Highlights: Denim, Florals, Color, ‘Jaws’
Back from Paris, Proenza Schouler designers go all-American
After two seasons in Paris, Proenza Schouler designers Lazaro Hernandez and Jack McCollough are back at New York Fashion Week.
With their new collection unveiled Monday, they’ve gone all-American in spirit: denim, denim and more denim, with almost no embellishment — no embroidery, feathers or sequins. And though the fabric came from Japan, the collection was made entirely in the United States.
The collection featured voluminous denim dresses, jackets and skirts, with the latter often covering thigh-high boots. Tie-dying and acid washing took the place of embellishments. As for accessories, there were Western-style, bandanna-like scarves across the neck, and tote bags so large it seemed a human could fit inside.
McCollough noted that one of the biggest sellers of a recent Paris collection was a long-sleeved, tie-dyed dress priced lower than some bigger-ticket items — which also turned out to be the most attention-getting and most photographed look.
“It got us thinking about clothes in a different way,” he said. “Maybe everything doesn’t need to be so embellished. Maybe everything doesn’t need to be $12,000.”
Under a steady rain, Rodarte’s fairy tale designs shimmer
There was a steady rain coming down as guests were handed transparent umbrellas and seated in a flower-strewn cemetery in Manhattan’s East Village for the return of Rodarte, designed by sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, to New York Fashion Week.
Somehow the raindrops and the misty air at the 19th-century Marble Cemetery enhanced the visuals and the mood, providing a perfect backdrop for the filmy, floral creations the Mulleavys specialize in.
Guests were particularly taken with the rose-bedecked tulle veils and flowered headdresses that made the models look like gorgeous ghosts from a past century, perhaps a reference to the burial vaults below.
At points it was hard to tell, even from very close, whether you were seeing raindrops or actual crystals sewn onto the dresses — a rather seductive problem.
Raf Simons takes a bite out of fashion, riffing on “Jaws”
Since arriving in New York two years ago to revitalize Calvin Klein with his hip European sensibility, it’s often seemed that Belgian designer Raf Simons has taken an oversize bite of the city’s fashion world.
It’s perhaps apt, then, that his latest collection was a riff on the movie “Jaws.”
“It’s a masterpiece on all levels,” Simons declared afterward of Steven Spielberg’s 1975 film. “And I think it speaks about so much more than a shark that kills a person.”
As the lights dimmed, two enormous screens, taking up two full walls, lit up with a view of the glistening blue ocean, where a lone swimmer skimmed along the surface. Peaceful enough — until those unmistakable, pulsating, terrifying notes from the “Jaws” theme started playing on the soundtrack.
Simons’ models emerged, with wet hair and glistening skin, almost all wearing versions of wetsuits, fashionably unfastened and folded over at the waist. The wetsuits — some black, some patterned — served as a unifying theme for an eclectic set of ensembles. Some models wore “Jaws” tanks or tees; others wore more dressy items like black pants or printed summer dresses.
Somewhere along the way, things turned sinister. Women in comfy sweaters and pretty patterned skirts headed down the runway, only to reveal that large bites had been taken out of the skirts.
“Very often we are attracted to things that we actually know are dangerous,” Simons said. “But we can’t stay away from it, I think.”
Prabal Gurung screams for peace in living color
Prabal Gurung had a lot to say at New York Fashion Week, and he said it in living color.
The designer sent models from 35 countries around the globe down his runway Sunday, chosen to represent a world where “all humanity reigns.”
Until then, we can imagine living in Gurung’s festive utopia beneath his rainbow of Buddhist prayer flags hanging from the ceiling. And we can take a hint printed on seat assignment cards left for his guests: “I am a voter.”
Color, was in abundance, including lush purples, sunshine yellow, persimmon orange and grass green done in knits, chiffon, cotton jersey and poplin, and hand-painted velvet devore.
Joan Smalls opened in a silk chiffon swing skirt of peridot green, hemmed in fuchsia. Gigi followed close behind, wearing a drawstring skirt of red, white and, yes, blue.
Whether in a sky blue dress printed with green flowers and paired with a sheer skirt, or wearing a cozy sweater in purple with stripes of orange and pink with draped skirt, Gurung urges us on.
“Live in colour,” he wrote in his notes. “Lead with your heart.
Find peace in the journey.”