As New York Fashion Week passed the midway point, Monday was a show of spectacle, celebrity and style.
Carolina Herrera, a doyenne of the design world, showed a collection made new with digital prints and foam embellishments.
And designer Dennis Basso remembered his friend Joan Rivers, whose funeral he’d attended on Sunday — the comedian and host of E! network’s Fashion Police died on September 4.
He kicked off his show with a recorded message: “I would like to dedicate this collection to Joan Rivers who has brought laughter and happiness to all of us” — followed by a minute of silence.
A look at the highlights:
Phillip Lim
Phillip Lim used a quote by Leonard Cohen in introducing his 3.1 Phillip Lim spring 2015 collection: “Forget your perfect offering. There is a crack in everything. That’s how the light gets in.”
And then he just went with that, embracing the imperfection, designing each piece with interesting detail — judo stitching here, quill embroidery there.
There were asymmetrical and dimensional contour tops in muted colours like blush and powder.
He channelled the bedroom, drawing upon “the sensual intimacy of bedroom interiors,” using drawstring waist trousers and draped jumpsuits with judo belts.
Even the models looked imperfect with pulled back hair that was purposely messy, with some strands loose and wild.
One of the more striking takeaways on the runway was his use of colour. He infused canary yellow into the collection from solid trousers and vests to using pops of the colour in the insoles of high-heeled mule sandals.
And put away those structured bags when it’s time for next year’s spring cleaning. The designer chose bucket bags for spring.
Carolina Herrera
It’s not easy being Carolina Herrera after 34 years in fashion.
Coming up with something fresh to please customers while remaining loyal to her house this time around at New York Fashion Week had her turning to digital prints and foam geometric embellishments in colours fit for spring: reds in deep shades and bright neon, soft yellow and neutrals in a light mushroom tan.
This season, she endeavoured to decode flowers in different ways. She pixelated a large red one with leaves in foam pieces sewn to the long full gown of one of her final looks, pairing it with a stiff bright white bodice.
Elsewhere, she used splashes of beading. One in deep red covered the front of a loose skirt above the knee with more of the same beading at the collar of a matching, boxy short-sleeved top.
The technical fabrics allowed her to mould some collars high off the neck, including a sporty knit open jacket in neon orange paired with a roomy white jersey top and loose trousers.
Donna Karan
Ask Donna Karan about the inspiration for her fashions, and it all ends up coming down to New York. Even when it starts with something else.
And so, asked what had inspired the spring 2015 collection she displayed on Monday in a Chelsea gallery space, Karan began by evoking far-flung locales. “I’ve done India, I’ve done Africa, I’ve done Bali, I’ve done Haiti,” she said in a post-show interview. “I’ve done all my countries that I love, and I said, the art in New York is just as wonderful, so why not celebrate the art of New York, and the whole graffiti mode and all of that?”
Karan’s designs conveyed her well-known ethos of urban chic, infused with a healthy dose of whimsy. Much of that whimsy came in the bold colours, the lively prints, and the truly unusual — OK, downright bizarre, but fun — hats by milliner Stephen Jones (an hour later, designer Thom Browne featured even more outlandish Jones creations). Perfect for a tropical vacation — or a searing day in Manhattan — these hats were huge: A few looked like their owners might be starting a career in beekeeping. Others seemed to belong to the human companion of Curious George. The models wore long braids down their backs.
A key focus was the bra, which Karan sees as “the new bodysuit.” The opening ensemble featured a black silk and nylon stretch organza bra, paired with an ivory and black pleated poplin skirt. A nice ensemble matched a black stretch organza bomber jacket with a stretch organza bra underneath, along with an embroidered linen canvas skirt.
But probably the best look was carried off by supermodel Karlie Kloss, who closed the show with a slow, sultry walk in one of those black stretch organza bras, paired with a long, luxurious, multicoloured “street art” embroidered evening skirt. And she topped it off with a tall, and we do mean tall, Mad Hatter-esque hat.
Also walking the runway: young model-of-the-moment Kendall Jenner, half-sister of Kim Kardashian.
“I had no idea who she was,” Karan confessed after the show. “I mean, I knew who she was, but I didn’t know who she WAS, let’s put it that way. She was really great. I think all the girls are great.”
Zac Posen
Would Audrey Hepburn have snatched up one of the neoprene straight-legged trouser sets or girly off-the-shoulder dresses from Zac Posen’s New York Fashion Week runway?
Or maybe the white, all-over embroidered trousers with a matching long-sleeve top?
The designer celebrated her style on Monday night in a spring collection of moulded and folded and draped neoprene in a range of whites, blacks and bright scarlet.
In an ode to classic tailoring and stylised architecture, he created peplums, bustiers and bulk, the latter not always where women might want it.
Other looks were beautifully beaded, including a short strapless gown in black.
Posen described the neoprene as a bonded crepe fabrication, stiff enough to hold up a high collar on a black jacket.
Posen pal Coco Rocha walked his runway in a black satin off-the-shoulder gown.
Kiernan Shipka, the 14-year-old actress who plays Sally on Mad Men, was among Posen’s front-row guests. She thinks Posen’s clothes are fun.
“He’s just such a timeless designer. His pieces are so beautiful, and they’re made so well,” she said.
Spoken like a front-row pro.
