Fashion Week Wraps Up

Designer Nanette Lepore’s Fall 2008 collection debuted at Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week on Feb. 6. It was an extremely feminine collection with a color palette that ranged from black, gray, plumy burgundy, and pale pink to fuchsia, red, orange, and teal. Tweeds and plaids were mixed in with floral blouses, colorful stripes, embroidered sweaters, and lots of lace, giving the collection a glamorous yet wearable feel. This season the designer opted for longer hemlines and a higher waist, creating a very elegant and sophisticated silhouette. The collection also included Lepore’s menswear-inspired wool suiting with a youthful feminine twist. Structured jackets were paired with wide-legged pants, a sharp contrast to the skinny jean that dominated 2007. Some highlights of the collection include a purple metallic knee-length jacket, a plaid cocktail dress paired with an embroidered cardigan, and a stunning fuchsia sweater-dress. This absolutely fabulous collection is just what every feminine and empowered woman needs in her closet.
—Priyanka Gumaste

Up-and-coming young designer Richard Chai showed a fantastic collection of just-tough-enough, wearable separates that seamlessly melded biker chick and feminine aesthetics. By tweaking old silhouettes, Chai created casual but chic outfits any downtown girl would want to rock on a winter day. Black and burnt sienna shearling motorcycle and bomber jackets were cropped, while double-breasted, military-style coats hit just below the hips. Both were paired with perfect slouchy skinny trousers in leather, forest green wool, or striped plum linen. Tucked into Manolo Blahnik for Richard Chai boots, striped purple trousers never seemed so wearable. Breaking from the neutral palette, purple and grenadine-hued mini-dresses with multiple spiraling seams kept from feeling too girly. More delicate looks starred silver paillette-covered tank dresses layered over turtlenecks or under jackets. The effect of the paillettes became the pattern on the crinkled silk chiffon of Chai’s final floating cocktail dresses, creating a beautiful optical-illusion-like effect. As Chai took his bow, one woman, still under the spell of the effortlessly cool vibe, whispered, “I don’t know if I’m tough enough for this stuff—but I wish I was!”
—Sasha de Vogel

Carlos Miele—part of the growing force of Brazilian designers—envisioned his collection as a contemporary union of architecture and fashion, but many of his looks failed to meet the mark of modern. Chunky cropped sweaters in olive green and vivid red and short origami-pleated dresses stood out as edgy and young, but nearly every wool coat and jacket stuck to a conventional cut. With traditional winter-wear comes fur, and Miele provided more than enough. Mink, fox, and rabbit fur adorned vests, boleros, and coats, while black ostrich leather showed up in almost every accessory. Architectural details like dresses with hidden pockets and coats with pleated silk cuffs were evidence of Miele’s inspiration, while wide black belts cinching the waists of coats and pencil skirts imparted an urban feel. Miele also showed a range of highly constructed, floor-sweeping gowns with body-crossing pleats and embroidery. Geometric-printed, jewel-toned silk chiffon numbers were followed by more elaborate dresses with embroidered lace and pleated satin bodices or frothing skirts fashioned from metallic crushed silk. By the end of the show, all the pleated, twisted, and folded fabric, together with the preponderance of fur, felt more stifling than chic.
—Sasha de Vogel

Alice Temperley’s Autumn/Winter 2008 collection for Temperley London showed a shift from light, feminine fare to dark, lavish, and seductive wares. Thigh-high boots with a metallic look, leather, and tight silhouettes populated the runway with black police hats, bow-tie details, and even a couple of pieces of thick black sheepskin. The collection did seem to suffer some confusion in terms of overall direction: girly dresses and bright colors poked their heads in among the sultry and sexy pieces. Ultimately, they didn’t take away from pieces like a draped, black Mercury dress of metallic jersey, a sheepskin gillet over a jeweled mini dress, and a few rogue evening dresses. Temperley even managed to expertly pull off a number of military jackets that looked slightly like a highly stylized marching band piece. In the end, the collection represents a new, darkly confident direction for the label, with a few reminders of the more bubbly past.
—James DeWille

Tags: Arts & Entertainment, James Dewille, Priyanka Gumaste, Sasha De Vogel, Fashion Week