the hosiery to the tops and dresses—almost nostalgic, considering his first show 20 years ago was very similar. Rubber was made to look like sequins and there was almost a Dietrich-esque feel to the collection. Precision at its best.



Marc by Marc Jacobs
For his Marc by Marc Jacobs line, Jacobs travelled back in time to the ’40s, taking Studio 54 with him.
   Flared, wide legged trousers were teamed with oversized fox fur trenches. Satin culottes were paired back with sequinned tanks, clothes for the glamorously young. Mustard, fawn, petroleum blue and grey were injected with splashes of acid orange, jade green, and plum.

Nicole Miller
Nicole Miller’s fashion show was a breath of fresh air. She beautifully put together a casually refined, comfortable and stylish show. The main colours Miller worked with were black, grey, red, blue and white. Such tones formed delicate and artistic patterns. From hair to make-up, everything was kept simple and natural, emphasizing a very professional, modern and graceful woman. To jazz up the show, many of the outfits included a slight touch of glimmer with metallic material glistening on the runway. Miller successfully designs clothing to fulfil a highly feminine look for both young and older women.

Badgley Mischka
The kings of Hollywood glamour, Mark Badgley and James Mischka’s fall collection showed off what the duo do best: knockout eveningwear. There were, of course, the diaphanous draped gowns in fuschia, turquoise and violet, but this season saw a return to glamour with the ’30s and ’40s inspiring the silhouettes. Dropped waists and sunray pleating were all shown, as were exquisite beading and lacework. The noir, femme fatale theme followed through in the choice of their colour palette of subdued black, inky blues and greys, which dominated. The show also allowed the designers to showcase their diffusion line Mark and James, at the same time adding a much-needed dimension to the show. Gauzy knits and cropped bombers injected a more casual and real world approach to the clothes.

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LAMB


Marc Jacobs


Nicole Miller


Badgley Mischka