NY Fashion Week trend is strength of women with tough, black pieces
BY SAMANTHA CRITCHELL Associated Press
Sunday, February 17, 2013
2/17/13 at 4:17 AM
NEW YORK - Influencers finished up New York Fashion Week on Thursday with a taste of what's to come next fall, their appetite whet by some tough, some tailored and many black looks. But there were flashes of bright colors and earth tones, too.
There were sleek minimalist shapes and some oversized, slouchy ones. For every bouncy miniskirt there was a ladylike pencil, and broad-shouldered military coats were offset by gently molded oversized ones.
What shoppers can take away from New York is the idea that the runway is a tool to present fanciful options, not to be used to dictate a specific look.
"This season is going to help the person out there who is trying to get dressed in the morning. You can wear anything; just do it with conviction and confidence," said Linda Wells, editor-in-chief of Allure magazine.
Marc Jacobs and fellow heavy-hitters Ralph Lauren and Calvin Klein by Francisco Costa closed out Fashion Week. Jacobs courted glamorous screen sirens who wore beaded PJs by day and lame gowns by night.
Lauren had a strong woman in mind with a mix of military looks and regal gowns, all with a hint of the Russian Revolution, and Costa had some razor-sharp menswear details.
"The trend, really, was the strength of women," Wells said.
Largely absent this season were the bohemian and disco-era 1960s and '70s that seemed to have a permanent place on the runways, said Jennifer Wheeler, vice president of designer apparel for Nordstrom.
Instead, she saw those inspirations replaced with looser, sometimes exaggerated, silhouettes from the '80s and the restrained minimalism of the '90s. "But these looks didn't look dated," she said, "because there have been so many changes in fabrics and techniques."
She particularly liked the mixed-media message that might be the next generation of Mondrian-style colorblocking: Instead of chunks of primary colors, a dress or coat might be patchworks of pony hair, snake skin, leather or ostrich feathers, she explained.
Wheeler also noted the sophisticated palette - gray, navy, camel and moss green - all mixed with black.
The dominance of black allows shoppers to make investments into "building blocks" of their closet that for fall can be worn for a long time, swapping out a shoe or bag as seasons evolve, said Lottie Oakley, who served as American Express' fashion ambassador, watching shows to cull trends for consumers.
Original Print Headline: NY Fashion Week shows strong, black fall pieces
Associated Images:
A model walks in front of a huge sun as spectators watch from an arena-style setup during the Marc Jacobs Fall 2013 fashion show Thursday in New York. KATHY WILLENS/Associated Press
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